Estate seeks to unload silver cache

Tuesday, May 30, 2000 | 11:06 a.m.

Ted Binion's estate is seeking permission from District Judge Joseph Bonaventure to sell the former casino executive's $6 million silver fortune.

Attorney James J. Brown submitted a sworn affidavit late last week informing the judge that it has cost the estate $85,000 to store and transport the silver since Binion's Sept. 17, 1998, slaying.

He said the estate is paying $200 a day to keep the 48,000 pounds of silver bars and coins under tight security.

"It is patently unfair to further punish the victim in this theft by requiring the estate to continue to incur ongoing expense for the storage of the silver and prevent the estate from deriving necessary cash proceeds from its sale," Brown wrote.

Bonaventure has scheduled a 9:30 a.m. Thursday hearing on the matter.

That's the same day two men charged with stealing the silver from an underground vault in Pahrump go before Bonaventure to learn when they will stand trial.

David Mattsen and Michael Milot were arrested with Montana contractor Rick Tabish on Sept. 19, 1998, after they had dug up the silver with heavy equipment in Pahrump.

Earlier this month Tabish and his lover, Sandy Murphy, were convicted of stealing the silver and killing the 55-year-old Binion.

Mattsen, who managed Binion's ranch in Pahrump, and Milot, who worked for Tabish's trucking company, are being tried separately from the murder defendants.

The Sun reported last week that Binion's estate was continuing to probe the gambling figure's slaying as part of a wrongful death lawsuit against Tabish and Murphy.

Mattsen was one of the people estate private detective Tom Dillard was eyeing in the investigation.

The 54-year-old ranch hand, who has denied any involvement in Binion's death, has told Dillard and a Sun reporter that Binion was restrained by Tabish and Murphy the night before his death.

But Chief Deputy District Attorney David Roger said Friday that he doesn't believe Mattsen's account. He said it is contradicted by other witnesses who saw Binion unrestrained the evening of Sept. 16, 1998, and the morning of his death.

Mattsen, who has sought a deal to cooperate against Tabish and Murphy in the past, has told the Sun and others that Binion was restrained with rare rhinestone handcuffs.

He said Tabish and Murphy threatened to harm his wife if he didn't leave the house after Binion was handcuffed the night of Sept. 16.

Tabish, he said, told him the next day at a meeting at the Mountain Springs pass that it was "over."

William Knudson, a civil lawyer for Tabish and Murphy, was in a car out of earshot when the conversation took place, Mattsen said.

Knudson, whose name has surfaced throughout the investigation, did not return phone calls.

Dillard also is probing Mattsen's claim that Binion's silver was to wind up in the hands of reputed Chicago mob associates.

Tabish has been linked to at least two reported Chicago underworld figures.

archive