FBI says probe offers no evidence to clear Tabish

Jace Radke

Friday, Dec. 20, 2002 | 9:54 a.m.

An investigation into a convicted drug dealer contains no information that could clear Rick Tabish in the murder of Ted Binion, according to an affidavit filed Wednesday by the FBI.

The affidavit was an FBI lawyer's response to U.S. District Judge James Mahan's order to turn over any evidence relating to the possibility of Tabish's innocence in a 1999 FBI investigation. That investigation included a series of wiretaps and focused on drug trafficking and racketeering, and may have included information about possible co-conspirators in Binion's 1998 murder, according to prior court documents filed by FBI agent Gerald McIntosh.

Among those investigated by the FBI was Robert Marshall, who was found guilty in federal court in October of brokering a deal for a kilogram of cocaine.

FBI counsel Nancy Schuster reviewed the "12-volume" Marshall case and the files of confidential informants used during the investigation.

"After a thorough review of these files, I located no documents responsive to the Court's order," Schuster noted in her affidavit.

Tabish, who along with Binion's girlfriend, Sandy Murphy, was convicted of the murder, has sued the Justice Department and the FBI demanding access to the investigation.

Binion, 55, was found dead in the Las Vegas home he shared with Murphy in September 1998. Binion's family owns the Horseshoe casino downtown.

Tabish's attorney, Tony Serra, contends that the investigation contains information about the Binion murder. During the October hearing, which ended with Mahan issuing his order, Serra said the information could be "the centerpiece of our argument."

Serra said many issues that could be used in Tabish's defense might be corroborated by the FBI investigation, including: a $10 million check from the sale of an offshore casino that Binion was allegedly scheduled to receive on the day he died; the possibility that another person was present with Murphy at the time of Binion's death; and the theory that Binion died from suffocation by a pillow.

Mahan ordered the FBI to turn over any information that could clear Tabish to the court for review. Mahan set a Jan. 3 hearing date, and said he plans to hold the hearing to discuss the FBI's affidavit with the parties.

Marshall was scheduled to be sentenced on his drug conviction today by U.S. District Judge Lloyd George, but that hearing is now scheduled to be continued because Marshall filed a sentencing memorandum objecting to his classification as a career offender.

Marshall, 69, is a four-time felon who has two drug-related convictions in his past and could be facing 10 years in prison on the latest charge. Authorities believe Marshall may have information about a 1972 car-bombing that killed a former FBI agent. FBI agents and Metro Police homicide detectives have been unsuccessful in getting information from Marshall about the murder of William Coulthard, a former FBI agent who was the landlord of the Horseshoe at the time of his death.