Jeff German: More word on Ted Binion’s ties to a reputed mob figure

Friday, April 5, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

SOME LEFTOVERS from this week's exclusive interview with the embattled Ted Binion.

The suspended Horseshoe executive, who's fighting state gaming regulators for his license, defended his frequent jaunts to local adult nightclubs, where he has hooked up with reputed mob figure Herbie Blitzstein and other unsavory characters.

Binion, who's been in and out of the Horseshoe because of drug problems the past nine years, said he's been hitting the strip-tease joints basically because he hasn't had much to do since he temporarily gave up his license 18 months ago.

"All I've been doing is sitting around this goddamn house for a year," Binion told me. "I'm not working in the business anymore. I hardly have any friends. I'm lonely and I'm not occupied."

Binion, who insisted he's been drug-free since his heroin conviction in 1987, said he'd rather hang out at the late-night adult clubs than spend time gambling at local casinos.

He said he struck up his relationship with Blitzstein, once a top associate of the late Chicago mobster Anthony Spilotro, after Blitzstein helped him fix a Rolls Royce limousine his brother, Jack, got from their late father, legendary Horseshoe founder Benny Binion.

Ted said he likes to visit Cheetah's, while Blitzstein prefers Club Paradise.

On occasion, Binion acknowledged, he'll telephone the Horseshoe to send a limo to pick him up from the clubs after he's had too much to drink.

Binion said he asked Blitzstein recently why he asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when he was questioned by state gaming agents about the duo's relationship.

"I said, 'Herbie why don't you just go ahead and tell them what business we've got because it doesn't amount to anything.' He said for a guy who's been in trouble with the law, the best thing to do is take the Fifth and sit back and see what happens. And that's what he did."

Binion has landed in trouble with the State Gaming Control Board for allegedly violating his September 1994 stipulation surrendering his license.

His ties to Blitzstein, an ex-felon, have also come under the board's scrutiny. Licensees, whether suspended or not, aren't suppose to pal around with unsavory types.

* The five-year-old deposition of a former Alliance Gaming Corp. auditor is hot, indeed.

Diane Beck's sworn testimony, taken in a bitter 1991 court case between Alliance Gaming and a local tavern, apparently is so explosive that Thomas Biggar, the District Court's discovery commissioner, has decided to keep it under wraps.

Biggar sided Wednesday with nervous Alliance attorneys and instructed Richard Moreno, a former tavern owner locked in a legal fight with the gaming giant, not to make the sizzling deposition public.

I've already got a copy of it, and it certainly has the potential to cause some problems for Alliance with state gaming regulators and its many clients in Nevada.

The deposition questions the ability of the state's largest slot route operator to give regulators an accurate account of the money flowing through the thousands of slot machines it has installed in bars across the state.

The Gaming Control Board, the agency charged with ensuring the integrity of Nevada's gambling empire, is going to have a hard time ignoring Beck's allegations.

Let's hope the board already has a copy of the deposition.

* Organized labor is serious about getting involved in the race between Rep. John Ensign, R-Nev., and his Democratic challenger, state Sen. Bob Coffin.

Several labor and citizens groups are holding a news conference today to issue a report card on Ensign's performance in office as it relates to working families.

He's not likely to receive high grades.

Ensign, meanwhile, is slated to appear on his first public forum with Coffin Monday.

The two have confirmed their attendance at a 10 a.m. discussion on Social Security at the Showboat hotel-casino.