Criminal Empire

From New York Times best-selling author Nick Bilton comes a true-life thriller about the rise and fall of Ross Ulbricht, aka the Dread Pirate Roberts, the founder of the online black market Silk Road. In 2011, Ulbricht, a 26-year-old libertarian idealist and former Boy Scout, launched 'a website where people could buy anything anonymously, with no trail whatsoever that could lead back to them'. He called it Silk Road, opened for business on the Dark Web, and christened himself the Dread Pirate Roberts.

The story of Paul LeRoux, the twisted genius entrepreneur and cold-blooded killer who brought revolutionary innovation to international crime, and the exclusive inside story of how the DEA’s elite, secretive 960 Group brought him down.

Lord of the Rings + Breaking Bad + The Sopranos = Skulduggery. It’s a world ruled by elves, and they have decided that alcohol and magic is illegal for all the other races. But I know how to make whiskey. In fact, that’s the easy part. Selling it under their noses and not getting caught and hung will be the hard part. I’ll need to build a crew, I’ll need to slit some throats, and I’ll need to be five steps ahead of our overlords. Wanna join me in building a criminal empire?

Nothing goes on in this city without me knowing about it. We run the whiskey business. We run the brothels. But it's not all fun and games. While we’ve eliminated our smaller rivals and obstacles, there are still powerful forces in the Elven empire and their Dwarven toadies who could topple our criminal empire. But the tide has turned, and soon, our enemies will be dead, or they’ll be turned into allies. We have to play it smart because this isn’t about running rackets in one city.

Me and my bootlegging crew have had runaway success moving our illicit product throughout the city, and many of our rivals have been eliminated or brought into the family. Unfortunately, this success has drawn the attention of the domineering elven authorities, including the Guildmaster of the Thieves’ Guild and the Captain of the City Guard. I’ll have to get the authorities off our backs, keep the whiskey flowing, and continue to follow the lead of my magic keys. Or we’ll all end up dead.

The best part of being a human is everyone constantly underestimates you, and that means they never see it coming when your dagger plunges into their heart. Our business is growing, but so is our list of enemies. Dwarven gangsters? The Assassins Guild? The commander of the Elven Guard? Yup, they are all problems for us as we expand our criminal operation throughout the realm, and we gotta get rid of ‘em all if we’re going to make mountains of gold. Fortunately, they’ll never see it coming.

We’re starting to make some coin, but I’m always looking to improve. So, how can I sell more whiskey and make even more gold? Double-cross my distributor? Buy new businesses to serve as fronts for my operations? Steal a few precious artifacts from those blue-blooded elves? Yep. All of the above, and we’ll kill anyone who gets in our way.

Are you ready to unlock the secrets of ruthless success in the cutthroat world of business? Step into the shadows and learn from the masterminds of the underworld in How to Build a Business Like the Mafia. This riveting guide takes you on a thrilling journey through the corridors of power, revealing the hidden strategies and tactics used by mobsters to build their criminal empires.

Things are going badly for the Clan in this new SF novel of the Merchant Princes, the immensely popular series by Charles Stross. Locked in a vicious civil war for control over the kingdom of Niejwein, their army is bottled up inside a fortress under siege in two parallel universes at once. Duke Angbard, the Clan's leader, has been laid low by a stroke: plotters are already conspiring in readiness for the deadly dance to come.