Hunt for Binion’s treasure fails

Greg Harman

Monday, Sept. 25, 2000 | 11:27 a.m.

An old cottonwood. A stack of wine casks. Las Vegas. Montana.

Rumors of buried treasures left behind by murdered casino owner Ted Binion may have received added fuel after a fruitless search for gold and diamonds at his Pahrump ranch Saturday left investigators irritated but piqued the curiosity of area residents.

As they peered past the chainlink and single strand of barbed wire, beyond the stand of tangled Athel Pines running the length of Binion's property, residents remembered their neighbor fondly as they caught excited glimpses of the treasure hunt happening on the other side.

Then they launched into sometimes elaborate speculation over what riches may remain undiscovered -- and the motivations beyond their burial.

"It's too big to just go in there and start digging holes," one local resident who identified himself only as Jeff said of the 125-acre ranch. "There's all these rumors around town of other treasures," some of which may be buried in other states.

A basement vault too may lie beneath the ranch house, offered Pahrump resident Steve Dixon.

Many suggested the Montana lands owned by Binion's deceased father Benny Binion as another possible treasure site.

"The people that have known (Ted Binion) for years have said (the treasure) is back in those wine kegs" at the far end of the ranch, one woman said.

Another spectator suggested a deep distrust of women was behind Binion's burying behavior.

But for David Mattsen, former ranch manager for Binion, Saturday's failed hunt has serious consequences.

Mattsen -- awaiting trial for charges stemming from his involvement in the excavation and theft of 48,000 pounds of silver bars stashed by Binion in a vault beneath downtown Pahrump two days after the casino owner's murder -- agreed to lead investigators to the spot he alleges Binion told him many diamonds and double-eagle gold pieces were buried in exchange for immunity from prosecution.

That chance is past.

"I'm not going on any more wild goose chases," said Chief Deputy District Attorney David Roger as he left the ranch an hour and a half after the digging began.

But Roger would not commit to prosecuting Mattsen, saying Sunday that a decision would be made in coming weeks whether or not to prosecute all remaining suspects associated with the Binion case -- including Mattsen.

At the ranch, investigators using a front-end loader churned through the roots of a large cottonwood beside the main house looking for a septic tank Mattsen said contained the gold coins. No tank was found. They also searched the tree itself for concealed diamonds and looked around the barn. Likewise, nothing was found at either location.

But Mattsen and his attorney James "Bucky" Buchanan criticized the team for not being willing to tear down the tree.

"They're just going at it half-assed," Buchanan said.

Roger said the decision not to remove the tree, found to be hollow in one location, was made by Jim Brown, a lawyer for the Binion estate. But, he added, he is comfortable there are no diamonds in it.

In a Sunday telephone interview, Tom Dillard, the estate's private investigator, defended the team's search.

"We looked everywhere they directed. We're not going to tear up the entire ranch for him to go on a witch hunt," Dillard said. "He either had specific knowledge of where these items were buried or he didn't.

"He's just like Rick Tabish. He's running a con and we're not buying it."

Mattsen suggested there were other riches buried somewhere in the desert lands on the back of the ranch, but since he had no specific location there was no search made, Roger said. "People have been digging on this ranch. I can tell that already," Mattsen said, as he left the ranch with his lawyer Saturday.

Recent months have seen illegal prospecting on Binion's property, Dillard said. While no apprehensions were made, the uninvited attention inspired the installation of surveillance cameras.

It was a year ago that intruders may have carried away a box of valuables from the ranch. The looters were possibly following a treasure map recovered during a February raid on a Henderson apartment shared by Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish, both now serving life sentences for Binion's death.

Fresh holes, one of which suggested the shape of a box, were discovered at the location marked on the map with an "X."

In a emotional aside during reporters' questioning Mattsen complained of the appearance of the ranch and relayed the news that one of the ranch's cutting horse had died that morning.

And with a criminal trial against him likely, Mattsen's thoughts turned strangely to his former duties as ranch manager.

"I kept this place like an oasis, and now they don't even cut the grass," he said.