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The Cocaine Diaries

A Venezuelan Prison Nightmare

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The Cocaine Diaries

By: Jeff Farrell, Paul Keany
Narrated by: Aidan Kelly
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‘It won’t happen to me. That’s what I thought when I got on the plane to Venezuela. But it did–I got caught.’

Caught smuggling half a million euros’ worth of cocaine, Paul Keany was sexually assaulted by Venezuelan anti-drugs officers before being sentenced to eight years in the notorious Los Teques prison outside Caracas. There he was plunged into a nightmarish world of coke-fuelled killings, gun battles, stabbings, extortion and forced hunger strikes until finally, just over two years into his sentence, he gained early parole and embarked on a daring escape from South America . . .

Aided by his extensive prison diaries, Keany reveals the true horror of life inside Los Teques: a shocking underworld behind bars where inmates pay protection money to stay alive, prostitutes do the rounds and vast amounts of cocaine are smuggled in for cell-block bosses to sell on to prisoners for huge profits. The Cocaine Diaries is a remarkable story, told by Keany with honesty, courage and even humour, despite knowing that every day behind bars might have been his last.

©2012 Jeff Farrell and Paul Keany (P)2023 Jeff Farrell and Paul Keany Social Sciences True Crime Crime Scary Thought-Provoking
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Absolutely gripping! The prison ‘system’ abroad is madness. The story was told so well, the fear and the sadness was felt with sprinklings of the relief that he had made connections made throughout Paul’s sentence. Five star read

Fascinating read

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I am sure this came from the ghost writer rather than the protagonist, but this does make incarceration in dangerous prisons sounds like quite good craic overall for those that survive, assuming of course that you're a good

Very grim but entertaining

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This is amazing read it before ur feels like your there the way he reads it brilliant

The way he makes you feel like your there

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Fascinating story, very well written and superbly narrated.
Great listen and highly recommended to all

Bloody Loved It

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Brutal, honest and captivating. Midnight express on steroids. A story that needed telling! Fabulously acted.

Brilliantly told

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