If there was a single piece of new evidence, it wasnt mentioned, or even hinted at, in the indictment. Just barely making it. 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. Lee was preoccupied this morning. 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. Kerr was an empire builder, Boyd said. It was a shocking verdict after the FBI conducted its most extensive investigation since the Kennedy assassination. Lee was already there. Marriage license #D875871, Marriage License Records, Las Vegas. The card read, I hope your ass feels like what you did to us.. 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. Lees position in this venture was that of highly paid legal adviser for the gang of smugglers. For sheer lan, Hughes recalled, I dont think Id ever seen him any higher.. Emily McCullar is a senior editor covering pop culture, news, and Texas history. When Joe and Lee had drawn up their partnership, the arrangement was that they would share all revenues and losses, but Joe hadnt counted on sharing Lees gambling losses. If Stricklin cooperated, they would work for his early release. A major law firm that always invited the top six UT law graduates to a spring gala invited only five in 1962. He didnt advertise the fact, but Jimmy was helping to pay for the huge cost overrun on Lees new office. Tom Foster writes about business, innovation, and creative people. It was only the second time in US history that a federal judge had been killed. Fighting seemingly hopeless causes became his passion. He loved the streets and the people who plied themwhores, gamblers, smugglers, cops. Prosecutors suspected Jimmy Chagra, and the FBI began meticulously putting its case together. 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. Sandy and the others began to realize that this was something truly personal; it was as though Lee were mourning his own impending death. Jimmy had given her a couple of kids and a lasting pain in the ass. shaggy shag,' and he would gamble up to a million dollars," said In the first minutes of Lees run, a little old lady burst through the crowd just as Lee released the dice. Reporters flocked to the federal courthouse to get a look at what was happening to Lee Chagra. Though Jimmy Chagras name was never officially mentioned, almost everyone assumed that he had masterminded the scheme. He imported more high-grade ganja than anyone, tons at a time, planeload after planeload. It was hard to imagine two men more different. Over the years lawyers encountered scores of cases in which citizens had been lured into crimes by what amounted to federal bounty hunters. Kerr preferred playing Bach fugues in the dim light of the First Presbyterian Church and going to the symphony. Hardly a day passed that the flamboyant attorney didnt make the news. Over the next eight years Wood handed out the maximum sentence in almost every case. They knew about the safe in the floor of the bathroom, but there were othersone beneath the carpet near the fireplace in the living room of the private suite and another in the master bedroom. The shotgun murder of an Oklahoma gambler in El Paso some years earlier had convinced him that the Dixie Mafia was making a power play in El Paso, and he had instigated a controversial grand jury investigation. Look at em, he grinned at the pit boss. Their dad just didnt feel safe going to court without his consigliere. By now all the Chagras knew that Jimmy was a major drug trafficker, and they must have suspected that Lees arrangement with his brother and his relationship with Jack Stricklin were more than traditional lawyer-client dealings. Wood pressed on, however, announcing that the grand jury investigation concerned not only Lee Chagra and Stricklin; it also involved Sib Abraham and others. He referred to all of his male friends as brother, and yet there was a time when he couldnt keep his hands off his real brothers wives and girlfriends. On October 20, 1977, as Chagra stood before the bench objecting to Judge Woods personal attack, arguing that it was totally without evidence or cause and that the resulting publicity had done great damage not only to Stricklin but to Lee himself, the judge interrupted and dropped his bomb. 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. Now it was the judge who was having difficulty. He had known that the DEA was watching him, but a grand jury? 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. 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. 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. The other lawyer couldnt appreciate the irony, but until that moment, Lee had always envied him. Fortunately the glass was shatter-proof. The silence was monumental. All have, understandably, complicated feelings about their father. That was why I jumped bond. In prison, Jimmy would say he got hooked on gambling faster than heroin.. In the early summer of 1973 Lee experienced for the first time in his life how it felt to be on the other side. 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. 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. One time she wrote about sports. All have, understandably, complicated Thats the way Lee wanted it. Lee read the card and laughed. 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. Texass Most Venomous Caterpillar. An inextricable connection, whether emotional or physical or both, would continue between Lee and Vivian long after Vivian and Jimmy were married, Catherine would later learn. The consensus had always been that Jimmy Chagra would never amount to much. A graduate of SMUs law school, Kerr had worked for the Justice Department and helped draft the 1970 Drug Control Act. Fayuqueros (smugglers) from Mexico usually make two trips a week across the border, carrying about 250,000 pesos ($10,000) worth of goods each way. One of the soldiers, David Leon Wallace, signed a confession that not only admitted the robbery and murder of Lee Chagra but also substantiated Lees seemingly paranoid belief that he was being stalked. Is his [dope smuggling] operation totally separate [from another smugglers]? All three believe he would never have gotten into the dope business without the contacts of Lee, a lawyer who seemed drawn to shady characters along the border, where smuggling was the economy. State senator Tati Santiesteban, who had known Lee Chagra most of his life, led the procession of pallbearers. It wasnt just in hard-drug cases; Wood appeared to make no distinctions. When you live that way, chances are youll die that way too. 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. 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. 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. Hed brought corsages for all the women on the staff. The money from the big score in Massachusetts was pouring in, and Lee and Jimmy were racing to see who could lose it first. As it turned out, he was right.. It was four years before we lost a case.. A shake-up of the entire federal drug enforcement apparatus was under way, ramrodded by Nixons ranking authority on drugs, G. Gordon Liddy. Chagra: The King of Dope Drugs, Deceit and Dirty Darlings, WATCH: Indiana father arrested on live TV after toddler is seen with gun. 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 a short time the bust was being described as the biggest one in El Paso history. For all the smoke generated by James Kerrs highly publicized grand jury probe of organized crime, there was hardly any fire. 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. And it was killing Lee. 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. Jack Stricklin met him at the airport and drove him to the office. I knew he was dying, Catherine Chagra said. I knew that Vivian had been working on a book about the Chagra saga, McCulloch said. Lees limit was $3000, and he would have played for $10,000 had Caesars Palace allowed it. It looked as though he was set for the night. In less than fifteen minutes, he won $90,000. Then suddenly the money was gone. He left his hat and keys on the couch and walked down the hall to Lees office. October 2022 Reader Quiz: What Did You Learn? The chiveras are paid $45 to $65, depending on the size and value of the haul; out of that money they are expected to bribe the various Mexican customs officials, who survive on bribes. Chagra had little use for public servants, especially prosecutors, and Kerr was a classic bureaucrat, squeaking with authority and wedded to the book. He had two brothers, Lee and Joseph, who were both attorneys involved with the legal defense of drug smugglers. [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. I feel that it has all been terribly twisted. At the victory party that followed the declaration of mistrial, one of the jurors told Lee: I know those boys did everything they said they did, but dammit, they didnt prove it!. The Tennessee dope dealer rolled down his sock and slapped the cash on Lees desk. He needs you to look it over before he mails it back.. [23] The authorities did not immediately suspect Chagra of involvement in the assassination, and it took thousands of man-hours to identify them as suspects in the case. Patsy heard the bells from St. Patricks Cathedral in the next block and remembered Mom Chagra. Despite all evidence to the contrary, he had refused to let go of the notion that El Paso was being overrun by the Mafia. 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. On the plane from Tucson, Lee must have reflected on the paradox of his life. Chagra's son, Joseph, 19, and daughter, Samantha, 17, kept a bedside vigil urging him, despite his coma, not to give up. They were like a sickness with him., Lee also loved El Paso and had never thought of living anywhere else. The months of suspicion and hostile publicity almost wrecked Lees law career. That was the year Lee and Jo Annie started building their new home on Frontera Road in the Upper Valley. 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. That was a fact. SOLD OUT: Against All Odds: Oscar Goodman and the 40th Anniversary of the Jimmy Chagra Murder Trial. [19][20] Chagra faced a possible life sentence without parole if convicted and reportedly feared he would receive a life sentence, according to prosecutors. Lee despised Kerr, and Kerr had every reason to despise Lee. The family was worried about Lee. The district attorney, several district judges, and a former mayor stood elbow to elbow with Sailor Roberts, gambler Amarillo Slim, and at least a dozen convicted dope dealers. He seemed burned out, used up, and he was hitting the cocaine pretty hard. Chagra attempted to bribe Judge Wood for "$5 million or 10million". He helped develop Operation Intercept, a massive media event in which millions of U.S. citizens were stopped and searched at the border. [6] In fact, he is described as having been "no less than the biggest marijuana smuggler in the country" during that time. Two of Chagras daughters, Christa and Catherine, now live in Smithville. 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. Lee had never let his name be linked to an illegal enterprise before the fact. As far as having Wood killed, no way, he said. In a single short sitting he lost almost $190,000. Loaves of Syrian bread were baking in the kitchen. Copyright 2023 Knewz Media Group LLC. He looked as though he hadnt slept for three nights. Jimmy was known to win or lose $1 million a night, according to Catherine. Someone was supposed to open the door from the inside. Oscar Goodman and Joe Chagra were Jimmys attorneys. Donna made fresh coffee and explained the new telephone system to Lee. 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. His cowboy hat was pushed forward until the brim almost touched his nose, and shaggy locks of graying hair spilled over his collar. It was the first time anyone from El Paso had thought of using a tramp steamer. What was happening here? His dream was to stash away $20 million, all taxes paid. The defendant was one Melchor de los Santos, who was caught with 262 grams of heroin; since the going rate was $30 a gram, it was a fairly substantial bust for the times. 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. As Lee reached for the dice, he recited a spiel that was also part of his ritual. Jamiel "Jimmy" Alexander Chagra (December 7, 1944 July 25, 2008) was an American drug trafficker, carpet salesman and professional gambler. I have never found anything, he said pleasantly, in any of these grand jury investigations. 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. He bragged that he never once granted probation in a heroin case. Yoseph let himself in the front entrance with the key that Lee had given him that morning. Patsy Chagras husband, Rick De La Torre, faced four charges in the same conspiracy. In 1979, a federal grand jury in Midland, Texas, indicted Chagra on drug smuggling charges. Donna helped Sandy count the $20,000. Narcotics agents believed that Stricklin and his associates supplied a good part of the South and Southwest with Mexican marijuana. 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. But now the years of fast living were catching up. She didnt know the details, but she had heard that Jimmy and his new wife, Liz, were living it up in Vegas. Where do you get off? [38] A fictitious name reference to the Judge John Wood assassination also appeared in an The FBI Files episode "Dangerous Company" as the show regularly changed names of real-life people to protect privacy. If she realized how pressed he had been for money in recent months, she didnt show it. Joe and his wife, Patty, who had been married for about eighteen months, sold some of their furniture and gave Jimmy some money and their Blazer. In January 1971 Wood was sworn in as a U.S. district judge, with jurisdiction over about a quarter of the El Paso docket. Lees law practice never recovered. Kerr had been involved with pursuing Chagra for his drug dealings. Lee concurred and told other members of the family that Jimmy was dead broke and needed their help. A few months later two soldiers from Fort Bliss admitted robbing and killing Lee Chagra. With the pointer fully retracted, Lee approached the jury box, smiling. I undermined their entire case of how the bullet got to the judge.. Youve got everything I always dreamed of having, the lawyer said. Hardly anyone wanted a lawyer who was under indictment, recalled Joe Chagra, Lees youngest brother, who by then had joined the law firm. He had seven children, including a daughter named Catherine, who wrote a memoir about the family. Jimmy Chagra died of cancer on July 25, 2008. He was living in a trailer camp in Mesa, Arizona. Catherine remembers the prison visits as the best times she ever had with her father. Hughes, who assisted in the defense, thought that Lee won in his opening remarks to the jury. 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. But more than anything, it was his clothes; Jimmy showed up at the funeral wearing an outfit exactly like Lees Black Striker costume. The madness seemed to peak in November, when two men in a van sprayed Kerrs car with buckshot and .30-caliber bullets. 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. You help us and well help you, the agents told Stricklin. He was really happy that all the money was gone and he had to work again. The rest of it, he said, his voice sure and unwavering, represents not guilty. But let me add, he had a lot of enemies.. Since he was not technically involved in the murder, Esper escaped with a relatively light sentence of fifteen years. Everything was on the house. Minimum sentence was ten years, maximum was life. I though maybe I was the Jonah, he said. Right there before your eyes Lee Chagra became the Black Striker. 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. I want to talk to you. Vivian was startled to see how much Jimmy looked like Lee, how he had grown out his moustache, how his hair was full and shaggy and touched now with streaks of gray. Stricklin looked at the copy of the law for a few seconds, then returned it to the agents. He hustled personal injury cases, divorces, wills. [16], On December 23, 1978, Lee Chagra was shot and killed in his law office in El Paso. He was up and down all his lifestruggling. Federal agents turned up at Lees office the next morning to confiscate his gun collection and question him about the unsuccessful assassination attempt. He worked his way through the University of Texas law school, graduating fourth in his class in 1962. He crossed the living room and closed the apartment door behind him. Now they eat three meals a day and imported cheese. They checked out of the hotel that same night and moved to the Aladdin, where Lee had a $250,000 line of credit. He was widely believed to have been placed in the Federal Witness Protection Program. Vivian did her best to smile. The Chagra family was a big, big deal in El Paso, Texas, Geoff Schumacher, vice president of exhibits and programs at the Mob Museum, explained to Nevada Public Radio ahead of the event (he will be moderating). It was the way he sounded when he was counting money or totaling figures, an abstract, business-first attitude. I think Jerry Johnson told us whatever he thought we wanted to hear, DEA agent J.T. It was almost midnight when the Black Striker made his appearance on the casino floor. Uncle Lou, who had recently been paroled in California, had a drug habit of long standing. By the time Lee finished dressing, Jo Annie had breakfast readyfreshly baked Syrian bread, butter, and a variety of fruit preserves. Lee couldnt stop talking about Tucson. 3.9 on Goodreads. It was Stricklin who was on trial, not Chagra. The door was partially open, but the office appeared empty. Chagra was released from prison for health reasons in Atlanta, Georgia, on December 9, 2003. [28] Charles Harrelson got two consecutive life terms plus 5 years,[29] Harrelson's wife Jo Ann got 25 years[21] and Jimmy Chagra's wife Elizabeth was also sent to prison for 30 years for delivering the payout money. The law was wide open to interpretationtailor-made for a crusading lawman like James Kerr. 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. 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. Joe was quieter and more introspective than his brothers. 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. Lee told her he still had a pile of work on his desk. On five minutes notice, Caesars would dispatch a Learjet to fetch one or both of the Chagras. The scam brought in more money than Lee had ever thought of making in his law practice. He marched straight to a crap table on one side of the casino and told the pit boss to clear the table. The pit boss snapped his fingers and motioned for the guards to bring the velvet ropes. Lee had showered and was standing in front of the bathroom mirror in his shorts when his brother Jimmys ex-wife, Vivian, arrived. However, his sister Patsy stated that he was not in the witness protection program at the time of his death. But, speaking to his ex-wife, Vivian, in a federal prison more than 30 years ago, he said he was not a killer. When Lee was murdered sixteen years later, Charles Alan Wright, one of the countrys leading authorities on constitutional law, called him one of the few students who stand out in my memory., There was never any doubt that when Lee passed the state bar exam he would join Jo Annies brother, Sib Abraham, who had finished law school the previous year and had already set up his practice in El Paso. The case had been dead for two years, but Kerr had a plan. Lee speculated that the attempt was an inside job. A book signing of Kerrs just working the tailings, he said. It was obvious that the prosecution and the DEA had problems coordinating their investigation. Vivian remembered the previous Saturday at his office; shes heard murmurs from the staff as she followed him upstairs. Stricklin started peddling lids when they were still lidsan ounce of grass in a Prince Albert tin. Two overstuffed easy chairs were pushed together against the front of Lees desk, blocking the path across the room. Sib Abraham and some other old friends and members of the family were there. None of the missing $450,000 was ever recovered. [5][3], Texas Drug, Gambling Figure Missing; High Bond Forfeited, Jimmy Chagra; Smuggler Linked to Judge's Death. 196 When things were going poorly for himand they usually werehe could be amazingly rattlebrained and cruel. He touched the tip of the pointer and said, This small tip represents innocence: the defendants didnt do a thing. He wanted everything his brother had, but he just didnt want to work for it. 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. The sisters made mistakes, too, some by failing, in their youth, to realize that a substantial portion of their larger-than-life family history was a cautionary tale, an admonition that for some, life is best lived smaller and more quietly, away from big money and bright lights and celebrities with teeth so white and so impossibly perfect. Whatever Jo Annie was thinking, she wouldnt say anything. Chagra and Wood were on a collision course that was bound to end in catastrophe. Two of Chagras daughters, Christa and Catherine, now live in Smithville. 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. In Western Texas, Powell was a prosecutor in the trial of American drug trafficker Jimmy Chagra for criminal enterprise violations. 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. More likely it was because Lee, as chief justice of the student court, had spoken out against segregated dorms and football teams. Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. It was an incredible sight. A short time later there was a knock, and Lee admitted two hookers to the room. Shortly after noon the next day, Lee telephoned and said: Ninety thousand is nothing for a stepper. Case dismissed. Paperback November 6, 2015. by Catherine Chagra (Author) 168 ratings. While the phone was ringing, Yoseph allowed his eyes to run along the wall to the left of the desk. On the morning of the day Lee was murdered, his bookkeeper, Donna Johnson, arrived at the office about ten oclock. All the drawers were open and papers were scattered on the floor. He was living in a trailer camp in Mesa, Arizona. With the help of their principled mother before her tragic death, and haunted by the shadow of their father, Dirty Darlings is a portrait of courage as three women attempt to re-assemble the shattered pieces of their lives. This was among over a thousand recorded conversations that the government had collected as evidence. He didnt appear to recognize the name. It was his most important victory in monthsand his most profitable. Lee drew a crowd simply by walking through the front door at Caesars Palace, passing out money, and asking how much they loved him. Pitts fancied himself a big-timer and concluded that Chagra must be pretty big himself if he was demanding thirty grand. He had no information incriminating Lee, except that he confirmed that Lee had set up some dummy corporations to launder money, but he was willing to finger Jimmy as the kingpin. By the late sixties he had put together an organization capable of moving tons of marijuana across the river. 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. Wood began to crawfish. Woods first big drug case came in May 1971. Lee protected Jimmy, but he also contributed to Jimmys sense of inadequacy. He called himself a pacifist, and yet he was comfortable around violence. At first Lee wasnt terribly worried about the new charges against Stricklin. They showed him a Xerox copy of the section of the law dealing with continuing criminal enterprise. The pit boss shooed the sheep away from table that Lee selected for his private performance. Lets go downstairs and give them one they can write home about. Clark said he would dress and meet Lee in the casino. [27] Joe Chagra's defense reportedly attempted to plead guilty to a lesser offense of conspiring to obstruct justice instead. 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. The Chagras were fiercely proud people, a handsome, hardy, beguiling line of Lebanese merchants and vendors who migrated near the turn of the century to Mexico and then to El Paso. What investigation against him? [9][10] His mother was named Josephine, and his father Abdou Chagra.