Atwell was born into a middle-class family in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough, Ontario and started to work as a bouncer in Toronto-area bars as a teenager.
[1] Atwell described "Jim" as a tough veteran of the Falklands War who had seen combat, and who taught him much about serving as a bodyguard.
[3] Through his guard duties at the Falcon's Nest nightclub in the 1990s, Atwell came to know members of the Para-Dice Riders, a Toronto outlaw biker club, with whom he often socialized.
[4] Atwell became friends with one of their leaders, Thomas Craig aka "TC", whom he described as a man who "...liked to drink, liked to party and he liked to fight".
[7] Douglas Myles, the vice president of the Para-Dice Riders, stated he was willing to sponsor Atwell in as a new member, an important endorsement.
[10] Atwell recalled about Stadnick's offer: "There was a vote, and 51 per cent of the Para-Dice Riders decided to join the Hells Angels.
"[1] On 29 December 2000, in a much publicized ceremony, most of the Ontario outlaw biker gangs such as Satan's Choice, the Vagabonds, the Lobos, the Last Chance, the Para-Dice Riders and some of the Loners travelled to Hells Angels' "mother chapter" clubhouse in Sorel, just south of Montreal to join the Hells Angels, making them at one stroke the dominant outlaw biker club in Ontario.
[11] Atwell got lost on his way to Sorel, and when he arrived was ordered by the Para-Dice Riders national president, John "Winner" Neal, to report to serve his new masters in the Hells Angels.
[14] Atwell stated about joining the Hells Angels: "I had my apprehensions, but I was told that nothing would change except the patches we wore on our backs.
[1] Atwell stated most of the Hells Angels had what he lacked, namely: "That predator instinct and natural criminality—people who can take advantage of things like the fentanyl epidemic in Canada.
You’re a Hells Angel 24/7, and the people close to you just have to put up with it"[19] On 4 April 2002, he was arrested by the Toronto police after selling drugs to a woman who turned out to a police informer, leading him to be charged with drug dealing, forcing him to live on bail for the next twenty months, during which he incurred large legal debts and was forced to live with his father to save money.
[1] Though the charges were ultimately dropped, he was left deeply in debt, all the more as he was fired from the security company that was employing him in 2004 after it was established that he was a Hells Angel following a security check by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) on the guards scheduled to be present at an event attended by Prime Minister Paul Martin.
[22][23] During this time, Atwell started to become disenchanted with the general amorality and selfishness within the Hells Angels, writing in 2017: "I was free, but I wasn’t really.
[1] On 5 April 2006, while wearing a wire Atwell recorded Mehrdad "Juicy" Bahman of Richmond Hill talking to him about his collection of sub-machine guns.
[29] Adding to his tension of his undercover work was the fact that Petersen, together with Douglas Myles, the vice president of the downtown Toronto chapter, were two of his closest friends, giving him a strong sense of guilt as he recorded their conversations with them.
Larry Pooler [a member of the Toronto chapter] tells the Agent about going to the Indian Reservation with Lorne Campbell and getting a whole bunch of cigarettes.
[32] The murder attempt in a Toronto restaurant failed on 21 April 2004 with Modica escaping and with an innocent by-stander, Louise Russo, taking a bullet into her spine that left her paralyzed for the rest of her life.
[34] Atwell argued that he was different from Gault, whom he accused of becoming an informer "...to save his own skin and he was a real hardcore criminal-he had even bragged about killing people.
[34] The lifestyle of an informer was a very stressful one, leading Atwell to frequently abuse cocaine, for which was often scolded for by both his fellow Hells Angels and his police handlers.
[35] On 6 February 2007, while wearing a wire Atwell recorded a discussion with Campbell to plan to set up a meeting for him to buy cocaine with the intention of selling it.
[36] As a result of information provided by Atwell, the police intercepted several shipments of GMB, the "date rape drug", from Vancouver to Toronto, placing Bahman into debt worth about $100,000 with Omid Bayani of the United Nations gang of the Lower Mainland together with Vincenzo Sansalone of Haney chapter of the Hells Angels, forcing several other members of the Angels downtown Toronto chapter to step in to bail out Bahman, who lacked the means to pay off his $100,000 debt on his own after the police seized the GMB shipments.
[37] Myles had a meeting with Atwell in his garage, saying he was suspicious of him because he was buying far too many drugs from far too many people at once than was strictly necessary, which were the classic signs of a police informer trying to incriminate as many of his accomplices as possible.
[39] Atwell recalled that he felt deeply terrified at that moment, knowing he was suspected of being an informer and that his fellow Angels were debating the merits of killing him.
[41] The next morning, Atwell was ordered to go into witness protection by his police handlers, who suspected there was going to be a murder attempt against him at any moment.
[42] On the basis of the information gathered by Atwell, the police ordered a series of raids on Hell Angels clubhouses across Ontario on 4 April 2007.
[44] At a trial that took place between September 2010 and May 2011 where Atwell was the star witness for the Crown, five Hells Angels including John "Winner" Neal, the president of the Downtown Toronto chapter, were convicted on charges relating to dealing in GHB and cocaine plus possession of illegal weapons, but all of the accused were acquitted on charges of belonging to a criminal organization.
[23] Since 2007, Atwell has lived in witness protection, which he described as psychologically difficult as: "It's a lonely life about moving around and not having any stability... What can I do?