The Life and Crimes of Jimmy Chagra Part 4

Retired Intelligence Detective Gary Jenkins brings you the best in mob history with his unique perception of the mafia. In this second episode of the six-part series documenting the life and crimes of the marijuana smuggler kingpin Jimmy Chagra, Gary tells tells about the life and death of Lee Chagra, Jimmy Chagra’s brother and lawyer. But first we learn about the attempted murder of the Chagras’ nemesis, Assistant U.S. Attorney James Kerr and shortly after someone murders Lee Chagra.

Hey Wiretappers, welcome to the ongoing series on the shenanigans of the El Paso drug smuggler Jimmy Chagra. By now as a little recap, Jimmy Chagra was born to Lebanese immigrants in El Paso Texas. He started his life working at his parent carpet store. Kind of a cliché, a Lebanese rug merchant. His two brothers, Lee and Joe Chagra become well respected and almost famous drug lawyers. As best as I can tell, neither of them became involved in the drug smuggling ventures of Jimmy. But Lee was a flamboyant degenerate gambler, and he ran though a lot of dirty money from other smugglers. Lee’s main nemesis was a Texas Assistant U.S. Attorney or AUSA named James Kerr. The Judge he practiced in front of was John “Maximum John” Wood. Jimmy has earned millions from his ventures smuggling high grade Colombian marijuana up the Atlantic Coast to New England where they off-loaded into a safe house and distributed it throughout the United States. He had a bad year in 1977 where he lost two airplanes and a lot of dope. He threw in with another smuggler and made an enemy. Fellow smuggler Henry Wallace ended that year working with the DEA to make a case on Jimmy Chagra. The Federal law enforcements in the southwest circling around the Chagra enterprise.

James Kerr had been a young Department of Justice attorney how had written the continuing criminal enterprise section of the 1970 Drug Control Act. The Department of Justice moved him to El Paso to prosecute these drug conspiracies and he found a friend in Judge William Wood. Some lawyers would even later say they thought the two were too friendly and often saw them socializing together away from work. They both hated drug dealers and were on a warpath to rid the country of this scourge. James Kerr learned that Lee had been charged in Tennessee for a conspiracy to distribute marijuana after he had defended a local smuggler. The Tennessee court quickly dismissed this charge after Lee asked for the production of evidence and got a hearing. The only evidence of Lee Chagra’s involvement was the unsubstantiated word of one defendant about a meeting at Chagra’s law office. Kerr was looking at the entire Chagra family as part of a conspiracy, so he traveled back to Tennessee to review this case. He was convinced that Lee Chagra was the actual brains behind his brother, Jimmy, Jack Stricklin who was involved in the Ardmore bust, and others. He pulled a little-known section from the 1970 Drug Control act that gave a road map how to prosecute a drug organization as a Continuing Criminal Enterprise with a special sentence for the person deemed as the Kingpin. That is what they used on my friend Steven St. John to get him 12 years. He was offered many chances to talk, and he refused.

The US Attorney called a special grand jury to investigate this conspiracy and the Chagra’s knew that the government was declaring war on them. James Kerr would not finish what he started.

On November 21, 1978 AUSA James Kerr was driving his one luxury he permitted himself, a Lincoln Continental. A series of gunshots ran out from a van causing him to dive down onto the floorboard. When he peered out, he could see nobody. Responding El Paso cops find his car had been riddled with .30 cal. bullets and buckshot but none of them struck Kerr. A AUSA like Kerr could have many enemies and the FBI and local cops asked informants and did an area canvass and came up empty, except for a possible suspect van.