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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. Food, drinks, girlsanything one might fancy was there in a whisk. On the morning of the day Lee was murdered, his bookkeeper, Donna Johnson, arrived at the office about ten oclock. On five minutes notice, Caesars would dispatch a Learjet to fetch one or both of the Chagras. And Jimmy seemed better able to laugh off the competition between them. He let himself in with a specially made key and walked upstairs. I think I was about 20 and Lee was 27 or something. I colored the Kleenex sheets with green marker and I put it in the tree branches. Lou Esper had planned both of these crimes too. They were married in Las Vegas. The nation was at war, not only in Viet Nam but in the streets, alleys, and barrios of America, where the menace of drugs was destroying the will to fight, or to work, or to do almost anything of traditional value. It took almost a year for all the money to work its way back to Jimmy and his partners. By mid-November the feds had just about made their case against Jimmy Chagra, and rumors of his imminent indictment were rampant. He inherited the whole El Paso docket in 1974 when Judge Ernest Guinn died suddenly of a heart attack. Jimmy, on the other hand, had a true gamblers instinct, a fatalistic kill-or-be-killed attitude. People may receive compensation for some links to products and services. 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. Over the next year Lee had only a handful of cases. Catherine is at work on a book called Dirty Darlings: A Story of Big Shots, Big Hair, Free Falling and a Texas-Sized Return to Grace. She has the tapes and the transcripts and is determined to get her version of the family story told. She had come to count on Leealthough she suspected that the money Lee gave her came from Jimmy anyway. He was also used in FBI: The Untold Stories. And hes this huge drug kingpin. Lee drew a crowd simply by walking through the front door at Caesars Palace, passing out money, and asking how much they loved him. 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. Whatever Jo Annie was thinking, she wouldnt say anything. Part of it was paranoia, his gut instinct that some malevolent authority was watching and waiting, and part of it was the sort of perverse obstinacy that makes some men walk through a wall rather than open a door. The Museum is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with a mission to advance the public understanding of organized crime's history and impact on American society. Clark assumed that he would go straight back to Caesars and claim some of his markers, but that wasnt Lees plan. Lee and Joanne Chagra raised their five children in a rarified world of glitz, glamour and money few other El Pasoans could imagine. But as usual, Jimmys success only threw Lee into a funk. And, of course, Jimmy Chagra. Dirty Darlings Paperback November 6, 2015. Borrowing heavily from Kerrs own wording, Wood totally agreed: This request appears to be primarily an effort by the defense attorney to obtain reports of an investigation pertaining to him. As his friend Clark Hughes warned him, One of the problems with being a criminal attorney is that all your clients are crooks. 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. Someone was supposed to open the door from the inside. Jimmys Florida operation, far from being an immediate disaster, disbanded after successfully offloading fifty tons of grass from a Colombian freighter in March. 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. 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. 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. All the drawers were open and papers were scattered on the floor. Yosephs gazed moved around the room. What a strange, twisted love. Lets go downstairs and give them one they can write home about. Clark said he would dress and meet Lee in the casino. 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? Joe was quieter and more introspective than his brothers. [4][11] Jimmy Chagra also had a sister named Patsy. His cowboy hat was pushed forward until the brim almost touched his nose, and shaggy locks of graying hair spilled over his collar. Defendants convicted on a kingpin rap were not eligible for parole, period. His two older brothers were so much alike it scared him. Even as Lee was working to salvage what he could from the ruins, Jimmy was plotting a new deal. After a while Clark said, You must have dropped close to half a million back there. I though maybe I was the Jonah, he said. A man named David Long phoned before you woke up, she told him. Dad had been gone for eight years. He may or may not have locked it. The next morning FBI agents called on Lee Chagra, confiscated his gun collection, and asked him to take a lie detector test. It was three days before Christmas, 1978. Lee flew to Florida and set up a dummy corporation for Jimmy. Lee and several others heard the crash of metal against the patio door. 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. It was the era of the Nixon Administrations much-heralded war on drugs. By early autumn 1976 Lee was back in El Paso, pumping money. It looked as though he was set for the night. Forrest Wilder writes about politics and the outdoors. All rights reserved. He had several of the bracelets made for close friends and members of the family. Oh, yes. The Indian worked as a collector for several Las Vegas casinos. Chagra's third wife, Elizabeth, was found guilty of delivering $250,000 to Charles Harrelson to kill Wood. I waited around to wish you and the kids a merry Christmas, the gambler told her. Robinson later admitted. He told Jimmy Salome that he was taking out a new insurance policy. Jimmy and the crew of the chartered jet were arrested by Colombian authorities. Vivian felt Jo Annies dark eyes following her into the bedroom. The card read, I hope your ass feels like what you did to us.. Lee had seated himself at a table and ordered $5000 in chips, but the dealer refused. Boyds strategy was to indict Jimmy on multiple counts and wait for him to break. When the items are small, such as bottles of American perfume or jewelry, the fayuqueros hire old women called chiveras (shepherds), who actually carry the merchandise across the bridge and as far as Chihuahua City, 236 miles into the interior. Lees morning coffee was perfect, and the cocaine was first-rate. Since he was not technically involved in the murder, Esper escaped with a relatively light sentence of fifteen years. State senator Tati Santiesteban, who had known Lee Chagra most of his life, led the procession of pallbearers. the Mortal Mustache, a.k.a. He was 50. 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. Catherine Chagra was the daughter of Jimmy Chagra, a Las Vegas high-roller and drug trafficking kingpin once named the Pablo Escobar of weed. After her father The law was wide open to interpretationtailor-made for a crusading lawman like James Kerr. When Lee pinned them down on the exact location from which they had watched the scene, several jurors snickered: not only was the position almost a mile from the field but a massive hill blocked the view. This wasnt an unusual request: just a week before, Lee had given Sandy $50,000 to carry around in her tote bag, ostensibly for safekeeping. Donna helped Sandy count the $20,000. Fighting seemingly hopeless causes became his passion. At the intersection of Broadway a mint-green van blocked his route. 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. But Kerr wasnt satisfied. And yet by the end of the trial, a majority of the jurors refused to find the defendants guilty. Jack Stricklin met him at the airport and drove him to the office. Oscar Goodman and Joe Chagra were Jimmys attorneys. He had started using cocaine some months earlier, and now he was using it daily. If she realized how pressed he had been for money in recent months, she didnt show it. 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 Chagra's defense attorney, will join the late mobster's daughter, Catherine, to revisit the event. Liddy came up with one farfetched idea after another. For sheer lan, Hughes recalled, I dont think Id ever seen him any higher.. His dream was to stash away $20 million, all taxes paid. He certainly knew about it before the feds did. No man could have been prouder of his heritage than Wood; he was a confirmed, unapologetic elitist, a descendant of hardy pioneer-stock aristocrats. Rumors persisted that while Stricklin was doing time at La Tuna, Lee arranged to destroy records that would have established Lees complicity in a number of smuggling operations. Jimmy was known to win or lose $1 million a night, according to Catherine. Lee, the man was saying, Im not gonna say this againno more credit!. October 2022 Reader Quiz: What Did You Learn? 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. Chagra's son, Joseph, 19, and daughter, Samantha, 17, kept a bedside vigil urging him, despite his coma, not to give up. I didnt trust Arabs. He looked as though he hadnt slept for three nights. Its better to try. Lee was a baffling tangle of contradictions. He was up and down all his lifestruggling. He hung up without speaking. You sonuvabitch, how are you gonna pay off those markers?, He took a deep draw on his cigarette and pressed Clarks shoulder. Goodman No, you got it backwards, Lee said when he saw it. On the monitor he saw a tall, muscular black man in his early twenties. Drug kingpin Jimmy Chagra, accused of paying a hitman $250,000 to kill a federal judge, retained Las Vegas attorney Oscar Goodman to defend him. It was the way he sounded when he was counting money or totaling figures, an abstract, business-first attitude. November 2022 Reader Quiz: What Did You Learn? Each time he caught a narc in a lie, Lee made eye contact with various jurors, the corners of his mouth twitching with mirth as though he expected tiny okra plants to sprout from the witnesss nose at any moment. In his time, Lee had invested in a racehorse that ended up as dog meat, a pro golfer who never made the cut, a combination lock that served to secure nothing more than a long, bitter lawsuit, and a caper to corner the Colombian coffee bean market. To get to that part of the story, we have to go back in time, to the war on drugs that Richard Nixon initiated, and to three brothers in El Paso of Lebanese descent by way of Mexico. In short order, Wood surpassed Guinns unenviable reputation as the most reversed judge in the district. Lee read the card and laughed. Gambling and women, said Lees old friend and fellow lawyer Clark Hughes. In prison, Jimmy would say he got hooked on gambling faster than heroin.. He thought nobody would love him without money. All have, understandably, complicated feelings about their father. Lee gave Jack Stricklin, now out of prison, $1000 and passed out lesser amounts to other old friends. Jimmy couldnt stop talking about it.. Lee was the first college graduate in his family, and the first professional. Here she is in the Sinatra suite at Caesars, the tacky wallpaper so thickly felted it practically had to be brushed. It was fitting in a way that Lee should end up championing the drug dealers rights; his brother Jimmy was destined to join their ranks. Since he was a stranger to El Paso, Pitts asked a local smuggler named Jack Stricklin for the name of a good lawyer. The case wound up in Woods court. This other end represents guilty beyond a reasonable doubt: the government proved its case, and you, the jury, are convinced beyond a moral certainty. Lee held the members of the panel with his eyes, pausing for a few seconds so it could all register. Chagra could win or lose more in a single session at a Vegas crap table than Kerr made in a year. The first thing he noticed was his filing cabinet. Goodman is one of the nations best criminal defense attorneys and was named one of the 15 Best Trial Lawyers in America by the National Law Journal. The agent had wormed his way into the confidence of one of Lees protgs, a singer and part-time actor named Joe Renteria who was hot to start his own smuggling ring. And when it came to squandering the profits, Lee was at the head of the line. For all the smoke generated by James Kerrs highly publicized grand jury probe of organized crime, there was hardly any fire. As one of the daughters answered the phone, Yoseph saw Lees body. But the mere act of talking on the telephone seemed to boost his confidence. In fact, it was a condition of him taking the case. Chagra, 39, a licensed professional gambler, was accused of paying Charles V. Harrelson $250,000 to kill the judge. James Kerr was devoting almost all of his time to his organized-crime investigation. They could barely deal fast enough for Leeall the spots covered with white chips, $21,000 riding on every deal. A division of Empire Media Group Holdings LLC. He decided on James Kerr, one of the assistant U.S. attorneys he had inherited from the Republican regime. Lee turned the channel selector to the camera over the alley entrance. No charges were filed, but it was apparent that the crash was another of Jimmys scams gone up in smoke. Thats the reason Im going to release it to you.Thats what Ive been trying to tell you. Goodman had represented Chagra in a previous drug case, which was undone by his client testifying. Lee was lying face up on the floor, blood trickling from his mouth. She had worn a pair of panty hose under the suit and as they were cruising out in the middle of a lake in Joes speedboat, Jimmy called everyones attention to her bizarre outfit and ripped her panty hose in one thigh. He earned a lot of money and became a high roller in Las Vegas, known for his very generous tipping. On top of everything else, he had developed hemorrhoids and they hurt like hell. In the 24 hours since their arrival, he had signed markers totaling $240,000. He touched the tip of the pointer and said, This small tip represents innocence: the defendants didnt do a thing. Gentlemen, he told the other players, this table is now reserved for a private game. Lee protected Jimmy, but he also contributed to Jimmys sense of inadequacy. Marriage license #D875871, Marriage License Records, Las Vegas. Although Wood had devoted his career to civil law, there was no more ardent law-and-order advocate anywhere. For the most part, 1978 turned out to be just a continuation of the long slide that had begun in 1977. If Stricklin cooperated, they would work for his early release. I knew that Vivian had been working on a book about the Chagra saga, McCulloch said. Then Kerr observed that the request for reportsis an overt act on the part of the defense attorneyto obtain government reports and documents concerning him. That is, concerning Lee Chagra. I cant practice in front of you, and I dont think you can honestly say that you can treat me or my client fairly in any court, Chagra told Wood. His great-grandfather had come from New York and fought in the Texas Revolution. There was a steel floor safe sunk into five feet of concrete, but like the other safes, it hadnt yet been completely installed. He filed a freedom-of-information request demanding that the government furnish him with all documents relating to its investigations of him, and before long the files filled two heavy-duty storage boxes. Paradoxically, though, Lee was secretly jealous of Jimmy. Lee didnt say anything. But now the years of fast living were catching up. Chagra laid out the cold, hard facts: I cant save you. We report on vital issues from politics to education and are the indispensable authority on the Texas scene, covering everything from music to cultural events with insightful recommendations. September 2022 Reader Quiz: What Did You Learn? He crossed the living room and closed the apartment door behind him. 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. They were all scammers, everyone he knew or cared about. Even after the charges were dismissed, there was still the stigma. Unlike many casinos, the Aladdin allowed a player to lay double odds; thus it was possible to win or lose twice as fast. 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. Florida Police Officer Treated After Being Exposed To Fentanyl During Stop, Youth Pot Abuse Jumps By 245% In Two Decades: Researchers, 'Cocaine' Cassie debuts new tattoo sleeve in racy photo as glamorous drug smuggler sets return to Australia. He began taping most of his telephone conversations and collecting every scrap of evidence that even hinted of government malfeasance. 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. He hustled personal injury cases, divorces, wills. Catherine Chagra Patrick Beach View Comments 0:00 0:56 Last December, we brought you the story of Catherine Chagra, daughter of Jamiel Jimmy Chagra, the The door was partially open, but the office appeared empty. If the feds could compromise even a single member of the conspiracy, the whole organization might crumbleand Lee with it. Emily McCullar is a senior editor covering pop culture, news, and Texas history. Jurors heard hours worth of tape recordings and more than 500 pages of documents were presented. He was later tried and acquitted in the assassination but received an additional sentence for obstruction of justice. Maximum sentence was 15 years on each of three counts, and thats what the judge gave him45 years. 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. Most afternoons as Donna and Sandy were crossing the parking lot after work, they saw her, and sometimes two or three other strippers from the Lamplighter, hurrying toward Lees office. She knew that Lee had just come through many weeks of hard times and she hated asking for money, but Jimmy was months behind in support payments. He was not very good at suffering alone, and friends and family visited him almost constantly. 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. [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. He would lend a stranger his last $100, knowing he was kissing it good-bye. 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. He got 30 years. His sister, Patsy, recalled, It scared me to hear Lee talk like that. With the agent providing invaluable assistance at every stage, Renteria and several others were drawn into the government trap. 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. 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. They implicated Lou Esper as the man who had planned the heist and supplied the weapons. When Lee hit a losing streak, he could fly into a snit, blaming anyone handy, especially Jo Annie, who more than once hurried off the casino floor in tears. Chagra jumped bail, but was captured six months later in Las Vegas. Traditionally, gambling and smuggling are on a par with fixing parking tickets and hiring illegal aliens. [25][21][26], Both Harrelson and Chagra's brother Joe were implicated in the assassination. Some people though Lee Chagra didnt know how to quit, but that wasnt quite true. Several times Lee talked to Vivian and others about dying. 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. A shake-up of the entire federal drug enforcement apparatus was under way, ramrodded by Nixons ranking authority on drugs, G. Gordon Liddy. More likely it was because Lee, as chief justice of the student court, had spoken out against segregated dorms and football teams. This would be the last time Lee Chagra and James Kerr faced one another in a courtroom, a sort of last hurrah for both. In some ways, they said, he was like Dad Chagra, old Abdou, a man stunted by his dreams. Jo Annie, Lees boyhood sweetheart and the wife who had seen him through law school and nineteen years of an emotionally charged marriage, met him at the airport. Another indisputable fact. At the same time a swell of excitement seemed to rumble from the floor, and people pushed to get a look at the action. It was as if their friendship had come to a fork in the road, and Lee had wandered off in another direction. In less than fifteen minutes, he won $90,000. The fact that Lee Chagra was the lead attorney automatically made the case big-time. Worse even then the chain reaction of disasters in 1977: the crash of one of his brother Jimmys drug smuggling planes in Colombia, Jimmys botched foray to rescue the pilot, Lees frantic scramble to rescue Jimmy, his running courtroom battle with federal prosecutor James Kerr and Judge John Wood. Theres a client buzzing at the door. Jo Annie tried to picture the man who had called that morning waiting outside. Wallace was sentenced to death, though this was later reduced to life in prison. Marble floors. [21], Chagra was released from prison for health reasons in Atlanta, Georgia, on December 9, 2003. He talked about death a lot. Jimmy wanted to be Lee. Those words, that adamant denial, were lost until this years Halloween floods in Central Texas displaced them from the attic of Jim McCullochs home on Bluff Springs Road in Southeast Austin, where for decades the transcribed words of Chagras ex-wife and the federal prisoner had been stored, then forgotten.
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