Mattsen key to Binion’s missing millions

Sun Staff

Thursday, Sept. 7, 2000 | 11:20 a.m.

David Mattsen's revealing testimony Wednesday has put him in the middle of the mystery surrounding the disappearance of potentially millions in Ted Binion assets.

Mattsen, the 54-year-old former Binion ranch manager in Pahrump, suggested on the witness stand that he may know the whereabouts of some of the slain gambling figure's missing valuables.

Prosecutors believe rare Carson City-mined silver dollars worth $10 million to $15 million may have been stolen from Binion following his Sept. 17, 1998, death.

His estate also has been unable to find a $200,000 collection of antique currency, as well a valuable coins, jewelry and cash that Binion had kept at his Las Vegas home. The wealthy casino man also was known to bury property at his 125-acre ranch.

Chief Deputy District Attorney David Roger said Wednesday that Mattsen was not a "person who is going to be consistently truthful."

But he added: "When he suggests that he knows where Ted Binion's hidden assets are located, there is a ring of truth to it in light of the circumstances that we know about his missing assets."

Tom Dillard, an investigator for Binion's $55-million estate, said he's interested in any information Mattsen could provide even though his credibility has been questioned in the past.

"If he does in fact know where those assets are and they are recovered, it seems to me that would repair his credibility somewhat," Dillard said.

Mattsen on Wednesday refused to identify or give the location of possible missing valuables when pressed in court by Roger.

"Ted Binion's dead," he testified. "Whatever he's got buried ... that's his family's business. It's not mine. I can't touch nothing that's not mine."

His lawyer, James "Bucky" Buchanan, later told the Sun that Mattsen indeed may know what was buried in Pahrump.

But he insisted that his client has "absolutely no knowledge" of the whereabouts of the items reportedly stolen from Binion's Las Vegas home after his death.

Following Mattsen's testimony, District Judge Joseph Bonaventure said he believed that Mattsen now was "penniless," and he declared him indigent and eligible for $8,800 in taxpayer money for his legal expenses. Most of that money will go to repay the district attorney's office for copying 14 boxes of documents in Mattsen's criminal case.

Mattsen, who once sought the $100,000 reward money offered by Binion's estate in the murder investigation, is set to stand trial Nov. 13 on charges of stealing Binion's $6 million silver fortune in Pahrump two days after his death.

Binion's girlfriend, Sandy Murphy, and her lover, Rick Tabish, were convicted in May of killing Binion and stealing the silver and other valuables. Tabish Mattsen and one other man, Michael Milot, were arrested in Pahrump after they had dug up the silver bars and coins from an underground vault.

Roger said Mattsen could help himself in his criminal case if he led authorities to any missing valuables.

"I would think that if he took us out to where these assets were located, we might show some leniency at the time of sentencing," he said.

"There is evidence that there remains missing assets from Ted Binion's home, and there is evidence that someone dug up property from Ted Binion's Pahrump ranch."

During a February 1998 raid on a Henderson apartment shared by Murphy and Tabish, homicide detectives found a crude map appearing to point to buried treasure at Binion's ranch.

Last September, Binion's estate informed Nye County sheriff's deputies that intruders had dug fresh holes on the ranch at the very site of the "X" marked on the treasure map.

Less than two weeks after Binion's death, Murphy had telephoned his longtime secretary, Cathy Rose, suggesting she knew where Binion had buried valuable property at the ranch. She offered to split the loot with Binion's brother, Jack Binion.

Mattsen lost credibility with prosecutors after he told them that he had seen Murphy and Tabish take Binion hostage the night before his death. His statement conflicted with those of several other witnesses who saw Binion outside his home in the early morning hours of Sept. 17.