Lee gave the Cowboy $10,000, and the others guessed that he was a collector for some bookie. [12] Their family name was historically "Bushaada", but Jimmy's grandfather changed it. In the summer of 1975, Jimmy finally hit the big time. Part of it was his steadily increasing need for money. If it was a crime to love the fast lane, Lee Chagra was guilty. [25][21][26], Both Harrelson and Chagra's brother Joe were implicated in the assassination. And hes this huge drug kingpin. 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. The door was partially open, but the office appeared empty. There were at least twenty lawyers for the defense, but apparently the entire burden of prosecution fell on poor Kilcrease. He crossed the living room and closed the apartment door behind him. Lee didnt appear to like Lou Esper, but he was one of the few people in town who tolerated him. Paradoxically, though, Lee was secretly jealous of Jimmy. For all the smoke generated by James Kerrs highly publicized grand jury probe of organized crime, there was hardly any fire. He decided on James Kerr, one of the assistant U.S. attorneys he had inherited from the Republican regime. The best guess is that they divided at least $5 million. All have, understandably, complicated Jimmy wanted to be Lee. Once again, Lee went first to his suite and carried out the ritual. They could barely deal fast enough for Leeall the spots covered with white chips, $21,000 riding on every deal. Wood was apparently confusing the fifty-page transcript of the secret interview with actual grand jury testimony. Youll do at least eighteen months. Further complicating the relationship between the two brothers was that Lee, who was married, had an affair with a woman who worked the switchboard at the Sheraton Hotel in El Paso and, after cutting off the relationship, or at least attempting to, introduced her to Jimmy in order to keep her close. Two of Chagras daughters, Christa and Catherine, now live in Smithville. [6], Chagra was accused of (and was acquitted of, although he later confessed to conspiracy in a deal to help his wife) hiring hitman Charles Harrelson (actor Woody Harrelson's father) to kill Wood for $250,000; on May 29, 1979, Judge Wood was murdered outside his home by a shot in the back. Lees finances were in shambles, but he still had plenty of credit in Las Vegas. Composed of, and by, organized crime. 3.9 on Goodreads. After a while Clark said, You must have dropped close to half a million back there. Leave them blank to get signed up. It would be lost until the October flood, after which widower Jim McCulloch, after going through belongings hed moved into a storage unit, would place a call beginning, Cathy, youre not going to believe what I found., Going through things hed moved into the unit, McCulloch happened upon a box labeled Chagra.. The staff knew the ritual, but no one knew for sure what went on behind the closed door. This is a fascinating story written by Jimmy Chagra's daughter. Catherine writes her story and tells what she and her family went through as the daughter of one of the biggest drug smugglers in the 1970s. It's a great read and helps you understand what a child of a person incarcerated goes through. The case wound up in Woods court. Like Julius Caesar, John H. Wood was several times offered high office, and several times he refused. Stricklin hadnt yet met Lee Chagra, but he knew Chagras reputation. His idea of a good time was going home to his wife and newborn son, Joseph, maybe tinkering with his stereo or waxing his speedboat, swimming or lifting weights. Lee adopted a wardrobe suitable to his imagea black cowboy hat, fancy handmade boots, and an assortment of expensive jewelry, including a gold bracelet that spelled the word freedom. Uncle Lou, who had recently been paroled in California, had a drug habit of long standing. By setting up the corporation for Jimmy, Lee had, for the first time, made himself vulnerable. 2023 www.statesman.com. He would never go back to Vegas. She was sentenced to 30 years and died in prison in 1997 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. As was his custom when he was in one of these expansive moods, Lee sat in his new office with his feet on his desk, telling war stories and handing out money. Youve got everything I always dreamed of having, the lawyer said. 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. The Indian wasnt a man most folks would care to meet in the darkthere was a .22 pistol under his stained leather jacket, and his face looked like forty miles of bad highway. His plan was to reindict Stricklin, and maybe Chagra too, under an almost unknown section of the 1970 Drug Control Act that spelled out the crime of continuing criminal enterprise, popularly known as the kingpin act. From a radio in another part of the house, Sinatra was singing about doing it his way. Chagra laid out the cold, hard facts: I cant save you. 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. Joe Chagra also went to prison for his role in the assassination. He and Clark went back to the suite for a while. Over the next eight years Wood handed out the maximum sentence in almost every case. He looked as though he hadnt slept for three nights. 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. 196 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. Lee seemed restless and preoccupied, as though he were late for an appointment and couldnt wait for Jo Annie to leave. When you live that way, chances are youll die that way too. He wanted to dress the way Lee dressed, in fine clothes and jewelry, and he wanted to hear whispers of respect when he walked into a room and silence when he told a story. But everyone said Lee was the best. Pitts arrived at Lees office looking like a hippie who had just crawled out of a Goodwill box but acting like the owner of a seat on the New York Stock Exchange. Jo Annies own family, the Abrahams, had considerable wealth, and she continued to collect antiques and preserve an extravagant lifestyle. How come when Im winning you let me do anything I goddam please, but when I lose you wont let me out of the trap? he shouted in a voice that could be heard in the coffee shop on the opposite side of the casino. Lee had already made a name for himself before he began taking drug defendants, but the string of cases that would make him one of El Pasos most famousor infamousfigures began in the early seventies when U.S. customs agents busted a smuggler from Tennessee named Tom Pitts and two other men who were attempting to bring six hundred pounds of marijuana across the Rio Grande. What no one knew at this point was that the feds had already busted Wallace. Fortunately the glass was shatter-proof. 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. Lee despised Kerr, and Kerr had every reason to despise Lee. Though Jimmy Chagras name was never officially mentioned, almost everyone assumed that he had masterminded the scheme. In the winter. While federal agents snapped photographs from the parking lot across the street, hundreds of mourners jammed St. Patricks. He ran a floating blackjack game and started peddling dope. Case dismissed. Catherine published a book about her life in 2015 titled Chagra: The King of Dope Drugs, Deceit and Dirty Darlings. She will be signing copies after the panel discussion. A blast of double-aught buckshot and .30-caliber slugs ripped across the hood, left fender, and windshield of the car: police officers later counted nineteen bullet holes. Though neither knew it, this was the last time the two old friends would ever go to Vegas together. The verdict in the Tucson trial had been sublime: in a highly publicized, multicount bank fraud indictment, Lee had walked his man on every count. The soldiers implicated Esper in planning the heist, but he received a considerably lighter sentence than they due to not being technically involved with the murder itself. Copyright 2023 Knewz Media Group LLC. Another suggestion was to disrupt the drug market by passing out poisoned drugs. The next summer the Chagra brothers hit Vegas like a blizzard of kamikaze locusts. In a secret interview with a group of DEA agents and prosecutors, Johnson had implicated at least sixty El Paso citizens as major drug traffickers. But, speaking to his ex-wife, Vivian, in a federal prison more than 30 years ago, he said he was not a killer. He touched the tip of the pointer and said, This small tip represents innocence: the defendants didnt do a thing. It was only the second time in US history that a federal judge had been killed. Sib remembered: Candidly, we were very, very successful. This didnt seem to disturb Wood any more than it had Guinn, who used to cackle, I can sentence them a lot faster than they can reverse them. Nor did Wood protest when they started calling him Maximum John. Looking on, Joe marveled. The office was a maelstrom of activity, none of it having anything to do with the practice of law. In 1979, a federal grand jury in Midland, Texas, indicted Chagra on drug smuggling charges. There's no way a bullet could have gone through there. Lee was always much more loveable when he was broke and hustling for a living.. Those tapes, according to Catherine, were doctored and judged inadmissible.). He hustled personal injury cases, divorces, wills. The Most Reverend Sidney Metzger, bishop emeritus of El Paso, came out of retirement to say mass. In fact, many aspects of the case were never investigated. Joe announced plans to open his own law firm. Lee had always been our strength., Lee couldnt shake the feeling that something or someone was stalking him. Loaves of Syrian bread were baking in the kitchen. [31][32], In a deal with the federal government, Jimmy Chagra admitted to his role in the murder of Judge Wood and the attempted murder of Assistant United States Attorney James Kerr. On December 23, 1978, Lee Chagra was shot and killed in his law office in El Paso. Lee had been involved with Jimmy in his drug smuggling and the killers took $450,000 that was owed to Joe Bonanno for a drug deal. Investigators, the press, and even the Chagras themselves have said for months that they expect Jimmy Chagra to be indicted for the first murder in this century of a federal judge. The government was so rabid for convictions that it destroyed its own case. In secret interviews Wallace as singing like a drunken angel. As the year progressed, so did his paranoia, his insistence that someone was out to get him. Chagras defense accused the feds of venue-shopping so that their client was almost sure to get life. Early in the fall someone had broken into Mickey Espers law offices and attempted to haul off a safe. Hughes knew these had been hard times for his friend. I did not worry about a long-term jail sentence until Wood was killed, he said. With the agent providing invaluable assistance at every stage, Renteria and several others were drawn into the government trap. 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. Again, Lee sounded as though he had something else on his mind. No man could have been prouder of his heritage than Wood; he was a confirmed, unapologetic elitist, a descendant of hardy pioneer-stock aristocrats. Hardly anyone wanted a lawyer who was under indictment, recalled Joe Chagra, Lees youngest brother, who by then had joined the law firm. Right there before your eyes Lee Chagra became the Black Striker. And the caper made the money flow. Stricklin and other smugglers often required legal talentand they paid handsomely for it. When he read copies of Kerrs motion and Woods reply, Chagra was flabbergasted and then outraged. Lees limit was $3000, and he would have played for $10,000 had Caesars Palace allowed it. Kerr had been involved with pursuing Chagra for his drug dealings. The pit boss snapped his fingers and motioned for the guards to bring the velvet ropes. Lee had never let his name be linked to an illegal enterprise before the fact. The family name was originally Bushaada, but Lees grandfather mexicanized it during the revolution. The judge was a member of every exclusive club in San AntonioSons of the Republic of Texas, Sons of the American Revolution, Texas Cavaliers, Argyle Club, San Antonio Club, Order of the Alamo, San Antonio Gun Club, German Club, American Legion, San Antonio Country Cluband owned property in the segregated Key Allegro resort on the Texas coastthe list went on and on. He said he would meet her at home in a couple of hours. Jimmy knelt beside the bag that now contained the remains of his brother and started bawling. The next morning FBI agents called on Lee Chagra, confiscated his gun collection, and asked him to take a lie detector test. The 38-year-old prosecutor had given up his apartment in El Paso and moved back to San Antonio, where he felt more comfortable. The law was wide open to interpretationtailor-made for a crusading lawman like James Kerr. He was a good, sound, all-around lawyer, but he didnt have Lees appetite for controversy. Something about a will, about some large estate in California? Former mayor of Las Vegas, Oscar Goodman is credited with the revitalization of downtown Las Vegas including The Smith Center for the Performing Arts and our very own The Mob Museum. In a short time the bust was being described as the biggest one in El Paso history. Jamiel "Jimmy" Alexander Chagra (December 7, 1944 July 25, 2008) was an American drug trafficker, carpet salesman and professional gambler. Food, drinks, girlsanything one might fancy was there in a whisk. Jo Annie telephoned one final time, from her mothers house on Rim Road. Hadnt I already proven that wrong?. I decided to disappear over to the Hilton for a while. When Clark Hughes returned to Caesars about nine that evening, Lee had almost exhausted his credit limit. She dismissed the greeting as a typical Sailor Roberts lie: she didnt believe for a second that hed gone out of his way to wish her anything. Lee sparkled like a kid with a new toy as he showed Donna and Sandy where the various safes were concealed. It was his most important victory in monthsand his most profitable. Jamie Boyd, who had known Renteria for years (the prosecutor once chaperoned him in a Boy of the Year competition), expected that once Renteria realized the seriousness of his situation he would name Lee as the kingpin. 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. Here he is with Joe Namath. But the feds real ace in the hole was Jimmy and his partner, Henry Wallace. Lee was Clarks friend, maybe the best friend hed ever had, but in some strange, almost unthinkable way he felt the friendship slipping away. Still, everyone loved Jimmy and took care of him. Kerr thought Chagra was vulgar and common, and Chagra enjoyed enhancing this image by slipping up behind Kerr and whispering things that made the prosecutor blush. He cried when he thought of Jimmy. His two older brothers were so much alike it scared him. Even after the charges were dismissed, there was still the stigma. Kerr was an empire builder, Boyd said. And, of course, Jimmy Chagra. A few months later, Luis "Lou" Fred Esper, a small-time drug dealer and acquaintance of Lee Chagra, and two U.S. Army soldiers from Fort Bliss were held on various charges related to the murder of Lee. That night as he was dressing, Lee announced intentions to change his luck. They say there was nothing Jimmy really wanted to be, but that wasnt entirely true. A sample: Q.What about Lee Chagra? He just picked up the money and tossed it in a drawer. Woods first big drug case came in May 1971. If he refused, they would see that he was reindicted under the kingpin act and sent away for life without parole. As one of the daughters answered the phone, Yoseph saw Lees body. Then Wood was assassinated, leading to a massive manhunt, and Chagra was tried and convicted before another judge on charges of operating a continuing criminal enterprise. The first thing he noticed was his filing cabinet. There was plenty of cocaine to guarantee a holiday spirit; at least five ounces had been delivered a few days earlier. The other soldier, Don White, pleaded guilty and is now doing sixty years. I blocked the door with my body, Donna recalled, but he opened it enough to see the money.. Lee didnt protest as Clark led him out of the casino to the waiting limousine. Lee referred to it as the mansion that Jack built. It was 6500 square feet, with pool and stables, electronically operated gates, and closed-circuit television monitors. Its better to try. He worked his way through the University of Texas law school, graduating fourth in his class in 1962. And yet by the end of the trial, a majority of the jurors refused to find the defendants guilty. That was when Jo Annie remembered the telephone call. He still had $150,000 credit, but that night he went through another $70,000. He would lend a stranger his last $100, knowing he was kissing it good-bye. Family problems were accumulating faster than Lee could catalog them. Jamie Boyd was the consummate politician. [6] In fact, he is described as having been "no less than the biggest marijuana smuggler in the country" during that time. He told Jimmy Salome that he was taking out a new insurance policy. Lee had never discussed with any of the staff the purpose of the apartment at the rear of the complex, but they knew he was having a regular evening affair with a stripper from the Lamplighter Club. Kay McCulloch died, and with her death the raw material for the book went to the attic. The language was vague and ambiguous, but essentially it said that a person was a kingpin if he (1) committed a continuing series of violations of the drug act, in concert with five or more other persons with respect to whom such person occupies a position of organizer, a supervisory position, or any other position of management and (2) obtained substantial income or resources from those violations. It was hard to imagine two men more different. Lee had been accused of a lot of things, but this was the first time anyone had ever accused him of representing himself and not his client. Sandy was to count out $20,000 from the stash under the bathroom sink and have it ready when the woman arrived. Do yourself a favor, one of the agents said. 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. Jurors heard hours worth of tape recordings and more than 500 pages of documents were presented. [39], Chagra married his third wife, Lynda Ray, while living under the name James Madrid on November 22, 2005. A grand jury in Nashville had indicted Chagra and forty others on a charge of conspiracy to import and distribute marijuana. It wasnt just in hard-drug cases; Wood appeared to make no distinctions. Since he was not technically involved in the murder, Esper escaped with a relatively light sentence of fifteen years. 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. Sib Abraham and some other old friends and members of the family were there. 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. The perfect vehicle for the imperfect time. Is his [dope smuggling] operation totally separate [from another smugglers]? He seemed pleased with the gesture but told her there was some work he needed to do at the office. The weapons existed only in the agents imagination, but at one point the trap got so bizarre that the poor cafe owner believed he was negotiating for a used submarine. The case against Stricklin appeared to be nothing more than a rehash of the long-discredited Tennessee indictment mushed together with evidence from the deal for which Stricklin was serving time. Lee had $15,000 riding on the game. The new office was a show of faith, or at least tenacity, and it made Lee feel good to know that someone else appreciated it. One way or another, were gonna get Lee Chagra.. Id lay next to him and stroke his arm and hed say, Baby, I think I might go to hell. He didnt apologize for anything; he just said, I think Im going to hell. I said, You just have to ask God to forgive you, Daddy. I dont think he felt bad about the crimes. In the summer of 1977, sensing the heat but also attracted by the opportunities being suggested by his new partner, a wily, borderwise ex-con named Henry Wallace, Jimmy told Lee he was moving his base of operations to Florida. No Mafia figures were ever indicted. Chagra jumped bail, but was captured six months later in Las Vegas. In the first minutes of Lees run, a little old lady burst through the crowd just as Lee released the dice. The family was worried about Lee. He spent more than 35 years defending some of the most notorious alleged Mob figures, including Meyer Lansky, Frank Rosenthal, Anthony Spilotro and Jimmy Chagra. The greatest job of bullshit advocacy Ive ever seen, Clark Hughes said of Lees performance. In a few years Abraham and Chagra had the leading anti-establishment law firm in the city. Their dad just didnt feel safe going to court without his consigliere. But Kerr wasnt satisfied. A block from the cathedral, on North Mesa at the edge of the downtown business district, Lee Chagras new office building was closed for good. Paperback November 6, 2015. by Catherine Chagra (Author) 168 ratings. Written by Catherine Chagra, He left his hat and keys on the couch and walked down the hall to Lees office. 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