
American Kingpin
The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road
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Narrated by:
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Will Damron
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By:
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Nick Bilton
About this listen
The unbelievable true story of the man who built a billion-dollar online drug empire from his bedroom - and almost got away with it
In 2011, a 26-year-old libertarian programmer named Ross Ulbricht launched the ultimate free market: the Silk Road, a clandestine website hosted on the Dark Web where anyone could trade anything - drugs, hacking software, forged passports, counterfeit cash, poisons - free of the government's watchful eye.
It wasn't long before the media got wind of the new website where anyone - not just teenagers and weed dealers but terrorists and black hat hackers - could buy and sell contraband detection-free. Spurred by a public outcry, the federal government launched an epic two-year manhunt for the site's elusive proprietor, with no leads, no witnesses, and no clear jurisdiction. All the investigators knew was that whoever was running the site called himself the Dread Pirate Roberts.
The Silk Road quickly ballooned into a $1.2 billion enterprise, and Ross embraced his new role as kingpin. He enlisted a loyal crew of allies in high and low places, all as addicted to the danger and thrill of running an illegal marketplace as their customers were to the heroin they sold. Through his network he got wind of the target on his back and took drastic steps to protect himself - including ordering a hit on a former employee. As Ross made plans to disappear forever, the feds raced against the clock to catch a man they weren't sure even existed, searching for a needle in the haystack of the global Internet.
Drawing on exclusive access to key players and two billion digital words and images Ross left behind, Vanity Fair correspondent and New York Times best-selling author Nick Bilton offers a tale filled with twists and turns, lucky breaks, and unbelievable close calls. It's a story of the boy next door's ambition gone criminal, spurred on by the clash between the new world of libertarian-leaning, anonymous, decentralized web advocates and the old world of government control, order, and the rule of law. Filled with unforgettable characters and capped by an astonishing climax, American Kingpin might be dismissed as too outrageous for fiction. But it's all too real.
©2017 Nick Bilton (P)2017 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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“An astonishingly well-researched narrative.... Bilton's storytelling bears not so much as a trace of fat; the book he's conjured is so sharp and bright that it can be whipped through in the airport lounge before the flight takes off." (The Globe and Mail)
"Unbelievably riveting." (Casey Neistat)
“I dare you not to read this book in one sitting. Masterfully reported and written, Bilton’s book drops you hard into the dark heart of the most famous Internet crime to date. A first-rate thrill.” (Joshua Cooper Ramo, author of The Seventh Sense)
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Amazing book about trading that feels like an adventure novel
- By Tim S on 05-24-18
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Tracers in the Dark
- The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency
- By: Andy Greenberg
- Narrated by: Ari Fliakos
- Length: 10 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Over the last decade, a single innovation has massively fueled digital black markets: cryptocurrency. Crime lords inhabiting lawless corners of the internet have operated more freely—whether in drug dealing, money laundering, or human trafficking—than their analog counterparts could have ever dreamed of. By transacting not in dollars or pounds but in currencies with anonymous ledgers, overseen by no government, beholden to no bankers, these black marketeers have sought to rob law enforcement of their chief method of cracking down on illicit finance: following the money.
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Could not put this down
- By Mike Reaves on 01-28-23
By: Andy Greenberg
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The Spider Network
- The Wild Story of a Math Genius, a Gang of Backstabbing Bankers, and One of the Greatest Scams in Financial History
- By: David Enrich
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 15 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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In 2006, an oddball group of bankers, traders and brokers from some of the world's largest financial institutions made a startling realization: Libor - the London interbank offered rate, which determines the interest rates on trillions in loans worldwide - was set daily by a small group of easily manipulated functionaries, and that they could reap huge profits by nudging it to suit their trading portfolios.
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Does anyone "proofread" the audio book?
- By Gracie on 07-04-18
By: David Enrich
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Den of Thieves
- By: James B. Stewart
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 19 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Pulitzer Prize winner James B. Stewart shows for the first time how four of the biggest names on Wall Street - Michael Milken, Ivan Boesky, Martin Siegel, and Dennis Levine - created the greatest insider-trading ring in financial history and almost walked away with billions - until a team of downtrodden detectives triumphed over some of America's most expensive lawyers to bring this powerful quartet to justice.
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Awesome book
- By Lars Tackmann on 10-23-17
By: James B. Stewart
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Billion Dollar Loser
- The Epic Rise and Spectacular Fall of Adam Neumann and WeWork
- By: Reeves Wiedeman
- Narrated by: Will Collyer
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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This inside story of WeWork and its CEO tells the remarkable saga of one of the most audacious, and improbable, rises and falls in American business history. Veteran journalist Reeves Weideman dives deep into WeWork and its CEO's astronomical rise, from the marijuana and tequila-filled board rooms to cult-like company summer camps and consciousness-raising with Anthony Kiedis. Billion Dollar Loser is a character-driven business narrative that captures, through the fascinating psyche of a billionaire founder and his wife and co-founder, the slippery state of global capitalism. \
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Engrossing and we’ll researches but narration is annoying
- By ceire Gleeson on 10-27-20
By: Reeves Wiedeman
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Ghost in the Wires
- My Adventures as the World’s Most Wanted Hacker
- By: Kevin Mitnick, William L. Simon
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 13 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Kevin Mitnick was the most elusive computer break-in artist in history. He accessed computers and networks at the world’s biggest companies—and however fast the authorities were, Mitnick was faster, sprinting through phone switches, computer systems, and cellular networks. He spent years skipping through cyberspace, always three steps ahead and labeled unstoppable.
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For a smart guy, Mitnick was an idiot
- By Joshua on 09-17-14
By: Kevin Mitnick, and others
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Dark Wire
- The Incredible True Story of the Largest Sting Operation Ever
- By: Joseph Cox
- Narrated by: Peter Ganim
- Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Beginning in 2018, a powerful app for secure communications, called Anom, began to take root among drug dealers and other criminals. It had extraordinary safeguards to keep out prying eyes--the power to quickly wipe data, voice-masking technology, and more. It was better than other apps popular among organized crime syndicates, except for one thing: it was secretly run by law enforcement. Over the next few years, the FBI, along with law enforcement partners in Australia and parts of Europe, got a front row seat to the global criminal underworld.
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Amazing story
- By Katie W. on 06-08-24
By: Joseph Cox
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Anonymous Empire: Ross Ulbricht, Bitcoin, and the Dark Web Revolution
- By: Ben Jamin
- Narrated by: Virtual Voice
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Step into the hidden corners of the internet and witness the rise and fall of one of the most notorious online marketplaces in history. Follow the incredible journey of Ross Ulbricht, the visionary entrepreneur who dared to harness the power of cryptocurrency and Tor to create a covert empire that law enforcement struggled to penetrate. Dive into an expertly researched narrative that reveals: • The bold ideas and personal philosophies that fueled a groundbreaking—yet illicit—digital platform • Astonishing insider glimpses into the complex community of users who flocked to this ...
By: Ben Jamin
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Red Notice
- A True Story of High Finance, Murder and One Man's Fight for Justice
- By: Bill Browder
- Narrated by: Adam Grupper
- Length: 14 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Red Notice is a searing expose of the wholesale whitewash by Russian authorities of Magnitsky's imprisonment and murder, slicing deep into the shadowy heart of the Kremlin to uncover its sordid truths.
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This is an absolute "YES" as your next read/listen
- By William on 02-07-15
By: Bill Browder
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Money Men
- A Hot Startup, A Billion Dollar Fraud, A Fight for the Truth
- By: Dan McCrum
- Narrated by: Dan McCrum
- Length: 13 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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When investigative journalist Dan McCrum first came across Wirecard, the hot new tech company that looked poised to challenge Silicon Valley, it all looked a little too good to be true: offices were sprouting up all over the world, and they were reporting runaway growth. In the space of a few short years, the company had come from nowhere to overtake industry giants like Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank on the stock market. As McCrum began to dig deeper, he encountered a story stranger and more compelling than he could have imagined.
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Interesting book but…
- By Rock Climber on 06-11-23
By: Dan McCrum
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Wiseguy
- By: Nicholas Pileggi, Martin Scorsese - introduction
- Narrated by: Ari Fliakos, Corey Brill, Hillary Huber, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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This is the true crime best seller that was the basis for Martin Scorsese’s film masterpiece GoodFellas, which brought to life the violence, the excess, the families, the wives and girlfriends, the drugs, the payoffs, the paybacks, the jail time, and the Feds...with Henry Hill’s crackling narration drawn straight out of Wiseguy and overseeing all the unforgettable action.
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Finally unabridged
- By Rodney on 12-16-19
By: Nicholas Pileggi, and others
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The Smartest Guys in the Room
- The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron
- By: Bethany McLean
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 22 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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The definitive volume on Enron's amazing rise and scandalous fall, from an award-winning team of Fortune investigative reporters.
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An excellent book, but with a missing chapter
- By Augustus T. White on 03-07-12
By: Bethany McLean
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I Live in the Future & Here's How It Works
- Why Your World, Work, and Brain Are Being Creatively Disrupted
- By: Nick Bilton
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 8 hrs
- Unabridged
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Are we driving off a digital cliff and heading for disaster, unable to focus, maintain concentration, or form the human bonds that make life worth living? Are media and business doomed and about to be replaced by amateur hour? Both visionary and practical, I Live in the Future & Here’s How It Works captures the zeitgeist of an emerging age, providing the understanding of how a radically changed media world is influencing human behavior.
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Good for Initial Reading
- By Roy on 10-10-10
By: Nick Bilton
What listeners say about American Kingpin
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Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Victoria J. Veech
- 05-11-17
amazing book!!!!
once I started listening I couldn't stop. I wish all books on here were that good!!
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26 people found this helpful
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- Jacob Duncan
- 07-31-17
What an amazing story!
I couldn't stop listening. Brilliant work weaving together the story from all angles. Crazy how greed and power can blind someone into thinking they are untouchable. Wow just wow and at the same time DAMN!
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6 people found this helpful
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- Barbara J. Christensen
- 09-23-18
Exceptional in every way!
I listen to between 2-4 audiobooks a month & I simply could not stop listening to this one. It’s so well written & the narration is spot-on. It’s nonfiction that’s more entertaining than a novel & more engaging for the fact it’s true. Do not hesitate, unless you are short on time, since you’ll be driving the scenic route & getting intentionally stuck in traffic to continue listening to this compelling story!
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2 people found this helpful
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- scott
- 09-15-17
Crime
This is one of the best crime books I've read in a long time. This book is so good I am actually taking the time to give it a review. The first time I have done so since being a member.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Dustin
- 06-13-17
Crazy true story
What an insane true story! Well written and read. Definitely worth a credit. Highly recommended
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1 person found this helpful
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- Janna Wong Healy
- 10-07-21
Unbelievably true...Truly unbelievable...
I had heard plenty about the Silk Road, but only after I finished this book by Nick Bilton, did I become aware of the details concerning this illegal, drug-selling site on the dark web and how it was created and run by one man, Ross Ulbrecht.
Wow. What a story. And knowing it's real makes it all the more intriguing and engrossing.
Bilton does a phenomenal job of researching the story of the Silk Road and molding all the pieces into a fluid, coherent tale of obsession, greed, power, and naivete. As you read, you will be amazed at Ross' story before then becoming horrified by his various criminal acts. You will wonder how and why it took the government officials working for a handful of different organizations so long to track him. But, Ross is a clever guy who knew his way around the internet, was handsome enough to charm those around him, and smart enough to get his way in almost any situation.
The narration is fine, crisp, and easily understandable. I'm not particularly wild about the sound of Will Damron's voice but he gets the job done efficiently and well.
This book is a great piece of true crime. And, you'll probably now think twice before trolling the internet!
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1 person found this helpful
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- T.C.
- 06-09-17
Incredible story!
Could not stop listening to the storyline. So addictive, because the story is non fiction.
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1 person found this helpful
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- SC.
- 06-13-17
one of the best books I have listened to ever
the story, the performance and the level of research and detail are outstanding. This is a must read!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 03-08-18
Read it with a grain of salt
This is a well written, fascinating story about DPR, Ross Ulbricht. HOWEVER, be aware that this story is not endorsed by Ross or his family, meaning that it is very much a fictional story based on actual events. Some of the facts about Ross are not properly vetted are largely circumstantial. There is a lot missing from this story- I.e all the information that the defense team was not allowed to bring into court, an extremely biased judge who set out to make an example of Ross(which by the way is unconstitutional), and the fact that someone logged in to the Sill Road as Dread pirate Roberts months after Ross was arrested.
It's a great book, and wonderfully performed, but this is fiction. Always think for yourself
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1 person found this helpful
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- Tori
- 09-24-18
Excellent Reporting
Very intriguing true story with no extra drama added for effect. Highly recommend reading this to get a perspective on what law enforcement is doing even when we don't see it.
Make sure to listen through to the end for important reporting info and stats.
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