Marching Powder: The Story of an English Drug-Smuggler, A Notorious Bolivian Prison And Enough Cocaine to Cover the Andes... - Softcover

Young, Rusty

Softcover

ISBN 10: 028307373X ISBN 13: 9780283073731

Publisher: Sidgwick & Jackson Ltd, 2003

Synopsis

MARCHING POWDER is the story of Thomas McFadden, a small-time English drug smuggler who was arrested in Bolivia and thrown inside the notorious San Pedro prison. He found himself in a bizarre world, the prison reflecting all that is wrong with South American society. Prisoners have to pay an entrance fee and buy their own cells (the alternative is to sleep outside and die of exposure), prisoners' wives and children often live inside too, high quality cocaine is manufactured and sold from the prison, and all the police from the governor downwards can be bribed. Under the surface is a frightening level of violence - Thomas's life was often in danger and one of his friends was murdered by the police when he threatened to expose the corruption in the prison.

Thomas ended up making a living by giving backpackers tours of the prison - he became a fixture on the backpacking circuit and was named in the Lonely Planet guide to Bolivia. When he was told that for a bribe of $5000 his sentence could be overturned, it was the many backpackers who'd passed through who sent him the money. Sometimes shocking, sometimes funny, MARCHING POWDER is an always riveting story of survival.

About this title

About the Author

Rusty Young is an Australian lawyer who met Thomas McFadden on a tour of San Pedro. He was so impressed by him that he stayed there (voluntarily) for three months in order to write his story, Marching Powder.

Edition details

• Publisher: Sidgwick & Jackson Ltd
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 028307373X
• ISBN 13: 9780283073731
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320