The rise and subsequent fall of Deep Web drug bazaar Silk Road has everything you'd expect to see in a hit Hollywood film - money, FBI stings, murder for hire and an unsuspecting underground drug kingpin hiding in plain sight.
While alleged mastermind Ross William Ulbricht is facing life in prison after being sniffed out by federal agents earlier this month, Shutter Island, Mystic River, and Gone Baby Gone author Dennis Lehane will be hard at work writing a script for a full-length film based on his story.
Lehane will be working in conjunction with 20th Century Fox and Chernin Entertainment according to a report from Deadline. The script will be written based on an upcoming article by journalist Joshua Davis who will also serve as a producer on the movie. Davis is the co-founder of Epic Magazine and was responsible for writing the article that served as the basis for the Oscar award-winning film Argo.
Law enforcement officials claim Ulbricht pocketed around $80 million in commission on sales of $1.2 billion from the website - money that's still reprotedly tied up in Bitcoin out of the FBI's reach. But perhaps more pressing are allegations that Ulbricht put out two hits during his stint as Silk Road boss.
The first was against a former employee that supposedly stole a large amount of Bitcoin from Ulbricht. Court documents say he paid $80,000 to carry out the hit although the person he hired was actually an undercover agent. The second hit allegedly cost Ulbricht $150,000 although there is no evidence that the murder ever took place.