Variety Jones and Smedley

Last updated

Variety Jones (or Cimon) and SmedleyCharger (or Smed) are pseudonyms of individuals reported to have been closely involved with the founding of the darknet market Silk Road.[ citation needed ]

Contents

Involvement

According to security researcher Runa A. Sandvik, Variety Jones joined Silk Road in 2011 as a marijuana seed vendor, opposed to the war on drugs. Working closely with Ross Ulbricht, they were to act as a penetration tester, financial advisor and mentor, and was the person who suggested the "Dread Pirate Roberts" title Ulbricht used. According to seized chat logs, Jones was also the one to suggest the first alleged murder for hire, [1] though it did not actually take place. [2]

Smedley joined the site as a coder following the Gawker user influx[ failed verification ] [3] as a relatively highly paid employee. Unfinished projects included encrypted email system "Silk Mail" and other prospective financial and internet projects. At times it appeared Smedley reported directly to Jones.[ citation needed ]

Identities

Research into these individuals' identities has been conducted via tracking blockchain Bitcoin transactions, confidential sources, rare Thai marijuana seeds and rationalisation of aliases. Consequently, it has been suggested Smedley's true identity could be Mike Wattier, an American web developer living in Thailand. Variety Jones is believed to be Roger Thomas Clark, a Canadian living in Thailand. [4] On December 3, 2015, Clark was arrested in Thailand and faced extradition to the United States. [5] In 2023, Clark was sentenced to 20 years in prison. [6]

Arrest and extradition

Nearly a year after his arrest and detainment in Thailand, Clark claimed he had "top secret information" [7] for intelligence officials close to Prayut Chan-o-cha, prime minister of Thailand's military government.

While fighting extradition in Thailand, where he slept on a concrete floor, Clark maintained that he had knowledge of a corrupt FBI agent involved with Silk Road. [7]

Clark was extradited to the United States on June 15, 2018. He was charged with narcotics trafficking conspiracy; narcotics trafficking; distributing narcotics by means of the internet; conspiracy to commit, and aid and abet, a computer hacking conspiracy; conspiracy to traffic in fraudulent identification documents; and money laundering conspiracy. [8] In January 2020, Clark pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute narcotics. [9] On July 11 2023, he was sentenced for 20 years. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Latin Kings</span> Hispanic and Latino street gang based in Chicago, Illinois, United States

The Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation is a gang active primarily in the United States as well as internationally. The gang was founded by Puerto Ricans in Chicago, Illinois, in 1954. The Latin Kings are one of the largest Hispanic and Latino street and prison gangs worldwide.

Eduardo Arellano Félix is a Mexican drug trafficker, brother of Benjamín, Ramón, Javier and sister, Enedina, all drug traffickers. The Arellano-Félix Organization, also known as the Tijuana Cartel, has been responsible for numerous murders and the smuggling of thousands of tons of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine for more than a decade. The DEA believes that the Arellano-Félix brothers were responsible for the numerous smuggling tunnels that were found in January 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IRS Criminal Investigation</span> Criminal Investigation division of the IRS

Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) is the United States federal law enforcement agency responsible for investigating potential criminal violations of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code and related financial crimes, such as money laundering, currency transaction violations, tax-related identity theft fraud and terrorist financing that adversely affect tax administration. While other federal agencies also have investigative jurisdiction for money laundering and some Bank Secrecy Act violations, IRS-CI is the only federal agency that can investigate potential criminal violations of the Internal Revenue Code, in a manner intended to foster confidence in the tax system and deter violations of tax law. Criminal Investigation is a division of the Internal Revenue Service, which in turn is a bureau within the United States Department of the Treasury.

Miguel Ángel Caro Quintero is a Mexican convicted drug lord and former leader of the Sonora Cartel, a defunct criminal group based in Sonora.

Klong Prem Central prison is a maximum security prison in Chatuchak District, Bangkok, Thailand. The prison has several separate sections. The compound houses up to 20,000 inmates. Within the perimeter of the compound are the Women's Central Prison, often referred to as "Lat Yao" or "Lat Yao women's prison". There is the Central Correction Institution for Drug Addicts, Bangkok Special Prison, and the Central Correctional Hospital. The Lat Yao men's section takes custody of male offenders whose sentence term is not over 25 years. As of 2002 the men's section held 1,158 foreigners from 56 countries out of a total of 7,218 prisoners. It is a part of the Thai Department of Corrections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sureños</span> Coalition of Mexican-American street gangs

Sureños ‍, also known as Southern United Raza, Sur 13 or Sureños X3, are groups of loosely affiliated gangs that pay tribute to the Mexican Mafia while in U.S. state and federal correctional facilities. Many Sureño gangs have rivalries with one another, and the only time this rivalry is set aside is when they enter the prison system. Thus, fighting is common among different Sureño gangs even though they share a common identity. Sureños have emerged as a national gang in the United States.

The Continuing Criminal Enterprise Statute is a United States federal law that targets large-scale drug traffickers who are responsible for long-term and elaborate drug conspiracies. Unlike the RICO Act, which covers a wide range of organized crime enterprises, the CCE statute covers only major narcotics organizations. CCE is codified as Chapter 13 of Title 21 of the United States Code, 21 U.S.C. § 848. The statute makes it a federal crime to commit or conspire to commit a continuing series of felony violations of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 when such acts are taken in concert with five or more other persons. For conviction under the statute, the offender must have been an organizer, manager, or supervisor of the continuing operation and have obtained substantial income or resources from the drug violations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christopher Coke</span> Jamaican drug lord

Christopher Michael Coke, also known as Dudus, is a convicted Jamaican drug lord and the leader of the Shower Posse, a violent drug gang started by his father Lester Coke in Jamaica, which exported "large quantities" of marijuana and cocaine into the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alfredo Beltrán Leyva</span> Convicted Mexican drug lord

Alfredo Beltrán Leyva, commonly referred to by his alias El Mochomo, is a Mexican convicted drug lord and former leader of the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel, a drug trafficking organization. He was one of Mexico's most-wanted drug lords. Beltrán Leyva was responsible for smuggling multi-ton shipments of cocaine and methamphetamine to the United States from Mexico and South America between the 1990s and 2000s. He worked alongside his brothers Héctor, Carlos, and Arturo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silk Road (marketplace)</span> 2011–2013 darknet market

Silk Road was an online black market and the first modern darknet market. It was launched in 2011 by its American founder Ross Ulbricht under the pseudonym "Dread Pirate Roberts." As part of the dark web, Silk Road operated as a hidden service on the Tor network, allowing users to buy and sell products and services between each other anonymously. All transactions were conducted with bitcoin, a cryptocurrency which aided in protecting user identities. The website was known for its illegal drug marketplace, among other illegal and legal product listings. Between February 2011 and July 2013, the site facilitated sales amounting to 9,519,664 Bitcoins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aurelio Cano Flores</span> Mexican drug trafficker (born 1972)

Aurelio Cano Flores, commonly referred to by his aliases Yankee and/or Yeyo, is an imprisoned Mexican drug trafficker and former high-ranking leader of the Gulf Cartel, a Mexican drug trafficking organization. He is also a former member of the Federal Judicial Police in Tamaulipas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ross Ulbricht</span> American founder of the Silk Road (born 1984)

Ross William Ulbricht is an American who created and operated the darknet market website Silk Road from 2011 until his arrest in 2013. He was imprisoned from 2013 until January 2025, when he received a full pardon from U.S. President Donald Trump.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Farmer's Market</span> Former Dark Web market

The Farmer's Market, formerly Adamflowers, was an online black market for illegal drugs. It was founded by Marc Peter Willems in or before 2006, and moved operations to the dark web in 2010 using the Tor anonymity network. It was closed and several operators and users arrested in April 2012 as a result of Operation Adam Bomb, a two-year investigation led by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Onymous</span> International police operation targeting darknet markets

Operation Onymous was an international law enforcement operation targeting darknet markets and other hidden services operating on the Tor network.

The Nine Trey Gangster Bloods or Nine Trey Gangsta Bloods (NTG) are a "set" of the United Blood Nation street gang, which is itself a set of the Bloods gang. The gang operates on the East Coast of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AlphaBay</span> Defunct darknet marketplace

AlphaBay was a darknet market operating at different times between September 2014 and February 2023. At times, it was both an onion service on the Tor network and an I2P node on I2P. After it was shut down in July 2017 following law enforcement action in the United States, Canada, and Thailand as part of Operation Bayonet, it was relaunched in August 2021 by the self-described co-founder and security administrator DeSnake. The alleged original founder, Alexandre Cazes, a Canadian citizen born on 19 October 1991, was found dead in his cell in Thailand several days after his arrest, with police suspecting suicide.

Mery Valencia de Ortiz, also known as "La Señora", is a former Colombian drug trafficker who led a narcotics operation based on Miami and was one of the leaders of the Cali Cartel. Between 1997 and 1998, Valencia's organization made more than $180 million annually and distributed more than 12,000 kilograms (26,500 lb) of cocaine.

<i>Silk Road</i> (film) 2021 American crime thriller film

Silk Road is a 2021 American crime thriller film, written for the screen and directed by Tiller Russell based on the Rolling Stone article "Dead End on Silk Road: Internet Crime Kingpin Ross Ulbricht's Big Fall" by David Kushner. The film stars Jason Clarke, Nick Robinson, Alexandra Shipp, Jimmi Simpson, Paul Walter Hauser, Darrell Britt-Gibson, and Will Ropp. It is based on the true story of Ross Ulbricht who develops a website on the darknet, an act which attracts the attention of the FBI and DEA who send in federal agent Richard "Rick" Bowden, a fictional composite of real life DEA Agent Carl Force and US Secret Service Special Agent Shaun Bridges, both of whom were convicted of felonies related to theft of assets in the investigation of Ulbricht, to bring down his empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Idalia Ramos Rangel</span> Mexican drug lord

Idalia Ramos Rangel is a Mexican business owner and suspected drug lord. According to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), she is a high-ranking member of the Gulf Cartel, a criminal group based in Tamaulipas, Mexico. In the cartel, Ramos Rangel is known by her aliases Big Momma and La Tía. She has reportedly been responsible for coordinating international drug trafficking shipments from Mexico to the United States since the mid-1980s. Her role in organized crime is unusual, as a woman active in the male-dominated Mexican drug trafficking industry over several decades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hells Angels MC criminal allegations and incidents in New York</span> Criminal incidents involving the Hells Angels in New York state

Numerous police and international intelligence agencies classify the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) as a motorcycle gang and contend that members carry out widespread violent crimes, including drug dealing, trafficking in stolen goods, gunrunning, extortion, and prostitution rings. Members of the organization have continuously asserted that they are only a group of motorcycle enthusiasts who have joined to ride motorcycles together, to organize social events such as group road trips, fundraisers, parties, and motorcycle rallies, and that any crimes are the responsibility of the individuals who carried them out and not the club as a whole.

References

  1. ↑ Greenberg, Andy (1 April 2015). "Silk Road Boss' First Murder-for-Hire Was His Mentor's Idea". Wired. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  2. ↑ Bearman, Joshuan. "The Untold Story of Silk Road, Part 1". Wired. Retrieved 11 October 2015.
  3. ↑ Adrian Chen (1 June 2011). "The Underground Website Where You Can Buy Any Drug Imaginable". Gawker . Archived from the original on 26 July 2012. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
  4. ↑ Cox, Joseph (10 September 2015). "These Are the Two Forgotten Architects of Silk Road". Vice.
  5. ↑ Cox, Joseph (4 December 2015). "FBI Says Suspected Silk Road Architect Variety Jones Has Been Arrested". Vice. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  6. ↑ Greenberg, Andy. "Silk Road's Second-in-Command, Variety Jones, Gets 20 Years in Prison". Wired. ISSN   1059-1028 . Retrieved 2024-08-02.
  7. 1 2 "Exclusive: Our Thai prison interview with the alleged top advisor to Silk Road". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  8. ↑ "Manhattan U.S. Attorney Announces Extradition Of Senior Adviser To The Operator Of The "Silk Road" Website". U.S. Department of Justice. Retrieved 2018-07-02.
  9. ↑ Mulvey, Erin (January 30, 2020) "Senior advisor of the 'Silk Road' website pleads guilty in Manhattan Federal Court." Drug Enforcement Administration press release. (Retrieved July 10, 2020).
  10. ↑ "United States v. Clark, 15-Cr-866 (SHS) | Casetext Search + Citator". casetext.com. Retrieved 2024-08-02.


Flag of Canada.svg Handcuffs.svg

This Canadian biographical article related to crime is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.