Banged Up Abroad with Shaun Attwood

From millionaire to mafia drugs hell and super max security prison. Interesting Talks is incredibly excited to announce the return of Shaun Attwood.

Shaun went a recreational drug user to becoming a drug "king pin" in America selling 30,000 ecstasy pills per week. He got caught and sent to maximum security prison in Arizona. His story has been documented by the National Geographic program "Banged Up Abroad".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AGoCPeCyDQ

In this talk, Shaun will also be talking his story and about some of the characters he met along the way;

Sammy the Bull Gravano, my competitor in the ecstasy market who had a hit out on me

The New Mexican Mafia, Arizona's most dangerous criminal organisation who had my back

Two Tonys, A Mafia mass murderer (http://jonsjailjournal.blogspot.co.uk/2008/07/07-jul-08-whacking-of-charlie-by-two.html) who serving 141 years, who protected me in prison. a Mafia clean-up guy who left a trail of his rivals’ corpses from the snow fields of Alaska to the Arizona desert. “So what if I left a few bodies along the highway. Those punks all had it coming.” TWO TONYS worked for the BONANNO CRIME FAMILY, whose exploits inspired THE GODFATHER.

T-Bone a deeply-spiritual massively-built African-American who uses formidable fighting skills acquired as a US Marine to stop prison rape.

Xena - A 6 1/2 foot transsexual and Wiccan priestess who Cut off a testicle and almost bled to death. (http://jonsjailjournal.blogspot.com/2008/04/17-apr-08-removal-part-2-by-xena-xena.html)

This is going to be a VERY Interesting Talk. Please be aware that this event will contain content of a violent and disturbing nature.

If you are interested in; corruption, drug trafficking, the Mafia and how organised crime really works, then this is the talk for you!

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Shaun Attwood

Raised in a small chemical-manufacturing town in northern England, Shaun was the first from his family to go to university. As a penniless graduate, he took his business degree to Phoenix, and worked his way up to become a stock-market millionaire.

But he also led a double life. An early fan of the Manchester rave scene, Shaun headed an organisation that threw raves and distributed Ecstasy. On May 16th 2002, a SWAT team knocked his door down.

Facing a life sentence, Shaun entered a lengthy legal battle. After two years of being held un-sentenced, Shaun was convicted of money laundering and drug offences. He was sentenced to 9½ years, and served almost 6.

Shaun had only read finance books prior to his arrest. While incarcerated, he submerged himself in literature – reading over 1000 books, including many classics. By studying original texts in psychology and philosophy, he sought to better understand himself and his past behaviour.

Shaun was released in December 2007, and continues to campaign against Sheriff Joe Arpaio. He keeps Jon’s Jail Journal going by posting stories mailed to him by his prison friends.

In July 2008, he won a Koestler award for a short story, which he read to an audience at the Royal Festival Hall.

Shaun presently lives near London, and talks to student audiences across the UK and Europe about his jail experience and the consequences he faced from getting involved in drugs and crime.

In 2013, Shaun's story is being televised worldwide to over 50 million viewers as an episode of Locked-Up Abroad/Banged-Up Abroad.

Shaun will be selling copies of his books "Party Time" and "Hard Time" at the event.

Shaun spoke at Interesting Talks in September 2013, here is just some of the feedback from people who attended;

Nicola Freeman "I loved this talk. It was riveting and sad. This was the most interesting talk I've been to."

Leanne Ford "this was so different from all of the other meet ups I've been to but it was excellent, inspiring, scary and at times stomach turning. Shaun was immensely honest and likeable and hope he continues to support others by sharing what he went through."

Katie S "Fantastic talk. Been mulling it over all day. Great speaker, lovely crowd of people - and as always, brilliantly stewarded/introduced by Matt. A great evening out."

AyPee "Quite an experience. All power to a man trying to take on evil"

Beverley "A powerful presentation, which stayed with me long after the talk had finished. Glad to see that Shaun has come through his experience and survived to tell the tale. I hope he continues to make a difference."

Norma Phoenix "An inspiring talk and illustration of how we have the capability of rising above terrible situations with the right mental attitude. Great story of survival and then going on to use such a traumatic experience for good."

Zara "Brilliant talk! Shocking but inspiring."

Maria "Wow..........I'm still buzzing..........amazing that Shaun has turned a bad situation in to something so positive and lived to tell the tale of his experiences! Carry on the campaign and raising awareness......you definitely make a difference!"

Lynne "Amazing and Inspirational talk. Thoroughly enjoyed it!"

Helena "Excellent talk by Shaun although I think I must have looked terrified throughout the whole evening. :-)"

EVENT DETAILS

Booking tickets: To book a ticket you need to click on “Attend” on the right hand side of the page. You will then be taken through to the payment page where you need a credit or debit card. Please note that although Paypal is used for payment, you do not need a Paypal account, just a credit or debit card.

We are not able to take payment in any other form. You can book up to 3 tickets maximum (you plus 2 guests).

Tickets are not available on the door.

Tickets are non-transferable and can not be sold to other members.

We have a waiting list system in place.

Time: The Doors open at 6:30pm. Talk is 7-9pm