Flavopiridol in Treating Patients With Relapsed or Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia, Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, or Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia

Inclusion Criteria: * Histologically confirmed diagnosis of one of the following: * Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) or acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) meeting 1 of the following criteria: * Refractory to initial treatment (stratum 1) * Recurrent disease after prior high-dose chemotherapy with or without stem cell support (stratum 1) * High-risk refractory disease defined as failed ≥ 2 regimens for remission induction (i.e., twice induction failure) (stratum 2) * High-risk relaspsed disease defined as disease in second or greater bone marrow relapse (stratum 2) * Chronic myelogenous leukemia in blast crisis (stratum 1) * Myeloid or lymphoid blast crisis that did not respond to or progressed after prior high-dose imatinib mesylate (600-800 mg/day for ≥ 2 weeks) * No acute promyelocytic leukemia * Ineligible for or unwilling to undergo potentially curative allogeneic or autologous stem cell transplantation * Patients with relapsed AML that is refractory to re-induction therapy comprising an active, intensive salvage regimen are eligible * CNS involvement allowed provided there are no residual leukemic cells in the cerebrospinal fluid after intrathecal chemotherapy or radiotherapy * Performance status - ECOG ≥ 2 for patients \> 10 years of age * Performance status - Lansky 50-100% for patients ≤ 10 years of age * At least 8 weeks * Bilirubin ≤ 2 times upper limit of normal (ULN)\* (unless due to Gilbert's syndrome) * ALT and AST ≤ 5 times ULN\* * Creatinine ≤ 2.0 mg/dL\* (stratum 1) * Creatinine \> 1.3 times ULN (stratum 2) * LVEF ≥ 40% by echocardiogram or MUGA (stratum 1) * Shortening fraction ≥ 28% by echocardiogram (stratum 2) * No symptomatic congestive heart failure * No unstable angina pectoris * No cardiac arrhythmia * Not pregnant or nursing * Negative pregnancy test * Fertile patients must use effective contraception * HIV negative * No history of allergy to study drug * No active infection requiring IV antibiotics * No serious medical or psychiatric illness that would preclude giving informed consent or limit survival * No other uncontrolled illness * See Disease Characteristics * Recovered from all prior immunotherapy treatment-related toxicity (stratum 2) * More than 8 weeks since prior biological agents (e.g., monoclonal antibodies) (stratum 2) * See Disease Characteristics * Recovered from all prior chemotherapy treatment-related toxicity (stratum 2) * More than 24 hours since prior hydroxyurea (for patients who do not have highly proliferative disease)\* * More than 2 weeks since other prior chemotherapy (6 weeks for nitrosourea or mitomycin) * No other concurrent chemotherapy * Prior hydrea and/or steroids allowed (stratum 2) * No concurrent hormones, except steroids for adrenal failure or infusional toxicity (i.e., cytokine release syndrome) or hormones for non-disease-related conditions (e.g., insulin for diabetes) * See Disease Characteristics * Recovered from all prior radiotherapy treatment-related toxicity (stratum 2) * More than 2 weeks since prior radiotherapy * No concurrent palliative radiotherapy * Post stem cell transplant allowed provided completion ≥ 4 months prior to study entry and no evidence of active acute or chronic graft vs host disease (stratum 2) * No other concurrent investigational agents * No concurrent chronic systemic anticoagulant therapy for a medical condition (e.g., deep vein thrombosis or atrial fibrillation) * Concurrent heparin allowed to maintain central line patency (i.e., catheter flush) * No other concurrent anticancer therapy