Columnist Jeff German: Cusumano, Hollywood cashing in on Binion

Jeff German is the Sun's senior investigative reporter. He can be reached at 259-4067 or through e-mail at [email protected].

HOLLYWOOD and the mob. It's the only angle missing to a murder story filled with sex, drugs, gambling and buried treasure.

Not any longer.

Joseph Cusumano, a reputed associate of slain Chicago mob kingpin Anthony Spilotro, has provided us with the latest sensational twist to the slaying of Ted Binion.

Last week I reported that Cusumano, like many others, was looking to cash in on the murder case.

The 64-year-old Cusumano, who's listed in Nevada's Black Book of undesirables banned from casinos, acknowledged becoming involved in a Binion movie project with a Los Angeles production company.

Cusumano isn't talking much about the project just yet.

But I'm told he has struck up a relationship with Rick Tabish, who is charged along with the Montana contractor's lover, Sandy Murphy, with killing Binion in September 1998.

While Murphy, a 27-year-old onetime topless dancer, was busy pressing jail officials to return her missing black panties, Cusumano was said to be looking after Tabish's interests in the movie project in Los Angeles.

Cusumano reportedly has helped Tabish parlay his movie rights into much-needed help with his mounting legal fees. Tabish, who has been behind bars since his June 24 arrest, doesn't stand trial with Murphy until March 13. He has a lot of fighting to do in court until then.

His lawyers, Robert Murdock and Louis Palazzo, say they know nothing about the Cusumano movie deal. But they aren't discussing who's paying them. Attorneys generally don't like to disclose the source of their fees.

The name of another well-known Las Vegan, meanwhile, has surfaced in the Hollywood angle to the Binion case.

Cusumano's longtime pal and business partner, Rick Rizzolo, a politically connected topless night club owner, is said to be involved in the movie deal.

But Rizzolo and his friends, even Cusumano, strongly deny that he has had anything to do with the potentially lucrative project.

Friends say Rizzolo, owner of the popular Crazy Horse Too, tries his best to shy away from Cusumano in public these days.

Still, many believe that wherever Cusumano goes, Rizzolo can't be far behind.

It turns out that Rizzolo also is close to Tabish, the 34-year-old son of a prominent Missoula, Mont., businessman.

When police raided Tabish's contracting business in Missoula last February, they found a $9,400 bill from the Crazy Horse. Tabish often was spotted in the Crazy Horse's VIP room.

Cusumano, meanwhile, hasn't been in trouble with the law since his 1987 conviction for trying to divert several hundred thousand dollars from the Culinary Union's insurance fund.

Prior to Spilotro's slaying outside Chicago in 1986, Cusumano was reported to be an important cog in the mob kingpin's rackets empire here.

Through it all, he has had bouts with Hollywood fever, once serving as a line producer on the 1984 movie, "The Cotton Club."

That fever, it seems, has struck again. And it's heating up the Binion murder case.

Say goodbye to the longtime friendship between Las Vegas restaurateur Freddie Glusman and boxing promoter Bob Arum.

Glusman is fuming at Arum for supposedly reneging on a promise of tickets to the recent championship fight between Oscar De La Hoya and Felix Trinidad.

So mad is Glusman that he has banned Arum from Piero's, his gourmet restaurant frequented by the movers and shakers of Las Vegas and Hollywood.

On any given night, patrons will see celebrities, politicians, professional athletes and even underworld figures dining on Piero's famous ossobuco and stone crab.

Glusman, I'm told, also has taken down a painting of Arum with several of his famous fighters (Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, et al.) from his VIP room.

In its place, Glusman plans to put up a picture of Arum's nemesis, Don King.

Friends say you don't want to get on Glusman's bad side.

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