Binion’s estate wants to sell silver fortune

Tuesday, Dec. 14, 1999 | 11:06 a.m.

Ted Binion's estate wants to start selling the silver fortune the slain gambling figure once buried in an underground vault in Pahrump.

But defense attorneys in the criminal case against his accused killers are opposing the efforts.

District Judge Joseph Bonaventure has scheduled a 9:30 a.m. hearing Wednesday to resolve the dispute.

John Momot, who represents Sandy Murphy, one of Binion's accused killers, said today that the 48,000 pounds of silver bars and coins are evidence in the case and important to his client's defense.

"It should not have been removed in the first place by the estate," Momot said. "It should have been in the custody of the police department. I want the jury to see it firsthand."

Late Monday Louis Palazzo, a lawyer for Binion's other accused killer, Rick Tabish, stepped up the rhetoric against the prosecution, which has yet to take a position on the sale of the silver.

Palazzo left a reporter a voice mail message blasting the prosecution.

"This case is the biggest witch hunt I've ever seen in my life," Palazzo said. "It puts Salem to shame ... I think it's sick, and it makes me ill."

Defense lawyers were notified of the estate's plans to sell the silver in a Dec. 6 letter from attorney James J. Brown, who is overseeing the estate.

"Within the next few weeks, the estate intends to proceed with selling the silver coins and bullion, which was the subject of the criminal charges in Pahrump and now in Las Vegas," Brown said in a copy of the letter obtained by the Sun. "I will make a copy of the itemized inventory of the silver available to any counsel upon request.

"For a nominal charge, I will provide photographs taken of the silver during inventory upon request."

Brown told the lawyers they need to contact him before Dec. 22 if they want photographs or video of the silver.

He said Monday he's still waiting for a report on the inventory and has no official word on how much the silver is worth. But he previously has estimated it to be between $4 million and $5 million.

Brown said he wants to sell the silver because of financial reasons. It currently is costing the estate $200 a day to store the fortune in Las Vegas, he said.

The silver became a key part of the investigation into Binion's Sept. 17, 1998, death, when Tabish was linked to a plot to steal it.

Less than 36 hours after Binion died, Tabish and two other men, were arrested in Pahrump for allegedly digging up the silver and loading it onto a large belly dump truck. At the scene, police found love notes from Murphy to Tabish in the contractor's briefcase.

Both Tabish and Murphy later were charged in the theft, as well as in Binion's slaying.

Under Binion's direction, Tabish, a 34-year-old Montana contractor, had transported the silver from Las Vegas to Pahrump and had built the 12-foot underground vault used to to store it on property the former casino executive owned in the heart of the town.

Two other men, David Mattsen, a former Binion ranch manager, and David Milot, a top Tabish employee, were arrested in Pahrump with Tabish the night the silver was dug up. Their trial will follow the murder case, which is set to get under way on March 13.