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“That field is interstate drug smuggling, money laundering, RICO and drug kingpin legislation.” But in
Ross’s mind, he wasn’t going to get caught, so why would he need a “top man” lawyer? That was
already admitting defeat.
And then there was the biggest new development between the two friends and associates: it
seemed that VJ wanted more ownership too. Maybe this was why he had been so nice all along?
Maybe when he had come up with the brilliant plan to rename the creator of the site the Dread Pirate
Roberts, it was Variety Jones’s hope that one day he would become the next pirate to captain the ship.
Their recent debates had come to a head when VJ wrote, “I think we need to formalize . . .” To
create an official partnership between the two men . . . “If only to avoid confrontation in the future.”
Ross was caught off guard by the question, and another debate ensued.
“Here’s the thing,” VJ wrote. “I do well two ways.” Option one: “50/50.” Option two: “Me
having it all.”
What the heck was Variety Jones talking about?! Ross wasn’t giving up control of his site. Here
was the only person Ross could trust in this online world, who had given him endless advice, and
was now giving ultimatums.
“Well, you can’t have it all now can you?” DPR wrote. “You could compete with me and maybe
you’d win, but . . .”
VJ could tell the conversation was getting contentious quickly, so he quelled the argument. “Naw,
let’s not go down that road. I’m not gonna do that, ever, I promise. But, I do know what I bring to the
table, and it’s a shitload.”
“I know you do.”
“Dude, I want equality,” Jones wrote. “I don’t do second fiddle very well.”
But Ross had no interest in parity. In the current version of the site, it was Ross’s world, and he
got to decide what went and what didn’t. He dictated who got a raise and who didn’t. People who
worked hard were rewarded, as he had recently done with some focused employees, giving some of
them an extra few hundred dollars in Bitcoin when they excelled. When Ross wanted to reward
Smedley, the chief programmer, he did it on his terms. “You’ve really stepped up to the plate here
already. Your base pay is still $900 of course, but I’ll throw [in] a bonus.” And when Inigo, another
lieutenant, needed help finishing a renovation project on his house, Dread gave him an extra $500 to
pass along to his handyman. Those kinds of decisions were up to Ross the Boss to decide, not VJ.
What would have happened if he had to run these things past his lieutenant? No, thank you. Plus,
how would Ross exert power and control on the site? He was already having a difficult time getting
people to show up to work on time, or fill out the correct reports that he wanted to see at the end of
their shift. He even enjoyed disciplining employees, telling them (still in Ross’s hokey banter) that
they had “fudged up” when they needed a good scolding.
Ross had worked too hard to simply hand anything to anyone. And shortly after this conversation
with VJ, Ross simply stopped talking to him for a few days. Instead he retreated into the real world.
Into San Francisco.
As Ross stood up from the grassy knoll at Alamo Square and reached for his brown laptop bag to
head back to his apartment, there was no question about it: This was the place he was supposed to be.
This was the city where Ross would make the Silk Road into the greatest start-up the world had ever
seen. And yet, as he walked back along Sacramento Street, past those beautiful painted lady Victorian
homes and the modern glass skyscrapers, Ross didn’t know that he would soon face challenges that no