He wasn't a cartel boss; he was a web designer. 💻💊 We investigate the digital empire of Alaa Mohammed Allawi, who used the dark web marketplace AlphaBay to flood Texas with 850,000 counterfeit pills. We break down how he used cryptocurrency to industrialize the drug trade, turning a suburban house into a factory that killed a U.S. Marine.

1. The "Digital" Cartel: We analyze the business model. Allawi didn't use street corners; he used Tor. We explain how he ordered industrial pill presses and fentanyl precursors from China via the dark web, manufacturing fake Oxycodone and Xanax laced with lethal doses of fentanyl, proving that the modern drug lord is a logistician, not a gangster.

2. The "M30" Deception: It looks real, but it kills. We expose the "Fake Pharma" crisis. Allawi’s pills were pressed to look exactly like legitimate pharmaceuticals (stamped with "M30" or "Xanax" branding). We discuss the deadly chemistry of mixing fentanyl—50x stronger than heroin—into pills meant for college students who thought they were buying study drugs.

3. The Crypto Paper Trail: How did they catch him? We explore the forensic takedown. While Allawi thought Bitcoin made him invisible, investigators used blockchain analysis to trace his $14 million fortune. We discuss how the "untraceable" currency became the very evidence that linked him to the overdose death of a Marine in North Carolina.

The full list of sources used to create this episode can be found on our Patreon under ⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/c/Morgrain