Source: Houston Chronicle, page 30A
(http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/metropolitan/97/09/13/chagra.20.html)
Contact: viewpoints@chron.com

Elizabeth Chagra, 43, wife of jailed drug kingpin, dies

FORT WORTH (AP) Elizabeth Nichols Chagra, who was serving
a 30year sentence for a role in the 1979 assassination of a
federal judge that was once called the "crime of the
century," has died. She was 43.

Chagra died Thursday night of complications from ovarian
cancer, said Cynthia McMahon, a spokeswoman for Federal
Medical Center Carswell.

Chagra, who was diagnosed with the disease 3 ½ years ago,
was moved to the University of North Texas Health Science
Center in Fort Worth last Thursday when her condition
worsened. She died there with several family members at her
side, McMahon said.

The wife of convicted drug kingpin Jimmy Chagra, she was
convicted in 1982 for conspiring to assassinate U.S.
District Judge John Wood Jr., who was gunned down outside
his home in San Antonio on May 29, 1979.

She had been accused of delivering $250,000 to pay off
Charles Harrelson, who shot Wood in the back. Wood, known as
"Maximum John," had been scheduled to preside over a drug
case against Jimmy Chagra.

Jimmy Chagra was acquitted in the Wood slaying, but is
serving a life sentence after pleading guilty in the 1987
assassination attempt on former assistant U.S. Attorney
James Kerr in San Antonio. He also has been convicted of
leading a "continuing criminal enterprise."

Joe Chagra, Jimmy's brother, spent six years in prison after
pleading guilty in 1982 to conspiracy charges stemming from
Wood's slaying. He died in December from injuries suffered
in an auto accident.

Harrelson, the father of actor Woody Harrelson, was
convicted of being the triggerman and is serving a life
prison term in a highsecurity federal prison in Colorado.

In addition to her December 1982 conviction in the Wood
case, Elizabeth Chagra was found guilty in March 1983 of
evading $630,000 in federal income taxes. A fiveyear
sentence for that crime was served concurrently with her 30
year conspiracy sentence.

In addition to her husband, Elizabeth Chagra is survived by
her parents, Leon and Olivia Nichols, and three children:
Jackie Nichols, Jimmy Nichols and Justin Nichols.

The family did not immediately announce burial details.