We e-mail, text, and chat with hundreds of people throughout the day. We share pictures and videos on social networks, leave comments on news articles. The door handles we touch, the screens we press, and the people we interact with all capture a trace of our being there.

If you want a non-fiction page turner, this book will not disappoint.“Each and every day, as we navigate the real world, we leave a billion little fingerprints in our wake. “You are no better a person than any other drug dealer, and your education does not give you a special place of privilege in our criminal system.”Įvaluation: American Kingpin is a fascinating account of a tale almost too quixotic to be fiction. Judge Katherine Forrest, who ultimately sentenced him, was not similarly disposed. A Secret Service agent stole hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of bitcoin from the Silk Road, and a DEA agent attempted to extort Ulbricht, and even sold him secret information from the Silk Road investigation.īilton is somewhat sympathetic in his treatment of Ulbricht, whom he describes as oddly idealistic in attempting to establish a libertarian Shangri-La where freedom-loving people could enjoy personal pleasures without interference from Big Brother. Adding yet another dramatic twist to the story was the involvement of two now-convicted, corrupt federal agents. Nick Bilton was able to piece together the convoluted history of the rise and eventual capture of Ulbricht with the help of some relentless government agents finding unusual clues as to Ulbricht’s identity and whereabouts. (He is currently working on securing a presidential pardon.)

After an online quest that seemed as thrilling for this reader as any car chase in the movies, Ulbricht was finally arrested, convicted, and sentenced to a life in prison. As the Feds closed in, Ulbricht took even more drastic steps to protect himself and silence anyone who might know his identity. Senator Charles Schumer asked federal law enforcement authorities to shut it down, including the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Department of Justice. In June 2011, “Gawker” published an article about the site which led to an increase in website traffic, helping to expand the Silk Road to a $1.2 billion per year enterprise.

By using the Dark Web platform Tor, financing his activities with Bitcoin, and adopting the nom-de-guerre Dread Pirate Roberts, Ulbricht remained anonymous, free, and unpunished for two years. American Kingpin is the implausible but true story of a twenty-something self-taught programmer with intense libertarian beliefs, named Ross Ulbricht, who, in 2011, single-handedly set up a soon-to-be very popular covert site on the Dark Web called “the Silk Road.” The site was started as a marketplace for illegal drugs, but Ulbricht eventually expanded operations to trade in forged passports, counterfeit cash, guns, poisons, and even body parts.

American kingpin review