Texas DPS arrests son of Jimmy Chagra on drug dealing charges

Daniel Borunda, El Paso Times
Updated ·2 min read
5

The son of the late El Paso drug trafficker Jimmy Chagra was arrested for allegedly selling cocaine, fentanyl and LSD, including to Fort Bliss soldiers, Texas Department of Public Safety officials said.

Texas DPS special agents arrested 44-year-old Jamiel Alexander Chagra Nichols on Friday, Aug. 18, after more than 21,900 dosages of LSD were allegedly found at his El Paso home during a multi-agency drug investigation, DPS officials said.

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A photo released by DPS shows some of the LSD hallucinogen blotter papers, some decorated with images of "The Simpsons" cartoon character Homer Simpson and a Grateful Dead-style logo.

Texas DPS investigators on Friday seized more than 21,900 doses of LSD during a search of the home of Jamiel Alexander Chagra Nichols in El Paso.
Texas DPS investigators on Friday seized more than 21,900 doses of LSD during a search of the home of Jamiel Alexander Chagra Nichols in El Paso.

The search warrant at the home was carried out by Texas DPS special agents working with the Fentanyl Overdose Response Team of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in El Paso, officials said.

The arrest was the culmination of a six-month investigation that allegedly found that Nichols was distributing illegal drugs to El Pasoans, including soldiers stationed at Fort Bliss, officials said.

Jamiel Alexander Chagra Nichols
Jamiel Alexander Chagra Nichols

The investigation included help from the U.S. Army's Criminal Investigations Division, the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, the U.S. Border Patrol and the FBI El Paso.

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Nichols faces four state counts of manufacture/delivery of a controlled substance with offenses dating back to March and April of this year, according to El Paso County Jail records.

Nichols was released from jail Monday on a total surety bond of $28,000, according to a jail log. There is no lawyer listed for him on court records.

Jimmy Chagra, one of El Paso's most infamous drug traffickers

Nichols is the son of Jamiel Alexander "Jimmy" Chagra, a carpet salesman and high-roller gambler who was also one of El Paso's most infamous drug traffickers of the 1970s.

The elder Chagra was accused of leading the 1979 conspiracy to assassinate U.S. District Judge John H. Wood, a federal judge nicknamed "Maximum John" who was scheduled to preside over Chagra's trial on drug charges.

Wood was fatally shot in the back on May 29, 1979, outside his home in San Antonio sparking one of the largest federal investigations in U.S. history.

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Jimmy Chagra would be acquitted of most charges in Wood's death, but was found guilty of obstructing the investigation. He would later be convicted on various drug and conspiracy charges, including a failed 1978 assassination attempt on a federal prosecutor.

After serving 24 years in prison, Jimmy Chagra was released on parole in 2003. He died of cancer in 2008 at the age of 63 while living in a trailer camp in Mesa, Arizona.

Texas Department of Public Safety.
Texas Department of Public Safety.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Texas DPS arrests son of Jimmy Chagra on LSD, drug charges in El Paso