Hardly a day passed that the flamboyant attorney didnt make the news. Jimmy Chagras first big score came in the summer of 75, when he orchestrated a shipment of more than 50,000 pounds of pot on a tramp steamer from Colombia to the Massachusetts coast, according to Dirty Dealing, a book about the Chagras published in 1984 by Austin author and journalist Gary Cartwright. Its like Teddy Roosevelt always said, Lee told him, and now his smile was back in place. Someone had gone after Jo Annie, who had collapsed when she first heard the news but now wanted to be there with the family. The documents revealed that hardly a week passed without some agents making inquiries into Lee Chagras private life. [14], Prior to his arrest, he accumulated approximately $100 million in various bank accounts, today amounting to about $500 million. The case had been dead for two years, but Kerr had a plan. I have never found anything, he said pleasantly, in any of these grand jury investigations. [9][13] Reportedly, he used gambling as a method of laundering money he received through trafficking drugs. Lee and Joanne Chagra raised their five children in a rarified world of glitz, glamour and money few other El Pasoans could imagine. All the drawers were open and papers were scattered on the floor. Some of them deposited large sums in the lawyers safe, against the inevitable. "He was great friends with Because they forgot that the murder took place May 29th, and down there in Texas, the trees were in bloom. Jimmy was just talking. Joseph Chagra, a Texas lawyer who admitted his complicity in the first assassination of a Federal judge in more than a century, died last Sunday in Thomason Hospital in El Paso. If Stricklin cooperated, they would work for his early release. The next morning FBI agents called on Lee Chagra, confiscated his gun collection, and asked him to take a lie detector test. On the night before he was murdered, Lee Chagra returned home to El Paso flushed with the euphoria a gambler feels when he believes his luck is changing. They mentioned four namesLee Chagra, Jimmy Chagra, Sib Abraham and Vic Apodaca (a well-known bail bondsman). Boyd, Kerr, and the DEA had worked so hard selling the media on the contention that El Paso was the hub of dope trafficking in the Southwest that everyone took it as gospel. It was four years before we lost a case.. Technically Lee had won the battle, but there was little doubt that Wood had landed a crippling, perhaps fatal blow to the attorneys already battered reputation. Instead, this flimsy, highly prejudicial document was destined to dog both Lee Chagra and his nemesis, Judge John Wood, to their graves. A third, Cynthia Jones Chagra, lives in Austin. Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. He called himself a pacifist, and yet he was comfortable around violence. His dislike for narcotic cops, particularly agents provocateurs, had been stoked to a white-hot hatred that nearly consumed both his private and his professional life. Lee didnt appear to like Lou Esper, but he was one of the few people in town who tolerated him. Sandy and the others began to realize that this was something truly personal; it was as though Lee were mourning his own impending death. Pitts fancied himself a big-timer and concluded that Chagra must be pretty big himself if he was demanding thirty grand. On August 31, 1977, Lee Chagra appeared in Judge Woods court to file a motion of discovery, asking that the judge turn over DEA reports, customs reports, grand jury probes, any material that would reveal when Stricklin was supposed to have engaged in continuing criminal activity. He asked Bobby Yoseph, a young lawyer who had recently joined his staff, what he would do if he came in and found the office had been robbed? Lee gave Jack Stricklin, now out of prison, $1000 and passed out lesser amounts to other old friends. Chagras idea of a good time was slapping a Willie Nelson album on the stereo, snorting cocaine, and getting naked in a pile of aromatic bodies. Theres a client buzzing at the door. Jo Annie tried to picture the man who had called that morning waiting outside. Two of Chagras daughters, Christa and Catherine, now live in Smithville. 3.9 on Goodreads. WebDrug kingpin who was charged with the murder of the US district court judge who would have presided at his drug trial. The tragedy was that it was all unnecessary: before the Fifth Circuit had a chance to rule on the question of jeopardy, Jamie Boyd decided to drop the continuing criminal enterprise charges against Jack Stricklin. Jimmy preferred the Sinatra penthouse with its white baby grand piano and spiral staircase. He would attach his belt to the giant solid-gold buckle with the thick crust of diamonds, and draw on his black alligator cowboy boots. Crimes against persons are treated with extreme gravity, but crimes against the economy are treated with a wink and a smile. In fact, many aspects of the case were never investigated. At this point in his life Lee was bored with the tame pace of the blackjack table. It was that strange hour when the golfers are still on their morning rounds and the drunks are still asleep, that time when they clean the sand in the ashtrays and empty the slots and put fresh ice in the urinals. On five minutes notice, Caesars would dispatch a Learjet to fetch one or both of the Chagras. He worked his way through the University of Texas law school, graduating fourth in his class in 1962. Coming as it did in the midst of his misery, Lees brilliant defense of the Ardmore bunch had to be his most satisfying victory. He liked to mainline speed and supported his habit by organizing a small-time burglary-robbery ring using young black soldiers from Fort Bliss. Its good business for everybody.. The sisters today say that if Lee Chagra had not been killed, Wood would not have been, either. Most high rollers would think a 9-year-old would cramp their style, but he took me everywhere.. United States Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas, "TRIAL ON JUDGE'S DEATH HEARS ONE JAILED BROTHER DEFAME THE OTHER (Published 1982)", "Jamiel A. Chagra, 63, Drug Kingpin, Dies", "Joseph Chagra, 50, Lawyer Linked to Assassination, Dies", "Drug kingpin accused in slaying of federal judge", "Jailer recalls conversations with Woody Harrelson's father", "Las Vegas author developing documentary on drug kingpin Jimmy Chagra", "Hit man guilty in federal judge's death", "There was a murder at Christmastime 40 years ago", "Charles Harrelson, 69; father of actor killed federal judge", "Chagra Acquitted of Hiring Killer of Federal Judge", "Judge's 1979 slaying was 'crime of the century', "Joe Chagra, Convicted in Conspiracy to Kill Judge, Critically Injured", "SEARCH NARROWS IN '79 SLAYING OF U.S. JUDGE IN TEXAS (Published 1981)", "Drug kingpin Jimmy Chagra's daughter recalls his rise, fall", "Charles Harrelson Trial: 1982-83 | Encyclopedia.com", "GAMBLER IS ACQUITTED OF PLOTTING ASSASSINATION OF A FEDERAL JUDGE (Published 1983)", "Chagra enters guilty plea in Wood murder trial", "Forty years ago, U.S. District Judge Wood assassinated in San Antonio by Woody Harrelson's father", "Elizabeth Chagra, plotted to kill judge", "5 things to know about Sidney Powell, the Dallas lawyer formerly on Trump's legal team", "For Trump advocate Sidney Powell, a playbook steeped in conspiracy theories", "Newspaper says Chagra deal includes early release for wife", "Man implicated in assassination of federal judge now free", "TEXAS LAWYER ADMITS ROLE IN PLOT TO KILL FEDERAL JUDGE (Published 1982)", "Jamiel Alexander Chagra, 63; was mastermind of international drug ring", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jamiel_Chagra&oldid=1124413746, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages using infobox person with multiple spouses, Pages using infobox person with multiple parents, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Jimmy, Justin, Jackie, Catherine, Csilla, Christa, Cindy, This page was last edited on 28 November 2022, at 20:15. The gesture was unmistakable: hed come to replace his brother. What was happening here? Now they eat three meals a day and imported cheese. All shed ever had was a future somewhat less than promising. [39], Chagra married his third wife, Lynda Ray, while living under the name James Madrid on November 22, 2005. With its confluence of shady border business opportunities, affairs, greed, drugs, gambling and sibling rivalry, the tale seems to have been fated to play out exactly the way it did: with Jimmy, his second or third wife and Jimmys brother Joe all sentenced to federal prison; with a third brother, Lee, murdered in his office days before Christmas 1978; with Vivian and her three daughters in the witness protection program; and with one generation of a family forever splintered by the grave misdeeds of the one preceding it. It is like I am reading about a third person.. No Mafia figures were ever indicted. He got 30 years. Lee Chagra grossed more than $250,000 in 1972. Jo Annie was talking about divorce; she and Lee got as far as the courthouse steps before one or both backed out. His two older brothers were so much alike it scared him. Joe Chagra testified against the other defendants in exchange for pleading guilty to murder-conspiracy with a maximum sentence of ten years in a plea-bargain deal, and with an agreement that he would not testify against his brother Jimmy in a separate trial. He had telephoned Sandy from Tucson on Friday and told her that a woman named Butch would stop by the office later in the day. Patsy, the second, was the miracle baby, born against all odds and medical opinions; on the morning of her birth Abdou walked barefoot to the summit of Sierra del Cristo Rey and dropped to his knees and thanked the Virgin. Lee joked as he gave the Indian the $75,000, and the Indian mumbled and studied his boots. Family problems were accumulating faster than Lee could catalog them. In the seven years or so that it had been in on the books, few had bothered to read that section of the drug law. Every morning when I drive down to the office, I get sick at my stomach, Joe told Patty. Who do you think you are? The pit boss had heard the spiel many times and smiled patronizingly as he personally counted out the stacks of $500 chips. Stricklin was an enterprising and likable young man who had grown up in one of El Pasos better neighborhoods. He earned a lot of money and became a high roller in Las Vegas, known for his very generous tipping. Id grown up in El Paso, Stricklin recalled. [18] He was scheduled to appear before United States District Judge John Wood, a judge nicknamed "Maximum John" who had a reputation for giving out the maximum sentence allowed for drug-related crimes. When either of the Chagras sat at the blackjack table, he took all seven spots. One way or another, were gonna get Lee Chagra.. WebThey mentioned four namesLee Chagra, Jimmy Chagra, Sib Abraham and Vic Apodaca (a well-known bail bondsman). Their dad just didnt feel safe going to court without his consigliere. He was a good, sound, all-around lawyer, but he didnt have Lees appetite for controversy. November 2022 Reader Quiz: What Did You Learn? Worse than 1973, the year the federal government indicted him on a trumped-up marijuana trafficking charge in Nashville and nearly destroyed his law practice. You help us and well help you, the agents told Stricklin. Gentlemen, he told the other players, this table is now reserved for a private game. Fortunately the glass was shatter-proof. They learned later that Jimmy left town with about $50,000. Though neither knew it, this was the last time the two old friends would ever go to Vegas together. In a written response the following week, Kerr reminded the court that although Lee Chagra was not named in the present indictment, he had been indicted in the Tennessee affair. There was no bitterness or rancor, but by the end of August Joe Chagra realized that he had had all he could take. Its going to be a very interesting night Jan. 18 at the Mob Museum in Las Vegas. What no one knew at this point was that the feds had already busted Wallace. As the feds worked around the clock to build cases against both Chagras, an agent provocateur came forward with information that could potentially put both of them away for life. What she didnt know was that he was in his private apartment, watching the game on TV with his friend Sailor Roberts, a bookie who had recently been busted in James Kerrs organized-crime probe. Hughes knew that it would be several hours before Lee worked himself into the proper frenzy. Out of the corner of his eye Lee could see the reporters scribbling furiously. He named two of his chows Kilo and Poker., Look how sweet and dorky and innocent I look, Catherine Chagra said. It was not the kind of clutter Lee Chagra would leave. His grandfather had been an ironfisted sheriff of Bexar County when lawmen still fought off Apaches. Hed never seen it so quiet there. The family posted a $25,000 reward and announced that the freedom banner would hang until the killers were caught and the case was closed. And the caper made the money flow. In fact, the charges were dismissed because there was no evidence to bring charges in the first place. He discussed with the CIA the possibility of liquidating all major drug traffickers in the Middle East; it was estimated that 150 key assassinations would do the job. He was really happy that all the money was gone and he had to work again. The government had been after him ever since Nashville, but 1977 was to be worse than anything that had gone before, largely because of three men: U.S. attorney Jamie Boyd, Boyds assistant James Kerr, and Judge John Wood. A.I think now its a separate dealIm not sure. One day while Vivian was there, they delivered a dozen red roses to the room. Lee gave the Cowboy $10,000, and the others guessed that he was a collector for some bookie. Lee told her he still had a pile of work on his desk. Vivian died of cancer in July 1986. With Redd Fox. Lees vial of cocaine was open on the corner of his desk. From a radio in another part of the house, Sinatra was singing about doing it his way. Before Yoseph could think of an answer, Lee asked another question: What would you do if you came in and found Id been murdered?, This preoccupation wasnt totally without foundation. Wood was finally convinced that it was his duty. Kerr had the advantage of interviews with a number of dealers who had been arrested since 1973one informant claimed he had personally paid Stricklin $500,000. And yet, right there under their noses was another Chagra not at all handicapped by brains or good judgment. Lee Chagra lived in the border underworld of El Paso, a place where drugs were the game and even the good guys didnt play by the rules. The rest of it, he said, his voice sure and unwavering, represents not guilty. Lee loved being at the middle of the table, flanked by armed guards and at least one beautiful broad who would act as his lucky piece. The case remains unsolved. Defendants convicted on a kingpin rap were not eligible for parole, period. He ran a floating blackjack game and started peddling dope. Kerr escaped with only minor glass cuts. And she suspected that some of the money that was paying off Lees elaborate new offices and his gambling debts came from Jimmy. Much later, Lee Chagra learned that the single piece of evidence against him was a statement made by Tom Pitts, claiming that he and another drug dealer had once used Lees office to cut a deal. They didnt count all the bundles of cash in the tennis bag, but there was more money than either of them had ever seen in one place, something like $450,000. In 1979, a federal grand jury in Midland, Texas, indicted Chagra on drug smuggling charges. Lee and Joe began to consider filing a harassment suit against Wood, Kerr, and various federal agents. Jimmy had chartered a jet and attempted to rescue an El Paso pilot who had been badly burned when a DC-6 crashed on takeoff at an improvised field near Santa Marta, Colombia. Lee couldnt stop talking about Tucson. Chagra and his wife, Liz, and young daughter relocated to Las Vegas in 1978 and moved into a house across the street from attorney Oscar Goodman. They checked out of the hotel that same night and moved to the Aladdin, where Lee had a $250,000 line of credit. As the defense had expected, several officers testified that they had arrived at the airstrip in time to witness the off-loading of the DC-4. On several occasions he watched Lee remove one of his boots and count out the cash. Oh, yes. Kerr claimed that money didnt matter, that his mission in life was vigorously and, I hope, successfully prosecuting all offenders that his clients could provide, but the mere fact that his adversary put such emphasis on money and the trappings of wealth must have touched some deep reserve of resentment in him. Sometime in the middle of the night, after everyone else was asleep, Lee changed clothes and drove to his new office. Please feel free to use any other table in the casino. Like so many sheep, the nickel-and-dime players started backing away. The silence was monumental. Paperback November 6, 2015. by Catherine Chagra (Author) 168 ratings. A short time later there was a knock, and Lee admitted two hookers to the room. Later, a superseding indictment added the charge of continuing criminal enterprise. Thats the reason Im going to release it to you.Thats what Ive been trying to tell you. Lee was a baffling tangle of contradictions. Catherine moved to Phoenix about three years later to be near the federal lockup where her father did time, visiting every Sunday for 20 years. Jimmy knelt beside the bag that now contained the remains of his brother and started bawling. Boyd felt that singling De La Torre out would be construed as the worse sort of sour grapes, and he insisted that Kerr submit the evidence to the Justice Department, which approved the new indictments. He didnt appear particularly disturbed. During his tenure as magistrate, Boyd and Lee Chagra became friends, and when there was an opening for the job of U.S. attorney after Jimmy Carters election in 1976, Lee, Sib Abraham, and others supported Boyds appointment. Hughes knew these had been hard times for his friend. All rights reserved. In the 24 hours since their arrival, he had signed markers totaling $240,000. To mark the 40th anniversary of the trial of drug kingpin Jimmy Chagra, who was accused of paying a hitman $250,000 to kill a federal judge John Wood, Oscar Goodman, former mayor and at the time Chagras defense attorney, will join the late mobsters daughter, Catherine, to revisit A rigorous and lengthy investigation into the murder brought Jimmy Chagra front and center. Hitman Charles Harrelson actor Woody Harrelsons father assassinated Wood outside the judges home in May 1979. Ive got to go, he told her. The family was worried about Lee. The 38-year-old prosecutor had given up his apartment in El Paso and moved back to San Antonio, where he felt more comfortable. A few years ago, the director of El Paso customs acknowledged: If we stopped all smuggling activity right now, the economies of two cities would fall flat on their faces., Millions of dollars worth of goods are smuggled daily across the three main bridges connecting Jurez and El Paso. You sonuvabitch, how are you gonna pay off those markers?, He took a deep draw on his cigarette and pressed Clarks shoulder. Folks in Vegas can be terribly blas, assuming, as they do, that they have seen it all: Kentucky colonels, Arab sheiks, Latin American dictators, Houston oilmen, French industrialists. And that wasnt all. To combat what he perceived as the inroads of organized crime, Boyd needed someone tough and relentless to take over the El Paso docket as federal prosecutor. The attempt on Kerrs life unleashed the most sweeping drug investigation in the history of the Southwest. And Im going to charge you ten thousand dollars.. And hed better. David Long? Lee said. I though maybe I was the Jonah, he said. Kerrs long association with FBI, IRS, and DEA agentsclients, he called themhad convinced him of the same sort of monolithic conspiracy that Boyd himself leaned toward. Gambling bored him. Catherine Chagra and her two sisters, Cindy and Christa, were the darling daughters of Jimmy Chagra, the biggest pot dealer in the history of the U.S.A., and one of the kingpins of Las Vegas casinos in the 1970s. Sometimes Jimmy pretended he was Lee, signing his name Lee Chagra and repeating Lees stories as though they had happened to him. Of course, not all the authorities are so blas. A front-page headline in The El Paso Times virtually screamed the news that the flamboyant kingpin had been nabbed. By law, the interview was to remain a secret, known only to a handful of agents and prosecutors who read the transcript as part of their official duties. By maintaining close ties to Democratic Party kingmaker Travis Johnson, Boyd had run the gamut of offices: assistant county attorney, assistant U.S. attorney, district attorney, U.S. magistrate. Chagra jumped bail, but was captured six months later in Las Vegas. Jimmy became involved in marijuana trafficking, with ties to a New England crime organization. You ought to pay me fifteen hundred dollars an hour to entertain customers. Standing in front of the mirror, he would snap the pearl buttons of his red cowboy shirt, then climb into the black Western-cut leisure suit. The money was in the canvas tennis bag under the sink. For the time being, the Jerry Johnson episode played itself out in obscurity, but the Chagra name burst into the headlines in the opening days of 1977. Chagra's lawyer in the case was Oscar Goodman,[26][3] future Mayor of Las Vegas and prosecutors included Assistant United States Attorney Sidney Powell. Do you love me, do you love me? He knew the answer, but he had to hear it again. He looked as though he hadnt slept for three nights. Robinson later admitted. For years there had been a rivalry between the two brothers, a fierce and unyielding competition that only the two of them completely understood. The bonds that he set in marijuana cases averaged $200,000. Jack Stricklin met him at the airport and drove him to the office. Lee didnt say anything. Lee handed out $200 in tips before they got to the suite. But let me add, he had a lot of enemies.. El Pasos legions of smugglersdrug smugglers in particularmanage to get themselves arrested often enough to keep law practices like Lee Chagras busy and profitable. Things really fell apart when Jimmy was arrested on trafficking charges. Even as Lee was working to salvage what he could from the ruins, Jimmy was plotting a new deal. Joe announced plans to open his own law firm. I have not seen anything that would actually disqualify me from trying this case. Eventually Wood agreed to give Lee a copy of the Johnson interview but refusing to remove himself from the Stricklin case as Chagra requested. Checking himself again in the mirror, he would fuss with the black cowboy hat that had Lee Chagra and Freedom embossed in gold on the inside until he achieved the proper tilt and slope. Lee was preoccupied this morning. On April 11, 1977, James Kerr made an unpublicized trip to Nashville to review the allegations of the 1973 indictments against Lee Chagra and Jack Stricklin. The next morning, a Saturday, was one of those perfect December days in El Paso when the desert air is so crisp you can hear it and the mountains loom out of the blue shadows and change colors before your eyes.
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