Science & Technology

Silk Road Bust Isn't Stopping Top Dealer

The black market always finds a way

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Approaching 10,000 transactions with a nearly flawless customer satisfaction rating, Angelina got evicted (in a sense) from her place of business. Undeterred, Angelina bounced back and found not just one, but two new places to peddle her goods — generic versions of Viagra and Levitra, as well as Propranolol and THC lollipops.

Angelina was a vendor on Silk Road, which the FBI described as the Internet's largest "sprawling black market bazaar" after the agency seized the website and arrested its alleged owner earlier this month. Though we refer to Angelina as a female, in reality she's a highly secretive team of people who use sophisticated anonymizing technology to maintain a booming online drug business.