Jimmy Charta (1st photo), a flashy, high-stakes gambler and drug kingpin who was implicated in the 1979 assassination of a federal judge in Texas, died July 25 of cancer at a Mesa, Carrizo., hospice. He was 63. Charta was accused of masterminding the hit on U.S. District Judge John Wood Jr., who was killed with one shot from a high-powered rifle outside his San Antonio townhouse. Mr. Charta was facing trial on drug charges before Wood, known as Maximum John for the long sentences he routinely handed down to drug dealers. Charta was acquitted on murder charges in the judges slaying but received 10 years for obstruction of justice. He later pleaded guilty to participating in a failed 1978 attempt to kill a federal prosecutor in San Antonio. The convicted hit man in the Wood killing was Charles V. Harrison (2nd photo), a contract killer, gambler and the father of actor Woody Harrison. The elder Harrison died in federal prison last year while serving two life sentences. Born Jamie Alexander Chagra in El Paso, Chagra was the middle son of a Lebanese American rug merchant. Texas writer Gary Cartwright described him as the bad penny in a family whose two other brothers grew up to be lawyers.
Posted on: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 07:57:09 +0000
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