Gamers to grill Ted Binion in public

Monday, March 25, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

State gaming agents have scheduled a rare public deposition Thursday to grill suspended Horseshoe Club executive Ted Binion about his continued association with the downtown hotel-casino.

The 10 a.m. deposition was posted Friday to allow all three State Gaming Control Board members -- Bill Bible, Steve DuCharme and Brian Harris -- to attend without violating the state open meeting law.

Observers can't recall the Control Board ever conducting such a deposition in public.

Binion is expected to face tough questions under oath about allegations that he has been involved in Horseshoe operations since he signed a Sept. 15, 1994, stipulation with the Control Board temporarily suspending his license.

The board is looking into allegations that Binion wielded comp power at the Horseshoe, signed a trademark agreement with his brother, Horseshoe President Jack Binion, and associated with reputed mob figure Herbie Blitzstein after being banned from the casino.

At the same time Thursday, District Judge Michael Douglas has set a court hearing into whether he should order an election of board members at the family-owned Horseshoe.

That hearing is part of a fierce legal battle between Jack Binion and his sister, Becky Behnen, over control of the Horseshoe.

Last week, Ted Binion appeared before the Control Board at a closed-door investigative hearing into his Horseshoe activities.

His live-in girlfriend, Sandy Murphy, also was subpoenaed, but she asserted her Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination and refused to testify.

The board is investigating whether Murphy, who is not a Horseshoe officer, was extending comps at the casino on Ted's behalf.

Earlier, Blitzstein, once a top lieutenant of the late reputed Chicago mobster Anthony Spilotro, also took the Fifth when questioned about reported ties to Binion.

Thursday's planned public deposition of Binion comes amid a dispute in the case between the Control Board, the state's gaming investigative agency, and the Nevada Gaming Commission, the state's top gaming authority.

The commission has scheduled an April 29 meeting on whether to permanently ban Binion from the Horseshoe because of alleged continued drug use. But it barred the board from conducting a public hearing on the matter before it takes up the issue.

That was seen by the board as an infringement on its investigative procedures.

The board has since opened its wide-ranging probe of Binion.

Gaming Commission Chairman Bill Curran has previously indicated the board was within its rights to take Binion's deposition.

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