American Kingpin cover art

American Kingpin

The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road Drugs Empire

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

American Kingpin

By: Nick Bilton
Narrated by: Will Damron
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

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 twenty-six-year-old programmer named Ross Ulbricht launched the ultimate free market: the Silk Road, a clandestine Web site 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. While the federal government were undertaking an epic two-year manhunt for the site’s elusive proprietor, the Silk Road quickly ballooned into a $1.2 billion enterprise.

Ross embraced his new role as kingpin, taking 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, New York Times bestselling 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, decentralised Web advocates and the old world of government control, order and the rule of law.

©2017 Nick Bilton (P)2017 Penguin Audio
Organized Crime Exciting Scary Suspenseful Thought-Provoking Runaway
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Too Big to Jail cover art
Deep Cover cover art
Dead Anyway cover art
Kill Process cover art
The Adversary cover art
The Lazarus Heist cover art
Edge of Evil cover art
Shoe Dog cover art
Ghost in the Wires cover art
In Cold Blood cover art
Son of Sam cover art
Gringo: My Life on the Edge as an International Fugitive cover art
The Players Ball cover art
The Poet cover art
The Terminal List cover art
No Country for Old Men cover art

What listeners say about American Kingpin

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,856
  • 4 Stars
    362
  • 3 Stars
    63
  • 2 Stars
    9
  • 1 Stars
    5
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,631
  • 4 Stars
    326
  • 3 Stars
    82
  • 2 Stars
    8
  • 1 Stars
    10
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    1,717
  • 4 Stars
    271
  • 3 Stars
    46
  • 2 Stars
    14
  • 1 Stars
    4

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The power of the internet, another example.

Powerful example of the potential to rise against law and order. Using avenues that simply cannot be accessed by anything other than the internet.

Will Damron is an excellent narrator in my opinion.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

a very interesting and well written / read account

a very interesting and well written / read account
i really enjoyed it and look forward to more like it

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Gripping

Well read and faced paced - loved it.
Quite a story that makes you consider who really are the bad guys.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant

Very well detailed and narrated masterpiece.
Enjoyed every second of the book.
Thank you for the brilliant journey underground!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

a very interesting read

You can learn a lots from this book if you want to. I enjoyed it very much.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant story and narration

This was a great true story and so brilliantly told. I don't normally listening to something like this, preferring business books, but had it recommended to me and what a great story it was to listen to.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Listen to this book in 2 days, excellent.

excellent book, well written. only put it down as i had to work. an insight into the dark web and silk road which i had heard about but never really new much about.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great

This is an audible 'must listen too!' ! fantastic from start to finish. Simply brilliant

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing

A real life Breaking Bad.
Excellent story of a modern version of online gangsters.
Brilliant.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

hooked from the start

great insight into the workings behind the dark web and silk road. the story's a game of cat and mouse. great listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!