This episode features descriptions of kidnapping, terrorism and violence that some people may find disturbing. We advise caution for listeners under 13.

May 8th, 1978, 54 days had passed since former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Morrow's kidnapping, the 61 year old politician was emotionally and physically drained through the entire ordeal.

Moro had only ever seen one face, that of Mario Moretti, the leader of the Red Brigades. Today, Mauro's Captor walked into the room where he was held. Moretti informed Morreau that his time was up. The Red Brigades had tried time and time again to exchange him for communist prisoners. But for some inexplicable reason, the Italian parliament refused to negotiate.

Moretti may have been confused by the government's actions, but Morreau knew exactly what was going on. Italy's politicians were playing hardball, refusing to negotiate with terrorists. With that in mind, Murrow made his last request a typewriter. He wrote a letter to his wife saying, Dear Nerina, they have told me that they are going to kill me in a little while. I cannot accept the disgraceful and ungrateful decision taken by the Christian Democratic Party. I request that at my funeral there will be no one present representing the Italian state.

This letter provides a rare window into Moreau's mental state. During his imprisonment, he could have railed against his kidnappers. He could have blamed the Italian political structure, how it drove a sharp divide between the left and the right. But he didn't.

Instead, he accused his own party, implicating them in his capture and inevitable demise.

Aldo Moro had developed his own conspiracy theory about his own death. Welcome to Conspiracy Theories, a podcast original every Monday and Wednesday, we dig into the complicated stories behind the world's most controversial events and search for the truth. I'm Carter Roy. And I'm Molly Brandenberg.

And neither of us are conspiracy theorists, but we are open minded, skeptical and curious. Don't get us wrong. Sometimes the official version is the truth, but sometimes it's not.

You can find episodes of conspiracy theories and all other precast originals for free on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts to stream conspiracy theories for free on Spotify, just open the app and type conspiracy theories in the search bar. This is our second and final episode on the mysterious 1978 kidnapping and assassination of Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro. The story of his death is almost too strange to believe, and maybe that's why it spawned conspiracy theories.

Last episode, we discussed the official story that Moro was kidnapped and executed by radical communist terrorists called the Red Brigades.

This time, we'll discuss two theories surrounding Moreau's death conspiracy theory. Number one, a secret CIA task force executed Aldo Moro. And conspiracy theory number two, Mauro's own political party ordered his death hoping to preserve their power.

We have all that and more coming up. Stay with us. In the late 1970s, an ideological gap tore Italy apart, Prime Minister Aldo Romeo Luigi Mauro dedicated his life to compromise. This meant bringing communists into Italian politics, a policy that led to his capture and death.

Officially, his kidnappers were far left extremists who resented Morel's centrist methods. They feared that if the Communist Party collaborated with the conservative Christian Democrats, they'd sacrifice their values.

But maybe the Red Brigades had more complex motives. Perhaps they resented Mauro's progressive policies because they weren't actually a communist cell, at least not after the CIA infiltrated them.

That's the crux of conspiracy theory. Number one, the CIA executed Morreau to prevent the communists from holding power in Italy.

To explain why, we have to go back to the end of World War Two.

On May 7th, 1945, Nazi Germany surrendered to allied forces, the war in Europe ended largely due to the cooperation between the United States and the Soviet Union. But once the fighting ceased, Russia's Red Army swept across Eastern Europe to extend their empire. The U.S. vowed to fight communism as it spread across the globe, worming its way through Italy in the wake of World War Two, Italians flocked to communist ideology.

Their country was industrializing and citizens gradually exchanged their agricultural lifestyles for a thankless factory. Jobs, the PCI or Italian Communist Party, with its workers rights advocacy, gained steady popularity.

The United States perceived the PCI as an ally of the Soviet Union and therefore a threat to democracy in one of its first Cold War operations. The CIA funneled at least five million U.S. dollars to the PC's biggest opponent, the Christian Democratic Party.

The CIA was also heavily involved in Italy's 1948 elections. Anti Soviet posters littered Italian alleyways, Italian Americans wrote to their distant relatives. Frank Sinatra appeared on an hour long radio show, pleading for an anti-communist outcome.

Although the Christian Democrats won, the election showed that one in three Italians identified as communists. Given those numbers, U.S. President Harry Truman's administration feared that Italy would soon become a Soviet puppet.

To stop that from happening, the U.S. stepped up its intervention, the CIA helped Italy form their own military intelligence organization called Cifas.

Some Italian politicians believe that the organization received orders directly from the American agency. They were right to be worried. In 1951, CFR Director General Umberto Broccoli created a secret committee to coordinate with the CIA.

They developed a so-called stay behind network, a top secret military force that could spring up after a Soviet invasion.

If USSR troops occupied Italy, the CFR soldiers would stay behind rather than fight the enemy head on. They were modeled on World War Two's resistance cells that popped up in France and Germany.

The CIA created stay behind forces in numerous countries. The Italian network was formally named Operation Gladio, and its soldiers were called gladiators.

Their motto was Hillendale Libre Thottam Servoz. Or by being silent, I protect liberty.

Indeed, everyone involved in Operation Gladio kept it a complete secret. It was highly classified for decades, which is particularly impressive given the scope of the program.

According to a letter from General Broccoli, dated October 8th, 1951, approximately 1500 Italians received advanced covert operations training in the United Kingdom. They were focused on a Soviet invasion that never came, but they failed to quell the rise of communism within Italy.

In 1953, an Italian war hero and founding member of the Christian Democratic Party named Paolo Ottaviani became the prime minister. He barely beat the communists. Their support had jumped five percent since the last election.

In response, Tavian and Cifas enhanced Italy's stay behind operation. They constructed a secret headquarters on Sardinia, an island off the Italian coast. This base became known as the Saboteurs Training Center.

Even with Gladio in place, the 1963 election's concerned, the CIA combined, the Italian leftist parties earned 39 percent of the vote. Alarmingly, the Christian Democrats fell to 38 percent. If their opposition ever united behind one party, the Christian Democrats would lose an election for the first time since the war. But the vote was split. The less radical Italian Socialist Party nabbed a significant portion of the communist vote. Nevertheless, Italians multi-party system ensured that communists held more seats in parliament than ever before.

Controversially, Prime Minister Aldo Moro embraced the newly empowered left. He appointed communist representatives to his cabinet and passed progressive social reforms. His administration raised the minimum wage, strengthen Social Security benefits, and fought the housing crisis that gripped Italy's largest cities.

But Mauro's informal alliance with the Italian Communist Party was controversial and polarizing to the United States and Operation Gladio. He was a threat to democracy.

So the CIA allegedly did what it does best. It organized a coup. Coming up, far right conspirators respond tomorrow's communist compromise listeners, I have a surprising treat for you.

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The cameras are turned on and it's either butterflies or a goodbye blind dating airs weekly with new episodes. Every Wednesday, you can find and follow blind dating free on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. And now back to the story. After World War Two, the United States feared that the Soviet Union would sweep across Western Europe in light of this, the CIA hatched a secret plan to leave armed soldiers in certain European countries. These stay behind networks were poised to eventually rise up against Soviet occupiers, but it became clear that the USSR would not be invading Italy anytime soon.

So instead, Italy's stay behind network Operation Gladio, dedicated themselves to fighting homegrown communism, even if it meant betraying their own government.

On March 25th, 1964, the former head of Operation Gladio police chief General Giovanni DiLorenzo, allegedly proposed a plot he wanted to violently overthrow Prime Minister Aldo Moro.

According to Roomer, who collaborated with the CIA during this proposed attack, 5000 policemen would seize media offices and the Communist Party's headquarters. 731 people would be arrested and brought to the Gladio headquarters in Sardinia.

We'll probably never know what DeLorenzo and the CIA intended to do next. The coup, codenamed piano solo, never made it beyond the planning stage.

Then on December 7th, 1970, former naval officer Unio Vallario Borghese led another failed rebellion. This revolt was named Operation Tora! Tora! And it mirrored the piano solo plan. Berganza even recruited from Gladio soldiers along with neofascist terrorist groups.

Once again, this coup proved to be short lived. An unknown official ordered Borgas to call off the attack.

The story of Gladius cooperation with fascist extremists doesn't end there. On May 31st, 1972, in the village of Paiano, the police received an anonymous tip about a stolen car. When four officers investigated the vehicle, they inadvertently triggered a bomb.

One policeman was injured and the other three died.

Two days later, the station received another anonymous phone call. According to the police, the Red Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.

Ballistics expert Markoe Marine subsequently published a report further implicating the Red Brigades. He said the bomb matched those used by communist extremists. His findings spurred a huge crackdown against communists with up to 200 arrests.

But that wasn't the whole story. Some leftists proposed that the Italian government was in league with the terrorists, meaning they planted the bomb. Then they framed the Red Brigades to justify the wave of arrests afterward.

This isn't baseless speculation. Over a decade after the Paiano massacre, ballistics expert Marco Marine was exposed as a fraud. He'd secretly worked for the fascist terrorist group, a Nuovo.

What's more, the piano massacres. Ballistics didn't match the profile of the Red Brigades. In reality, the explosive used C4 and according to conspiracy theorists, it came from an Operation Gladio stockpile.

Around the same time, Vincent Vincey Guerra, a neo fascist terrorist, confessed to the bombing, he said the government had ordered the attack.

In a 1992 BBC documentary, Vincey Guerra explained that guerrillas executed countless false flag operations on the government's orders. Far right politicians used the uptick in terrorist activity as an excuse to declare a state of emergency. Then they could seize power and enable a stricter, more authoritarian government fascist in all but its name.

These tactics are strikingly similar to those the CIA used in their international initiatives. Many anti CIA conspiracy theories draw from a document called U.S. Army Field Manual 30 Dash 31 B, otherwise known as the Westmoreland Manual.

The manual outlined a plan to use stay behind forces to orchestrate terrorist attacks and coups in countries that failed to fight communism from within, which seems to be exactly what happened in Italy.

According to the Westmoreland manual, the CIA had a long track record of successfully executing these exact tactics. They supported a neo fascist regime in Greece in the late 1940s, Brazil in the early 60s and Chile a few years later.

The list goes on. The CIA was practically invented for this purpose.

But since the manual's discovery in 1976, the United States has insisted that the document is a forgery, a piece of Soviet propaganda.

Even if the Westmoreland manual is a hoax, much of its information has been confirmed elsewhere. For all intents and purposes, 30 Dasch 31 B might as well be real.

The document doesn't say if the CIA was involved in Italy, but it seemed possible the ongoing terror attack certainly helped destabilize the Communists.

During Eldo Mauro's terms as prime minister, Italy practically devolved into a war zone. Morreau tried to make peace and unite his country under a bipartisan cabinet, but his efforts arguably led to further radicalization. Leftists saw the Communist Party as traitors who cooperated with the Christian Democrats. Meanwhile, members of Mauro's party turned against him as he gave power to the communists.

Morreau faced opposition from abroad as well. At some point in 1975, he and his wife, Elanora, went on a diplomatic trip to Washington, D.C.. Elanora later claimed that during this visit, her husband's life was threatened by a, quote, high ranking United States political figure.

Mauro's, close friend and party associate minister Giovanni Galani, identified the U.S. official as Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

That same year, Mauro and three members of his cabinet met with Kissinger and U.S. President Gerald Ford. A transcription of the conversation, classified by Kissinger himself, showed them grilling. Mauro Ford threatened to kick Italy out of NATO if he continued to compromise with communists.

Then Kissinger spoke up. He said having the communists in the government of Italy would be completely incompatible with continued membership in the alliance. We are willing to cooperate to strengthen the democratic forces and particularly to help your party, but you have to make the real fight.

And tomorrow did continue to fight, but not against communists in the face of American threats, he continued advocating for cross-party cooperation even after his second and final term, Morreau proposed that the new prime minister should include communists in his cabinet as well.

This was what the press named the historic compromise. And on March 16th, 1978, Aldo Moro was headed to the Italian parliament to cast his vote in favor of his own plan.

As we know, Mauro's driver took him to Parliament that morning, but they never made it.

At around nine o'clock, an armed group of militants sprayed Morell's car with bullets, killing his bodyguards. But miraculously, Mora survived. The terrorists grabbed the former prime minister, loaded him into a van and drove off.

A few days later, the Red Brigades took credit for the kidnapping. But that doesn't quite line up with the state of the Red Brigades in 1978. By then, they were a shadow of their former selves. Most of their original leaders had been arrested, and internal friction further weaken the group.

According to a declassified CIA primer on the Red Brigades, they were composed of dropouts, students of little academic achievement, lower ranking union officials and some drug addicts.

The document called the irrigators hard but stupid.

And yet without any military training, they apparently pulled off the most complicated, sophisticated and significant kidnapping in the history of Italy.

One of the original founders of the Red Brigades, Alberto Franceschini, suggested they had outside help in a 1999 article in L'Espresso, Franceschini claim that the CIA had infiltrated his organization. He argued that Moretti abducted Morocco under CIA orders.

But Franceschini logic didn't always hold up. He said that the Red Brigades couldn't pull off the capture on their own, but the fact was they'd engineered dozens of kidnappings before Moreau. Moretti has even joked about this theory. He quipped that he'd be a pretty poor CIA operative, considering he was later caught and spent 20 years in prison, whether or not the CIA was involved.

U.S. President Jimmy Carter wasted no time in sending aid after Moreau's kidnapping. It came in the form of a psychiatric expert and hostage negotiator, Steve Picknick. But according to Picnic's own book, we killed Aldo Moro. He wasn't there to help the prime minister. Under orders from the Carter administration, picnic's mission was to ensure that Moreau died in captivity. That's pretty damning, but this still doesn't seem like a CIA hit job to me, the Red Brigades held more for 54 days before finally assassinating him.

If the United States wanted him dead, they could have done it much faster unless the plan wasn't just to kill morale, but to kill any chance that his historic compromise might succeed.

The moral case kept Italy on the edge of its seat for months and fomented a new wave of anti-communist sentiment. Maybe that was the CIA's goal all along.

If that was their plan. It definitely succeeded. The Italian Communist Party never regained the support they'd had under moral.

This theory seems airtight, except for the testimony from the Red Brigades themselves.

Many former members of the terrorist cell have been arrested and tried for Moreau's kidnapping. Most of them have confessed to the crime. If they were operating under CIA orders, why would they take the fall for their American handlers?

Now, a high level government operative might allow themselves to be arrested in the name of the cause, especially if they could count on a light sentence or a pardon. Red Brigades leader Mario Moretti was released on parole in 1998, only 20 years after the assassination. Pretty generous sentence for a man who'd murdered a prime minister. Still, no one wants to spend 20 years in jail.

There's definitely a lot of evidence that something suspicious was going on with America's stakes in the moral capture. But there's very little proof that the CIA was directly involved with this kidnapping on a scale of one to 10, where one is totally unbelievable and 10 is a confirmed fact. I give conspiracy theory number one, a five. While it's possible that Operation Gladio and the CIA killed Al tomorrow, it's just as likely that the Red Brigades acted alone.

I was convinced as soon as I learned that the CIA created a secret army in Italy. Operation Glorioso existence is beyond doubt. It was declassified in 1990, combined with the CIA's actions across the globe and the two attempted coups within Italy. I'm giving this theory an eight out of 10.

The CIA might have contributed to Eldo Morell's death. But as we've already noted, the United States was far from the only government that wanted him gone. Morrow's greatest enemy might have been his own party. Coming up, we'll explore our second and final theory, the Christian Democrats betrayed. And now back to the story.

In 1951, the CIA and the Italian intelligence agency CFR set up a network of soldiers called Operation Gladio.

They may have ordered Aldo Moro's assassination, but they weren't the only shadowy government initiative operating behind the scenes. Italy was home to a deep state composed of the most elite power brokers of the time politicians, journalists and businessmen, members of one of the world's most notorious secret societies.

Yep, we're talking about free masons.

We know the Masons exerted immense influence in 20th century Italian politics. It's thought that they may also have ordered Morrows death. Which brings us to conspiracy theory number two. Mauro's own political party, secretly run by a Masonic organization, executed him because he threatened their influence.

Formed in 1877, the propaganda Masonic was the Roman branch of the Freemasons. Despite its proximity to the capital, the propaganda lodge was only Italy's second most powerful Masonic chapter. As such, it was called Propaganda Du, or Pitou.

Because Peeter was a minor lodge, it didn't draw much oversight from the greater Masonic order. This meant they could push the rules. In general, Masons weren't supposed to discuss politics in the lodges, but Pitou was a hotbed for debates and negotiations.

In particular, Pitou became a safe haven for fascists, people whose ideologies had fallen out of fashion. After Mussolini's execution, his former collaborators disavowed the party, but only in public. In the privacy of Pitou, they could openly discuss their hatred of communism and their desire for a new, more successful fascist regime.

One of PETA's most outspoken members was named Liggio Jelly at age 18, Jelly had joined an Italian military force that installed a brutal fascist dictator in Spain. And during World War two, he helped create the Italian Social Republic, a short lived Italian government that was effectively a puppet state of Nazi Germany.

When the allies invaded Italy, Canadian forces captured jelly in a 1992 BBC documentary, Jelly said. They brought us a sheet of paper and the officer told me to write down my life story. A week later, they asked if I wanted to be parachuted into the north. It was a U.S. colonel who asked, but I said, No, my work is over.

But his work was far from over. No one truly knows what Jelly did for the next decade after World War Two, according to rumors, he either joined the CIA or British intelligence. Some say that he became a temporary communist working to free political prisoners.

Even his status as a Canadian captive is in doubt. Jelly's seemingly never shared that detail before. The documentary most assumed that he voluntarily switched sides.

One decade after the war, Gelee returned to Italy and pursued a career in business. He rose up the ranks rapidly, starting as a mattress factory sales employee and eventually owning his own textile company. His charisma and networking abilities were already on display, skills that would eventually prove invaluable to propaganda.

Do they needed Jelly's help? Mussolini had banned secret societies during his reign, and despite support from American masons who encouraged PITAs anti-communist stance, Italian Freemasonry was struggling to recover. Pareto's membership was at an all time low in the 1960s, with fewer than 20 members.

In 1964, they reportedly recruited Jelly for his business connections. His fascist history might have made him appealing, although he'd switched sides during World War Two, Jelly had since returned to the far right. He even participated, and Vallario Borges attempted coup as a member of PETA.

Jelly quickly proved his worth.

In 1971, he became its de facto leader, and once he had power, Jelly transformed the Masonic Lodge. It had previously been a harmless social club, but Jelly had a grander vision in mind. He encouraged open political discussion because PETA was headquartered in Rome.

It was the home lodge for every politician who lived there till he specifically recruited these officials and other powerful businessmen and intelligence officials, Putu became a hub of covert fascism and neo fascist conversation.

In 1976, Italy's National Masonic Lodge caught wind of Jelly's transgressions.

They swiftly disowned Pitou, which may have been exactly what Jelle wanted. Free from their ties to the larger order, PITAs transformation into a political organization was complete.

Journalist Carmin Mineau Peccerelli was a member at the time, even though he was strictly opposed to many of its actions. In March 1978, Peccerelli published an article in his magazine observatory Politico. He compared Prime Minister Aldo Moro to Julius Caesar and predicted that something awful would be for him on March 15th, also known as The Ides of March, he was only off by a day.

As mentioned last episode, it was strange that Mauro's kidnappers knew exactly where he'd be. On March 16th, his driver consistently changed routes as a safety precaution. And yet the kidnappers knew exactly where Moreau would be. It seemed almost like a lucky guess, or maybe not.

Italian Prime Minister Andreotti was an active member of Pitou. Maybe Andreotti leaked the whereabouts that led to Moreau's kidnapping.

And that's just the first strange coincidence.

As we touched on before the United States sent Steve Picknick to Italy on the day of Moreau's capture, publicly, he was there to negotiate for Morales release.

But he later claimed that privately a higher up had given him strict instructions to do whatever he could to prevent that from happening.

Much to his surprise by, Tenwick reportedly found that the Italian government had no intention of freeing Aldo Moro either. But maybe he shouldn't have been so shocked. Interior Minister Francesco Cosigners Crisis Committee was said to be almost entirely comprised of PETA members.

Picnic later said, We found ourselves in this hall filled with generals and politicians, all people who knew him well. And yet I had this distinct feeling that none of them found moral, amiable or a genius as a person, Kosuga included. It was obvious that I wasn't speaking with his allies.

Picnic's suspicions only grew. On April 18th, 1978, a Roman newspaper received a communique allegedly from the Red Brigades. The letter claimed that Aldo Moro had been executed. His body was in Lake du Kaisa on a remote mountain nearly 100 miles north of Rome.

Interior Minister Corsica sent hundreds of military officers to the site, but they were unable to find evidence that Moro or the Red Brigades had ever been to the lake.

The next day, the Red Brigades sent a photo of the still alive Moro holding a newspaper with the headline. Aldo Moro slain their accompanying letter accused cosigners committee of publishing the false message.

According to Picknick, this accusation was correct. In fact, he thought the article was the government's way of saying that they wanted Moro dead.

Picnic's reasoning was that Morreau needed to be killed before he could spill state secrets. A previous letter from the Brigades had made a passing reference to NATO's anti guerrilla activities. The Christian Democrats may have interpreted this as a clear sign that Moro had revealed the existence of Operation Gladio. He needed to be killed as soon as possible before he divulged any more information.

If you think that logic is hard to follow. You're not alone. If the Red Brigades saw the Christian Democrats as enemies, why would they take their orders? Especially if Moro was giving up valuable intel? They had no reason to kill their source, especially if doing so would help their opponents.

And even if the Red Brigades were under orders to kill Moro, they clearly didn't get the message they held on to the prime minister for another month.

Those weeks took their toll on the government officials. Whether or not because was in on the conspiracy, he appeared to be genuinely distraught. In a 1992 BBC documentary, Kasinga claimed that his decision to refuse negotiation turned his hair white. And shortly after the police discovered Mauro's body, Kosuga retired. Or maybe his guilty conscience was weighing on him.

Or maybe he genuinely wanted to free moral. And the failed negotiations broke his spirit.

Afterward, Kosuga insisted that he'd never been a member of Propaganda DU or any Masonic organization, and a public list of nearly 1000 PETA members didn't include Kosuga, so he probably wasn't in on the conspiracy. More likely, he was a pawn.

But let's look at testimony from the actual alleged conspirators, Mino Peccerelli, the troublemaking journalist who'd predicted Moreau's kidnapping, was intensely suspicious of both Pitou to which he belonged, as well as the CIA. Shortly after Morel's death in May 1978, he vaguely accused a superpower inspired by the, quote, logic of Yalta.

The logic of Yalta referenced the 1945 Yalta agreement between the Soviet Union and the United States. After the devastation of World War Two, they'd agreed to divide the responsibility of rebuilding Europe between themselves. While the U.S. promoted democracy and capitalism in Western Europe, the USSR promoted communism.

So Peccerelli implicated the United States and its Cold War tactics. Most historians believe that Peccerelli was also teasing his intention to betray Pitou and reveal Italy's biggest secret the existence of Operation Gladio. Less than a year later, on March 20th, 1979, Maeno, Peccerelli was murdered. His homicide is unsolved. But Pitou leader Liscio Jelly and Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti have both been accused. Their close ties to Pitou didn't help their case.

Pitou became known to the general public in 1981 when police officers found a partial list of its members.

The discovery led to a massive scandal. Dozens of politicians resigned. Jelle fled to Switzerland and then South America. He was eventually arrested for his association with far right terrorism. And the Christian Democrats reputation never recovered.

As reluctant as I was to believe in the Italian deep St. Peter's existence and influence is undeniable. On the other hand, evidence that they directly ordered Moreau's assassination is Spar's prime minister. Andreotti may have cooperated with Pitou, but he wasn't a member. Neither was Interior Minister Francesco Kosuga. In fact, Kasinga later insisted that the decision not to free Morreau was purely diplomatic. All that's assuming we can take him at his word. Hostage negotiator Steve Bicheno complicated cosigners administration for publishing the letter that may have killed Morreau.

But let's talk about Picnic's credibility. This wasn't some one off book. Picnic is the author of 12 military fiction novels and self-help books. He probably embellished the conspiracy for his book and the moral kidnapping. Besides, no one has corroborated his claims, and he only spoke about Operation Gladio after it became public knowledge. Personally, I believe by Czarnik, the Christian Democrats behavior during negotiations only makes sense if we assume they wanted Morad dead and give conspiracy theory no to a nine out of 10.

This almost definitely happened.

I'm convinced, too. I think it's very possible. Pitou leaked Eldo tomorrow's route to the Red Brigades and they were certainly poised to influence the Italian government. I give this theory an eight out of 10.

Going back to our first theory for a second, I think that Operation Gladio and Peeter cooperated to ensure Mauro's kidnapping and murder. Both of these top secret organizations had the exact same goal. Eliminate the former prime minister.

I still don't believe that Operation Gladio infiltrated the Red Brigades. So I'm inclined to think that conspiracy theory number two is true. The Christian Democrats murdered Moro without help from the CIA. Whoever orchestrated Morrow's death, his family lost everything, as far as anyone knows, his final act was to write a letter to his wife, Elanora, requesting that his fellow Christian Democrats not attend his funeral.

True to her late husband's wishes, Eleonora Mauro declined a police escort for Morel's body. He was buried in a private ceremony with only his family in attendance.

Later, Moreau's family spoke to the media regarding the conspiracies that already surrounded his death.

In a public statement, they said history will judge the life and death of Aldo Moro. Thanks for tuning in to conspiracy theories. We'll be back next week with a new episode, you can find all episodes of conspiracy theories and all other Paşa cast originals for free on Spotify.

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Until then, remember, the truth isn't always the best story and the official story isn't always the truth.

Conspiracy Theories was created by Max Cutler in Dessaix Park Studios. Original executive producers include Max and Ron Cutler, Sound Design by Dick Schroder with production assistance by Ron Shapiro, Carly Madden and Travis Clark. This episode of Conspiracy Theories was written by Eric Stanecki with writing assistance by Ali Whicker and stars Molly Brandenberg and Carter Roy.

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