$3 million in Horseshoe chips surface

Thursday, April 22, 1999 | 10:35 a.m.

Horseshoe Club President Becky Behnen said Wednesday the estate of her brother, Ted Binion, has returned more than $3 million in casino chips he took from the downtown resort two months before his murder.

The chips, which do not appear on any inventory, were removed by Binion, a former Horseshoe executive, last July along with as much as $4 million in silver before Behnen took over the hotel-casino. The chips were contained in two safes at a cashier's cage, and the silver was stored in a basement vault.

"None of these chips show up on our books," Behnen told the Sun.

Attorneys Richard Wright and Harry Claiborne, who represent Binion's $30 million estate, said they had been under the impression the chips were old and out of circulation.

A source who was close to Binion said the chips were supposed to have been destroyed, but that Binion, an avid collector, decided to hold onto them. Binion, the source said, once acknowledged that the chips could be cashed at the casino.

Behnen said all of the chips she received from the estate last Tuesday look the same as those in circulation at the Horseshoe.

"These are live chips," she said. "You could walk up to any table and play them."

Behnen said she informed the state Gaming Control Board that she had received the chips.

"I can't imagine under what circumstances Ted took these out of the Horseshoe," Behnen said. "This whole thing is a mystery. We're trying to unravel it."

Keith Copher, the board's chief of enforcement, declined comment Wednesday on whether the board would launch an investigation.

Most of the chips, about $2.3 million worth, are in $1,000 denominations, Behnen said. The rest are $500 and $100 chips. There are no $5,000 chips, which have been taken out of circulation by the Horseshoe.

Montana contractor Rick Tabish, Behnen said, assisted her brother in removing the chips and the silver bars and coins, as Behnen prepared to take the reins of the Horseshoe. Binion was forced to sell his 20 percent interest in the Horseshoe after gaming regulators revoked his license because of his ties to murdered mob figure Herbie Blitzstein.

Behnen bought out Binion and her other brother, Jack Binion, the Horseshoe's longtime president, following a bitter battle for control of the family owned casino, founded by legendary Las Vegas gaming pioneer, Benny Binion.

Tabish, now reported to be a suspect in Ted Binion's Sept. 17 murder, helped Binion transport the chips and silver to Pahrump, where Binion had a 60-acre ranch, Behnen said.

The silver was buried in an underground vault built by Tabish outside the ranch on property Binion owned in the heart of downtown Pahrump. The chips, Behnen said, were stored at the ranch.

Tabish and two other men were arrested less than 36 hours after Binion's death after they allegedly had dug up the silver and were preparing to haul it away on a large truck in the middle of the night. They are facing attempted theft charges in Pahrump.

Behnen said she has no idea how many chips her brother actually removed from the Horseshoe in July. One source said he took as many as 15 boxes.

The estate had taken the chips from the ranch after Binion's death and placed them under lock and key in Las Vegas while Binion's affairs were being settled in probate court.

Behnen said the chips now are being kept in a safe at the Horseshoe amid an internal investigation into how her brother was able to remove them so easily.

The chips also have attracted the attention of homicide detectives probing Binion's murder.

Detectives, sources said, are trying to determine whether Tabish or Binion's girlfriend, Sandy Murphy, also a reported target of the homicide probe, may have received any of the chips Binion took from the Horseshoe. Murphy also was at the Horseshoe when Binion carted away his belongings.

Sources close to Tabish and Murphy contended that neither one got any of the chips.

Friends of Tabish and Murphy have been testifying before a county grand jury investigating Binion's death the past two months. Binion's body was discovered at his home next to an empty bottle of the prescription sedative Xanax. Drug tests later found lethal levels of Xanax and heroin in his body, and Clark County Coroner Ron Flud ruled his death a homicide.

The return of the chips, meanwhile, comes amid a dispute between Behnen and former casino owner Bob Stupak over his attempt to cash $250,000 in $5,000 chips at the Horseshoe last year.

The Horseshoe refused to cash the chips because it couldn't verify that Stupak had won them there. Stupak later filed a lawsuit against the Horseshoe in District Court and lodged a complaint with the Gaming Control Board.

A Control Board agent ordered the Horseshoe to redeem the $5,000 chips, but the casino has appealed to a state hearing officer.

The Horseshoe contends it has received requests to cash about $800,000 more in $5,000 chips than its inventory shows it should have on hand.

This week, Stupak dropped the lawsuit, but the proceedings before the Control Board are continuing.