Shaun Attwood is an English former ecstasy distributor turned YouTuber, public speaker, activist, and author. Born in Widnes, Lancashire, Attwood became interested in the stock-market at age 14, trading for the first time at the age of sixteen. 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. 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. His story was featured worldwide on National Geographic Channel as an episode of Locked Up Abroad called "Raving Arizona". Random House published his life story as the English Shaun Trilogy. Since his first book Hard Time was published in 2011, Attwood has authored books on his life and other topics.
Early life
Shaun Attwood was born in Widnes, Lancashire, on 28 October 1968, to a middle-class household, which he has described as "loving". 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. 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. He regularly visited his aunts in Arizona where he became interested in living in the United States. Attwood attended Liverpool University, studying Business Studies and graduating in 1990. While attending university, Attwood began using Ecstasy in the Manchester rave scene which helped him with his anxiety.
Ecstasy distributor: 1997-2002
As Attwood began to organise larger parties with his money, he started purchasing and eventually distributing large amounts of ecstasy in Los Angeles. This gradually turned into what the Phoenix New Times called an "empire”, with Attwood buying pills from the Netherlands to bypass the traffickers in Los Angeles. His operation became 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. 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. Evidence had already been collected against Attwood from his years as an Ecstasy kingpin, and, on 16 May 2002, he was arrested at the apartment. Attwood, who had attempted to cleanse himself of any connections to his previous life as a distributor, was caught after ten witnesses came forward. 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. Attwood is banned for life from entering the United States. 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 to the conditions that prevailed under Sheriff Arpaio. 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.
Post-incarceration life
In 2007, Attwood was released and deported to the UK, 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 UK prisons introduced by Justice MinisterChris Grayling. 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. He has appeared on BBC, Sky News, CNN and TV in over 40 countries worldwide to talk about issues affecting prisoners' rights. After appearing on the True Geordie podcast, Attwood started his own 'True Crime' podcast and has a YouTube channel that reached 500,000 subscribers on 20 July 2020. 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 has written on the case surrounding the underage sex trafficking ring around Jeffrey Epstein, and has interviewed conspiracy theoristDavid Icke regarding the September 11 attacks and the coronavirus pandemic.
