Jamiel Chagra
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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. He 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. 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 sentence 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. 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. Chagra 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.[citation needed]
Harrelson was eventually convicted of being the gunman when Chagra spoke about it to his brother who was visiting him in prison. Both Harrelson and Chagra's brother Joe were implicated 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 1997. Chagra himself was acquitted 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 federal gorvernment, admitted to his role in the murder of Judge Wood and the attempted murder of a US Attorney. He did this in order to have his wife released before she died and to have him transferred to a medical prison. His wife was never released from prison, she died in custody, of ovarian cancer at age 41.
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.
