X-Rated: The Mitchell Brothers: A True Story of Sex, Money, and Death

Cultural icons of San Francisco in the 1960s, pornographers Jim and Artie Mitchell became millionaires in their 20s with their movie Behind the Green Door . The tough, cunning brothers, who endured hundreds of porn-related arrests, were frequently in court to protect their right to be purveyors of live sex shows and flesh flicks. Both brothers used cocaine, and in 1991 Jim, described here as a loving father, snapped and fatally shot Artie, an obnoxious, dangerous drunk and sex addict who physically and emotionally abused a network of worshipful women competing to give him master-slave sex. Convicted of manslaughter instead of the prosecutor's charge of first-degree murder, he could spend less than three years in prison. McCumber, a former editor of the San Francisco Examiner , takes readers on a depressing trip through a psychosexual swamp featuring a cameo appearance by Hunter Thompson and interviews with strippers, dancers, actors, ex-wives and lovers in the Mitchells' orbit. Photos. (Nov.)