Excavation of Binion site set for Saturday

Friday, Sept. 22, 2000 | 10:55 a.m.

David Mattsen expects to lead prosecutors Saturday to the site of rumored buried treasure at Ted Binion's Pahrump ranch.

Chief Deputy District Attorney David Roger, the lead prosecutor in the Binion murder case, said he will be on hand at 10 a.m. when the land is excavated.

Roger confirmed a Sun report Thursday that he has offered to drop all theft charges against Mattsen if the would-be millions of dollars in diamonds and gold coins are located.

"If David Mattsen is able to help us dig up substantial assets that belong to the estate, we'll dismiss the charges," Roger said.

But Roger remained skeptical of Mattsen's latest claim.

"He has been deceptive in the past," Roger said. "He doesn't have a good track record."

The Sun reported Thursday that Mattsen, who managed the 125-acre ranch prior to Binion's Sept. 17, 1998, slaying, was looking to deal away charges stemming from a failed scheme to steal the wealthy gambling figure's silver fortune in Pahrump.

Mattsen, 54, has been accused of helping Binion's convicted killers, Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish, dig up and steal 48,000 pounds of silver bars and coins from Binion's underground vault in downtown Pahrump two days after his death. The silver was recovered.

Roger said any deal with Mattsen could involve seeking his cooperation against his co-defendant, Michael Milot, who is expected to stand trial with Mattsen on Nov. 13.

Security, meanwhile, has been beefed up at Binion's ranch amid the talk of buried treasure.

Nye County sheriff's deputies also have promised to add extra patrols around the property.

And estate lawyers have put out the word that trespassers searching for the treasure will risk injury to themselves.

This comes as attorney James "Bucky" Buchanan, who represents Mattsen, provided more details Thursday about what his client knows.

Buchanan said Binion told both Mattsen and his wife, Thressa, where he had buried the diamonds and valuable double-eagle gold pieces.

"They were buried so that a metal detector couldn't find them," Buchanan said. "To everybody's knowledge, that site has not been disturbed."

Buchanan said Binion at one point trusted Mattsen so much that he gave him the combination to all of his safes.

"He trusted him enough to know that he wouldn't dig it up, so now we're going to see if it's still there," Buchanan said.

Buchanan said Mattsen was told the diamonds and the gold coins were buried in separate locations.

"Obviously, the estate is interested in recovering any and all of Ted's assets," one Binion lawyer said. "I hope Mattsen's right, but I don't necessarily believe him."

Harry Claiborne, a longtime Binion friend and attorney, said he knows Binion collected diamonds and gold coins.

Several years before Binion's death, Claiborne said, Binion had shown him stacks of gold pieces and a sack of diamonds in his safe at his Las Vegas home.

"I know he had that stuff," Claiborne said. "I've been wondering what happened to it."

Claiborne said this morning that what Mattsen claims makes sense.

"It would fit Ted's pattern of hiding stuff everywhere," Claiborne said. "He did it since he was a kid."

But Claiborne said he found it odd that Binion would tell the Mattsens where he had buried valuable property and not some of his other close friends and attorneys.

Claiborne said he's hoping Binion's missing Carson City-minted silver dollars also might turn up during the treasure hunt at the ranch. Binion, he said, had 1,000 of the rare, uncirculated coins, which are worth millions.

Buchanan, meanwhile, said Mattsen is eager to help authorities.

"If there's anything substantial, then we've got a pass," he said. "We would hope that if we turn up a substantial amount of estate property, that they would on their own accord see to it that Mr. Mattsen got some renumeration."

But Claiborne, who represents Binion's daughter and chief heir, Bonnie Binion, said the estate was not prepared to give Mattsen a reward.

"We're not going to pay somebody to do the right thing," he said. "His deal to drop the charges should be his reward."

This is not the first time Binion's ranch has attracted the attention of authorities.

During a February 1999 police raid on a Henderson apartment shared by Murphy and Tabish, homicide detectives found a crude map appearing to point to buried treasure at the ranch.

At the time, detectives were aware that Murphy had telephoned Binion's longtime secretary less than two weeks after his death to inform her that she knew where Binion had buried valuable property at the ranch. Murphy had offered to split the loot with Binion's brother, Jack Binion.

Last September Binion's estate informed Nye County sheriff's deputies that intruders had dug fresh holes at the site of the "X" marked on the map. The site was within 25 feet of Binion's front door.

Claiborne said this morning there was an imprint of a box in one of the holes, suggesting something was taken.