Like Julius Caesar, John H. Wood was several times offered high office, and several times he refused. By New Years Day it was the top story in town, and the defendants were being called the El Paso Ten. 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. Lees law practice never recovered. 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. He said he would meet her at home in a couple of hours. Where do you get off? One client who occupied a good deal of Lees time during the autumn of 1976 was Jerry Edwin Johnson, a local con man and admitted drug smuggler accused of masterminding a scheme to defraud the IRS of a quarter of a million dollars. The interview was patently leading; most of the questions were of the when-did-you-stop-beating-your-wife variety. Sometime in the middle of the night, after everyone else was asleep, Lee changed clothes and drove to his new office. Lee left the money spread across the bed and closed the bedroom door behind him. Another suggestion was to disrupt the drug market by passing out poisoned drugs. The agents thought so little of the information gleaned in the interview with Johnson that they didnt even bother to place him under oath. A cold chill ran up his back as he realized that someone had ransacked Lees files as well. Not long after that, someone attempted to rob a high-stakes poker game at Jimmy Salomes house. 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. Lee and Joe began to consider filing a harassment suit against Wood, Kerr, and various federal agents. For pure gambling, Jimmy may have been the strongest anyone in Vegas ever saw. Lee was the first college graduate in his family, and the first professional. Jo Annie left the game early, and when she stopped by the office Roberts was just leaving. There was a line from The Picture of Dorian Gray that she liked to paraphrase: I hope that when I die and go to hell, they deduct those four years I spent with Jimmy Chagra. She almost said it now, but the suffering in Lees eyes cut her off. Almost every day Jimmy telephoned Lee from his new home in Las Vegas. On the trials 40th anniversary, Goodman and Chagras eldest daughter, Catherine, will look back at the case and what it meant for Goodman and the Chagra family.A book signing of Catherine Chagras Chagra: The King of Dope Drugs, Deceit and Dirty Darlings will follow this program.Member and Donor Exclusive: Enjoy a meet-and-greet with Oscar Goodman and Catherine Chagra at 6 p.m. prior to the program. By the time the jury began its deliberation, it was obvious that the best the prosecution could expect was a tie. 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 The bell boy warned me of (Lees) reputation as a gambler, and that he was known to like women, Vivian Chagra would tell her friend and former anthropology professor Kay McCulloch, in an interview for a book project on which the two were collaborating. A further indignation: The witness protection program first exiled them to Omaha, Neb. Hughes knew these had been hard times for his friend. Jimmy became involved in marijuana trafficking, with ties to a New England crime organization. He got 30 years. His eyes were open, but he was obviously dying. There was a steel floor safe sunk into five feet of concrete, but like the other safes, it hadnt yet been completely installed. In 1979, a federal grand jury in Midland, Texas, indicted Chagra on drug smuggling charges. 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. One time she wrote about sports. Later, Jo Annie gave him an ebony cane with a gold satyrs-head handle. Catherine figures she was 10 when her dad went to prison. The staff knew the ritual, but no one knew for sure what went on behind the closed door. Vivian remembered the previous Saturday at his office; shes heard murmurs from the staff as she followed him upstairs. Paperback November 6, 2015. by Catherine Chagra (Author) 168 ratings. Narcotics and gambling were crimes that grew from a common stem composed of the worst elements in society. Well, I didnt know about it, Lee said, dumbstruck. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Wood pressed on, however, announcing that the grand jury investigation concerned not only Lee Chagra and Stricklin; it also involved Sib Abraham and others. 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. Emily McCullar is a senior editor covering pop culture, news, and Texas history. Jimmy had given her a couple of kids and a lasting pain in the ass. The next summer the Chagra brothers hit Vegas like a blizzard of kamikaze locusts. Lee developed a standard ploy he secretly taped the conversation, then gave the agent the phone number of the real Mr. Big. It was the unlisted number of the local DEA chief. He had started using cocaine some months earlier, and now he was using it daily. Now the government was trying to prove that Johnson had helped smuggle a pound of heroin out of Mexico. [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. Jurors heard hours worth of tape recordings and more than 500 pages of documents were presented. He began taping most of his telephone conversations and collecting every scrap of evidence that even hinted of government malfeasance. And co-conspirators in others. This year, 1978, had been a year of galloping paranoia. His two older brothers were so much alike it scared him. Jo Annie telephoned one final time, from her mothers house on Rim Road. [9][13] Reportedly, he used gambling as a method of laundering money he received through trafficking drugs. Jimmy was born four years later, and they soon nicknamed him Little Mischief. Yoseph walked behind the desk and dialed Lees home number. Jimmy and his new business partner, Henry Wallace, were in Florida awaiting their first freighterload of Colombian marijuana, and from what Lee had heard, the operation had all the earmarks of a disaster. The case wound up in Woods court. From time to time agents provocateurs posing as clients came to his office to discuss a phony case, then ended up trying to score some drugs from him. The first thing he noticed was his filing cabinet. Lee wanted to be head of the family, and Jimmy was constantly jealous of Lee because he stole the glory that Jimmy wanted. He walked to the top of the stairs and looked down at two black men with guns. Oh, yes. Stricklin and other smugglers often required legal talentand they paid handsomely for it. In fact, many aspects of the case were never investigated. This would be the last time Lee Chagra and James Kerr faced one another in a courtroom, a sort of last hurrah for both. He left his hat and keys on the couch and walked down the hall to Lees office. One of his key tactics was to source the details of a model of the apartment complex where Wood was shot, built for $11 million by the prosecution. Any craps! she shouted, throwing a $5 chip on the table. In a short time the bust was being described as the biggest one in El Paso history. In fact, it was a condition of him taking the case. I imagine everyone in this area knows that youve been the subject of a grand jury investigation ever since the Tennessee indictment, Wood announced. He went to the big guys at Caesars and told them that, by God, the next time his brother walked in that joint he wanted him treated like a goddam celebrity! About four oclock Bobby Yoseph returned to the office from a shopping trip in Jurez. 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. But Vegas had never seen anything that surpassed the performance of Lee and Jimmy Chagra. A month later, Jack Stricklin was standing before Maximum John Wood, contemplating life without parole. If there was a single piece of new evidence, it wasnt mentioned, or even hinted at, in the indictment. His practice had foundered, he had run up huge gambling debts, his life was peopled with shysters and thugs; and if the truth was known, Lee himself had become little more than a highly paid functionary in Jimmys fluctuating gang of smugglers. 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. October 2022 Reader Quiz: What Did You Learn? He was already doing time on the fraud charge at La Tuna federal correctional institution, which was on the New Mexico state line not far from El Paso. Back in El Paso things werent going much better. First he saw Lees boots standing in one corner by the door to the balcony, then he saw the blotch of blood on the wall. El Pasos legions of smugglersdrug smugglers in particularmanage to get themselves arrested often enough to keep law practices like Lee Chagras busy and profitable. Marble floors. The shock of Lees death didnt really hit Jimmy until he faced the prospect of walking into Judge Woods courtroom without Lee. He was bubbling over with tales of the previous days Tucson victory. On the plane from Tucson, Lee must have reflected on the paradox of his life. Lee handed out $200 in tips before they got to the suite. Fighting seemingly hopeless causes became his passion. He hustled personal injury cases, divorces, wills. Its from some friends in Vegas, he said, handing Vivian the card. I did not worry about a long-term jail sentence until Wood was killed, he said. The door was partially open, but the office appeared empty. [5][34] Joe Chagra served six and a half years in prison (of his ten-year sentence) and was released. Since he was not technically involved in the murder, Esper escaped with a relatively light sentence of fifteen years. 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. [5][3], Texas Drug, Gambling Figure Missing; High Bond Forfeited, Jimmy Chagra; Smuggler Linked to Judge's Death. He let himself in with a specially made key and walked upstairs. They were making a career, or at least a crusade, of trying to prove that Lee Chagra, master criminal lawyer, was in fact master criminal. Jimmy had ruined it. Pitts fancied himself a big-timer and concluded that Chagra must be pretty big himself if he was demanding thirty grand. Lees younger brother Jimmy, who grew up hustling and hanging out with some of Lees more prosperous clients, wanted nothing more than to be recognized as Mr. Big. His grandfather had been an ironfisted sheriff of Bexar County when lawmen still fought off Apaches. Goodman managed to get Chagra acquitted. Thats the reason Im going to release it to you.Thats what Ive been trying to tell you. With the gambling and the ostentatious living, the money never lasted long. The Mafia! Sib Abraham and some other old friends and members of the family were there. He didnt appear particularly disturbed. And hes this huge drug kingpin. Although Jo Annie appeared at the federal courthouse with $50,000 in bail money, Lee was obliged to spend the night with Georgie Taylor, Jack Stricklin, and virtually the entire hierarchy of El Paso drug trafficking. As he said the words, Lee extended the pointer to its full length. Chagra attempted to bribe Judge Wood for "$5 million or 10million". There is no way to calculate how all the damning publicity affected the careers of Sib Abraham and the others. As in: Heres a picture of Jimmy in Vegas with Muhammad Ali, both in black tie. They showed him a Xerox copy of the section of the law dealing with continuing criminal enterprise. Technically and legally, the unsworn interview shouldnt even have been a part of the grand jury report. He would try to join the family by half-time. Despite all evidence to the contrary, he had refused to let go of the notion that El Paso was being overrun by the Mafia. They could have been twins. I feel that it has all been terribly twisted. Lee kept detailed records of gambling transactions, but no one else had any concept of home much he bet or with how many different bookies. [36][37] However, his sister Patsy stated that he was not in the witness protection program at the time of his death. When they called Jimmy he chartered a jet and arrived about two hours later. When either of the Chagras sat at the blackjack table, he took all seven spots. State senator Tati Santiesteban, who had known Lee Chagra most of his life, led the procession of pallbearers. Lee had always been our strength., Lee couldnt shake the feeling that something or someone was stalking him. Joe was talking about resigning his partnership in the law firm. I think I was about 20 and Lee was 27 or something. Lee had seated himself at a table and ordered $5000 in chips, but the dealer refused. Lou Esper had planned both of these crimes too. Case dismissed. Dan Solomon writes about politics, music, food, sports, criminal justice, health care, film, and business. It was called Capital Acquisition, and its purpose was to channel funds through several banks in Mexico and then into Jimmys new business. Im the eagle! But Sandy noticed there were tears in his eyes. It was almost midnight when the Black Striker made his appearance on the casino floor. 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. His office and home telephone records as far back as 1970 had been subpoenaed, and so had his income tax records. And it was killing Lee. Prosecutors suspected Jimmy Chagra, and the FBI began meticulously putting its case together. Hitman Charles Harrelson actor Woody Harrelsons father assassinated Wood outside the judges home in May 1979. What no one knew at this point was that the feds had already busted Wallace. For some unexplained reason, the three assailants (apparently there was a third behind the wheel) raced from the scene without bothering to walk five or six feet and make sure that Kerr was dead. He was convicted of obstructing the investigation of the Hardly a day passed that the flamboyant attorney didnt make the news. It was hard to imagine two men more different. Jo Annie went on to the Sun Bowl and telephoned her husband at halftime. Thats the way Lee wanted it. Two overstuffed easy chairs were pushed together against the front of Lees desk, blocking the path across the room. He bragged that he never once granted probation in a heroin case. [16], On December 23, 1978, Lee Chagra was shot and killed in his law office in El Paso. Loaves of Syrian bread were baking in the kitchen. The boys had been caught red-handed with 17,000 pounds if marijuana. The deal made guys sweating over a ton of weed loaded onto a plane and flown across the border look like chumps. Curiously, this kind of heavy action seemed to bring out the best in Jimmy and the worst in 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. [12] Their family name was historically "Bushaada", but Jimmy's grandfather changed it. 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 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. 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. The story surrounding the assassination of Judge Wood was profiled in an episode of City Confidential. So Jimmys smuggling operation must be thriving as Lees law practice crumbled. Their dad just didnt feel safe going to court without his consigliere. 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. Lee flew to Florida and set up a dummy corporation for Jimmy. Lee got the best of the feds in Ardmore but that was about the last time. However, his sister Patsy stated that he was not in the witness protection program at the time of his death. It was apparent from the manner in which the furniture was rearranged and toppled about that the orgies were quite vigorous. The judge said he had spent eight or ten hours reading Jerry Edwin Johnsons 1976 grand jury testimony and the transcript of the IRS investigation. In fact, the only indictments handed down by the racket-busters involved a Bandido who resisted arrest after FBI and DEA agents kicked down his door, a former manager of the Lamplighter Club, a city judge charged with fixing parking tickets, and bail bondsman Vic Apodaca, who was charged with income tax violations. Jimmy Chagra was a lot of things: a high-rolling gambler who chummed around with celebrities in Las Vegas, probably the biggest pot smuggler in the Western world and a father to children he arguably adored and unarguably failed. Lee Chagra by some of his fans was murdered in his office and robbed of some $450,000 that might have been intended for a mob boss. Chagra jumped bail, but was captured six months later in Las Vegas. Though the prosecution recognized there was hardly any chance that Rick would turn on his family, James Kerr did everything in his power to put him away for 40 years. In secret interviews Wallace as singing like a drunken angel. He unlocked the door to his private bath. He loved it. He knew how to quit while he was winning. She remembers being elated when he got out, and the heartbreak that he was largely unchanged, as was her love for him: He was always looking for the next million and used a credit card a friend had given him strictly for essentials to rack up tens of thousands of dollars in gambling debts. Lees morning coffee was perfect, and the cocaine was first-rate. Everyone had assumed theyd made loveLee made a point of keeping her in his office long enough, then he flushed the toilet and gave her the money. 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. He was later tried and acquitted in the assassination but received an additional sentence for obstruction of justice. The money was in the canvas tennis bag under the sink. 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