American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal MasterMind Behind the Silk Road

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Bilton helps the reader understand how the Government hunted down this elusive criminal. It wasn’t easy, and there were a lot of jurisdictional squabbles as different agencies grabbed pieces of the evidence that would eventually bring down Ross Ulbricht (aka, Dread Pirate Roberts). It wasn’t until the Department of Justice forced the agencies to collaborate that significant progress was made. The individuals who made up this formidable team were amazing. The unbelievable true story of the man who built a billion-dollar online drug empire from his bedroom—and almost got away with it. As this story develops, we also learn a bit more about Ross when he enters graduate school. Ulbricht is a free spirit who participates in drum circles, lives a pauper’s existence, and wears the same clothes for days on end. Ross is also somewhat of a partier, drinking and smoking marijuana with close friends. Despite his outward Bohemian appearance, however, Ross is also highly intelligent and passionate in his opinions. He is especially committed to his politics, maintaining a strong libertarian belief system. At Penn State, he participates in political debates, always arguing that the government has no business getting involved in citizens’ private and personal life choices.

Other issues that arise: the federal govt is a behemoth that is markedly useless in many of the functions it’s been designed to combat. DEA, FBI, DHS, have to hold regular “deconfliction” meetings bc of all the bureaucratic infighting. These sessions rarely result in ameliorating the pissing contests. Also, two feds ended up doing time for stealing Bitcoin from the Dreadpirate operation. An astonishingly well-researched narrative… Bilton's storytelling bears not so much as a trace of fat; the book he's conjured is so sharp and bright that it can be whipped through in the airport lounge before the flight takes off." Bilton extensively quotes Ross’ journal. Yet, as technical experts know, digital evidence is vulnerable to planting, deleting, altering. Incriminating content could have easily been planted when Ross was arrested (he was on an open source network), or at other times before or after. There are many issues with the laptop investigation, among them: the laptop crashed during investigation and one agent testified that he didn’t follow the guidelines when investigating it.

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I dare you not to read this book in one sitting. Masterfully reported and written, Bilton’s book drops you hard into the dark heart of the most famous Internet crime to date. A first-rate thrill. JOSHUA COOPER RAMO, author of The Seventh Sense

Tatiana Siegel; Natalie Jarvey (2 June 2017). "Steve Zaillian to Write Fox Thriller 'Dark Web' ". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved 15 February 2018.

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The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the sphere of suffering shared, and in this case extended to the death march itself, there is no spiritual or emotional legacy here to offset any reader reluctance. Astonishingly well-researched ... sharp and bright ... the definitive account of the Silk Road saga The Globe and Mail This book is nonfiction written like fiction, which means the author has to make up dialog and even scenes in many places throughout. This is both the best and worst thing about the book, as there are many gripping sequences, but many times the dialog between characters sounds fake. However, the eventual police takedown of DPR (Dread Pirate Roberts, the moniker taken on by Ross Ulbricht) by itself justifies the fiction-like storytelling. It has a great buildup and was one of the most memorable scenes I've read in a long time.

I really think I did myself a disservice in reading extensively about the Silk Road and DPR before embarking on this book - as I knew all the twists and turns in this story ahead of time. Bilton’s investigation of the Silk Road is dramatic and, at times, nearly unbelievable. It puts your favorite thriller novels to shame.” Bilton worked at The New York Times from 2003 to 2016, as a design editor in the newsroom and a researcher in the research and development labs. Before he left, he was a technology columnist and the lead writer for the Bits blog. [2] There was no clear thesis, and it was impossible to tell to what extent the author agreed with DPR's libertarianism or his more ruthless decisions.A top nuclear scientist goes mad and takes an innocent family hostage at gunpoint, killing one and causing a massive standoff. It's a fascinating story that I will likely read again, because it very subtly makes you question your beliefs, morals and integrity as it paints you a portrait of a small idea taken to the grandest of scales and turned awry as a result of its successes. His libertarian ideas that nothing should be controlled by the government gave him the seed to start this project that ravelled anything ever seen in our time. This book was in desperate need of an editor. It was overly detailed, repeated itself incessantly, and full of clunky prose. Additionally, American Kingpin follows the federal investigation, arrest, and conviction of DPR, weaving this thread throughout the entire book. Far from a highly organized federal investigation, the hunt for DPR begins by resembling a keystone cop’s episode as various individuals from different federal law enforcement agencies (DEA, DHS, FBI, IRS, etc.) jump on the case, buy drugs, arrest low-level dealers and drug buyers, and follow leads in pursuit of the Silk Road kingpin. Eventually, these individuals discover each other and cooperate on finding the Dread Pirate Roberts. While their collaboration leads to several dead ends, they eventually put their heads together, piece together all their individual breadcrumbs, and takedown DPR.