Johnny Griffin, 80, a jazz saxophonist who played with American greats including Thelonious Monk and Lionel Hampton but chose to live in France, died hours before a concert, his agent said Saturday.
Griffin, whose career spanned more than a half-century, was found dead Friday morning in the music room of his home in Mauprevoir in western France by his wife, Miriam, said Helene Manfredi, his agent. The exact cause of death was not clear.
A Chicago native, the diminutive Griffin took up the sax early on, eventually preferring the tenor saxophone and taking on the nickname “the Little Giant” for the big sounds he blew out of the instrument at breakneck speed.
Jamiel Alexander “Jimmy” Chagra, 63, a drug kingpin accused of leading a 1979 conspiracy to assassinate the federal judge set to preside over his drug trial, has died.
Chagra, who was living in Mesa, Ariz., and had been battling cancer since November, died Friday, said his sister, Patsy Chagra of El Paso.
U.S. District Judge John Wood Jr. was fatally shot on May 29, 1979, outside his San Antonio home. Chagra faced indictments on several narcotics conspiracy charges at the time of the judge’s assassination.
Hit man Charles Harrelson, the father of actor Woody Harrelson, was convicted of murder and died in federal prison last year. Chagra was convicted of obstructing the investigation and sentenced to 10 years.
Richard Egbert, 61, the prominent New England criminal defense lawyer whose famous clients included Massachusetts House Speaker Thomas Finneran and Providence Mayor Vincent “Buddy” Cianci, has died. Egbert’s wife, Shannon McAuliffe, said he died Thursday of a suspected heart attack while on vacation in upstate New York.
Egbert spoke frequently about the rights of the accused and the need for defense attorneys to keep overzealous prosecutors in check.
Prominent clients included Finneran, accused of lying about his role in a redistricting plan, and Cianci, accused of corruption. The Associated Press
