Columnist Jeff German: Tabish calls add mystery to Binion investigation

Sunday, Dec. 19, 1999 | 10:31 a.m.

Jeff German is the Sun's senior investigative reporter. Reach him at german@ lasvegassun.com or 259-4067.

JUST WHEN we think there's nothing more to learn about Ted Binion's slaying, another sensational twist smacks us in the face.

Cellular phone calls Rick Tabish made to a beeper number in a Chicago suburb after Binion's Sept. 17, 1998, death are providing investigators with new leads in the city's biggest-ever murder case.

The beeper number, investigators say, comes back to the Melrose Park, Ill., address of a company called Entertainment Inc. That's the same address of an adult nightclub reportedly owned by the family of Salvatore Galioto, who has been identified by the Chicago Crime Commission as an associate of the Chicago mob.

This is the same Galioto authorities believe signed in to visit Tabish Aug. 16 at the Clark County Detention Center. Tabish and Binion's girlfriend, Sandy Murphy, are charged with killing the former Horseshoe Club executive and stealing his valuables.

Records show Tabish telephoned the Melrose Park number twice the day of Binion's death and three times the next day, just hours before he trekked to Pahrump to dig up the colorful gambling figure's silver fortune.

Records show the first call was made at 5:58 p.m. on Sept. 17, 1998, two hours after Binion's body was discovered at his 2408 Palomino Lane home next to an empty bottle of the prescription sedative Xanax. Tabish might have been at Binion's home with other onlookers when the call was made.

Later that evening, Tabish telephoned the number again at 8:50, records show.

The records indicate that Tabish called the number three more times between 10:24 a.m. and 10:26 a.m. on Sept. 18, 1998. Several hours later, the 34-year-old Montana contractor headed to Pahrump with a belly dump truck to dig up an estimated $4 million to $5 million in silver bars and coins Binion had buried in an underground vault. Tabish and two other men were arrested by Nye County sheriff's deputies early the next morning and charged with stealing the silver.

Tabish made other calls to the Chicago area beeper several weeks before Binion's slaying, records show.

Just how the calls fit into the overall picture of Binion's demise has not been determined by investigators.

Maybe the calls are important to the prosecution's conspiracy theory against Binion. Maybe they're not. One thing is certain, however. The calls are generating the kind of buzz that should attract the attention of FBI agents or Metro intelligence detectives who specialize in organized crime.

Galioto has been unreachable. And Tabish and his lawyers, Louis Palazzo and Robert Murdock, have shied away from commenting on Tabish's reported ties to Galioto.

Last week, Palazzo and Murdock did their talking behind closed doors, when District Judge Joseph Bonaventure quizzed them about their fee arrangement with Tabish amid reports their client had struck a deal with another suspected organized crime figure, Joseph Cusumano, who's looking to do a movie on the Binion murder case.

There has been a report that Cusumano, a reputed top lieutenant of slain Chicago mob kingpin Anthony Spilotro, might have promised Tabish help with his legal fees in return for a piece of his movie rights. Cusumano and Galioto, who also has ties to the movie industry, are said to be familiar with each other.

Bonaventure, who will preside over the March 13 trial of Tabish and Murphy, would not discuss the specifics of his private meeting last week with Palazzo and Murdock.

But the judge was quick to conclude in open court that he found nothing improper about Tabish's fee arrangement with the attorneys. He said both Palazzo and Murdock have been acting in the best interests of their client.

Those working for Binion's $50 million estate, however, are intrigued by the movie deal and whether Galioto is involved.

Binion's daughter and chief heir, Bonnie Binion, is hoping to collect any profits Tabish might earn from a movie if she prevails in her wrongful death lawsuit against her father's accused killers.

Hot on the trail of the film project is Binion estate investigator Tom Dillard, who has been probing Tabish's ties to Cusumano and Galioto.

Now Dillard, like lawmen, has those cellular phone calls to the Chicago area to keep him busy during the holiday season.

There's nothing like a sensational twist to a good murder story.