 Bell attends economics classes at Baltimore City Community College and maintains a personal library, including a copy of Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations".He attempts to legitimize the Barksdale Organization and insulates himself from direct criminality through money laundering and investments in housing development, aided through his buying of influence from politicians.Stringer Bell grew up in the West Baltimore housing projects with his childhood friends Avon Barksdale and Wee-Bey Brice.