jimmy chagra daughters

The government seemed to know it didnt have a case, but it was determined to see how far it could travel. Things really fell apart when Jimmy was arrested on trafficking charges. 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. By early autumn 1976 Lee was back in El Paso, pumping money. The old man, who was a dead ringer for Pancho Villa, was imprisoned and almost shot before he and his family could escape across the border into El Paso. He was the black sheep, the all-star goof-up. In his eleven years on the El Paso political scene, Boyd had been elected to public office only one time, to fill out the unexpired term of district attorney in 1970, and yet no politician in town had a better feel for the bureaucracy or for subtle shifts in power and opinion. Chagra attempted to bribe Judge Wood for "$5 million or 10million". Joe Chagra also went to prison for his role in the assassination. Over the years lawyers encountered scores of cases in which citizens had been lured into crimes by what amounted to federal bounty hunters. Kay McCulloch died, and with her death the raw material for the book went to the attic. When he appeared several hours later in his Black Striker ensemble, a woman asked Clark Hughes if his friend was a movie star. Oscar Goodman and Joe Chagra were Jimmys attorneys. Lee had already made a name for himself before he began taking drug defendants, but the string of cases that would make him one of El Pasos most famousor infamousfigures began in the early seventies when U.S. customs agents busted a smuggler from Tennessee named Tom Pitts and two other men who were attempting to bring six hundred pounds of marijuana across the Rio Grande. Almost every day Jimmy telephoned Lee from his new home in Las Vegas. Narcotics and gambling were crimes that grew from a common stem composed of the worst elements in society. You ought to pay me fifteen hundred dollars an hour to entertain customers. Several times Lee talked to Vivian and others about dying. [21] Facing life for smuggling, Jimmy Chagra allegedly decided to have the judge killed. The attempt on Kerrs life unleashed the most sweeping drug investigation in the history of the Southwest. It was hard to imagine two men more different. [25][21][26], Both Harrelson and Chagra's brother Joe were implicated in the assassination. Part of the reason was his honest conviction that even the lowest, meanest, rottenest scum on the face of the earth deserved, and in fact were guaranteed, a right to a fair trial. 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. So Jimmys smuggling operation must be thriving as Lees law practice crumbled. He may or may not have locked it. 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. And even if it was true, for Wood to reveal it in open court was outrageous. 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. Hadnt I already proven that wrong?. He died from injuries resulting from an automobile accident that occurred on December 6, 1996. 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. Jimmy had given her a couple of kids and a lasting pain in the ass. When he read copies of Kerrs motion and Woods reply, Chagra was flabbergasted and then outraged. As it turned out, he was right.. Heres What We Want at the Park. [12] Their family name was historically "Bushaada", but Jimmy's grandfather changed it. He seemed burned out, used up, and he was hitting the cocaine pretty hard. 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. The weapons existed only in the agents imagination, but at one point the trap got so bizarre that the poor cafe owner believed he was negotiating for a used submarine. 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. His idea of a good time was going home to his wife and newborn son, Joseph, maybe tinkering with his stereo or waxing his speedboat, swimming or lifting weights. For months Lee had been unable to shake the premonition that something wild and uncontrollable had broken loose. His staff had completed the move while he was in Tucson, and in the morning he would officially take possession: it would be his first day there and, as fate decreed, his last. By maintaining close ties to Democratic Party kingmaker Travis Johnson, Boyd had run the gamut of offices: assistant county attorney, assistant U.S. attorney, district attorney, U.S. magistrate. He would lend a stranger his last $100, knowing he was kissing it good-bye. And hed better. He was a mamas boy, always pouting and complaining. Donna hadnt seen him this happy in months. 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. It looked as though he was set for the night. The gesture was unmistakable: hed come to replace his brother. Through it all, he had somehow clung to the central fact in his life: Lee Chagra was a topflight criminal attorney. Chagra used one of his trademarks, a solid-gold retractable pointer, to demonstrate his case. Lees success in trying drug cases soon led him to meet Jack Stricklin, who had sent the Pitts case his way. The case remains unsolved. His grandfather had been an ironfisted sheriff of Bexar County when lawmen still fought off Apaches. Ive got to go, he told her. A shake-up of the entire federal drug enforcement apparatus was under way, ramrodded by Nixons ranking authority on drugs, G. Gordon Liddy. 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 Boyd believed that one way or another Jimmy would take him to Lee. She had put the same question to herself. The case had been dead for two years, but Kerr had a plan. 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. Part of it was the publicity: Lee loved to see his name in headlines. A short time later there was a knock, and Lee admitted two hookers to the room. But as usual, Jimmys success only threw Lee into a funk. This is gonna be one theyll write a book about, he told Hughes. the Mortal Mustache, a.k.a. Most high rollers would think a 9-year-old would cramp their style, but he took me everywhere.. The pit boss snapped his fingers and motioned for the guards to bring the velvet ropes. But more than anything, it was his clothes; Jimmy showed up at the funeral wearing an outfit exactly like Lees Black Striker costume. Her mom and sisters left witness protection and moved to Buda to be near Bastrop, where her father was being held. [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 was also used in FBI: The Untold Stories. Shortly after the Ardmore trial, DEA agents visited Jack Stricklin at La Tuna federal correctional institution, where he was doing time for a drug rap Lee hadnt been able to get him out of. It was in his blood. He loved the streets and the people who plied themwhores, gamblers, smugglers, cops. Until now the media had treated the charges against Stricklin as routine news, but Woods ruling added a bizarre new twist. 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. It was as if their friendship had come to a fork in the road, and Lee had wandered off in another direction. The best guess is that they divided at least $5 million. 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. All the drawers were open and papers were scattered on the floor. Loaves of Syrian bread were baking in the kitchen. Hughes knew these had been hard times for his friend. Chagra argued that the indictment smacked of double jeopardy, but there was no way he could prove it until the government got specific. Yoseph let himself in the front entrance with the key that Lee had given him that morning. There is no way to calculate how all the damning publicity affected the careers of Sib Abraham and the others. Jimmy had ruined it. If you scratched Stricklin deep enough, Kerr reasoned, you would find Chagra. He touched the tip of the pointer and said, This small tip represents innocence: the defendants didnt do a thing. This didnt seem to disturb Wood any more than it had Guinn, who used to cackle, I can sentence them a lot faster than they can reverse them. Nor did Wood protest when they started calling him Maximum John. 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. Boyd had never been regarded as a crusader, but one exception was his views on gamblinghe hated gamblers. It was Stricklin who was on trial, not Chagra. 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. 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. [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. [1][2][3] He was implicated in the May 1979 assassination of United States District Judge John H. Wood Jr. in San Antonio, Texas. It was called Capital Acquisition, and its purpose was to channel funds through several banks in Mexico and then into Jimmys new business. Kerrs just working the tailings, he said. He earned a lot of money and became a high roller in Las Vegas, known for his very generous tipping. A block from the cathedral, on North Mesa at the edge of the downtown business district, Lee Chagras new office building was closed for good. As Boyd must have realized, Kerr and Lee Chagra were natural enemies. Youll do at least eighteen months. 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. He ran a floating blackjack game and started peddling dope. You help us and well help you, the agents told Stricklin. 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. A fictitious name reference to the Judge John Wood assassination also appeared in an The FBI A month later, Jack Stricklin was standing before Maximum John Wood, contemplating life without parole. 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. Jimmy was born the middle son of a Lebanese rug merchant family. Do you love me, do you love me? He knew the answer, but he had to hear it again. Hardly anyone wanted a lawyer who was under indictment, recalled Joe Chagra, Lees youngest brother, who by then had joined the law firm. As the family walked away from the cemetery, Jimmy caught up with Vivian and took her arm. I feel that it has all been terribly twisted. [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. But the feds real ace in the hole was Jimmy and his partner, Henry Wallace. He cried when he thought of Jimmy. 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. 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. 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