The Poker Vaults: Jimmy Chagra — The Second Biggest Fish of All Time, Part 1

The first time Jimmy Chagra entered a Las Vegas casino he brought with him several suitcases stuffed with cash and not the least bit of sense. The man gambled as if the money he wagered had simply fallen from the sky one day, and in a way it had — during the 1970s Jimmy Chagra was one of the most notorious drug dealers in the world, responsible for importing even more narcotics into the country than his rival Rex Cauble.



How does one rise to such a position? Growing up in El Paso, Texas, a rough-and-tumble border town where drug smugglers were practically considered heroes, certainly helped. Chagra’s inherent waywardness also contributed — he was the black sheep of his family. While his two brothers, Lee and Joe, chose to study law, Jimmy dropped out of high school and took to the streets. By the time he was 20, he’d become accomplished at smuggling contraband back and forth across the border. He favored marijuana because the penalties for smuggling it weren’t as stiff as those involving other drugs, but eventually he began importing large shipments of cocaine as well.