Jamiel Chagra
Jamiel Alexander Chagra (born
December 7,
1944 in
El Paso, Texas) a.k.a 'Jimmy Chagra' was one of the largest and most prolific American marijuana traffickers operating out of
Las Vegas and
El Paso who was implicated in the May 1979
assassination of
John H. Wood, Jr. in
San Antonio, Texas.
Chagra was arrested in 1978 on charges of trafficking Marijuana as much as 300,000 pounds** a month. He was to appear before Judge Wood. Wood had a reputation for giving out the maximum sentence allowed for drug related crimes. Chagra faced a maximum life without parole if convicted and a law clerk of the late Judge told Joe Chagra, Jamiel's brother and attorney, that Judge Wood intended to give Chagra life without parole. Chagra allegedly attempted to bribe Judge Wood for $10,000,000 ($100,000,000 in 2006 dollars*). Facing life for smuggling pot, Jamiel Chagra decided to kill the Judge.
Chagra supposedly hired
Charles Harrelson (the father of actor
Woody Harrelson) to kill Wood for $250,000. Harrelson supposedly shot and killed Judge Wood in the back outside his home in May of 1979. Chagra stood trial for the murder before another Judge and was sentenced, for trafficking marijuana, to 30 years. There is no parole in Federal Prison and only 52 days a year of earned good time. Chagra however, was paroled for health reasons and was released in Atlanta, Georgia on December 9, 2003 under a new name provided by the US Government supposedly under the witness protection program. Even though Chagra spent over 25 years in the Federal System he is not even listed as an ex-inmate in the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locater system:
Inmate Locator.
Harrelson was eventually convicted of being the gunman due to Chagra's speaking about it to his brother who was visiting him in prison. Both Harrelson and Chagra's brother Joe were impicated in the assassination. Harrelson got life, Joe Chagra got 10 years, and Jimmy Chagra's wife Elizabeth also got several years and died in prison in 1987. Chagra himself was aquited of the murder of Judge Wood in front of
William Sessions, represented by
Oscar Goodman who is currently the Mayor of Las Vegas. Chagra, in a deal with the feds, admitted to his role in the murder of Judge Wood and the attempted murder of a US Attorney to have his wife released before she died and to have him transferred to a medical prison. The Feds reneged on the deal to release his wife and she died of
ovarian cancer at 41 years of age in prison.
After his release in 2003 Chagra told this author (politicalmerc) that Harrelson did NOT murder Judge Wood. He did not identify the real killer, but he indicated that the real killer was deceased **. Jamiel and Joe Chagra misled federal officials by talking about hiring Harrelson to kill Judge Wood when they knew they were being illegally taped during a attorney visit in prison. Jamiel and Joe Chagra framed Harrelson for the murder because he had been blackmailing Joe Chagra by saying he would admit to having killed the judge and would testify against Chagra if he didn't pay him off**.
Another of the brothers, Lee Chagra, was gunned down in 1978 in a petty robbery of his office. Joe Chagra died in an automobile accident in 1996.
* Note: This figure is the Future value of $10,000,000 in 1979 brought forward to 2006 at a rate of 3% annual inflation.
** Note: These facts were communicated directly to the author (politicalmerc) by Jimmy Chagra himself after his release and during his stay in Atlanta, Georgia before leaving town.
