Pornographer Arrested in Partner-Brother’s Slaying

CORTE MADERA, Calif. —  Pornographer Artie Mitchell was shot to death in his suburban tract home, and Jim Mitchell, his older brother and partner in legal San Francisco sex businesses, was arrested on suspicion of murder, police said Thursday.

In San Francisco, a sign in the mirrored window of the brothers’ main theater--variously called the “Cadillac of Whorehouses” and the “Carnegie Hall of Sex”--attributed the temporary closure to a “death in the family.”

“Jim shot Artie? I’m shocked, really shocked,” a customer, wearing a suit and tie and hoping to see a midafternoon show, said after an employee had turned him away.

Jim Mitchell, 47, was arrested 100 yards from Artie Mitchell’s rented home in this Marin County community. Police said he had a rifle in a pants leg, and a pistol in a holster. He is being held without bail pending his arraignment today.

Artie Mitchell, 45, was found dead in a bathroom, said Capt. Andre Horn of the Twin Cities Police Department, which serves Corte Madera and Larkspur.

Police had not determined a motive, and it was not known what would come of the Mitchell Brothers’ empire, which includes the O’Farrell Theater in the Tenderloin district, several other pornographic movie theaters and film production capabilities.

Police arrived moments after Artie Mitchell’s girlfriend, Julie Bajo, 27, phoned for help.

Bajo told officers that she and Artie Mitchell had been in a back bedroom when they heard noises at the front of the house. Artie Mitchell, dressed in sweat pants, went to investigate.

Bajo reported hearing no conversation or argument before the shots rang out, Horn said.

“There was no struggle whatsoever,” Horn said. He added that Jim Mitchell did not try to run from police, and made no statement other than to ask for a lawyer.

“Everybody is distraught. Everybody is just flabbergasted,” said an employee who walked from the theater Thursday afternoon. He said there had been no hint of discord between the brothers.

Law enforcement authorities have repeatedly tried and failed to shut the O’Farrell Theater since it opened as a pornographic movie house on July 4, 1969. All the while, the Mitchell brothers gained celebrity status in San Francisco, and often were mentioned in newspaper columns.

The brothers long had been close business partners and often were seen together away from the O’Farrell Theater. Recently, they embarked on a costly effort to fund a pro-peace publication called “War News,” edited by San Francisco columnist Warren Hinkle.

Last May, they arrived in a bright red convertible with two of their so-called “lap dancer” entertainers at the Woody Creek, Colo., home of friend, author and gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson. Thompson often wrote about them in a column he did during the 1980s for the San Francisco Examiner.

The purpose of their trip to Colorado was to rally support for Thompson, who had been charged with drug possession and assault. Prosecutors in Aspen ultimately dismissed the case.

Probably the Mitchell brothers’ most famous film was “Behind the Green Door,” produced in 1973 and featuring Marilyn Chambers, whose face had also appeared on boxes of Ivory Soap.

In recent years, San Francisco Dist. Atty. Arlo Smith said, the brothers “apparently complied” with court orders prohibiting them from allowing their female performers and male customers to engage in lewd acts.