Felix Wayne Mitchell Jr. (August 23, 1954 – August 21, 1986) was a

drug lord A drug lord, drug baron, kingpin, or lord of drugs is a type of crime boss in charge of a drug trafficking network, organization, or enterprise. Crime barons may be difficult to bring to justice: usually, they do not possess illegal goods. Ra ...

from

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

, and leader of the "69 Mob" criminal organization, which operated throughout California and into the Midwest. He was known as "Felix the Cat" after the cartoon character.

History

Mitchell was born in Oakland and lived in the 69th Avenue San Antonio Village

housing project Public housing, also known as social housing, refers to Subsidized housing, subsidized or affordable housing provided in buildings that are usually owned and managed by local government, central government, nonprofit organizations or a ...

s. After dropping out of high school, Mitchell created a criminal organization called "My Other Brother", or "6-9 Mob" a.k.a. "MOB". Connected with L.A. kingpin Tootie Reese, he made business contacts in the

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose. The Association of Bay Area Governments ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

. For more than a decade, Mitchell battled competition from Mickey Moore's crime family and the Funktown USA gang to gain total control of the heroin market. Before 1984–1985 and the widespread practice of free-basing cocaine, heroin use was more common. It is estimated that Mitchell brought in as much as $5 million annually. Mitchell was targeted by local and federal law enforcement. He was convicted in 1985 and sentenced to life in prison at Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary where he was fatally stabbed on August 21, 1986, two days before his 32nd birthday, a little more than a year later.

Funeral and notoriety

Mitchell's funeral gained national attention as an example of the impact drugs and drug-culture was having on the country's youth. Thousands of people lined the streets to pay their respects as the funeral procession went through Mitchell's old Oakland neighborhood. His body was carried through crowded streets by a horse-drawn carriage trailed by 14 Rolls-Royce limousines and was attended by

Black Panther Party The Black Panther Party (originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense) was a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist and Black Power movement, black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newto ...

co-founder

Huey P. Newton Huey Percy Newton (February 17, 1942 – August 22, 1989) was an African American revolutionary and political activist who co-founded the Black Panther Party in 1966. He ran the party as its first leader and crafted its ten-point manifesto with ...

. According to an interview with Bay Area radio personality Jimmy Guy: "I remember his funeral, it was like Martin Luther King had died and that coverage went out all over the country. I didn't want my city to just be known for honoring a drug lord." The service received news coverage internationally. Onlookers lined the streets to watch the procession. The procession began at Mitchell's former residence, the San Antonio Villas and ended at the Star Bethel Baptist Church at San Pablo and Stanford Avenues in

Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

. Many civic leaders and citizens were appalled that the services were allowed to take place at all. Proper permits for the event had been filed. In 1987, Mitchell's conviction was overturned because he had died before an appeal could be heard. Criminologists named an effect after him known as the "Felix Mitchell Paradox"—whereby after a major successful police operation (like the arrest of Mitchell) crime and violence both went up instead of down as one might expect. It is thought that Felix had such monopoly power in parts of Oakland that he controlled pricing and policed the violence of smaller gangs. When he was arrested it left a power vacuum and the smaller gangs started both price wars and shooting wars to fill the void.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Felix 1954 births 1986 deaths People from Oakland, California African-American gangsters American drug traffickers American crime bosses Murdered African-American people Murdered American gangsters American people who died in prison custody Prisoners murdered in custody Prisoners who died in United States federal government detention People murdered in Kansas Deaths by stabbing in Kansas American prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by the United States federal government Criminals from the San Francisco Bay Area African-American history in Oakland, California 20th-century African-American people 1986 murders in the United States