On the Silk Road, people were able to buy anything from marijuana to elephant tusks and if you had enough money, you could hire a hitman. This website was a once-thriving online store that used Bitcoins, a form of electronic currency, to purchase anything that has been deemed illegal by the U.S. government.
On Oct. 2nd, the FBI stormed the house of Ross William Ulbricht of San Francisco and arrested him on charges of narcotics trafficking and the solicitation of one of the sites’ many hitmen. Ulbricht, also known by users of the Silk Road as the “Dread Pirate Roberts,” had been running the site since February 2011. After becoming aware of the website in late 2011, Senator Charles Schumer asked the FBI and DEA to shut down the website.
After Oct. 2nd, there was no place for the Internet criminals to buy their drugs or illegal software until Nov. 6th. On Nov. 6th, Forbes Magazine and Vice News reported that the “Silk Road 2.0” was online and being run by one of the Silk Road’s old administrators.