City Confidential gave us northerners (and most people in the U.S. are northerners compared to those folks in living in El Paso) a good look at this border city. El Paso is on the Texas border, right next to sister city Juarez, separated only by the Rio Grande, which isn't so big according to CC narrator Paul Winfield.
We learn and see a lot of Hispanic influence in El Paso, which is not surprising since, it was said here, that 80 percent of the population is Hispanic and people travel back-and-forth all day from El Paso to Juarez. The two combine to make up one big city.
The city is also the home to Ft. Bliss. A couple of its soldiers wound up smack in the middle of this crime, the killing of the city's most famous lawyer in 1970s: Lee Chagra. El Paso had been famous for being a site for smugglers over many years, people smuggling across the bridge guns and liquor for many years and then drugs. By the '70s, drug smuggling was very, very big. Chagra defended a number of smugglers and was so good at it, so flamboyant in his delivery, that he was a "living legend" by the mid '70s.
In a nutshell, the story was that Lee's younger brother Jimmy was into drugs and cousin Lee Espera was a wannabe-crook and both of those guys, along with some bad decisions by Lee, wound up costing him his life. Chagra wound up with a lot of money, and spent a good chunk of it having an elaborate security-laded office built. This was real state-of-the-art stuff, even by today standards over 30 years later. It was amazing.
However, in maybe the key sentence in this hour-long program, it was said that "no security is too tight to breach if there's money on the line," meaning somehow, some way, someone will figure out how to break through and get you or your money.
That's exactly what happened one day. Espera hired two low-life thugs from Ft. Bliss who agreed to rob the wealthy lawyer, thinking they all might get maybe $30,000 or so. Were they shocked to find out the barrister had a half million dollars in a briefcase that day (that's another story)!! One of the thieves panicked and shot Chagra.
Another soldier, months later, overheard a conversation and tipped off the cops and the murderer and his buddy were found. Esperpa, who had taken the bulk of the money and split to Las Vegas, and then gambling away all of it, was eventually found out, too.
Oddly, the Chagra family helped get Espera a top lawyer.They said "family comes first." It paid off as he convinced the jury that the man only planned a small heist, that murder wasn't in the plans.
We learn and see a lot of Hispanic influence in El Paso, which is not surprising since, it was said here, that 80 percent of the population is Hispanic and people travel back-and-forth all day from El Paso to Juarez. The two combine to make up one big city.
The city is also the home to Ft. Bliss. A couple of its soldiers wound up smack in the middle of this crime, the killing of the city's most famous lawyer in 1970s: Lee Chagra. El Paso had been famous for being a site for smugglers over many years, people smuggling across the bridge guns and liquor for many years and then drugs. By the '70s, drug smuggling was very, very big. Chagra defended a number of smugglers and was so good at it, so flamboyant in his delivery, that he was a "living legend" by the mid '70s.
In a nutshell, the story was that Lee's younger brother Jimmy was into drugs and cousin Lee Espera was a wannabe-crook and both of those guys, along with some bad decisions by Lee, wound up costing him his life. Chagra wound up with a lot of money, and spent a good chunk of it having an elaborate security-laded office built. This was real state-of-the-art stuff, even by today standards over 30 years later. It was amazing.
However, in maybe the key sentence in this hour-long program, it was said that "no security is too tight to breach if there's money on the line," meaning somehow, some way, someone will figure out how to break through and get you or your money.
That's exactly what happened one day. Espera hired two low-life thugs from Ft. Bliss who agreed to rob the wealthy lawyer, thinking they all might get maybe $30,000 or so. Were they shocked to find out the barrister had a half million dollars in a briefcase that day (that's another story)!! One of the thieves panicked and shot Chagra.
Another soldier, months later, overheard a conversation and tipped off the cops and the murderer and his buddy were found. Esperpa, who had taken the bulk of the money and split to Las Vegas, and then gambling away all of it, was eventually found out, too.
Oddly, the Chagra family helped get Espera a top lawyer.They said "family comes first." It paid off as he convinced the jury that the man only planned a small heist, that murder wasn't in the plans.