The End of the Silk Road

Earlier this week, a bunch of FBI officials busted into a room at the Glen Park public library in San Francisco. A few minutes later, they walked out with the Dread Pirate Roberts (also known as Ross William Ulbricht). And just like that, the dark web purveyor of all things illegal — Silk Road — was shut down. From ArsTechnica, here’s a look at how the feds took down the Dread Pirate.

+ Slate: The bonehead mistake that brought down an online drug-dealing empire.

+ There were some other boneheaded mistakes. From WaPo: Silk Road’s mastermind allegedly paid $80,000 for a hitman. The hitman was a cop. One day you’re trying to sell a few drugs, the next day you’re hiring a hit man. Sounds like a bad episode of Weeds.

+ So what exactly was Silk Road? Take a tour and find out.