Joseph Menn is one of the longest running investigative journalists in the world of cyber security. He’s won a ton of awards and written a few books, including All the Rave: The Rise and Fall of Shawn Fanning’s Napster and Fatal System Error: The Hunt for the New Crime Lords Bringing Down the Internet. So, it was no surprise when Menn decided to write a book about the Cult of the Dead Cow.

This self-proclaimed cult of hackers fascinated Menn because, in his words, “they were the most interesting and influential hacking group in history. They illustrated a lot of the things that I think are fascinating about hacking and security work.”

Members of the group spent years protecting O’Rourke, but the author stumbled across Beto’s hacking and actually got him to open up about his dirty little secret.

“While I was looking into the Cult of the Dead Cow, I found out that they had a member who was sitting in Congress. I didn’t know which one. But I knew that they had a member of Congress.

“And then I figured out which one it was. And the members of the group wouldn’t talk to me about who it was. They wouldn’t confirm that it was this person unless I promised that I wouldn’t write about it until after the November election. That’s because the member of Congress had decided to run for Senate. Beto O’Rourke is who it was.

“I met Beto O’Rourke. Then, I said ‘I’m writing a book about Cult of the Dead Cow, I think it’s really interesting. I know you were in this group. This book is going to publish after November and your Senate race is over. And he said, ‘OK.’

“And he told me about his time in the Cult of the Dead Cow.”

Interestingly, those teenage exploits explain a lot about Beto. In fact, one article lends to the latest democrat urges for socialism.

One article he wrote as a teen mused how the world would work without money. After changing the system, including the government, O’Rourke foresaw the end of starvation and class distinctions.

“To achieve a money-less society (or have a society where money is heavily de-emphasized) a lot of things would have to change, including government as we know it. This is where the anti-money group and the disciples of Anarchy meet,” O’Rourke wrote under his pseudonym. “I fear we will always have a system of government, one way or another, so we would have to use other means other than totally toppling the government (I don’t think the masses would support such a radical move at this time).”

Murder He Wrote

Politics weren’t the only thing on Beto’s mind. In another story, his twisted mind is exposed.

“One day, as I was driving home from work, I noticed two children crossing the street. They were happy, happy to be free from their troubles…. This happiness was mine by right. I had earned it in my dreams.

“As I neared the young ones, I put all my weight on my right foot, keeping the accelerator pedal on the floor until I heard the crashing of the two children on the hood, and then the sharp cry of pain from one of the two. I was so fascinated for a moment, that when after I had stopped my vehicle, I just sat in a daze, sweet visions filling my head.”

In another piece, he took on a self-proclaimed neo-Nazi who maintained that Hitler was misunderstood and didn’t personally want Jews killed. O’Rourke and a Jewish friend questioned the man about his theories and let him ramble about Jews and African Americans, an attempt to let him hang himself with his own words.

But opening this can of worms only points to more questions.