American Kingpin

Books | True Crime / Organized Crime

4.5

(496)

Nick Bilton

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER. The unbelievable true story of the man who built a billion-dollar online drug empire from his bedroom—and almost got away with it In 2011, a twenty-six-year-old libertarian programmer named Ross Ulbricht launched the ultimate free market: the Silk Road, a clandestine Web site hosted on the Dark Web where anyone could trade anything—drugs, hacking software, forged passports, counterfeit cash, poisons—free of the government’s watchful eye. It wasn’t long before the media got wind of the new Web site where anyone—not just teenagers and weed dealers but terrorists and black hat hackers—could buy and sell contraband detection-free. Spurred by a public outcry, the federal government launched an epic two-year manhunt for the site’s elusive proprietor, with no leads, no witnesses, and no clear jurisdiction. All the investigators knew was that whoever was running the site called himself the Dread Pirate Roberts. The Silk Road quickly ballooned into $1.2 billion enterprise, and Ross embraced his new role as kingpin. He enlisted a loyal crew of allies in high and low places, all as addicted to the danger and thrill of running an illegal marketplace as their customers were to the heroin they sold. Through his network he got wind of the target on his back and took drastic steps to protect himself—including ordering a hit on a former employee. As Ross made plans to disappear forever, the Feds raced against the clock to catch a man they weren’t sure even existed, searching for a needle in the haystack of the global Internet. Drawing on exclusive access to key players and two billion digital words and images Ross left behind, Vanity Fair correspondent and New York Times bestselling author Nick Bilton offers a tale filled with twists and turns, lucky breaks and unbelievable close calls. It’s a story of the boy next door’s ambition gone criminal, spurred on by the clash between the new world of libertarian-leaning, anonymous, decentralized Web advocates and the old world of government control, order, and the rule of law. Filled with unforgettable characters and capped by an astonishing climax, American Kingpin might be dismissed as too outrageous for fiction. But it’s all too real.

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More Details:

Author

Nick Bilton

Pages

352

Publisher

Penguin

Published Date

2017-05-02

ISBN

1591848148 9781591848141

Ratings

Google: 3.5

Community ReviewsSee all

"The story behind Silk Road and it’s founder. I knew next to nothing about this (apparently I should have) but this story is wild. One of the best true crime books I’ve read, mostly because the level of detail the author had in piecing the story together. Since so much of this was digital, there is almost a breadcrumb left behind for every step the mastermind Ross has. "

Sheldon Rapoza

"This book had EVERYTHING! Unbelievable this Silk Road has happening this long and was so successful. Also appreciated all the Austin references."

Bonnie_C

"Author is amazing "

c m

caleb morianti

"Full review and highlights at <a href="https://books.max-nova.com/american-kingpin">https://books.max-nova.com/american-kingpin</a> "American Kingpin" was a perfect book to read early on in my <a href="https://books.max-nova.com/2018-focus">Year of Crime and Punishment</a>. The "Silk Road" online drug market roared to life during my last year of college and the founder, Ross Ulbricht (a.k.a. "The Dread Pirate Roberts"), was taken down shortly after I graduated. Having followed the news on these events in real-time, I appreciated Bilton's neat synthesis of the entire saga and his detailed portraits of the people involved on each side. Bilton writes in a brisk, compelling style as befits a Vanity Fair journalist and I read the entire book in just two or three sittings. Ross Ulbricht's story interested me because his motivation was not only financial, but also idealogical. Bilton goes into detail about Ulbricht's libertarian philosophy and his belief that the government should not regulate what people are able to buy. In many ways, Ulbricht's thoughts about minimalism, techno-utopianism, and libertarianism mirror those of many computer programmers I went to school with. And his coding skills seem to have been quite amateurish. What's fascinating is that the DPR doesn't appear to have been exceptional in any way except for his willingness to break the law. And some aspects of his personality struck dangerously close to home...<blockquote>"DPR was constantly recommending books to his followers"</blockquote>Some of the most serious charges against DPR related to his ordering of a hit against one of his subordinates who was stealing money from him. I expect this will be one of the major focuses of the book club conversation - was DPR justified in ordering a hit? Our immediate reaction is, "No, of course not!" But DPR was essentially running a shadow government for the black market and a defining feature of governments is their monopoly on (and use of) violence to enforce social norms. Our own government has killed thousands of militants and over a hundred civilians by drone strike since 9/11. Was DPR's real crime that he challenged the sovereignty of the United States? Bilton leads us from cliffhanger to cliffhanger as he follows the various law enforcement teams that tracked down DPR. In a vindication of my 2018 focus on financially-motivated crimes, it was the idea "to follow the money rather than the drugs" that ultimately led to DPR's unmasking and capture. We catch glimpses of the investigative process and the many dead-ends and frustrations along the way. "American Kingpin" spurred my interest in learning more about the mechanics of cybercrime and I plan to read several more books in this vein over the rest of the year. "American Kingpin" was my February 2018 <a href="https://books.max-nova.com/book-club">book club</a> selection."