Darknet fence

The unbelievable but true story of the man who built a billion-dollar online drug empire from his bedroom – and almost got away with it. In 2011, Ross Ulbricht, a 26-year-old libertarian, physics graduate and amateur programmer, launched Silk Road, a perfectly free marketplace where people could trade anything – drugs, hacking software, fake passports, counterfeit money, poisons – while hidden from the eyes of the government. It didn't take long for word to spread about a website where anyone could buy and sell illicit goods with impunity. The federal government launched an impressive two-year hunt for the elusive owner of the site, with no leads, no witnesses, and no clear jurisdiction. The investigators knew only one thing: that the man running the site called himself Dread Pirate Roberts. Silk Road soon became a $1.2 billion enterprise, and Ross embraced his new role as a drug lord. He gained a loyal crew of allies in high and low places, who were as addicted to the danger and thrill of running an illegal marketplace as their customers were to the heroin being sold to them. Through his network, Ross learns that he is a wanted man and takes drastic steps to protect himself, including ordering the murder of a former employee. As Ross makes plans to disappear forever, federal agents race against time to catch a man they aren't even sure exists, searching for a needle in the haystack of the global internet.