Shaun Attwood

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Shaun Attwood
Prison Talks (cropped).jpg
Attwood in March 2014
Born
Shaun Attwood

(1968-10-28) October 28, 1968 (age 51)
Widnes, Lancashire, England
Occupation
  • Author
  • public speaker
  • activist
Known forEcstasy distribution in the 1990s
Websitejonsjailjournal.blogspot.com

Shaun Attwood (born October 28, 1968)[1][2] is an English former ecstasy distributor turned YouTuber, public speaker,[3] activist, and author.

Attwood was born in Widnes, Cheshire and became interested in the stock-market at an early age of 14, trading for the first time at the age of sixteen.[4] After travelling to Arizona regularly to visit his aunts, Attwood moved there and eventually becoming mired in the bubbling rave scene and distributing ecstasy, smuggling up to £4 million.[5] He was arrested in 2002 and was released early in 2007 before being deported back to England. Following his release, Attwood became a public speaker and author, chronicling his experiences in prison.[2]

His story was featured worldwide on National Geographic Channel as an episode of Locked Up Abroad called "Raving Arizona".[6] Random House published his life story as the English Shaun Trilogy.[7] Since publishing his debut book Hard Time (2011), Attwood has authored books on his life and other topics.

Early life[edit]

Shaun Attwood was born in Widnes, Lancashire on October 28, 1968 in a middle-class household[8] that he described as "loving."[9] After watching several films mentioning stock-markets, Attwood educated himself, with the help of his teacher in economics, on trading stocks by reading the Financial Times at fourteen.[9] When he was sixteen, during the privatization of many public companies by the Thatcher government, Attwood attempted to invest in British Telecommunications. After inquiring with his father, a Labour supporter who disagreed with Thatcher government's actions, Attwood sought money from his grandmother who supported the Conservative party and eventually got £50 which he invested and doubled.[4][10] Attwood regularly visited his aunts in Arizona where he became interested in living in the United States.[9]

Attwood attended University of Liverpool, studying Business Studies and graduating in 1990.[11] While attending university, Attwood started to take Ecstasy in the Manchester rave scene which helped him with his anxiety.[4][12]


Ecstasy distributor: 1997-2002[edit]

As Attwood began to organize larger parties with his money, he started purchasing and eventually distributing large amounts of ecstasy in Los Angeles.[9] This gradually turned into what the Phoenix New Times called an "empire”,[13] with Attwood buying pills from the Netherlands to bypass the traffickers in Los Angeles.[14]

Attwood's operation began to be associated with the New Mexican Mafia, which offered protection following a night of partying where Attwood's associates helped a member of the New Mexican Mafia with hiding from the police.[15] His main competitor in the Ecstasy market was Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano, a Mafia mass murderer and former underboss of the Gambino crime family. Gravano attempted to kill Attwood and many of Attwood's associates, which caused him to stop dealing and give up distributing, retreating to his then-girlfriend's apartment and living off money earned during his time distributing. Attwood estimated he smuggled up to £4 million of drugs into Arizona which wasn't exclusive to Ecstasy and also included Xanax and ketamine.[16][5]

Evidence had already been collected against Attwood from his years as an Ecstasy kingpin, and on May 16, 2002, he was arrested at the apartment. Attwood, who had attempted to clean himself of any connections to his previous life as a distributor, was caught due to ten witnesses coming forward.[17]

After serving two years in Maricopa County Jail prior to sentencing, Attwood pleaded guilty for a sentence of nine and a half years, and served the balance of his sentence in the Arizona Department of Corrections.[18] Attwood is banned for life from entering the United States.[19]

While imprisoned, Attwood wrote about his experiences in prison. These accounts were posted online on a blog titled "Jon's Jail Journal" to preserve his anonymity; this began to draw international media attention[20] to the conditions that prevailed under Sheriff Arpaio.[21] While incarcerated Attwood submerged himself in literature, reading over 1,000 books in just under 6 years, including many classics. By studying original texts in psychology and philosophy, he sought to better understand himself and his past behaviour.[22]

Post-incarceration life[edit]

In 2007 Attwood was released and deported to the U.K., where he continues to maintain his blog, now under his own name, where he publishes letters and accounts sent to him by other prisoners. Having credited books for being the lifeblood of his rehabilitation, Attwood spoke out in outrage on The Wright Stuff at the ban on sending books to U.K. prisons introduced by Justice Minister Chris Grayling.

Attwood visiting a school

Attwood now gives talks to schoolchildren and other groups about the negative consequences of drugs and crime, and advocates against Sheriff Arpaio and his methods. Shaun has given several TEDx Talks on his experiences. The University of Basel, Switzerland hosted his 2017 talk on what facing 200 years in prison taught him about happiness.[23][11] He has appeared on BBC, Sky News, CNN and TV in over 40 countries worldwide to talk about issues affecting prisoners' rights.

Attwood now has a True Crime podcast and a YouTube channel with over 300,000 subscribers as of the 17 October 2019. He answers questions about what prison was like, interviews true-crime guests and retells stories of what happened during his time in prison. Shaun Attwood has conducted several interviews and published research on the case surrounding the underage sex trafficking ring around Jeffrey Epstein.

Bibliography[edit]

  • Hard Time, 1st edition, Mainstream Publishing (2011); 2nd Edition, Gadfly Press (2014); New Edition, CreateSpace Publishing (2016)
  • Party Time, 1st edition, Mainstream Publishing (2013), New Edition, CreateSpace Publishing (2018)
  • Prison Time 1st edition, Mainstream Publishing (2014)
  • Life lessons (2015)
  • Pablo Escobar: Beyond Narcos (2016)
  • American Made: Who Killed Barry Seal? Pablo Escobar or George HW Bush (2016)
  • Un-Making a Murderer: The Framing of Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey (2017)
  • The Cali Cartel: Beyond Narcos (2017)
  • The Mafia Philosopher: Two Tonys (2018)
  • Pablo Escobar's Story 1: The Rise (2018)
  • Pablo Escobar's Story 2: Narcos at War (2019)
  • We Are Being Lied To: The War on Drugs (expected Dec 2019)[24]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Jon. "Jon's Jail Journal (by Shaun Attwood)". Retrieved October 5, 2018.
  2. ^ a b Summers, Chris (August 23, 2010). "Cockroaches and classrooms". BBC News. Retrieved October 5, 2018.
  3. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on August 4, 2014. Retrieved January 27, 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ^ a b c True Geordie (May 17, 2017), ENGLAND'S WOLF OF WALL STREET | True Geordie Podcast #38, retrieved October 5, 2018
  5. ^ a b Hill, Patrick (March 10, 2018). "Nerdy British student became US drugs kingpin known as 'The Wolf of Widnes'". mirror. Retrieved October 5, 2018.
  6. ^ "Locked Up Abroad: Where Are They Now?: Shaun Attwood". April 25, 2013. Retrieved September 11, 2017.
  7. ^ http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/authors/shaun-attwood
  8. ^ Echo, Liverpool (March 17, 2008). "Shaun Attwood on life in an American prison". liverpoolecho. Retrieved October 5, 2018.
  9. ^ a b c d "Meet the British millionaire stockbroker whose illegal drug empire landed him in one of America's most dangerous jails". Business Insider. Retrieved October 5, 2018.
  10. ^ Hill, Patrick (March 10, 2018). "The nerdy student who took on America's drug barons - and lived to regret it". men. Retrieved October 5, 2018.
  11. ^ a b "Cockroaches and classrooms - drugs tale with a difference". BBC News. August 23, 2010.
  12. ^ "I Used My Stockmarket Millions to Throw Raves and Sell Drugs". Vice. April 25, 2013. Retrieved October 5, 2018.
  13. ^ Kelley, Susy Buchanan, Brendan Joel (July 18, 2002). "Evil Empire". Phoenix New Times. Retrieved October 6, 2018.
  14. ^ "I Used My Stockmarket Millions to Throw Raves and Sell Drugs". Vice. April 25, 2013. Retrieved October 6, 2018.
  15. ^ "Murderers, Mafia Hitmen and US Prison | Bristol". uk.funzing.com. Retrieved October 6, 2018.
  16. ^ Kelley, Susy Buchanan, Brendan Joel (July 18, 2002). "Evil Empire". Phoenix New Times. Retrieved October 5, 2018.
  17. ^ "From Stock Broker Millionaire to Ecstasy Drug Lord: Shaun Attwood Interview". Budapest Pulse. June 19, 2018. Retrieved October 6, 2018.
  18. ^ "Prison Time". shaunattwood.com. Retrieved September 11, 2017.
  19. ^ "Shaun Attwood - United Agents". unitedagents.co.uk. Retrieved May 24, 2018.
  20. ^ "Shaun Attwood – Author, Speaker, Educator". shaunattwood.com. Retrieved September 11, 2017.
  21. ^ James, Erwin (September 1, 2010). "Life in America's toughest jail". The Guardian. London.
  22. ^ "Shaun Attwood – Author, Speaker, Educator". shaunattwood.com. Retrieved September 11, 2017.
  23. ^ Attwood, Shaun. "What facing 200 prison years taught me about happiness". YouTube. Retrieved August 23, 2017.
  24. ^ Gadfly Press, UK publisher

External links[edit]

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