First day of a new life

When you turn state evidence against your gangster bosses you know things will never be the same again.

You're a marked man and there is always somebody out to collect the reward for killing you.

So when the FBI offer you a chance to go into the witness protection program you jump at it.

It's only after you are in the programme you find out what it entails.

They don't just give you new paperwork and send you off to live somewhere else.

They give you a new body a new backstory and put you in the middle of nowhere to start over again.

I went from being a slightly overweight 65-year-old man named Anthony to a slender woman named Stephanie.

I went from being a high-flying lawyer to a waitress in a diner.

I went from living in a New York apartment with views of Downtown Manhattan to a tiny three-room apartment with a view of the pig rendering plant.

I went from driving a Lamborghini to taking the bus.

I went from chasing the women to being chased by the men.

But despite all its downsides, it was better than the alternative my former employers had in mind for me.