>> Ross Ulbricht built his empire, in large part, by profiting off people's suffering.

> He built Silk Road, which allowed people to sell drugs to one another.

Actually, that's the tiniest part. [1]

  The Silk Road was an online black market where buyers and sellers of illegal or
  unethical items could transact anonymously. Utilizing privacy techniques such
  as the Tor network and cryptocurrency transactions, people were able to
  transact in drugs, hacked passwords, illegal data, and other contraband.

Or, you could look at how he used Silk Road, to contract killers. [2]

  MANY OF THE ideological supporters of the Silk Road have described its
  sprawling online black market for drugs as an experiment in victimless crime
  and a nonviolent alternative to the bloody turf wars of the streets. But
  prosecutors in the trial of Ross Ulbricht, the 30-year-old accused of running
  that anonymous bazaar, have pointed to one conversation they say shows the
  contrary: That the Silk Road's boss was willing to resort to the drug trade's
  most violent measures when it suited his needs.

[1] https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/silk-road.asp

[2] https://www.wired.com/2015/02/read-transcript-silk-roads-bos...