Monday, Sept. 21, 1998 | 11:33 a.m.
Nye County Sheriff's deputies arrested three men early Saturday in Pahrump for allegedly stealing millions of dollars worth of silver coins and bars that had been buried by the late Ted Binion in a large underground vault.
The weekend plot to steal Binion's fortune has heightened family suspicions about foul play in his death Thursday.
The arrests came a little more than a day after Binion, 55, was found dead in his Las Vegas home in what Metro police said may have been an unintentional drug overdose. An empty bottle of Xanax, a prescribed anti-depressant, was found near the former gaming executive's body.
Nye County Undersheriff Bill Weldon today estimated the value of the recovered silver at $13 million to $15 million. But Binion family lawyer Richard Wright said Sunday the value was closer to $3 million to $4 million.
Wright said Binion had buried the silver in Pahrump about three months ago after state gaming regulators revoked his license and ordered him to sell his 20 percent interest in the downtown Horseshoe Club. Binion had been storing the silver in a Horseshoe vault up to that point.
Nye County deputies this morning would not comment on the arrests nor identify the three men until formal charges were filed.
Weldon said two of the suspects were released on $100,000 bail and a third remained in jail.
"One of the suspects was saying they were just carrying out Binion's last wishes," Weldon said. "But officers at the scene could not find evidence to corroborate that."
All of the silver was recovered at the site of the underground vault on the main thoroughfare in Pahrump. The silver had been dug up and placed in a large dump truck.
Wright, who was called to the scene of the theft on Saturday, said deputies told him that one of the suspects was Rick Tabish, a Missoula, Mont., contractor who had befriended Binion about a year ago. Tabish, Wright said, had built the vault for Binion.
Tabish, 33, also said to be close to Binion's girlfriend, Sandy Murphy, was among the friends who showed up at Binion's house the evening of his death.
Law enforcement authorities in Missoula are said to be well-aware of Tabish's activities there. According to newspaper clippings, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1988 for a cocaine-trafficking conviction. Seven of those years were suspended.
"This (the theft of the silver) definitely raises concerns that require a more thorough investigation into the precise timing and cause of death," Wright said. "I'm positive Ted didn't intentionally cause his own death."
On Friday, Binion's sister, Becky Behnen, told the Sun that she suspected foul play.
"I just feel it should be treated as a homicide until proven otherwise," Behnen said.
Behnen, who's considering hiring a well-known Los Angeles private detective to look into Binion's death, added that she had never known her brother to take prescription drugs.
Binion had run into trouble with state gaming regulators because of a heroin addiction and ties to organized crime figures. In recent years, strict drug testing had demonstrated that his body was clear of the drug.
This morning, Metro Homicide Lt. Wayne Petersen again insisted that there was no evidence at the scene on Thursday to suggest foul play.
Petersen said the scene was "consistent" with what Murphy had told police when she reported Binion's death about 3:55 p.m. on Thursday.
Murphy is a former topless dancer who had a stormy relationship with Binion over the years. The Binion family has reported that she and Binion were fighting all of last week until his death.
Nye County deputies, meanwhile, told Metro detectives investigating Binion's death that one of the suspects arrested over the weekend indicated that Binion had planned to ingest enough Xanax to "clean out" his system of illegal drugs, Petersen said.
"If this is true," Petersen said, then he may have taken more than he had planned. "The real telling factor will be the toxicology report."
Clark County Coroner Ron Flud said an autopsy concluded on Friday found no signs of trauma on Binion's body or any other evidence of physical ailments that could have led to his death.
Flud said he was waiting for the toxicology results, which could come in within a week, before determining the cause of Binion's death.
Flud said Binion was last seen alive at 10 a.m. Thursday. The coroner estimated he died within four hours of the time Murphy had reported his death to police.
Friends and family members have said Binion was in good spirits before his death.
"These circumstances shocked the living hell out of me," said Harry Claiborne, a longtime Binion family friend and lawyer. "I know he didn't purposely overdose."
Funeral services will be at 1 p.m. Tuesday at Christ the King Catholic Church, 4925 S. Torrey Pines Drive.
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