Naman Shrestha
In the 1990s, Arizona hosted an intense ecstasy rivalry between the son of mobster Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano, Gerard Gravano, and an English stockbroker named Shaun Attwood. While the latter controlled the rave scene of Arizona by dealing ecstasy to the party-goers, Gerard tried to steal his thunder and dealt with a different kind of ecstasy. The entire rivalry and its repercussions are explored in Max’s ‘Sons of Ecstasy,’ a true crime documentary film that features exclusive and in-depth interviews with the Gravanos and Shaun himself.
Shaun “English Shaun” Attwood Was the Ecstasy Kingpin in Arizona
Shaun “English Shaun” Attwood was born on October 28, 1968, in Widnes, Cheshire, to loving parents — Barbara and Derick Attwood. While growing up in a middle-class household, he used to visit his aunts in Arizona frequently, which resulted in him being deeply interested in someday relocating to the United States. When he became an adult, he made his dream come true and moved to Arizona. He got himself involved in the rave scene and became an ecstasy dealer and smuggler. However, his control of the ecstasy scene was challenged by Gerard Gravano, the son of hitman Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano.
As his rivalry with Gerard intensified, his days as the ecstasy kingpin came to an end, and on May 16, 2002, he was arrested despite his attempts to hide his criminal past. Consequently, he was sentenced to nine years in prison after he pleaded guilty to the charges against him. He was also banned from visiting the States for life. Out of his nine years, he only served five years as he was released in 2007 and deported back to the United Kingdom.
Shaun Attwood Wears Many Hats
From the young age of 14, Shaun Attwood showed interest in the stock market. Only a couple of years later, he attempted to invest in British Telecommunications for the first time. By then, he had already learned a lot about stock markets through several films and books like The Financial Times. After graduating from Liverpool University with a Business Studies degree in 1990, he shifted to the US and became a self-made stock-market millionaire before having a severe run-in with the law, as mentioned above.
After he was released, Shaun used writing as his outlet and even won a Koestler award for a short story in July 2008. Realizing writing had become his strength and virtue, he published his first book ‘Hard Time: Banged Up Abroad Raving Arizona’ in 2011. Over the years, he has written more than a dozen other books based on his life and other subject matters, such as ‘Prison Time,’ ‘Party Time: Raving Arizona,’ ‘American Made: Who Killed Barry Seal? Pablo Escobar or George HW Bush,’ ‘The Mafia Philosopher: Two Tonys,’ ‘Un-Making a Murderer: The Framing of Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey,’ and more.
He also features in an episode of National Geographic Channel’s ‘Locked Up Abroad’ called “Raving Arizona.” Also a speaker, Shaun uses his experiences and knowledge to run his own true crime podcast on his YouTube channel, which has about 945,000 subscribers as of writing. In his podcast, he interviews different experts, and they talk about “everything from aliens to the royal family.” Until now, he has interviewed various popular names in his podcast, including Robbie Williams, Chris Hansen, Andrew Tate, and biologist Richard Dawkins. Since he has learned a lot from his time in prison and through the ecstasy scandal, he has spoken for TEDx multiple times. Residing in the London area, he is a public speaker at The McLellan Practice.
Shaun “English Shaun” Attwood is a Devoted Father Today
Shaun Attwood has been in a healthy relationship with his YouTube co-host, Jen Hopkins, for quite a few years. They took their relationship to the next level by entering parenthood as Jen gave birth to their adorable son, Ziggy Wilder Attwood, on August 29, 2023. Elaborating on their experience of giving birth to Ziggy, especially of his partner, Shaun said, “Huge thanks for all the well wishes especially for Jen Hopkins who was in hospital for 13 days, including 2 days of labour. She went through everything imaginable (with minimal swearing 😂) and is an absolute soldier!”
In May 2024, Shaun, his partner, and their son explored the city of Bath in Somerset, England. More recently, in November 2024, they met their friends over dinner at the Nadu restaurant in Bristol, England, and had a wonderful time. For Christmas 2024, Shaun’s parents visited his house and stayed with his family to celebrate the most beautiful time of the year. Currently, the trio lives in the London area, where Shaun and Jen hope to give Ziggy the best possible life.
Read More: Michael “Mike” Papa: What Happened to Gerard Gravano’s Former Friend?
