Down For The Posse! The Derrick Russell Story
Director: Dr. Myron Raney Run Time: 75 min.
Join us on Thursday, November 16 for a reception in The Festival Lounge before the 7:00pm screening and Q&A. Tickets for the premiere are $25, with proceeds donated to the Weinland Park Wolverines’ football program.
Tickets for the 4:30pm encore screening on Sunday are complimentary and will be available at the Ticket Center three hours before the screening.
About the film:
Down for The Posse! is a Bufe Tv Original Documentary capturing the life journey of Derrick D. Russell. As first reported in the Columbus Dispatch in August 2016, Derrick “Mad Dog” Russell—a leader of the notorious Short North Posse, a violent drug-dealing gang that terrorized a North Side neighborhood for several years— gained a reputation as one bad dude. When police finally caught up to Russell in 1996 after seven years of mayhem, he was indicted on 15 federal felony counts including weapons trafficking and drug conspiracy.
During his incarceration, Russell received an ultimatum vision from God and devised a plan to seek a path of redemption and make amends in his community. After serving 13 years, Russell was granted his release for good behavior and later had his four-year probation suspended. In 2008, he founded Listen Good Youth. The mission statement emphasizes providing self-knowledge, self-confidence and leadership skills to at-risk youths ages 4 to 14 through sports, in hopes of preventing juvenile delinquency and deviant behavior as gangs and drugs. More than 150 youths, primarily from the Linden area, participate in the program.
Until now, Russell has been reluctant to provide intimate details of his dark past. That all changed after being interviewed on radio talk show One Nation Under Deviance. Pastor and Sociologist Dr. Myron Raney, who is also a broadcast executive and documentary filmmaker, encouraged Russell to tell all in a documentary depicting his life transition from riotous living to redemption. Russell’s response was simple, “If my testimony can save kids from the streets—I will do whatever it takes.”
About the filmmaker:
Dr. Myron Raney is the Founder & President of Kabalo Research, Inc. which is an interdisciplinary social science research center located in Columbus, Ohio. Dr. Raney earned his Ph.D. in 2008 from the Capela University School of Human Services. He is listed as an independent researcher with the National Archives at Boston, Chicago, College Park, and Washington, DC.
Dr. Raney’s research employs social control theory, deviant subcultures theory, social disorganization theory, and strain theory as theoretical lenses to divulge the root causes of deviant behaviors in our society—offering faith-based solutions to the social problems caused by deviant behaviors. His research utilizes the five constraints of government failure theory to identify opportunities for nonprofit organizations—the results of which are utilized by nonprofit executives to develop viable programs to address many social problems.
He has repurposed his life to understanding the complex intersections of social science and spirituality. As an ordained life pastor, social science researcher, and host of the thought-provoking radio broadcast “One Nation Under Deviance,” he has seen firsthand how deviant behaviors have become woven into the fabric of our lives. Utilizing the qualitative techniques of videographic research, Dr. Raney is capturing the lived experiences of individuals who have engaged in deviant behavior in hopes of identifying the root cause of their social derailment and offering interventive solutions to minimize deviant behavior. Now, given his affiliation with Bufé Tv, many of these stories will be told as he embarks on a new journey of documentary filmmaking.
See our upcoming films