Table of Contents
Author's Note xiii
Cast of Characters xv
Part I
1 The Pink Pill 3
2 Ross Ulbricht 13
3 Julia Vie 17
4 The Debate 21
5 Jared's Khat 24
6 The Bonfire 28
7 The Silk Road 33
8 Ross the Farmer 37
9 Opening Day of the Silk Road 42
10 What Goes Up Must Come Down 47
11 The Gawker Article 50
12 A Bull's-eye on My Back 54
13 Julia Tells Erica 58
14 What Have You Done?! 62
15 Jared and the Fifty-Ton Flamingo 65
16 From Austin to Australia 69
Part II
17 Carl Force's Tomorrow 75
18 Variety Jones and the Serpent 78
19 Jared Goes Shopping 83
20 The Dread Pirate Roberts 86
21 Carl Force Is Born Again 90
22 "O Captain, My Captain" 92
23 Ross, Hanged or Home 95
24 Carl, Eladio, and Nob 100
25 Jared's Chicago Versus Carl's Baltimore 103
26 The Mutiny 107
27 A Billion Dollars?! 112
28 The Aspiring Billionaire in Costa Rica 115
29 Variety Jones Goes to Scotland 119
30 The Armory Opens 123
31 Ross Silences Julia 127
Part III
32 Chris Tarhell, FBI 133
33 Ross Arrives in San Francisco 137
34 Chris in the Pit 142
35 Batten Down the Hatches! 145
36 Jared's Dead Ends 150
37 A Pirate in Dominica 153
38 Carl Likes DPR 159
39 Kidney for Sale! 165
40 The White House in Utah 171
41 Curtis Is Tortured 176
42 The First Murder 180
43 The FBI Joins the Hunt 184
44 Camping and the Ball 187
Part IV
45 Gary Alford, IRS 195
46 Life and Death on the Road 199
47 Gary's Big Change 203
48 Ross Goes Underground 207
49 Carl Switches Teams 213
50 A Parking Ticket on the Internet 217
51 Tarbell Finds a Mistake 221
52 The Fake IDs, Part One 225
53 The Deconfliction Meeting 231
54 Jared Becomes Cirrus 237
55 Julia Is Saved! Hallelujah! 242
56 The Fake IDs, Part Two 245
57 Onward to Federal Plaza 249
58 Julia Comes to San Francisco 254
59 I Am God 258
60 The Phone Call 262
61 The Good-bye Party 269
Part V
62 The Pink Sunset 275
63 Carla Sophia 279
64 FeLiNa 282
65 Arrested 290
66 The Laptop 293
67 Ross Locked Up 296
68 United States of America v. Ross William Ulbricht 300
69 To Catch a Pirate 304
70 Sentencing 307
71 The Plural of Mongoose 310
72 The Museum 313
73 The Others 316
Notes on Reporting 323
Acknowledgments 327
Bibliography 329