Columnist Jeff German: Ted’s house could yield treasures

Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2002 | 11:04 a.m.

Israeli-born businessman Patrick Haddad may find some fringe benefits to owning the home of the late Ted Binion -- if he looks hard enough.

Now that District Judge Michael Cherry has given Haddad permission to buy the 2408 Palomino Lane residence from the Horseshoe club executive's estate, the sale is expected to close within 10 days.

The selling price of $750,000, half of what the estate originally sought for the ranch-style home, is a real bargain.

But there's potential for Haddad to receive even more than he bargained for once he settles inside his new and notorious confines.

Along with the 8,000 square feet of living space, mostly on an imported white marble floor, he'll be buying rumors of secret hiding places and buried backyard treasure.

"Searching privileges come with the purchase of the house," says Binion's sister, Horseshoe President Becky Behnen. "With Ted anything's possible."

Richard Wright, one of Binion's most trusted lawyers, says he wouldn't be surprised if something of value turned up at the house. Like many of Binion's friends, Wright knows that the free-spirited gambling figure constantly was hiding and burying things there.

Haddad, who could not be reached for comment, also will be buying a chance to live with the ghost of the colorful Binion. The body of the hard-drinking, drug-addicted good old boy was found on the floor of his cozy den on Sept. 17, 1998, the victim of foul play.

Binion's live-in girlfriend, Sandy Murphy, and her lover, Rick Tabish, were convicted of pumping Binion with drugs and suffocating him. Both now are serving life prison terms.

The duo also was found guilty of digging up and trying to steal the 55-year-old Binion's $6 million silver fortune from an underground vault on land he owned in Pahrump.

Most of Binion's valuables at the Palomino Lane house, including a $300,000 antique currency and coin collection, mysteriously disappeared after his death.

As late as September 2001, treasure hunters still were looking for bounty at the home. Intruders slipped into the back yard and dug a 4-foot by 5-foot hole near a childhood playhouse Binion had built for his daughter and chief heir, Bonnie, who is now 22 and lives in Southern California.

Binion's longtime personal lawyer, James J. Brown, who oversees his $55 million estate, says there's reason to believe the intruders left the back yard last year with the loot they were seeking.

But that doesn't mean all the treasure is gone.

Among the most impressive Binion items still missing is a bag of 1889 Carson City-minted silver dollars, believed to be worth millions.

In terms of comfort, the biggest benefit of the house is the huge master bedroom, with its oversized walk-in closet and bathroom, that Murphy occupied during her three-year stay from 1995 to 1998. The room is more than 1,000 square feet and bigger than many single-family homes in the valley.

But the most colorful part of the house is Binion's small basement hideaway underneath the original garage. The 12-foot by 12-foot room, once equipped with a queen-size bed, television and plenty of reading material, is where Binion often settled in for the evening to smoke his marijuana and heroin.

There's no telling what may be hidden behind the room's wooden paneling.

Behnen says the pending sale of the house makes her feel good, as if a sad chapter in her life finally is coming to an end.

"It's a beautiful piece of property," she says. "I'd like to see somebody have some happiness there for a change."

If the sale goes through, Haddad may find more happiness on Palomino Lane than he could ever imagine -- as long as the ghost of Ted Binion doesn't object.