The news story some have been waiting for (OG)

Potheads show you’re not anonymous online
By Leif M. Wright
Phoenix Staff Writer


That Internet chat began the weirdest column I’ve ever undertaken, one full of international intrigue, secret marijuana gardens, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Drug Enforcement Administration, a shady character with an Armenian name, a former movie actor turned marijuana seed dealer and tens of thousands of freaked-out potheads who started what I call the Marijuana Bean Field Wars.

Overgrow.com was the world’s largest marijuana cultivation Web site, and possibly the largest single marketplace of illegal ideas in the history of the world. The site taught growers the ins and outs of the plant and how to increase their yields and ostensibly increase the THC content. THC is the chemical believed to cause the “high” of marijuana.

At its peak before Jan. 31, Overgrow.com had more than 100,000 active members — a massive amount for all but the largest web sites, and certainly for one that exchanged information that is illegal in most places.

Jan. 31, the site disappeared. Poof. Up in smoke, you might say.
It had warned users a couple of days earlier that it would be undergoing server upgrades, so expect some outages. So no one panicked.

A day later, the site was still gone. Potheads, who are notoriously paranoid already, began to wig out.

What if the site had been busted? Would members be subject to prosecution based on the information they had shared on the site? Had authorities been watching the whole time, building up information so they could attack?
The war begins



I started searching the Internet for information about Overgrow.com. I found a slew of forums and dozens of sites repeating the same news: Overgrow.com and its parent site, Heaven’s Stairway, had been shut down, their Canadian owner arrested, his house raided and his family jailed.

Heaven’s Stairway was a seed distribution company. Marijuana growers call the seeds “beans.” Heaven’s Stairway, according to Canadian pot activist Marc Emery, had to be the largest seed merchant in North America, selling cannabis seeds all across Canada and the United States, and probably to other countries, too.

The stories on the Internet didn’t answer some key questions. Were the Web sites shut down by Canadian authorities, or were they, as Emery’s own bust nine months earlier, done in cooperation with the DEA?

Who was the mysterious owner of the sites, and what happened to him? Was he in jail? Was he out? Was he even alive?

What happened to the records of his seed business and the logs on his site that could possibly lead police to those who frequented the site?

Internet forums were atwitter with the details — or lack of them.

It seems the sites were owned by a Richard Calrisian in Montreal.
But later, it seemed “Calrisian” had been an alias. His real name was Richard Baghdadlian. And later, it seemed “Richard” was an alias, too. His real name, they asserted, was Hratch Baghdadlian.

No one seemed to be able to find any official records of his arrest, or even of an investigation.

That, the growers seemed unified in believing, was even more ominous. If the cops had busted Baghdadlian but hadn’t arrested him, it could be that they were still investigating — or worse, Baghdadlian was cooperating with them, singing like a canary, selling out seed customers, seed merchants and growers all over the continent.

I called the Royal Canadian Mounted Police headquarters in Ottawa.

“We don’t confirm or deny if there is an ongoing investigation,” said Sgt. Nathalie Dechenes, spokesman for the RCMP. “So we wouldn’t tell you either way. I don’t know if we even have authority to shut down Web sites.”

So I called Emery, who was busted nine months ago and is facing extradition to the United States on charges of selling marijuana seeds in the U.S.

“I’m facing 31 years in a maximum security federal prison,” Emery said. “It seems to me if Baghdadlian was facing the same thing, he might have started cooperating if they offered to drop the investigation in the U.S. and keep him in Canada.”

Emery had run a seed company in competition with Heaven’s Stairway. When he was busted, his computers were seized (“Nothing was on them,” he said), and his clients in the United States started receiving blue sheets of paper asking them to confirm orders they had placed with his company.

“It was essentially an effort to try to get them to incriminate themselves,” he said. “But most were smart enough to hit my Web site and find out it was the DEA and not us sending those notices out.”

Meanwhile, several cannabis-related sites were breaking out into full civil war over the Overgrow debacle.

On one side was a fomer movie actor who had had a bit part in a Jean-Claude VanDamme flick and now was calling himself “Gypsy Nirvana.” He claimed to have spoken with “RC,” which was a pseudonym for Baghdadlian (growers seem to be big on initials and acronyms).

RC, Nirvana assured everyone, had been arrested, but he was out on bail and he had shut down the servers when he learned of the impending raid — everyone’s information was safe.

Dissenters began to surface, however, saying Nirvana had a profit motive in mind; he wanted Heaven’s Stairway’s seed business.

On the other side was someone calling himself “Plural of Mongoose,” who apparently commanded great respect in the growing community. He also claimed to have spoken with RC, who had told him several lies, some of which, combined with a friend being busted, led him to believe RC was cooperating with the authorities.

Caught in the middle was Emery, whose own case had generated a lot of publicity, and who is loved by about half the growing community and violently hated by the other half. Emery’s initial statement on the matter had been that Baghdadlian, tired of the seed business, had decided it was time to bail, so he shut up shop and took off to greener pastures, no pun intended.

The battle raged on in Internet boards with Nirvana accusing Emery of being a jerk for revealing Baghdadlian’s name and phone number on his own site.

Others said Baghdadlian was the jerk for leaving his business partners high and dry, wondering if they could be busted at any time based on information from his servers.
No bust, no investigation, mom says

I called a number given on one site for Baghdadlian. A woman answered and gave her name as “Mrs. Baghdadlian.”

She confirmed that Hratch is her son and that he was the proprietor of Heaven’s Stairway and Overgrow.com.

“Nothing has happened, there is nothing right now,” she said in an Armenian accent. “He has not been arrested. There is no investigation.”

I asked her if Baghdadlian had shut the servers down himself. She started stuttering.

“Um,” she said. “I don’t think I can say anything more than this.”

I asked if she knew where I could reach him to talk to him. She said she did not.

“Wow,” Emery said when I told him about the conversation. “That sure lends credence to the idea that he took the money and ran.”

It’s possible that Baghdadlian had noticed an increased amount of government servers hitting his sites, saw the writing on the wall and bailed. Emery agreed it was possible.

“Before I was raided, about six weeks before, there was a huge Department of Justice focus on our Web site,” he said. “Our server logs revealed their IP addresses and we were able to do a whois on them and find out where the hits were coming from.”

Taking the money and running would explain Baghdadlian’s silence — and the silence of law enforcement, which had thrown a big media party when they busted Emery, patting themselves very publicly on the back for such a large takedown.
What does it mean to you?

The bottom line is those who were doing business with Baghdadlian and Emery were breaking the law if they were doing it in the United States — they took a tremendous risk to break the law, and they are likely wise to be worried.

Doing that business over the Internet may have given people a false sense of security, since the Internet allows people to feel “anonymous.”

In the marijuana growing community, the disappearance of Overgrow has made them rudely aware that Internet anonymity is an illusion.

For law enforcement, if there was no bust, they may still benefit from Baghdadlian’s disappearance. Growers all over the Internet were proclaiming that they were done — they were shutting their operations down for fear “LEO” would come get them based on information obtained from Baghdadlian’s debacle.

The net gain for law enforcement is a new paranoia in the cannabis-growing world — and fewer people growing, which means shorter supply and less headache for “LEO.” (cont)

 

forum wouldn't let me post the whole thing


The average, law-abiding citizen can take a good message away from the mess, too, though. The message:


“You’re never anonymous,” Emery said. “It’s impossible. Governments are investing huge amounts of money to monitor what’s going on on the Internet. If they’re interested in knowing something, they’ll get it.”


Protecting yourself over the Internet — even in legitimate business — should take top priority. You may never have thought about breaking a law yourself, but your information is scattered all over the Internet, and those with less scruples than you can easily gain access to it and use it to defraud you.


Be careful. The Internet is still a rough new frontier, much like Oklahoma was in the Land Run years. You may not be facing droughts and maurading bandits, but you face less-than-honest people who will take your information and use it to hurt you.


“Never do business with anyone who won’t give you a real name,” Emery said.


More importantly, never do online business with a company you haven’t thoroughly seen to be trustworthy. Even big companies suffer from “phishing,” where people will pretend to be the big companies and request personal information from you, which is later used to defraud you.


For those doing illegal business over the Internet, my advice is this: Just don’t.


You can reach Leif M. Wright at 684-2906 or lmwright@muskogeephoenix.com. If you’re “LEO,” you already know that.


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Originally published February 17, 2006


(end)


With that said, i guess i'll go back to cuz it's all still a mystery

 

Thanks for posting. Good stuff. Further proof that we still don't know what's going on.

 

good read!!!!


the more that comes out the happier I am that I had never done any business with, or even registered on, any of the aforementioned sites.

 

Hmmmmm


Loks to me like he has just run off and quit. I mean his own mother said nothing happened. So there ya have it. ( As Agrow would say) He is a typical Canadian crook.

 

good read man.. Nice to hear all sides of the story in one passage. I for one believe that the Baghed took his damn money and hit the hills.. I guess if I thought I was going to be raided or had a bad gut feeling I may do the same thing... I guess you have to put yourselfs in his shoes. But whatever it comes down to I still have growkind.. always had and I hope I always will.

 

Wow, thank you for finally putting everything in one freakin page!


The whole thing sucks. But I'm glad I found another growing site! This one looks cool! If it gets shut down too I'm taking it as a sign Hopefully it won't ever!

 

I almost purchased my first seeds from Heaven's whateveritwas.

 

I don't like the writer's style.


Information about growing is not illegal. Not in the USA and I doubt in Canada.


The writer seems unlikely to have done more than research the topic of OG or the ilk.


The piece has an outsider's feel to it. Then the writer slithers on the "issues" "pot heads" have and touches on general paranoia IMO.


Like halfbreed420 said "Further proof that we still don't know what's going on."


Yet the writer makes the most of it and still leaves room for another story.


-----


I still think the people are just ducking away, out of the gaze of LEO. Don't blame them if they do.


After all the revolution has to come from the people and not some Corporations and/or a Government IMO.


Plant the seed and Grow the weed for Freedom!


---


Grow the weed ; Grow the seed.

 

LOL, chief, that din't say shit, i'm expecting the actual story, more of the shit i told my ol' lady a few weeks ago, ROFLMAO

 

Keep in mind Baron, i've been on the cultivation boards since they began. I've met alot of people, seen alot of stuff go down, and gotten the inside scoop on present and past "conspiracys". What might not add up to you adds up to me in the grand scheme of things. Word of warning, if you are taking anything Gypsy says seriously..........get ready for a big disappointment. Like i've always said "never trust a Gypsy" and if you've ever known one you'll understand. With that said i'll go back to smoking my peace pipe......cuz we sure need it.

 

my $0.02 for PTKO's collection


I have used gypsy several time without complaint and I sure don't want ya'll to think I am defending Gypsy, by any means. I have no reason to do such. However, I think if you look at gypsy for what it is, a profit making business, you should have no problems. As long as the service is provided that is.


I mean in todays world, people should be expecting to get the shaft. , but that's just the way it is in my eyes. Especially in an internet world dealing with illegal activites. WHAT????? You mean the people in the drug cultivation game are crooks?????


Hell, I mean, I expect normal every day people to be crooked. nOt to mention people that, knowingly, get involved in "shady" activities. I'd love to live in wonka world where everything is perfect and all the peace and love pot smokers/dealers/vendors/growers could just share these genetics, but that just ain't the case for most people.


el comprador se guarda

 

LOL @ Wa.


Wish I was still 'shady'. I actually run a legitmate business now. Which reminds me Wa....when ya gonna buy a damn box? You'll trust a gypsy and not a yeti?

 

Consider yourself lucky wawona. The people that did get shafted by him and spoke up........were quickly snuffed out by his cronies. I witnessed it first hand numerous times. looks like ole Rez dog flew the coop now, oh and you heard about BOG?. I hope Gypsy owns a dog...............

 

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later.

 

Yeah i think you passed it on to me lol. I'm sitting on some rather expensive OG Kush S1 seeds.............from Gypsy..............first shot.........0....nadda....zilch.......germ rate . DAMN WE NEED SOME SMILEYS! 11? COME ON

 

I gave webby over 500 of em.

 

If anyone is interested in seeing the video, it's been compressed into two parts.


You can D/L the .avi files here:


Part 1


http://www.megaupload.com/?d=3MQ4SQK5


and here:


Part 2


http://www.megaupload.com/?d=JU80OTFU


Still not proof of what PoM is claiming. It just shows G.N. is an asshole. (I'll tell you though, if that guy layed his hands on me like that, I'd beat the shit out of him and throw his ass out of the 5th story window)


Now, if G.N. and R.C. did what PoM is claiming, they should both be taken care of "Useless" style. I would strap those fuckers to a chair, take a 24" long 3/4" diameter drill bit and run through their kneecaps and up into the thigh bones hollowing them out. That way they could watch in excruciating pain the maggots coming out of theire festering wounds right before they died from blood poisoning from the bone marrow. If PoM's claims are true, there is no revenge sweet enough for what was done to our community.


Now, if PoM is just laying out a truckload of bullshit trying put a hurt on G.N's business, because his chick ran back to GN or something, then PoM needs to have an "Italian Necktie" for it.


This whole thing is like a frickin soap opera.


PoM is Banging G.N.'s wife/girlfriend whatever. I would beat the shit out of PoM for that myself. So there certainly is a lot of personal BS going on behind the scenes. I personally couldn't give a shit if they all died in a mexican stand-off. (Although I hope someone video tapes it and posts it on the net for all to see lol) The questions I have are related to OG,not a bunch of crazy dutchmen. And being a self preservationist/ego-centric whatever the fuck you want to call it I have a great deal of interest in this whole mess. Did R.C. conspire with G.N. to sell OG for a profit? Did the deal go over or did RC get screwed? Or did RC get busted as some claim? OR did he just split because he felt some heat? (Not likely IMO)


Hmmmm Makes a grower wonder....

 

Oh yea Chief, if your OGers don't germ I got ya covered dude!

 

damn i dunno what to think about this stuff.


personally this "RC" and gypsy nirvana sound like a couple of douches to me.