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many of whom, including Klaus Barbie, were wanted Nazi war criminals. The foregoing names amount to a listing of some of the most powerful and influential members of the Western intelli- gence community over the last five decades. One Vatican group that has extremely close ties to the Knights of Malta is the ultra-right-wing Opus Dei. This is an immensely powerful faction in the Vatican today, and its public "do good" activities eclipse a plethora of the darkest political and financial machinations known to man. It will not come as a surprise, per- haps, that Carone was closely associated with Opus Dei and, in particular, with a covert operation that had its origin back in 1944. This was Operation Amadeus. many of whom, including Klaus Barbie, were wanted Nazi war heroin smuggled into the United States for distribution by the criminals. The foregoing names amount to a listing of some of CIA-protected Mafia would be complemented with locally grown the most powerful and influential members of the Western intelli- cocaine. gence community over the last five decades. One of the figures to emerge into the spotlight during the 1980s One Vatican group that has extremely close ties to the Knights who was deeply involved in this narcotics traffic was Colonel of Malta is the ultra-right-wing Opus Dei. This is an immensely Oliver North, who authorised the exchange of guns for drugs to powerful faction in the Vatican today, and its public "do good" finance Contra operations. Oliver North was known to Al Carone activities eclipse a plethora of the darkest political and financial under his "work" name, "John Caffrey". This was the time when machinations known to man. It will not come as a surprise, per- Carone was engaged in CIA-controlled cocaine transactions with haps, that Carone was closely associated with Opus Dei and, in Joe "Pickles" Percilia, a member of the Colombo crime family. particular, with a covert operation that had its origin back in 1944. These curious and usually concealed connections between This was Operation Amadeus. governments (in the form of the military and intelligence community), organised crime, the Vatican and Nazi war criminals FROM RATLINES TO DRUG SMUGGLING ROUTES have some significant history. Not least was the secret agreement This highly secretive operation was part of the Operation reached between US Naval Intelligence officers and Mafia don Sunrise negotiations conducted between Allen Dulles—the then Charles "Lucky" Luciano during World War II. This resulted in senior wartime OSS officer in Switzerland, but later to become the Mafia's decision to aid and assist the Allies by contacting Mob the Director of the C[A—and SS General Karl Wolff. This figure Vito Genovese in 1943 to prepare the way for the Allied debonair and well-connected SS officer commanded the SS and landing in Sicily. As earlier outlined, it was primarily those Gestapo contingents in Italy at the time. SS-Gestapo units located in Italy under command of SS General The result of these negotiations (at least those parts that are now Wolff that were initially concerned in the Operation Sunrise known about) was an agreement affording amnesty to an exten- negotiations. sive roster of SS—Gestapo forces, in exchange for their agreement And while large numbers of former Nazis were fleeing south to to shift their allegiance to the West in the pre-planned, covert bat- fight the communist menace in Latin America—and, more impor- tle aimed at defeating the Soviet com- tantly, to profit personally from their munist "menace"—in other words, the involvement in the lucrative drug and "Cold War". gun business—in Europe, the spade- One spin-off of these Dulles—Wolff work was being laid to overthrow or arrangements were the Vatican-run One Vatican group that has thwart democratically elected govern- "ratlines" that aided wanted Nazi war ments via a network of fascist-manned criminals to slink to safety. Tens of extremely close ties to the "Stay Behind units", organised under thousands of SS and other Nazis Knights of Malta is the the aegis of Operation Gladio. Not sur- escaped capture as a result of the rat- It . ht . O Dei prisingly, this would also lead to certain lines. These included such figures as U ra-rig “wing pus el. involved figures making personal for- Franz Stangl, commandant at Treblinka extermination camp, and his frien Gustav Wagner, who ran the Sobibor death camp. Others to escape in this tunes out of other people's misery—a circumstance that is so commonplace it is barely worth mentioning. These neo-fascist activities would manner included Adolf Eichmann, the architect of the Holocaust. come to prominence in the early 1980s following the collapse of Eichmann was later captured by Israeli intelligence agents, smug- Banco Ambrosiano and the death of Italian banker Roberto Calvi, gled to Tel Aviv where he stood trial and was eventually execut- who was "suicided" and left hanging under London's Blackfriars ed. In comparison, Dr Joseph Mengele—known as "the White Bridge. This would lead to sensational disclosures about the role Angel", a war criminal wanted for his cruel and inhuman experi- of the Vatican Bank, the IOR, in Calvi's financial empire and ments on death camp inmates at Auschwitz—escaped to would quickly grow to include the activities of Mafia financier Argentina and lived a long life. Michele Sindona—whose activities, in turn, would implicate lead- Operation Amadeus was exclusively concerned with the flight ing blue-blood banks in Europe and America in Mafia activities. of SS and Nazi war criminals to the South American continent Both Sindona and Calvi were close to Opus Dei, which lost and their later ferocious covert actions against the indigenous around $55 million when Sindona's empire crashed. According to populations justified under the banner of "anti-communism". One his family, Roberto Calvi was deeply engrossed in helping Opus individual engaged in Amadeus activities was former Gestapo Dei take control of the IOR when he was killed. officer Klaus Barbie, known to the world as "the Butcher of Meanwhile, both Calvi and Sindona were members of the Lyon". secretive Propaganda Due (P2) masonic lodge, which is said to The principal means of funding Operation Amadeus activities have been a "parallel government" in waiting and which planned was the hugely profitable narcotics business. Large stocks of SS to effect a coup d'état in Italy following a Communist Party morphia had been smuggled out of Europe and into "Catholic" victory at the polls. South America at the end of the War in accordance with the P2 was run by former Italian fascist and member of the Nazi Sunrise agreement. The morphia was accompanied by looted SS SS, Licio Gelli—dubbed "the Puppet Master" by the Italian press. gold and large quantities of counterfeit British banknotes, forged Gelli's connections to the ultra-hard-right and fascists in Europe in concentration camps by captive but skilled counterfeiters as and Latin America were extensive. In fact, he had been deeply part of an SS scheme known as Operation Bernhardt. involved in establishing the Vatican-run ratlines that aided the The escape "lines" used to move wanted men around South worst Nazi war criminals to escape Allied justice at the end of America, away from the prying eyes of Israeli agents, also proved WWII. All told, an estimated 50,000 Nazis were helped to ideal as smuggling routes for drugs. Decades later, the stocks of freedom. One Vatican group that has extremely close ties to the Knights of Malta is the ultra-right-wing Opus Dei. 28 - NEXUS AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 2000