The octopus

An enlarged European Union ... a single currency ... a United States of Europe ... while the politicians and their electorates argue over Europe's future structures, the crooks are busily filling their coffers. From the highest Brussels parliamentary committee to the lowest Amsterdam paedophile ring, the octopus of organised crime is at work - controlling, manipulating, extorting, laughing all the way to the banks they are rich enough to own. This controversial book, the product of two years' meticulous, sometimes dangerous on-the-spot research, exposes Euro-crime Inc. in all its shocking manifestations - the Mafia, political corruption, Common Market fraud, right-wing terrorism, the illegal trade in drugs, sex, immigrants, armaments, nuclear materials, art, antiques, and human organs. Already the profits are immeasurably vast, while the counter-measures are fragmented and ineffectual. Respected experts believe that within two years organised crime's grip on European society will be unbreakable. Can the law enforcement agencies get their act together in time? The prospects aren't good. Add in the power of illegal European Freemasonry and the collapse of law and order in much of Eastern Europe, and the prospects are terrifying. Brian Freemantle remains hopeful. The bones of a single, efficient pan-European law enforcement agency, Europol, are in place. All that is needed to put flesh on these bones is the political will of the EU's member nations. The clock is ticking.