1. Jamiel "Jimmy" Alexander Chagra was an American drug trafficker, carpet salesman and professional gambler.
29 Facts About Jamiel Chagra
1. 2.
Jamiel Chagra admitted to a role in the May 1979 assassination of United States District Judge John H Wood Jr.
3.
Jamiel Chagra was described as having been "no less than the biggest marijuana smuggler in the country" during that time.
4.
Jamiel Chagra imported more high-grade ganja than anyone, tons at a time, planeload after planeload.
5.
Jamiel Chagra, known as Jimmy, was born in El Paso, Texas on December 7,1944.
6.
Jamiel Chagra's mother was named Josephine, and his father Abdou Chagra.
7.
Jamiel Chagra had two brothers, Lee and Joseph, who were both attorneys involved with the legal defense of drug smugglers.
8.
Jamiel Chagra's grandfather was imprisoned before Jimmy was born, and the family immigrated to El Paso from Mexico.
9.
Jamiel Chagra had dealings with the Patriarca crime family and Joseph Bonanno, the retired head of the Bonanno crime family.
10.
Jamiel Chagra was a heavy gambler in Las Vegas, Nevada, and attracted attention with his flamboyant ways.
11.
On December 23,1978, Lee Jamiel Chagra was shot and killed in his law office in El Paso.
12.
Jamiel Chagra's downfall began in February 1979 when he was arrested on trafficking charges.
13.
Jamiel Chagra was scheduled to appear before United States District Judge John Wood, who was nicknamed "Maximum John" because he had a reputation for giving out the maximum sentence allowed for drug-related crimes.
14.
Jamiel Chagra faced a possible life sentence without parole if convicted and reportedly feared he would receive a life sentence, according to prosecutors.
15.
Jamiel Chagra was accused of hiring hitman Charles Harrelson to kill Wood for $250,000.
16.
Jamiel Chagra was the first federal judge to die by assassination in over a century.
17.
Jamiel Chagra jumped bail, but was captured six months later in Las Vegas.
18.
Harrelson was eventually caught and convicted of being the gunman after Jamiel Chagra discussed the assassination with his brother Joe during Joe's visit to Jimmy in United States Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas, after FBI agents bugged the rooms in which they were speaking.
19.
Joe Jamiel Chagra testified against the other defendants in exchange for pleading guilty to murder-conspiracy with a maximum sentence of ten years in a plea-bargain deal, and with an agreement that he would not testify against his brother Jimmy in a separate trial.
20.
Jimmy Chagra was acquitted of the murder of Wood in front of Judge William S Sessions, future director of the FBI, although he was found guilty of obstructing justice and conspiring to smuggle drugs.
21.
Jamiel Chagra reportedly did this in order to have his wife, Elizabeth, released early.
22.
Jamiel Chagra's wife was never released and she died in custody of ovarian cancer at age 41.
23.
Joe Jamiel Chagra served six and a half years in prison and was released.
24.
Jamiel Chagra died from injuries resulting from an automobile accident that occurred on December 6,1996.
25.
Jamiel Chagra was released from prison for health reasons in Atlanta, Georgia, on December 9,2003.
26.
Jamiel Chagra was widely believed to have been placed in the Federal Witness Protection Program.
27.
Jamiel Chagra married his fourth wife, Lynda Ray, while living under the name James Madrid on November 22,2005.
28.
Jamiel Chagra had seven children, including a daughter named Catherine, who wrote a memoir about the family.
29.
Jamiel Chagra was living in a trailer camp in Mesa, Arizona.