This isn't very widely known, and likely to be denounced as fantasy and conspiracy theory by some, but to me and to many on this side of the Atlantic, this is a piece of history. History ongoing, because these groups have never been shut down - some believe it may be impossible to do.
Gladio is the name given to "stay-behind" operations set-up and controlled from London and Washington initially as a counter to possible invasions throughout western Europe by the soviet union.
Of course, those invasions didn't take place and clearly were not going to take place in any conventional sense from the early 1950's onwards, yet the stay-behind organisations throughout the nations of Europe - from Italy and Spain in the south up to the Netherlands and Belgium in the north (I've not heard of anything like this in Scandinavia, if memory serves me, but I wouldn't be surprised).
These groups were outside of judicial, governmental or legal restraint, oversight and control - the existence of and contacts to such organisations passed from premier-to-premier of successive governments (with notable right-wing-to-left-wing transfers of power excepted) - and were made of mainly ultra-nationalist partisans, members of masonic orders, anti-communists, anti-socialists and, yes, known pro-Mussolini fascists and Nazis.
They have been linked and demonstrated to be connected with acts of political subversion, popular agitation, acts as agents provocateur, financial scandals and violent crimes ranging from beatings to terrorism and mass murder - particularly from 1970 onwards.
The existence of these organisations was discovered and admitted by the Italian Government in Italy during 1990, with similar discoveries around Western Europe shortly thereafter leading to a denouncement in the European Parliament and several demands and resolutions calling for their disbandment. Thus far, this cannot be confirmed to have taken place in whole or in part.
A reasonable summary of "Gladio" is available on wikipedia
Google is your ally. Make up your own mind. Information
This BBC Documentary -
- in three parts easily followable through Google Video and focusses on the Italian and Belgian cases.
The maker of this documentary has made other documentaries, denounced by the UK and US governments, such as *gulp*
The Maltese Doublecross