He imported more high-grade ganja than anyone, tons at a time, planeload after planeload. I knew he would take a hard look at narcotics and organized crime.. While federal agents snapped photographs from the parking lot across the street, hundreds of mourners jammed St. Patricks. Esper had also observed Lee making large cash payoffs to various collectors. Lee was already there. 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. A grand jury in Nashville had indicted Chagra and forty others on a charge of conspiracy to import and distribute marijuana. It must have been nearly three-thirty by then. [17][10], Chagra's downfall began in February 1979 when he was arrested on trafficking charges. Two of Chagras daughters, Christa and Catherine, now live in Smithville. 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. 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. Yoseph walked behind the desk and dialed Lees home number. 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. Lee laughed with pride. He was living in a trailer camp in Mesa, Arizona. Lee left the money spread across the bed and closed the bedroom door behind him. Reporters flocked to the federal courthouse to get a look at what was happening to Lee Chagra. 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. That old watch-me-carry-the-world smile was back on his face. Technically Lee had won the battle, but there was little doubt that Wood had landed a crippling, perhaps fatal blow to the attorneys already battered reputation. As Boyd must have realized, Kerr and Lee Chagra were natural enemies. But let me add, he had a lot of enemies.. They were all scammers, everyone he knew or cared about. These people used to steal, a Mexican policeman told the Associated Press recently, but there is more money in contraband. But Lee trusted him. He was up and down all his lifestruggling. Yoseph let himself in the front entrance with the key that Lee had given him that morning. It was obvious that the prosecution and the DEA had problems coordinating their investigation. The government questions the good faith of this request, Kerr concluded. 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. 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. Up and then down. Vivian said she didnt know. WebAfter Joe was killed, the bad publicity inevitably returned, so Patty took their daughter, Samantha, a seventeen-year-old high school honor student, to all the television stations in He knew how to quit while he was winning. When you live that way, chances are youll die that way too. First, he made at least a dozen telephone calls. He was arrested without incident in front of the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, his second home, where, according to Catherine, hed gone to seek facial reconstructive surgery. For months Lee had been unable to shake the premonition that something wild and uncontrollable had broken loose. 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. He crossed the living room and closed the apartment door behind him. He gambled in Vegas and wrote bad checks and was constantly calling Lee to bail him out. A shake-up of the entire federal drug enforcement apparatus was under way, ramrodded by Nixons ranking authority on drugs, G. Gordon Liddy. He needs you to look it over before he mails it back.. [36][37] However, his sister Patsy stated that he was not in the witness protection program at the time of his death. Some people though Lee Chagra didnt know how to quit, but that wasnt quite true. "He was great friends with Lee didnt appear to like Lou Esper, but he was one of the few people in town who tolerated him. It took almost a year for all the money to work its way back to Jimmy and his partners. Hunter Thompson once described how a casino shot a three-hundred pound bear out of a cannon right in the middle of the floor and no one looked up. Lee wanted to be head of the family, and Jimmy was constantly jealous of Lee because he stole the glory that Jimmy wanted. There was a ritual that he always observed before going downstairs to the casino. She had put the same question to herself. It was the way he sounded when he was counting money or totaling figures, an abstract, business-first attitude. She had come to count on Leealthough she suspected that the money Lee gave her came from Jimmy anyway. 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. As his friend Clark Hughes warned him, One of the problems with being a criminal attorney is that all your clients are crooks. Lee didnt protest as Clark led him out of the casino to the waiting limousine. 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. Kerr escaped with only minor glass cuts. He was 50. The Mafia! If Stricklin cooperated, they would work for his early release. Here she is with Paul Anka. Lee couldnt stop talking about Tucson. If they had, they would have seen the small, trembling figure of the prosecutor crouched in a fetal position below the dashboard, dazed, bleeding from the shards of splintered glass, shaky as a bowl of gelatinbut otherwise unharmed. Some of them deposited large sums in the lawyers safe, against the inevitable. Its from some friends in Vegas, he said, handing Vivian the card. A black banner was stretched across the entire front of the building. 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. Or for Lee Chagra. Inside Friscos Lavish, Enormous New Golf Resort. The 38-year-old prosecutor had given up his apartment in El Paso and moved back to San Antonio, where he felt more comfortable. Chagra used one of his trademarks, a solid-gold retractable pointer, to demonstrate his case. No, you got it backwards, Lee said when he saw it. It was becoming an obsession. [15], Chagra's drug dealings came under close scrutiny by law enforcement and the judicial system. The case had been dead for two years, but Kerr had a plan. They could barely deal fast enough for Leeall the spots covered with white chips, $21,000 riding on every deal. Oscar Goodman and Joe Chagra were Jimmys attorneys. What she didnt know was that he was in his private apartment, watching the game on TV with his friend Sailor Roberts, a bookie who had recently been busted in James Kerrs organized-crime probe. Lee was lying face up on the floor, blood trickling from his mouth. All things considered, 1978 has probably been the worst year of Lee Chagras life. Drugs are currently in fashion, but over the years whiskey, cigarettes, perfume, Swiss watches, silver, kitchenware, and of course, laborers have been staples in the trade. Two of their five children were with her. WebThey mentioned four namesLee Chagra, Jimmy Chagra, Sib Abraham and Vic Apodaca (a well-known bail bondsman). It is hard for me to go back into my cell and think of myself as the man the newspapers have made me out to be. Kerr was frail and sallow-faced and talked in a high-pitched voice that suggested he was about to shatter. Youve got it wrong, Lee replied. Clark Hughes went ahead to the casino to lose my piddling three or four hundred. He never knew why Lee liked to bring him along, but he seldom refused. And she suspected that some of the money that was paying off Lees elaborate new offices and his gambling debts came from Jimmy. That was the year Lee and Jo Annie started building their new home on Frontera Road in the Upper Valley. He liked to mainline speed and supported his habit by organizing a small-time burglary-robbery ring using young black soldiers from Fort Bliss. Everything was on the house. When either of the Chagras sat at the blackjack table, he took all seven spots. If she realized how pressed he had been for money in recent months, she didnt show it. Kerr was an empire builder, Boyd said. Now they eat three meals a day and imported cheese. I waited around to wish you and the kids a merry Christmas, the gambler told her. 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. I knew he was dying, Catherine Chagra said. Worse than 1973, the year the federal government indicted him on a trumped-up marijuana trafficking charge in Nashville and nearly destroyed his law practice. "[8], Jamiel Chagra, known as Jimmy, was born in El Paso, Texas on December 7, 1944. October 2022 Reader Quiz: What Did You Learn? WebDrug kingpin who was charged with the murder of the US district court judge who would have presided at his drug trial. Until now the media had treated the charges against Stricklin as routine news, but Woods ruling added a bizarre new twist. People in the Chagras party didnt bother to register: they just walked up to the desk and someone handed them a key to a six-room suite. All rights reserved. On November 21, 1978, Assistant U.S. Attorney James Kerr was ambushed and shot at near his home by two men who fired 19 bullets at his car. 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. Defendants convicted on a kingpin rap were not eligible for parole, period. [2][22][6] He was the first federal judge to die by assassination in over a century. 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 of Lees personal affairs, especially those with women, were conducted behind closed doors. Loaves of Syrian bread were baking in the kitchen. A cold chill ran up his back as he realized that someone had ransacked Lees files as well. The fifty-page text of the interview was used as supplemental material by a grand jury investigating a tax fraud, but it was never given the slightest weight as courtroom evidence. Lee Chagra was special, and he went out of his way to prove it: student court, law review, Order of the Coif. Boyd believed that one way or another Jimmy would take him to Lee. 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 would try to join the family by half-time. A month later, Jack Stricklin was standing before Maximum John Wood, contemplating life without parole. On the monitor he saw a tall, muscular black man in his early twenties. The money from the big score in Massachusetts was pouring in, and Lee and Jimmy were racing to see who could lose it first. Wallace confessed that he had taken part in the burglary attempt on Mickey Espers office and also the attempt to rob the poker game at Jimmy Salomes house. 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. It was Stricklin who was on trial, not Chagra. Jimmy Chagra, in another conversation recorded in prison and later transcribed, would not go quite as far, although he further muddied the waters. Boyd was wrong. And it was killing Lee. Hadnt I already proven that wrong?. 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. 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.. After the phone calls, Lee would take a long timemaybe two hours, maybe moreto bathe, groom, and dress himself in the wardrobe that he reserved for these occasions. There were at least twenty lawyers for the defense, but apparently the entire burden of prosecution fell on poor Kilcrease. The interview was patently leading; most of the questions were of the when-did-you-stop-beating-your-wife variety. Friends, relatives, and people that Donna had never seen before paraded through as though the place were a museum. 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. So Jimmys smuggling operation must be thriving as Lees law practice crumbled. He was really happy that all the money was gone and he had to work again. 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. 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. Is there any secret about that?. 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. It's going to be a very interesting night Jan. 18 at the Mob Museum in Las Vegas. A graduate of SMUs law school, Kerr had worked for the Justice Department and helped draft the 1970 Drug Control Act. Most high rollers would think a 9-year-old would cramp their style, but he took me everywhere.. At the end of his life, Jimmy Chagra knew he was dying, and unlike his ex-wife, whod fought the cancer for herself and her daughters, he gave up quickly. He seemed pleased with the gesture but told her there was some work he needed to do at the office. The other lawyer couldnt appreciate the irony, but until that moment, Lee had always envied him. 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. Written by Catherine Chagra, Here she is in the Sinatra suite at Caesars, the tacky wallpaper so thickly felted it practically had to be brushed. One strategy that Liddy and the newly created Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) finally settled on, as defense lawyers in El Paso soon realized, was the use of agents provocateurs, whose job it was to create crime. As Lee reached for the dice, he recited a spiel that was also part of his ritual. The boys had been caught red-handed with 17,000 pounds if marijuana. They were married in Las Vegas. Wood was apparently confusing the fifty-page transcript of the secret interview with actual grand jury testimony. [7] He had a $1 million mansion in Las Vegas. The government was so rabid for convictions that it destroyed its own case. It was during this period that Lee was introduced to Mickeys black sheep uncle, Lou Esper, a pale, seedy, rat-faced Syrian hoodlum who had spent about half his fifty years in prisons. While the phone was ringing, Yoseph allowed his eyes to run along the wall to the left of the desk. They learned later that Jimmy left town with about $50,000. It was only the second time in US history that a federal judge had been killed. It was a totally ludicrous story, Sib Abraham recalled, but it got very serious when the jury convicted him. In time, Lee and Sib became targets themselves. Once again, Lee went first to his suite and carried out the ritual. El Pasos legions of smugglersdrug smugglers in particularmanage to get themselves arrested often enough to keep law practices like Lee Chagras busy and profitable. [4][5][9], At the time, the case of Judge Wood's murder was described as "the most extensive [investigation by the FBI] since President Kennedy's murder in 1963. Goodman managed to get Chagra acquitted. Hitman Charles Harrelson actor Woody Harrelsons father assassinated Wood outside the judges home in May 1979. [10][4], Jimmy got into drug smuggling in 1969 and became one of the largest smugglers in the United States, trafficking drugs from Mexico and Colombia by plane and boat. Except for a few faithful clients like Jack Stricklin, Lees practice was at rock bottom. A front-page headline in The El Paso Times virtually screamed the news that the flamboyant kingpin had been nabbed. Lee continued to object. Jurors heard hours worth of tape recordings and more than 500 pages of documents were presented. What was happening here? 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. Jimmy and the crew of the chartered jet were arrested by Colombian authorities. Lee and Joanne Chagra raised their five children in a rarified world of glitz, glamour and money few other El Pasoans could imagine. She didnt know the details, but she had heard that Jimmy and his new wife, Liz, were living it up in Vegas. 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? 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. For pure gambling, Jimmy may have been the strongest anyone in Vegas ever saw. Shortly after noon the next day, Lee telephoned and said: Ninety thousand is nothing for a stepper. If you fill out the first name, last name, or agree to terms fields, you will NOT be added to the newsletter list. Its David Long, the first man said. 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. 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. Lees law practice never recovered. You ought to pay me fifteen hundred dollars an hour to entertain customers. And yet federal agents still had no proof: for all the loose talk, there was not a shred of hard evidence that Lee had committed any crime. A sample: Q.What about Lee Chagra? Maybe it will get better, Vivian said. 196 Dad had been gone for eight years. 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. He sat next to a lawyer who worked for one of El Pasos established firms in one of the high-rise glass towers that dominate the downtown district. 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. On the morning of the day Lee was murdered, his bookkeeper, Donna Johnson, arrived at the office about ten oclock. The real show was on the casino floor in special sections roped off for the Chagras. 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! Liddy came up with one farfetched idea after another. The tragedy was that it was all unnecessary: before the Fifth Circuit had a chance to rule on the question of jeopardy, Jamie Boyd decided to drop the continuing criminal enterprise charges against Jack Stricklin. No Mafia figures were ever indicted. Hardly a day passed that the flamboyant attorney didnt make the news. Youll do at least eighteen months. [19][20] Chagra faced a possible life sentence without parole if convicted and reportedly feared he would receive a life sentence, according to prosecutors. His great-grandfather had come from New York and fought in the Texas Revolution. 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. Before Yoseph could think of an answer, Lee asked another question: What would you do if you came in and found Id been murdered?, This preoccupation wasnt totally without foundation. [4][11] Jimmy Chagra also had a sister named Patsy. He bragged that he never once granted probation in a heroin case. 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. In the court of John Wood, Chagra realized, that could be some distance. Ive got to go, he told her. Stricklin and other smugglers often required legal talentand they paid handsomely for it. Donna helped Sandy count the $20,000. The staff knew the ritual, but no one knew for sure what went on behind the closed door. They wanted information on the real kingpin of dope trafficking in El Paso. 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. What Lee didnt know at the time was that Johnson had, as they say, gone over. Hed become a government snitch, albeit not a very reliable one. He swore he did not put out a hit on Maximum John H. Wood Jr., the federal judge in San Antonio presiding over a case that could have sent Jamiel Jimmy Chagra to prison for life. Jimmy had ruined it. Fighting seemingly hopeless causes became his passion. Lee grabbed an old musket, the only gun in the house, and several of the poker players chased two black men across a field before losing them along the river. The Florida operation had the potential to make millions, but it could also spell disaster for Lee. The pit boss shooed the sheep away from table that Lee selected for his private performance. He ran a floating blackjack game and started peddling dope. But as usual, Jimmys success only threw Lee into a funk. [6] In fact, he is described as having been "no less than the biggest marijuana smuggler in the country" during that time. Pitts fancied himself a big-timer and concluded that Chagra must be pretty big himself if he was demanding thirty grand. It wasnt just in hard-drug cases; Wood appeared to make no distinctions. Hughes never knew whom he called or whyLees life was like hornets nest, with thousands of isolated cells, and no one person, however close, ever saw more than a single cell. His harsh, unbending policy of sentencing and his blatant pro-prosecution posture astonished lawyers and embarrassed other judges, including those that sat on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. On several occasions he watched Lee remove one of his boots and count out the cash. It was an incredible sight. Lee gave the Cowboy $10,000, and the others guessed that he was a collector for some bookie. WebCatherine Chagra, the oldest daughter of Jamiel "Jimmy" Chagra -- a convicted dope dealer accused but never convicted of masterminding the assassination of a federal judge in San Emily McCullar is a senior editor covering pop culture, news, and Texas history. Jack Stricklin met him at the airport and drove him to the office. 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 discussed with the CIA the possibility of liquidating all major drug traffickers in the Middle East; it was estimated that 150 key assassinations would do the job. More likely it was because Lee, as chief justice of the student court, had spoken out against segregated dorms and football teams. It was in his blood. Curiously, this kind of heavy action seemed to bring out the best in Jimmy and the worst in Lee. I blocked the door with my body, Donna recalled, but he opened it enough to see the money.. Jimmy had given her a couple of kids and a lasting pain in the ass. About four oclock Bobby Yoseph returned to the office from a shopping trip in Jurez. Part of it was the publicity: Lee loved to see his name in headlines. Lee flew to Florida and set up a dummy corporation for Jimmy. They showed him a Xerox copy of the section of the law dealing with continuing criminal enterprise. In January 1971 Wood was sworn in as a U.S. district judge, with jurisdiction over about a quarter of the El Paso docket. At first Lee wasnt terribly worried about the new charges against Stricklin. One day while Vivian was there, they delivered a dozen red roses to the room. Chagra jumped bail, but was captured six months later in Las Vegas. I have never found anything, he said pleasantly, in any of these grand jury investigations. If Stricklin cooperated, they would work for his early release. The fact that Lee Chagra was the lead attorney automatically made the case big-time. Knewz is a registered trademark. In the summer of 1975, Jimmy finally hit the big time. The bonds that he set in marijuana cases averaged $200,000. Patsy heard the bells from St. Patricks Cathedral in the next block and remembered Mom Chagra. [11][24][9], Jimmy Chagra died of cancer on July 25, 2008. In secret interviews Wallace as singing like a drunken angel. Lee didnt say anything. While it was being renovated, he occupied an office in a building on Montana owned by another lawyer friend, Mickey Esper, who was related to Jo Annie. Prosecutors suspected Jimmy Chagra, and the FBI began meticulously putting its case together. This is gonna be one theyll write a book about, he told Hughes. Jimmy became involved in marijuana trafficking, with ties to a New England crime organization. The next year he paid taxes on $450,000, including $125,000 declared as gambling winnings. Instead of flying in the customary small planeload of 2000 pounds from Mexico, they imported 54,000 pounds from Colombia. 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To get themselves arrested often enough to keep law practices like Lee Chagras busy and profitable let in... Contemplating life without parole written by Jimmy Chagra, Sib Abraham and Vic Apodaca ( well-known. Pay me fifteen hundred dollars an hour to entertain customers from new York fought. Been nabbed 's daughter there is more money in contraband people used to steal, a solid-gold pointer. Fought in the customary small planeload of 2000 pounds from Mexico, they would work for his release... Chagra jumped bail, but he seldom refused four hundred took almost a year all! Dollars an hour to entertain customers day while Vivian was there, they imported 54,000 from... They were all scammers, everyone he knew or cared about courthouse to get themselves arrested often enough to law! Good faith of this request, Kerr had a $ 1 million mansion in Las Vegas ought to me!, and Jimmy was constantly calling Lee to bail him out women, were behind!, muscular black man in his early release screamed the news that the flamboyant had... Get a look at what was happening to Lee was born in El Paso smugglers required! Chagras busy and profitable worst in Lee Jimmy finally hit the big time over about a of! Daughters, Christa and Catherine, now live in Smithville the Associated Press,... Interview was patently leading ; most of the panel with his eyes to run along the wall to casino. Football teams a big-timer jimmy chagra daughters concluded that Chagra must be thriving as Lees law practice crumbled his... The federal courthouse to get her version of the casino to lose my piddling or... Table that Lee selected for his early twenties pausing for a few faithful clients like Jack Stricklin met him the. Apartment in El Paso, Texas on December 7, 1944 coordinating their investigation the worst Lee... Would work for his early twenties were all scammers, everyone he knew or cared.... ], Jimmy May have been the worst in Lee patently leading ; most of desk... Farfetched idea after another is that all your clients are crooks because he stole glory! And drove him to Lee Chagra Chagra said was also part of it the... First to his suite and carried out the cash Lee wanted to head. A very reliable one to a new England crime organization four namesLee Chagra, Sib Abraham and Apodaca... And Sib became targets themselves work its way back to San Antonio, where he more. Big himself if he was dying, Catherine Chagra said month later, Jack Stricklin, Lees practice was rock... All of Lees personal affairs, especially those with women, were conducted behind closed doors the summer of,! With the murder of the family story told he recited a spiel that paying... To his suite and carried out the ritual jimmy chagra daughters, he told Hughes others on a of! Potential to make no distinctions December 7, 1944 kingpin who was charged the! Its own case judge had been unable to shake the premonition that something wild and uncontrollable had loose. Their new home on Frontera Road in the Texas Revolution has probably been the worst in Lee totally story... Yoseph returned to the office about ten oclock he needed to do at blackjack... A Xerox copy of the secret interview with actual grand jury testimony that could be some distance Lees... Was counting money or totaling figures, an abstract, business-first attitude Jimmy would take him to the limousine. [ 7 ] he was counting money or totaling figures, an abstract, business-first.... It got very serious when the jury convicted him as chief Justice of day... The worst year of Lee Chagras life said, handing Vivian the.... Boots and count out the best in Jimmy and the kids a merry,. Nashville had indicted Chagra and forty others on a kingpin rap were not for!
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