Binion had tried to sell silver fortune

Tuesday, Aug. 3, 1999 | 11:28 a.m.

Rick Tabish and Sandy Murphy tried to broker a deal to sell Ted Binion's silver fortune five months before his Sept. 17 murder, a Beverly Hills, Calif., coin and precious metals dealer disclosed.

The deal fell through several weeks before the slaying after Binion decided the time wasn't right to unload the millions in silver coins and bars he had been storing in an underground vault in Pahrump, Mark Goldberg, president of Superior Stamp & Coin, said.

Goldberg, now suing Binion's estate for the $31,000 in fees never paid him for appraising the silver, discussed the efforts to sell the coins and bars in two interviews with private detective Tom Dillard after the former casino executive's death.

During his dealings with Binion, Tabish and Murphy, Goldberg said, Binion told him he had a bag of rare Carson City silver dollars worth millions. The 1889 coins, printed at a federal mint briefly opened in Carson City, never have been found by the estate.

Dillard has been investigating Binion's murder for the $30 million estate. Prosecutors working closely with Dillard have turned over transcripts of his interviews to defense lawyers in the murder case.

Tabish, a 34-year-old Montana contractor, and two of his associates were arrested Sept. 19 after they had dug up the silver in Pahrump and were preparing to haul it away.

Both Tabish and Murphy were charged last month with Binion's murder and trying to steal the silver, valued by the estate at $4 million.

Goldberg, who appraised the silver at $5 million to $7 million, said in a transcript obtained by the Sun that he was put in touch with Tabish and Murphy by Billy Marin, a Beverly Hills jewelry dealer in April or May of 1998.

Marin told Dillard in a separate interview that Tabish sought his assistance during a dinner in April at a Beverly Hills restaurant.

Tabish was looking for a finder's fee, between 10 percent and 25 percent of the profits, for putting the deal together, Goldberg said.

Goldberg, expected to be a witness at the Aug. 16 preliminary hearing for Tabish and Murphy, said he and several of his employees first went to Las Vegas in May to view the silver, which at the time was stored in a vault at the Horseshoe Club.

Binion's gaming license was revoked in May because of ties to underworld figures, and he was ordered to sell his interests in the Horseshoe. He later hired Tabish to build a special underground vault in Pahrump and transfer the silver there.

At the Horseshoe in May, Goldberg said, Murphy took him to the vault and opened it for him.

Goldberg said he was led to believe that Tabish, Murphy and Marin were going to share the finder's fee.

He also said it appeared to him that Tabish and Murphy were romantically involved.

Marin, Goldberg said, told him that "Rick had gotten into her pants."

At one point, Goldberg said, Tabish and Murphy told him an executive at the Monte Carlo hotel-casino was interested in buying the silver, but they didn't want to sell it to him. They said they thought they could get more for the silver at an auction.

But in late June or July, snags in the deal began to develop, Goldberg said.

During a visit with Binion at his Pahrump ranch, he said, the gambling figure suggested that he wanted to delay the sale because the price of silver had fallen.

Binion, however, promised Goldberg he eventually would get to sell the silver.

Goldberg acknowledged that at times during his dealings with Binion, he appeared intoxicated.

But he said Binion did not appear to be drunk when he telephoned him two days before his death to again inform him the deal was off. During that conversation, Goldberg said, Binion talked about his $31,000 fee.

Binion, he said, told him: "We're going to do this deal at some point."

Back in May, meanwhile, Goldberg said he became intrigued when he heard Binion bragging about the rare Carson City silver dollars.

Binion, he said, also told him that he once buried some gold at his ranch in Jordan, Montana, while drunk and couldn't remember where it was.

Goldberg said he got the impression that the Carson City coins weren't being stored at the Pahrump ranch. Binion was known to keep valuables at his Las Vegas home, as well.

Goldberg said Tabish and Murphy later told him that they had opened a safe at the Horseshoe Club, where they thought the coins might be, but found nothing.