Silver turns up in Binion case

Thursday, March 16, 2000 | 11:13 a.m.

Prosecutors in the Ted Binion murder case got a major break Wednesday when they recovered 100 pounds of silver coins believed to have been stolen from the wealthy gambling figure after his September 1998 slaying.

The coins, the Sun has learned, were turned over to police in Missoula, Mont., by Dennis Rehbein, the brother-in-law of Rick Tabish, who along with Binion's girlfriend, Sandy Murphy, is charged with killing the former casino executive and stealing his valuables.

Late Wednesday District Judge Joseph Bonaventure granted Rehbein immunity from prosecution to testify at the March 27 trial of Tabish and Murphy. The one-page order obtained by the Sun was signed at 4:15 p.m.

Chief Deputy District Attorney David Roger, the lead prosecutor in the case, declined comment this morning.

But in a one-page affidavit, requesting immunity for Rehbein, the prosecutor described the Missoula man as a material witness, who will testify that Tabish gave him a "collection of silver coins" in November 1998 to repay a loan.

Tabish had sought the loan from his brother-in-law in the fall of 1998, Roger said.

Tabish's attorney, Louis Palazzo, told the Sun today that he has no knowledge of his client's dealings with Rehbein.

"I don't know anything about this alleged transaction," he said. "I'm anxious to look into the circumstances."

Law enforcement sources said Metro Police homicide detectives plan to fly to Missoula to pick up the coins.

The coins are believed to be those contained on a seven-page list Murphy wrote and faxed to Tabish in Missoula in November 1998.

The list was provided to homicide detectives by Tanya Cropp, a 24-year-old Murphy friend who is cooperating in the murder case. Some of the coins on the list include silver dollars dating back to 1878.

"I think it's a major development in the case," said attorney Harry Claiborne, who represents Binion's daughter and chief heir, Bonnie Binion.

"We have always been under the opinion that Tabish and Murphy stole the property from him and it was out there somewhere."

Added Tom Dillard, an investigator for Binion's $50 million estate: "This just solidifies what the estate has maintained all along."

Binion's sister, Horseshoe Club President Becky Behnen, said she was "stunned" by the news.

"Somehow the truth always seems to come out," she said.

Claiborne said Binion told him the coin collection at his 2408 Palomino Lane home in Las Vegas was worth about $300,000.

Last October Claiborne filed a wrongful death lawsuit on Bonnie Binion's behalf, alleging Tabish and Murphy engaged in a "secret sexual relationship" while plotting her father's Sept. 17, 1998, slaying.

The suit seeks to recover the coin collection and other items allegedly stolen from Binion's home. Tabish and Murphy also are charged with trying to steal Binion's $6 million silver fortune in Pahrump less than 36 hours after his death. Tabish and two other men were arrested in Pahrump Sept. 19, 1998, after they allegedly had dug up the silver bars and coins from an underground vault on Binion property.

Rehbein, meanwhile, is the second person close to Tabish in the last month to be granted immunity to testify against the 35-year-old Montana man.

On Feb. 14, Jason Frazer, a 28-year-old Tabish friend and business associate, agreed to cooperate after being arrested in Missoula as a material witness in the case.

Earlier this month, Frazer detailed an alleged plot by Tabish to pay off witnesses to provide him with an alibi in the murder case.

Last March another Tabish friend from Missoula, Steven Kurt Gratzer, was given immunity to testify that Tabish allegedly sought his help in killing Binion.

Murphy, a 28-year-old onetime topless dancer, reported discovering Binion's body on the floor of his den next to an empty bottle of the prescription sedative Xanax.

Prosecutors have alleged Binion's killers pumped him with heroin and Xanax, suffocated him and then staged his death scene to make it look as though he had died of a drug overdose.

Tabish and Murphy contend Binion, who had a known heroin habit, killed himself.

Jeff German is the Sun's senior investigative reporter. He can be reached at (702) 259-4067 or by e-mail at german@lasvegassun.com