I was one of the UK’s most feared gangsters, now I’m a CEO and my book is set to be a £30m film
ONE of Britain’s most feared gangsters is now a CEO whose book is about to be turned into a film.
Stephen Gillen, 49, operated in London’s East End criminal underworld for three decades and escaped death almost 100 times.
After being busted for an armed robbery in the early Nineties, he spent 20-years in Category A prisons before a supernatural encounter turned his life around.
Detailing his story in The Monkey Puzzle Tree, Stephen says it was witnessing a seven-year-old dying of a gunshot wound and screaming for his mother that plunged him into a life of crime.
He moved to East London aged just ten and quickly carved out a reputation as a criminal “forged with hardness” fuelled on rage from the horrors of Northern Ireland’s Trouble’s.
28 years of crime would see Stephen mastermind Securitas bank van heists and take on rivals in blood covered street fights.
He would later watch as criminal pals got taken out one by one by cops as his world slowly caved in on him.
After a botched armed burglary Stephen was forced to serve almost 20 years in prison where he carried a shank and watched inmates get murdered in front of him.
He hit rock bottom in a high risk segregation unit and then a spiritual encounter with his late Aunt Madge – who was pivotal in getting him out of Northern Ireland – changed his life.
Stephen claims her spirit told him never to return to crime and seek a new path, which he did.
He went on to become an International Peace Prize Nominee, philanthropist and entrepreneur and even visited the United Nations.
He later became CEO of Roar Media Creative, a media and marketing firm and now helps others reform against gang life.
The screenplay of Stephen’s life is being written by Kieran Suchet, nephew of David who played Poirot in the Agatha Christie TV adaptation.
The film – release date is yet to be announced – has a £30 million budget.