The Palermo Ambush By Colin Forbes

Were they with Petrie...or against him? The name of the game was sabotage. Major James Petrie landed in Palermo for one purpose only --- to destroy a German armored troopship. — It was a tough assignment. It meant a two hundred mile trek across Sicily. It meant land mines, the SS, the Gestapo, the Carabinieri, the entire German army. — It looked bad. But it looked worse when Vito Scelba showed up.

Vito Scelba -- the Mafia chieftain, leader of a band of outlaws. They told Petrie they wanted to go with him. They said they wanted to help.

Petrie wasn't too sure what they wanted. But he was going to find out fast enough.