Italian Authorities Seized Berlusconi Market

~3 min read | Published on 2019-11-07, tagged Darkweb-MarketSeized using 627 words.

Italian law enforcement announced the shutdown of Berlusconi Market and arrest of three individuals suspected of running the marketplace. The investigation into the market started in May and investigation into vendors on the marketplace is ongoing.
In an early press release, the Guardia di Finanza announced the arrest of three suspected Berlusconi Market administrators and the seizure of Berlusconi Market. “[The market], with over 100,000 ads, was considered the most reliable illegal resource of the dark web,” the announcement said.
The investigation began with the arrest of G00d00 in May, as reported by Darknetlive and later confirmed by a former administrator of Italian Darknet Community.

The Berlusconi Market Homepage | Guardia di Finanza


The investigation began in May 2019. Law enforcement in Barletta identified a prolific darkweb vendor identified as g00d00 as well as a second individual linked to the darkweb drug trafficking operation. During the investigation into g00d00, Italian authorities seized 2.2 kg of cocaine, ketamine, and MDMA. The vendor(s) had already prepared the drugs for sale on the darkweb. During the raid at g00d00’s house, authorities seized electronics that linked g00d00 to Bitcoin transactions originating from Berlusconi Market. Italian authorities then examined the Bitcoin transactions associated with g00d00 and Berlusconi Market using “the best forensic analysis techniques.” This forensic analysis allowed them to “trace” the administrators of Berlusconi Market.
G00d00 had access to Berlusconi Market’s private key at the time of his arrest, according to HugBunter. HugBunter also noticed that the market had changed the key after the news of the arrest became public.
During the investigation into g00d00 and the second suspect, authorities learned that both suspects had a role in the administration or moderation of Berlusconi Market (in addition to their drug trafficking operation). Forensic analysis of the devices seized from the arrested subjects led to the discovery that “Berlusconi Market was managed by two “nicknames” of which one - VladimirPutin had the role of administrator and the other - EmmanuelMacron had the role of a moderator.”

Note the Use of the v3 Onion Service | Guardia di Finanza


“Starting in January 2019, Berlusconi Market became the most important Dark Web market, both in terms of quantity of items for sale and the volume of transactions with over 100,000 advertisements for illegal products,” the announcement said.
Forensic analysis linked “conversations exchanged through instant messaging applications with a third party emerged, which managed to exercise a sort of control over the proceeds linked to the Berlusconi Market sales platform as administrator of the market itself.” Investigators used this information to identify the third subject, a resident of Puglia, Italy.

A Listing on Berlusconi Market | Guardia di Finanza


The three suspects had established a partnership of sorts, according to Italian authorities. They split expenses related to the operation of Berlusconi Market; made management decisions; all three were in possession of administrator credentials; all three split the Bitcoin earned as the marketplace’s staff and/or administrators (the market transacted two million Euros annually, according to the announcement).
The market has been inaccessible for weeks.
The elements gathered thanks to the meticulous investigative activities carried out by the specialized staff of the Privacy Protection and Technological Fraud Unit of the Guardia di Finanza, with the constant coordination of the Public Prosecutor of Brescia, led to the issuance of personal precautionary measures for custody in prison at with three subjects (GDM and GR, residing in Puglia and LDV residing in Puglia and domiciled in Turin). Officials and judicial police officers belonging to the aforementioned Special Unit carried out the measures ordered, also carrying out 5 house searches in Barletta (BT), Andria (BT), Putignano (BA) and Turin. During the searches several technological devices were seized (personal computers, notebooks, digital memories and smartphones) on which the forensic analysis will be subsequently carried out, also to trace the various Black Market vendors.

The Press Release.

Comments (24)


N/A2019-11-07
657ed200

LMAO. “[The market], with over 100,000 ads, was considered the most reliable illegal resource of the dark web,” the announcement said. This is them blatantly stroking their own ego. They wish Berlusconi was that important. In reality 3 new markets have already popped up in its place.

Heater2019-11-07
6c6ac410

Sad times! It's all tracing back to BTC. XMR or bust come on people smarten up. You can still send BTC using xmr.to.

HelloWorld2019-11-07
523a1860

wtf are people waiting to switch to XMR?? its been years now that it should have been done !

dream vandor2019-11-08
ce296d70

that fucking men arrested he scam my 250$

Coolio2019-11-08
98877fc0

Wow, that's fucking sad, this was a nice market, fucking police!! Someday DNM will rise. Sometimes I think that police loose their time chasing this guys when the real problem it's inside politicians, but as we know police and politicians fuck each other every night.

Dynamic2019-11-08
e3d8b610

It's not about btc, these 3 people was all behind that nickname and they knew themselves in person, after first arrest they placed microphones and other shit, plus they registered their calls. Be aware big costumers, goodoo kept always the addresses of the buyers.

ShirouTP2019-11-08
130172e0

The war on drugs and encryption needs to end it causes more harm than good.

Ricky2019-11-08
cdf1eea0

If there are any police reading this, go fuck yer self!

Meow2019-11-08
7169b920

It appears as they have also busted the no1 vendor from Berlusconi X-Men.

Synchronizer2019-11-09
b8c1cac0

Too bad. g00d00 was a solid vendor shipping us at the least 1 kilo of Ketamine a week from Italy and France sometimes. Guess he had a reshipper their. Berlusconi was a very solid pilar reliable marketplace when shit was all over the place. Too bad they never did get to implement XMR, as all marketplaces should. I wonder how long did they have a gag order on the whole thing before they can catch other vendors like X-men..

sauce ?2019-11-09
9a941750

@123, interesting theory ! what is your source ?

1232019-11-11
ce4fcae0

@sauce I'm working for Italian Police.

copssuckmydick2019-11-11
293cd310

FUCK YOU POLICE!!!!!

You're not police2019-11-12
f58f0ca0

No real police is going to come here and explain how they took a market down with an exploit you're so full of shit the sky has turned purple.

gringo2019-11-12
96cc34c0

bla bla bla, all because of bitcoin , users are to lazy to use xmr and that will cost them ( lawyers at least ) ! bitcoin should be used as store value , xmr must be official dark net coin ! freedom is anonymous and anonymous is freedom !

1232019-11-12
b4ad15c0

@You're not police I'm not police. Read again: "I’m working for Italian Police."

Steve Carlos2019-11-13
ad81f6f0

I really love this sity

ok2019-11-15
08ba4140

When tails will include a Monero wallet ?

Popeye2019-11-15
23a622a0

So Berlusconi market was compromised since g00d00 arrest in May? or LE seized it and shut down the servers when they have arrested the Admin few weeks ago?

CSS is fake2019-11-15
3bd0f5c0

It's a real exploit for the website owner to fingerprint the users browsers! For those with weak minds if this exploit was used on Berlusconi they already had to be own the server aka this can't take down a market. Please use your brains.

CSS is not fake just old af2019-11-16
1cb8f700

@123 CSS attack is not fake just old af it is there since 2012.... And u can use it just to fingerprint users.....

A Guy2019-11-13
78288920

@123 Interesting. With that css exfil vulnerability what is possible to know about tor users? Steal username passwords and browser fingerprint? Or also ip address?

About CSS exfil2019-11-14
c6f96350

CSS exfil only capable of fingerprinting your browser, so its not that bad but not good either.

1232019-11-15
1a719260

Remotely hosted CSS used in content scripts can be used to leak data from the host page.