Jamiel "Jimmy" Alexander Chagra (December 7, 1944 – July 25, 2008) was an American drug trafficker, carpet salesman and professional gambler.

[1][2][3] He admitted to a role in the May 1979 assassination of United States District Judge John H. Wood Jr. in San Antonio, Texas.

[7] According to George Knapp writing for Las Vegas CityLife, he was "the undisputed marijuana kingpin of the Western world.

Chagra was also a heavy gambler in Las Vegas, Nevada, and attracted attention with his flamboyant ways.

[7][15] Chagra's drug dealings came under close scrutiny by law enforcement and the judicial system.

On November 21, 1978, Assistant U.S. Attorney James Kerr was ambushed and shot at near his home by two men who fired 19 bullets at his car.

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.

[21] Facing a life sentence for smuggling, Jimmy Chagra decided to have the judge killed.

[1][24] Harrelson was eventually caught and convicted of being the gunman after 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.

The position of federal authorities was that even though Joe Chagra was a lawyer, he was also suspected in conspiracy to conceal the crime; therefore, their conversations were not covered by attorney-client privilege.

[27] Joe Chagra's defense reportedly attempted to plead guilty to a lesser offense of conspiring to obstruct justice instead.

[30] 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.

[37] Chagra married his fourth wife, Lynda Ray, while living under the name James Madrid on November 22, 2005.