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> Vince O’Brien, one of the NCA’s leads on drugs, told the Observer that dark web marketplace operators appeared to have made a commercial decision, because sel
by yholio 8y ago
> Vince O’Brien, one of the NCA’s leads on drugs, told the Observer that dark web marketplace operators appeared to have made a commercial decision, because selling a drug that could lead to fatalities was more likely to prompt attention from police.
Way to save face Vince, so the good old police still works to the benefit of society, but in a convoluted fashion where the underworld avoids making the public too angry and force the police to do it's job.
How about the idea that, like high explosives, nukes and child porn, the people involved recolonize them as inherently immoral and refuse to partake? Unlike, say, the ban on recreational drugs itself - which is the whole reason poisons like fentanyl became available.
- meowface 8y agoBoth you and the journalist are just speculating. Who knows their real reasons? Many darknet markets do allow listings for firearms and explosives, and a few even allow child porn. Ross Ulbricht had no issue with murdering people, and attempted to do so.
- woah 8y agoThe idea that Ross Ulbricht attempted to kill anyone is entirely based on the word of an agent who was charged with embezzling money, and never entered into his trial. The prosecution decided to hide the fact that the agent was on the take during the investigation until Ulbricht’s trial was over. It helped them to have a cloud of shaky and unprovable allegations of murder floating around. It would have been too risky to their case to put the accusations of murder under the scrutiny of a trial.
- refurb 8y agoBased on the word of the agent? There are messages back and forth from Ross where he asks that someone is roughed up and it eventually come to “eliminating” them. It’s far more than just the word of a corrupt agent.
- 69132 8y agoWhere is his attempted murder conviction?
- rhizome 8y agoLike all uncharged crimes, I imagine it's in the prosecutor's back pocket.
- jackvalentine 8y agohttps://www.ccn.com/u-s-attorney-moves-to-dismiss-murder-for-hire-charges-against-ross-ulbricht/ https://www.ccn.com/u-s-attorney-moves-to-dismiss-murder-for...
- MertsA 8y agoNot only was it dismissed, it was dismissed with prejudice. He cannot be charged with that now or ever in the future.
- rhizome 8y agoTo be fair, the charges in question were actually in an indictment, which is a slightly different case than leaving the crimes known but unmentioned.
- MertsA 8y agoOh absolutely, but it's still pretty chilling that the prosecution effectively levied those allegations against him yet never charged him with them and gave him no possibility of defending himself. He might not have been convicted on it but I think you'd be hard pressed to conclude that that didn't impact the jury and the judge outright used that to substantially extend his prison sentence. It's a shame the Supreme Court didn't hear that appeal based on the judge sentencing him largely based on something that he did not receive due process for.
- tim333 8y agoDunno - I kind of buy the idea of the drug dealers being profit motivated and dropping fentanyl because they think they'll get banged up. The police have limited resources and so will go after the worst stuff like fentynal rather than people smoking joints which they don't bother with at all these days in the UK.
- DanBC 8y ago> rather than people smoking joints which they don't bother with at all these days in the UK. Police regularly arrest people with small amounts of cannabis, and the range of options they have include criminal prosecution which still happens.
- TheGrumpyBrit 8y agoAlso, dead drug users don't make for good repeat business.