From the Inside: Chopper 1

"Apart from Irish whiskey, good cigars, Pontiac motor cars, and a pistol grip baby .410 shotgun with solid load shells, what I love the most is kidnapping smartarse gangsters and taking their money. To the human filth I have bashed, belted, iron barred, axed, shot, stabbed, knee capped, set on fire and driven to their graves, I can only quote from the motto of the French Foreign Legion, 'Je Ne Regrette Rien' ... I REGRET NOTHING." Mark Brandon "Chopper" Read is the son of a strict Seventh Day Adventist mother and a shell-shocked soldier who slept with a loaded gun at his side. Bullied at school, he grew up dreaming of revenge, determined to be the toughest in any company. He became a crime commando who terrorised drug dealers, pimps, thieves and armed robbers on the streets and in jail – but boasts he never hurt an innocent member of the public. This first volume of Chopper's memoirs tells the story of his early life of crime and incarceration and is peppered with anecdotes and reflections on Australian politics, society and justice. From streetfighter to standover man, gunman to underworld executioner, he has been earmarked for death a dozen times but has lived to tell the tale. This is it.