Felix Mitchell Paradox???

in the news theres a lot of killing in the town. being an eastbay native this is nothing new. but when you read the news online as i do sfgate.com and read the comments some people that have nothing better to do at work. (like starting a blog of their own) say a lot of crazy racist shit. i want to incporporate something all of my favorite blogs dont include social commentary/politics. so i started to do research on something white people call the felix mitchell paradox. everyone in the bay knows who felix mitchell is. they even did an american gangster special on him on BET but if you don't know who he is or what the "paradox" is heres a little info
Federal Prosecutors sent him away for good, all appeals had been denied, and religious leaders were heralding a new day for the youth of Oakland. Nevertheless, just after his 32nd birthday, Felix Mitchell Jr. was about to take one last ride through the neighborhood. Laying in a bronze casket inside a gold-plated horse drawn carriage followed by 14 Rolls Royce limousines, Felix Mitchell Jr. would be memorialized in the dramatic tradition of gangland funeral processions of the prohibition era. For Felix, it was only natural to go out in style.

The service was attended by celebrities, and received news coverage internationally. An untold thousands of onlookers lined the streets to pay last respects to the fallen kingpin, or to simply catch a glimpse of the spectacle. The cortege began at Mitchell's home, the San Antonio Villas - better known as 69th Street Projects, and led all the way to Bethel Baptist Church at San Pablo and Powell Streets in West Oakland. Inside, lavish floral arrangements crowded the alter; one was a five foot dollar sign formed out of silver carnations, another was black and white roses in the shape of a smiling cat. After he had been respectfully eulogized and the coffin closed, Sade's ŒSmooth Operator' played through the church P.A.

Some civic leaders and a certain amount of citizens were appalled that the services were allowed to take place at all. All the proper permits were filed, though, and there was nothing that could be done to stop it. There had also been much pontificating about the "right" and "wrong" types of role models that we should be upholding before the young people of our inner cities. Broadcast news made certain to air the opinions of those who felt a distinct outrage around the funeral. The reality that these reports attempted desperately to avoid was that to a huge number of poor people in East Oakland and beyond, Felix Mitchell Jr. was, and still is, a hero.
A high school dropout raised in the projects, Mitchell had aimed to escape poverty by the age of twenty. His incredible success was due to a keen networking ability and a host of lucrative contracts in the Bay, south to Los Angeles and east to Detroit where heroin sales allowed him and several associates to attain the status of ghetto super stars. For a decade he led his 69 Mob in a ruthless battle against Mickey Moore's Family and the Funktown USA gang of Harvey Whisenten for the stakes of total control over the Bay Area's drug traffic. His no-holds-barred approach insured victory, and during the years before his death Mitchell's crew brought in an estimated $400,000 in monthly business.

Despite the efforts of many to characterize Mitchell simply as a murderous predator, he left behind a legacy of spirited community service. He sponsored local athletic programs for youths, financing their equipment and uniforms, and regularly held bar-be-ques for the entire neighborhood. On one occasion Mitchell reportedly hosted a busload of children on a field trip to Marine World Africa U.S.A. Whatever his crimes, Felix Mitchell was able to secure the ongoing respect of his partners and clients, and was spoken very highly of by all who knew him personally.

The notoriety of Mitchell's empire drew the ire of local and national law enforcement who finally put him away in 1985. Sentenced to life in prison, Felix was shipped off to Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary, where he was fatally stabbed within a few months.

Such a fate is designed by the Justice System in part to punish and incapacitate traders in illicit substances, but more so to deter others from following in their footsteps. Unfortunately, such policies are undermined by the realities of the black market, and Mitchell's sentence and early demise did not deter drug sellers in the Bay Area at all. On the contrary, drug sales continued and, with Mitchell's monopolistic pricing eliminated, competition reduced the price of crack and heroin. The main effect of Mitchell's imprisonment was to destabilize the market, lower drug prices, and increase violence as rival gang members challenged each other for market share. Drug-related drive-by shootings, street homicides, and felonious assaults increased dramatically. This unintended consequence is still referred to by academics as the "Felix Mitchell Paradox".

Ironically, a few years after his death, Felix Mitchell's criminal convictions were overturned by a federal judge on technicalities. Since this time the legends surrounding Mitchell have only grown in stature: the character Nino Brown from the film New Jack City was based on his story, and he remains the subject of gangsta-rap lyrics nation wide. Second and third hand reports from his memorial service now claim that inside his casket, Mitchell was lying on a bed of crisp thousand dollar bills. Certainly, efforts will be made to downplay his influence on Oakland and ghetto culture abroad, but whatever is said about Felix Mitchell Jr. and his legacy, it is true throughout history that lesser men have been celebrated, and greater ones persecuted.

Felix Mitchell Jr is buried at Rolling Hills Memorial Park in Richmond, CA.