New Dread Pirate Roberts Abandons Ship on Silk Road 2.0

The new iteration of Silk Road, a popular online black-market bazaar for drugs and other contraband, returned from a scheduled week of holiday downtime Saturday — but without its former leader.

Silk Road's operator, who goes by the alias "Dread Pirate Roberts" or "DPR," has been noticeably absent from the site's forums since three of his top lieutenants were arrested in a global sting on Dec. 20. A new administrator "Defcon" has assumed temporary control of the site, and confirmed that Dread Pirate Roberts has taken an indefinite leave of absence.