On October 2, 2013 Silk Road was shut down by the FBI. This was a major breakthrough for the Feds, but it may be a topic that most people don’t know much about. Silk Road is an online black market that buys and sells drugs. It’s often referred to as the eBay for drugs. It was available only on the Deep Webb – a part of the internet that is not indexed by ordinary search engines.
The creator of Silk Road was recently identified as Ross William Ulbricht (known online as Dread Pirate Roberts). He designed the site to be very hard to join. Much like the access one needs to join an illegal torrent website, which require invitations and approvals.
Ulbricht was arrested in the Glen Park branch of the San Francisco Library.
In February of this year, law enforcement started targeting users of Silk Road and making arrests. Several people were caught importing drugs through the mail. The website had over 340 different types of drugs for sale. And according to Forbes, the site might have generated $1.2 billion since it started.
Additionally, Ulbricht has been accused of paying for two separate murders. He hired undercover officers to kill a worker he thought would eventually speak to police.
For more information on Ulbricht and Silk Road, check out this article in Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanmac/2013/10/02/who-is-ross-ulbricht-piec...
