Sitdowns with Gangsters: My real and terrifying conversations with the world’s most dangerous men

by Shaun Attwood, Christopher Berry-Dee (Foreword)

Featuring an introduction from the UK's bestselling true-crime author, Christopher Berry-Dee.

Shaun Attwood is the man who talks to gangsters, drug lords and mafia bosses. Infamously known for his time as the head of an international ecstasy ring in Arizona, Shaun has since turned to gaining the trust of some of the world's most dangerous people, interviewing and questioning them about their stories.

Collated from the many hours of interview material, and containing additional content exclusive to the book, Shaun brings together ten powerful conversations with the most gruesome and deadly gangsters of recent years.

Filled with truthful, brutal, and often redemptive stories, Shaun's interviews feature international smugglers, mafia enforcers and a man who escaped from Thailand's most notorious prison. Sitdowns with Gangsters is an unputdownable read that offers a glimpse into the lives and inner workings of some of the world's most fearsome gangsters.

Genres: True Crime

283 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 20, 2023

About the author

In prison, I read over 1000 books in just under six years, including many literary classics. Books were the lifeblood of my rehabilitation.

As told on National Geographic Channel's Locked-Up/Banged-Up Abroad episode "Raving Arizona," I used a tiny pencil sharpened on a cell door to write the first prison blog, Jon’s Jail Journal. My writing, smuggled out of the jail with the highest rate of death in America, run by Sheriff Joe Arpaio, turned the international media spotlight on the human rights violations, including guards murdering mentally ill inmates, dead rats in the food, lack of medical care...

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

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

Facing a life sentence, I entered a lengthy legal battle. After two years of being held unsentenced, I was convicted of drug offences. Sentenced to 9½ years, I served almost 6.

I had only read finance books prior to my arrest. While incarcerated, I submerged myself in literature. By studying original texts in psychology and philosophy, I sought to better understand myself and my past behaviour.

Released in December 2007, I continue to campaign against Sheriff Joe Arpaio. I keep my blog, Jon’s Jail Journal, going by posting stories mailed to me by my prison friends.

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

I presently live near London, and talk to schools across the UK about my jail experience and the consequences of getting involved in drugs and crime.

Reviews

[Lydia Mae Clarke · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

I love true crime and really trying to get into non-fiction a bit more. The way Atwood set the scene and then went back and told each gangster’s story and intro to crime was effective and I felt like I was watching a documentary!

I guess because each chapter was a separate interview with a separate individual it felt a little disjointed? Not sure, but something wasn’t quite 4 star for me

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Exactly what it says on the tin. As seen, occasionally, on the author's podcast.

[Amy Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well read! Loved listening to on audible

[Callum Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating read that you won’t want to put down. My only criticism of the book is that arrangement of the stories could have been better, I felt the some of the later chapters were quite tame compared to the first few. I would now like to read more of Shaun’s books, off the back of this.