Silk Road drug website returns -- and 'Dread Pirate Roberts' is back

By Laura E. Davis

Nov. 6, 2013 12 AM PT

Just over a month after the illicit drug-dealing website Silk Road was shut down and its alleged founder arrested, the site relaunched Wednesday morning.

The new Silk Road promises better security and is offering much of the same fare as its predecessor -- heroin, ecstasy and prescription medications purchased using the online currency Bitcoin, which is designed to be untraceable.

Authorities arrested Ross William Ulbricht on Oct. 1, accusing the 29-year-old of building an illegal drug empire on the deep Web, that part of the Internet not reachable by standard search engines. Silk Road patrons accessed the site using the anonymous browser Tor.

In the Los Angeles Times’ Oct. 2 article on Ulbricht’s arrest, UC San Diego computer science professor Michael Taylor described him as “the modern, electronic version of Walter White in ‘Breaking Bad.’” But authorities allege he went by another name, also plucked from pop culture -- “Dread Pirate Roberts,” taken from the movie “The Princess Bride.”

Prosecutors say “Dread Pirate Roberts” is the mastermind behind the now-shuttered Silk Road, but on Wednesday, Ulbricht’s attorney said he was not the person behind the online alias, the Associated Press reported.

Now, authorities might have a new Dread Pirate Roberts to worry about. That same alias is back -- and is apparently the owner of the new Silk Road, complete with a Twitter account.