Defense attorneys attacked over claims of Binion mob plot

Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2000 | 11:16 a.m.

A prosecutor today attacked defense attorneys in the Ted Binion murder case for claiming they didn't know about a reported mob plot to kill the wealthy gambling figure.

Chief Deputy District Attorney David Roger charged that the defense attorneys knew about the purported scheme months before this year's murder trial and failed to seek FBI reports about the plot themselves.

The attorneys, John Momot and Gerald Scotti, are seeking a new trial for their client, Sandy Murphy, alleging prosecutors deliberately failed to turn over key FBI reports about the so-called mob conspiracy against Binion.

Roger said he did not have any FBI reports and even if the attorneys ultimately received the reports, they wouldn't have helped the defense.

"The fact that some mobsters were sitting around talking about murdering Ted Binion in 1997 is not exculpatory to Ms. Murphy and Mr. Tabish," Roger said.

"All along their defense was that Mr. Binion was not murdered and instead died of an accidental overdose or a suicide."

Roger said Murphy would have had to change her defense because she had acknowledged being at Binion's house on Sept. 17, 1998, the day Binion died.

Roger wanted lawyers for Murphy and her convicted co-defendant, Rick Tabish, to certify to District Judge Joseph Bonaventure that they were not aware of the mob scheme prior to the trial.

All of the lawyers, including Tabish's former attorney, Louis Palazzo, said that they had heard about the plot, but that they never saw an April 1999 FBI report of a debriefing of one of the men convicted of killing underworld figure Herbie Blitzstein in January 1997.

Defense attorneys had obtained a seven-page report written by FBI agent Charles Maurer that detailed an underworld scheme to overdose Binion on heroin and steal his valuables.

The plot, Maurer wrote, was hatched by the men who killed Blitzstein, who was Binion's friend.

Bonaventure asked the lawyers to return to court this afternoon and give him a final answer about whether they may have had the FBI report.

Before recessing this morning, Bonaventure allowed defense lawyers to call private detective Tom Dillard to the witness stand so he could be questioned about whether he had seen any of the FBI reports.

Dillard testified that he had not seen any reports but had turned over one document he had obtained to prosecutors.

Murphy and Tabish were found guilty of pumping Binion with heroin and Xanax and suffocating him in September 1998. They have contended Binion died of a self-induced drug overdose.

Attorneys for Murphy said in court papers earlier this month that the plan by organized-crime associates to kill Binion and make it look like an overdose was consistent with the position taken by the defense at the trial and needs to be explored further to determine whether Murphy deserves to be retried.

In his report, Maurer disclosed that he had obtained details about the Binion plot from Antone Davi, one of the Blitzstein triggermen, during an April 20, 1999, debriefing. At the time Davi had agreed to plead guilty to shooting Blitzstein, a former top lieutenant of slain Chicago mob kingpin Anthony Spilotro.

Davi is quoted in the report as saying the subject of killing Binion was brought up by reputed mob associate Alfred Mauriello some time after Blitzstein's slaying.

Mauriello pleaded guilty last year to arranging the Blitzstein hit, which was carried out as part of a scheme by the Los Angeles mob to take over Las Vegas street rackets.

Davi reported that Mauriello had told him and Blitzstein's other convicted shooter, Richard Friedman, that Binion had offered $50,000 to kill his sister, Horseshoe Club President Becky Behnen.

"Binion later changed his mind, and a plot was hatched to rob and kill Binion," Maurer wrote. "Mauriello told Friedman and Davi that Binion will be robbed and a door to his house would be left open so Davi and Friedman could kill him.

"Mauriello said Binion was a heroin user, and he gave Binion's address to Friedman and Davi. Friedman came up with a plan to use a Tazer (stun gun) on Binion and give him an overdose of heroin while he was under the influence of the Tazer."