A Gangster's Life

About A Gangster’s Life

Bestselling author Peter Edwards exposes Canada’s evolving criminal underworld in this unflinching account of Shane Dankoski, a gang member who rescued himself from certain death by turning his back on criminal life.

In this gripping tale of a modern-day outlaw, Shane Dankoski meticulously recounts his time as a high-ranking member of the United Nations gang of British Columbia in the early 2000s. Under constant threat from other gangs, including the Wolfpack and Hells Angels, Shane spent a decade evading the law and building his drug empire. 

Shane seemed destined for gang life. He grew up in a violent home on a small block in a neighbourhood of Surrey where a nation-spanning gang war would later take root. After losing numerous friends and becoming addicted to the very drugs he helped put on the street, Shane would eventually be picked up by police officers whom, recognizing a man with enough conscience to want out, turned him into a cooperator of their own. Now retired from crime and settled down as a family man, Shane’s story proves that it’s possible to triumph over life’s obstacles.

Peter Edwards deftly weaves a tale of betrayal, grief and astounding resilience, in this gut-wrenching portrait from the inside of Canada’s criminal underworld. A Gangster’s Life brings alive the structure and international scope of modern gang life, and of ultimately finding a way out of it.