Operation Gladio: The Unholy Alliance Between the Vatican, the Cia, and the Mafia

by Paul L. Williams

Meyer Lansky and Helliwell would work in tandem to handle the financial aspect of the narcotics venture through General Development Corporation, a shell company in Miami.52 Angleton would handle any legal disputes between the mob and the CIA through New York lawyer Mario Brod.53 The two hundred kilos of heroin for the test run would come from Schiaparelli, one of Italy’s most respected pharmaceutical companies.54 The product would be shipped by the Sicilian mob in crates of oranges. Half the oranges in the crates would be made of wax and stuffed with one hundred grams of pure heroin.55 Additional heroin would be packed in cans of sardines, wheels of caciocavallo cheese, and barrels of olive oil.56 The drugs would arrive in Cuba, where the heroin would be cut in laboratories controlled by the Trafficante clan. The drugs would then be shipped to New York for distribution in the jazz clubs of Harlem.