Mad Outta Me Head: Addiction and Underworld from Ireland to Colombia

Mad Outta Me Head follows the life of Christopher Kavanagh. A case could be made that sexual abuse by Catholic priests or his IRA family connections contributed to Christopher's criminal path. But he would admit it all came down to his love of drugs and alcohol — getting "mad outta his head." From Ireland's industrial schools and penitentiaries to the heroin epidemic in Ireland, Christopher paints a vivid picture of Dublin's underworld in the 70s and 80s. Christopher's drug addiction brought him to Bogota, Colombia, where he served three years in Colombia's largest prison, La Modelo. There he befriended guerrilla insurgents, drug cartel assassins, and many more from the rank-and-file of Colombia's underworld — mafiosos, killers, thieves, conmen, and more. In 1989, Christopher was released onto the streets of Bogota at a time when TIME Magazine called it the world's worst city, the capital of the world's most dangerous country. His memoir features murder, rape, riots, torture, bank robberies, scams, partying, hedonism, and debilitating addiction.