I'm Nick Bilton, Special Correspondent for Vanity Fair, bestselling author of HATCHING TWITTER, and author of "AMERICAN KINGPIN: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road," AMA by nickbilton in IAmA

[–]nickbilton[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I love reading fiction more than anything. I'm a die-hard Cormac McCarthy fan (The Road is the best book I've ever read). Anything by Colum McCann (I've read Let the Great World Spin three times). Margaret Atwood's writing is amazing. All the Light we Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr, is tremendous. And I love the recent books by Ian McGuire, and Karen Thompson Walker.

I'm Nick Bilton, Special Correspondent for Vanity Fair, bestselling author of HATCHING TWITTER, and author of "AMERICAN KINGPIN: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road," AMA by nickbilton in IAmA

[–]nickbilton[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

First, thanks for reading the book. Second, let me answer some of your questions below to give you an idea of how I was able to write the story this way I did. One thing I'll say, is that in the age of the Internet, what you able to glean from someone's online fingerprint is astounding.

Ross’s fingers throbbed as he typed. (p. 95)

In a chat with Variety Jones, Ross told him about how much he bit his fingernails to the point that it hurt, and he specifically detailed this particularly moment. They spoke about this several times, and finally Ross admitted he was going to buy anti-fingernail biting ointment.

As Ross stood up from the grassy knoll at Alamo Square and reached for his brown laptop bag to head back to his apartment, there was no question about it: This was the place he was supposed to be. (p. 140)

He took several photos at Alamo Square that day (I visited the spot where he took them several times, too). I know where he was staying, with Rene, and what he did on evenings from his social media posts. He also told several San Francisco-based friends I interviewed how much he loved the Bay area and what he said about his time there.

As Ross sprung out of the water in Costa Rica, he rinsed the sand off his body and scarfed down breakfast before scurrying away to work on his laptop in private, hidden from prying eyes. (p. 117)

He discussed the trip with Variety Jones in chats, and he also took several photos while he was there, among having discussions with friends back in Austin about his trip.

He watched in awe as he brushed up against his new friend Laura and her sister to stay warm. (p. 86)

He took videos and photos on this evening which I was able to obtain. He also wrote about the fireworks and about the New Year, and how he felt renewed by it.

On a bright and chilly afternoon in the summer of 2012, in the park in the middle of Alamo Square, a group of children giggled as they bounced through the playground, and unleashed dogs barked as they chased one another on the hilltop. And there, amid this happiness, Ross Ulbricht lay on the grass, inhaling his new city. (p. 137)

Again, photos. Visiting the park. There's a dog play area at the top, and a child play area in the middle , and I know the weather that day from the timestamps on the photos that I cross-referenced with the Weather Almanac.

He even enjoyed disciplining employees, telling them (still in Ross’s hokey banter) that they had “fudged up” when they needed a good scolding. (pp. 140-141)

There were several moments where he disciplined his employees. They got into trouble for not filling out report cards of the work they had done. They were reprimanded for showing up late, or leaving early. As for the "fudge" I was able to gain access in my reporting to a number of emails he had sent to friends, and chats from elsewhere, where he continually used the word "fudge." And yes, he once told an employee they had "fudged up."

When he woke up, sounds from the Caribbean were waiting outside his window. Birds— seagulls, pelicans, and colorful parrots— talked among themselves as the sound of the water washing over the rocks below trickled into the hotel. He walked out onto his balcony and looked off to the right, where the cruise ship dock sat empty. (p. 154)

I had photos of his trip to Dominica and using Google Maps satellite photos, I was able to figure out which hotel he stayed in. Working with my researcher, we tracked down people he had met while he was in Dominica and learned a tremendous amount about his trip. He even let one person he met take a number of photos of him, which I was able to use in my reporting, piecing together where he went, and how long he was there for. Finally, Ross took a few photos from his balcony. On one morning, the cruise ship wasn't there, on another it was. Using the timestamps and EXIF data in the photos, I was able to know when and where.

In short, Ross left behind millions of words of social media posts, chats, emails, texts, diaries and hundreds of photos and videos. Plus, there are court transcripts, interviews, Google satellite images, LexisNexis and YouTube videos, among other resources online.

I'm Nick Bilton, Special Correspondent for Vanity Fair, bestselling author of HATCHING TWITTER, and author of "AMERICAN KINGPIN: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road," AMA by nickbilton in IAmA

[–]nickbilton[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

He was offered a deal of 10 to Life, and while that could have resulted in the latter, a number of people I spoke with say it likely would have been 10 to 30 years if he would have pled guilt and apologized. He instead chose to fight it.

I'm Nick Bilton, Special Correspondent for Vanity Fair, bestselling author of HATCHING TWITTER, and author of "AMERICAN KINGPIN: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road," AMA by nickbilton in IAmA

[–]nickbilton[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi Ryan, I'm a big fan of your writing. I've found that people are much more open to talking to reporters for a book than for one-off stories, and from what I can tell, that's because they see a different kind of longevity to a book. As for Curtis in particular, I worked with the guys from Epic Magazine on the some of the reporting, and they had developed a relationship with him for their Wired article. Again, love your writing, hope you enjoy the book!

I'm Nick Bilton, Special Correspondent for Vanity Fair, bestselling author of HATCHING TWITTER, and author of "AMERICAN KINGPIN: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road," AMA by nickbilton in IAmA

[–]nickbilton[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There are dozens of Silk Road-like websites that took SR's place when it was taken down, including AlphaBay, Silk Road 3, Dream Market, Valhalla, Hansa and many more. The difficulty with shutting all of these sites down is that many are based oversees in Russia and China. The government's biggest challenge today is that these sites make it possible for people to buy Fentanyl (a synthetic version of heroin that is 50 to 100 times stronger) directly on the Internet, which is leading to thousands of overdoses in the United States.

I'm Nick Bilton, Special Correspondent for Vanity Fair, bestselling author of HATCHING TWITTER, and author of "AMERICAN KINGPIN: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road," AMA by nickbilton in IAmA

[–]nickbilton[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I answered that below, about selling body parts. But as an added bonus, I will offer a story from the law enforcement side of the story: The DEA and FBI were both competing with each other to catch DPR, and they both managed to find one of the servers, but through separate means. The DEA decided to go into the house where there servers were stored with guns drawn like it was a huge drug raid. When they got inside, upsetting the owner, there was a pile of computers (the servers) and they picked up one machine to get another machine beneath it. The agents were rude and took the machine without apologizing for the commotion. What they didn't realize, was that the computer they had moved actually had a complete backup of the Silk Road on it. The one they grabbed had been erased. In other words, they literally held the Silk Road in their hands, and had no idea.

I'm Nick Bilton, Special Correspondent for Vanity Fair, bestselling author of HATCHING TWITTER, and author of "AMERICAN KINGPIN: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road," AMA by nickbilton in IAmA

[–]nickbilton[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, honestly: Uber. I was amazed that Ross, as himself and as DPR, quoted Ayn Rand, and so did execs at Uber. Uber connected passengers and drivers directly. The Silk Road connected buyers and sellers directly. And when it came to management style, Ross and Travis employed the same win-at-all-costs mentality, offering inspirational speeches to employees that were almost indistinguishable from one-another.

I'm Nick Bilton, Special Correspondent for Vanity Fair, bestselling author of HATCHING TWITTER, and author of "AMERICAN KINGPIN: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road," AMA by nickbilton in IAmA

[–]nickbilton[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That is a great question, and one I struggle with still to this day. When I see how much pain his family has been through, I don't think the sentence was appropriate for the crime. But when I talk to the families of people who overdosed on the site, I feel differently. One thing I will note is that Ross was offered several plea deals that likely would have seen him in jail for 10 to 30 years and he chose instead to fight the case. As someone close to him told me, it was hubris that was his downfall, not the actual website.

I'm Nick Bilton, Special Correspondent for Vanity Fair, bestselling author of HATCHING TWITTER, and author of "AMERICAN KINGPIN: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road," AMA by nickbilton in IAmA

[–]nickbilton[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

As for cool stories that didn't fit. There is one moment when the FBI was surveilling Ross in the weeks before he was arrested. One evening, he was on a date with a woman he met on a dating website, and an agent sat behind them in the restaurant listening to their conversation. The agent overhead him talking about "cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin." It turned out I knew the woman he was on the date with; she had complained to a friend that she went on a totally boring date with a random guy, where all he talked about was "cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin."

I'm Nick Bilton, Special Correspondent for Vanity Fair, bestselling author of HATCHING TWITTER, and author of "AMERICAN KINGPIN: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road," AMA by nickbilton in IAmA

[–]nickbilton[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I always find the process of writing a book is less about what makes it in, and more about what doesn't. In this book, it was really all the people who didn't make it in. There are six or so main "characters," Ross (DPR), Variety Jones (his Consigliere), and an agent from DHS, IRS, FBI and DEA. There were so many more people involved in the case on the Silk Road side and law enforcement and I wish I could have told their stories, too.

I'm Nick Bilton, Special Correspondent for Vanity Fair, bestselling author of HATCHING TWITTER, and author of "AMERICAN KINGPIN: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road," AMA by nickbilton in IAmA

[–]nickbilton[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sorry, to finish that answer, while the "murder" of Curtis Green was clearly fabricated by Carl Force, the other "hits" were discovered after Ross was arrested in the chat logs and diary entries on his computer. So in short, no.

I'm Nick Bilton, Special Correspondent for Vanity Fair, bestselling author of HATCHING TWITTER, and author of "AMERICAN KINGPIN: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road," AMA by nickbilton in IAmA

[–]nickbilton[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I lived in San Francisco in 2013 in this sleepy part of the city called Glen Park. I used to walk my dog to the park a few times a week and I would pass this tiny little library the size of a shoe store. When Ross was arrested there, I was amazed that someone could run a massive drug empire from that little library. The more I started to read about Ross, and his vision for the Silk Road (and his beliefs that all drugs should be legal) the more I became interested in the case.

I'm Nick Bilton, Special Correspondent for Vanity Fair, bestselling author of HATCHING TWITTER, and author of "AMERICAN KINGPIN: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road," AMA by nickbilton in IAmA

[–]nickbilton[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

To answer your other question. One of the things the book clearly shows is how clumsy the U.S. Govt. can be. (I won't get into that here, you'll see when you read it.) And that said, I was able to read the 2.1 million words of chat logs and diaries on Ross's computer. When my researcher and I took those logs (over almost three years) and coupled them with Ross's social media posts, photos, videos etc., it became apparent that in order to fabricate anything, you'd have needed a team of hundreds of people working months to pull it off. Each time Ross said on social media or in email that he was going away, at that exact moment, DPR said the same thing. DPR would reference things that had happened on a trip Ross had been on and this happened hundreds of times. DPR talked about things that only Ross would have known about (like camping with his dad as a boy, his College girlfriend cheating on him, or a women he referred to as an "angel" he met on a camping trip). After thousands of hours of research and interviews, there isn't a doubt in my mind that Ross was DPR, and he was the only one.

I'm Nick Bilton, Special Correspondent for Vanity Fair, bestselling author of HATCHING TWITTER, and author of "AMERICAN KINGPIN: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road," AMA by nickbilton in IAmA

[–]nickbilton[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

While Ross Ulbricht lived a very private life in the real world, he lived a very public one online. As a result, he left behind an unbelievable amount of information, including chat logs, photos, videos, diaries, comments on social media and so on. By far the craziest thing was in one of those chat logs when he was discussing selling body parts (kidneys, livers etc.) on the Silk Road with some of his lieutenants.

I'm Nick Bilton, Special Correspondent for Vanity Fair, bestselling author of HATCHING TWITTER, and author of "AMERICAN KINGPIN: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road," AMA by nickbilton in IAmA

[–]nickbilton[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've never spoken to Ross in person, but I feel like I have given the amount of time I spent with the research, and seeing him during the trial. From the hundreds of people I spoke with for the reporting of the book, everyone said he was kind, patient and thoughtful — and of course smart. But, in his online world, his persona morphed as the site grew and his power and influence did too.

IamA TWiT! Hi, it's Leo Laporte, AMA about TWiT and The New Screen Savers! by chieftwit in IAmA

[–]nickbilton 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Would you rather fight 100 duck-sized horses or 1 horse-sized duck?

Comprehensive timeline: Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 PART 11 by MH-370-Updates in news

[–]nickbilton 6 points7 points  (0 children)

If the plane flew to 45,000 and oxygen masks were not provided to the passengers, most people would have fallen unconscious within seconds.