REST IN PEACE TEDDY - BINION MURDER SOLVED

Murder is committed for many reasons, but can usually be put into two categories, PASSION and GREED. Insanity is rarely a true reason for murder, although to take someone's life out of passion or greed IS insane (except that passion will get you life, greed gets the chair). Now that we have most all the details of Ted Binion's murder, we find the reason was just plain greed and although Sandy Murphy may have been motivated by passion (I don't believe that), we find that the murder itself was just for want of money and although Murphy may have had some love and hate reasons to kill Ted (I'll lay odds she'll use the ABUSE EXCUSE) as well as monetary incentives (well over $1 million +), we know that Rick Tabish is just a stone cold greedy murderer and would have used whoever or whatever means to obtain Ted Binion's money.

Here is the story laid out in as much detail as we now know. The affidavit, filed June 25, builds a circumstantial case since the only two people probably present at the time Ted Binion achieved room temperature on Sept.17th 1998, was Sandy Murphy 27, Binion's stripper girlfriend at the time of his death and Rick Tabish 34, a native of Missoula, Montana. Though I suspect that Murphy, to avoid a possible death sentence, will probably roll over on Tabish, or visa versa, as the trial approaches. Most of the knowledge of the true facts were laid out in return for immunity by Kurt Gratzer, a former Army Ranger and Tabish's childhood friend who said he worked for Tabish in Montana after his discharge from the Army. Gratzer, with attorneys in tow, showed up at David Roger's office, the Clark County Chief Deputy District Attorney. After being granted immunity, he talked like a drunk parrot about what he said was Tabish's wish to kill Binion. He said that in early September, Tabish talked of Binion's money and his stripper-girlfriend Sandy Murphy, whom he claimed Binion physically abused... In Gratzer's words, Tabish considered Murphy as "one of the pigs who he sleeps with and that she "is in Tabish's back pocket doing whatever he wants her to do."

The affidavit says Tabish then asked Gratzer to kill Binion. He offered him $100,000 of Binion's life insurance policy supposedly payable to Murphy upon Ted's death. He also promised Gratzer a new Trans Am (I wouldn't have settled for anything less than a Mercedes, Canary yellow please and don't forget the "Mercedes leather" interior). Gratzer than discussed how they would kill him. "Tabish suggested that I "snipe" him (shoot him through a window), but I rejected it because I could miss the mark." "Tabish said that after they shot him in the head, they could dispose of Ted's body by wrapping it in carpet and placing it in a rock crusher", but Gratzer rejected that idea also. Forward to months after Binion's death, Gratzer claims he met with Tabish in Montana, when he pressed him to tell him "how were you able to force Binion to swallow the heroin?" Tabish first declined to answer, but than as Tabish drove off, he roared with laughter and yelled out the window "Xanax!" (I know for a fact that many people who use Xanax often wake up not remembering what they said or did while under the influence from the time the drug starts to take effect until a sleeping state sets in. (a good enough reason to stop using sleeping pills) and that it's entirely possible they induced Binion to swallow more Xanax and the tar heroin, without his understanding of what he was actually doing.

Tabish's involvement with Binion started in early 1998 when he started frequenting Las Vegas to make business contacts. One of Tabish's friends, Charles Skinner, told investigators that he and Tabish hung out at Piero's restaurant, a watering hole for the wealthy and wannabe's, where he was introduced to Ted. Tabish established MRT Transportation of Nevada, a trucking operation. One of his associates was Dakota West, operated by John Josef, who also operated the Jean Sand Pit. One of Joseph's business partners was Leo Casey. Casey came forward earlier this year after hiding out on the west coast and charged that on a July night, Tabish tortured him, held him over a freshly dug grave in the desert and threatened his life.

In the affidavit, Casey testified he met Tabish through the Jean Sand Pit, (Jean Nevada is 2 gas stations, 2 casinos and a men's prison 25 miles south of Las Vegas) and that Tabish often talked of Binion, saying that "Binion has allot of money and I know how to get some of it." "He spoke of Binion's drug habit and ways to kill him.""I'll overdose him and no one will know the difference" adding that "he uses another drug that knocks him out, that's when I can pump him up with other drugs. "Finally he said Tabish told him about Murphy, that he was "laying the pipe to her"and that would make it easier to get at Binion's silver. While that was going on, business creditors were pursuing Tabish. Murphy and Binion's relationship was starting to sour and she was calling Tabish often for consolation and advice.

Financial records show that MRT Transportation had bounced checks totaling $130,000 in Sept.'97, in March of '98, one of Tabish's Montana business ventures defaulted on a $75,000 loan, in August, delinquent lease payments on heavy equipment totalled $67,000 and in November, the IRS began pursuing Tabish for $337,000 in unpaid employee withholding for 1997. (how often have people taken drastic measures to pay off the IRS "BOYS"?)

On July 28, Casey claims that he was called to John Joseph's Las Vegas office to accompany Tabish and Steven Wadkins to their gravel pit to take down the serial numbers on some equipment Joseph wanted to sell. But Casey said when they got to the pit, Tabish and Wadkins twisted his arm and placed thumb cuffs on him. They accused him of embezzling from Joseph's company, put a gun in his mouth, a knife under his fingernails and beat him with the Yellow Pages (probably the entertainment section). They wanted Casey to sign a confession saying he embezzled money and transfer his interest in the Jean gravel pit to Joseph. Casey said when he refused, Wadkins used a front loader to dig a grave, then the two dragged Casey to the edge of it and threatened to bury him alive, he finally relented (whimp!) Tabish wanted to get Casey out of the business so he could buy the remaining interest from Josef. In the meantime, Tabish pursued a romantic relationship with Murphy. On Aug 8th, Tabish and Murphy checked into the Beverly Hills Hotel in California under the name "Mr.and Ms.S.Tabish (the "S" stands for STUPID). A waiter identified the two from photos and even remembered they ordered a Coors Light (now we know one of them has no taste) and a glass of Merlot wine. Binion already suspected the two were having an affair and on Sept 16th, the day before he was "found" dead, Roy Price, a ranch hand at Binion's ranch in Pahrump Nv. (60 miles NW of Las Vegas) testified that he was at Binion's home on Pinto Lane, when he and Ted saw the two sitting on a couch in his living room, Price made the remark "these two are closer than a cheap suit." That same day, Binion contacted Private Investigator Don Dibble, asking him to conduct surveillance on Murphy and around noon, Binion called his attorney James J. Brown (no,not THAT James Brown(YOW! HAH!) and told him to take Murphy out of his will. "Take Sandy out of my will if she doesn't kill me tonight.", he also told Brown "if I AM dead, you will know what happened." (sadly, we now know Ted had a chance to get away from the threat they posed, but he probably stayed for the drugs). That same day, Binion received a delivery of 12 balloons of tar heroin. Binion told Price "they got me the best heroin I've had in a long time."

The rest of the story is public record. At 3:54 pm on Sept 17, Murphy phoned 911 to report Binion's death. "My husband has stopped breathing" she told the 911 operator. Phone records show that at 3:47, just seven minutes earlier, Murphy received a call from Tabish. Phone records also showed that earlier that morning, Murphy phoned Ted's housekeeper and told her to stay home because Ted was sick. A little while later she phoned a real estate agent to talk about the worth of Ted's home, sounding distressed, she ended the call abruptly. The day before his death, video equipment that was used for surveillance of Binion's house and grounds were mysteriously dismantled, according to Murphy it wasn't working correctly. Less than 48 hours after Binion's death, Rick Tabish, Michael Milot and David Mattsen were arrested in Pahrump by Nye County Sheriff's Deputies and charged with attempting to steal an estimated $7 million in silver from a vault Binion had paid Tabish to dig in the Nevada desert near his ranch. The three were arrested after they had filled a dump truck to the point where the load of silver was so heavy, the truck was bowed in the middle and the tires partially flattened from the weight. After Sept 23, he negotiated the sale of his MRT Trans. to the California company Rubber Technologies International (originally run by the Chicken Ranch, one of the Nye counties whore houses (just kidding). The company spokesman later claimed that Tabish overestimated the company assets (only whore houses have real assets (small asses?), showing he assumed he could unload Binion's private assets (the silver and coin collections) and Murphy would give him money she would inherit after the settlement. The affidavit sums up Tabish's actions as follows; "Rick Tabish was in poor financial condition prior to Binion's death. He tried to resolve his financial debts by stealing Ted Binion's silver. When that effort was thwarted, he undertook steps to murder Binion to take his silver and money to pay off his financial debts."

What still needs to be understood is who did the actual murder. We know that tar heroin is only used for smoking and no one in their right mind would swallow it (unless they were smuggling, which is why they were found in balloons). Were they both present to induce the Xanax and tar heroin? (now we understand how heroin was found in his stomach. In the form of rocks in balloons (the size of a large pill) forced down his throat while under the influence of Xanax.) Was he aware he was swallowing anything? In this case, realizing the nature of the crime and the possibility of facing a death sentence or at least life in prison without the possibility of parole, one of the two will surely tell exactly what happened. Whether one or both were present, (we know the original idea was probably Tabish's) and regardless of who actually did the killing, we're confident and at peace with the fact that Ted was fast asleep, if not in a total coma when he died.

With that knowledge, we can finally say "Rest in Peace in God's hands Teddy, WE GOTTEM.!!"

--- Kenny P, Las Vegas, Nv.

THE OFFICIAL CHARGES

Very interesting day today. I woke up around 6am and since there was nothing much to do,I went down to the Horseshoe for breakfast, they still have the $2.99 steak and eggs. I ran into Paul Beckwith, an old crap boss I used to play poker (just an excuse to get drunk with the boys)with. He was going to the Murphy-Tabish hearing and I decided to tag along. If you weren't sure where it was just follow the reporters. But since no video equiptment besides the permanenet courtroom camera were allowed in, there was room for us. Around 7:40, the two came in, they were wearing blue shorts and blue jail issue shirts. They were chained together in leg shackels and waist chains and handcuffs. Murphy, I gotta say is a pretty girl, not very tall and cute. Tabish on the other hand looks cold and hard he had circles under his eyes like he hasn't slept and wouldn't look at anyone except his lawyer, Murphy was smiling at everyone, told her brother she loved him and tried to talk to Tabish, but he wasn't answering her. Their attorney is Steve Wolfson, a very prominent attornery here. Alan Dershowitz's name was mentioned as a possible defense attorney, Wolfson tried to get them released on O.R. or at least get a reasonable bail set, but the judge wasn't buying it. She said they had access to money and since it was a capital murder case they were a possible flight risk so there wouldn't be anything done until after the 4th of July weekend, so she set a date for July 7th and that was it, we were out of there around 8:15.

Pretty uneventful except there were alot of reporters outside the courtroom and Wolfson was surrounded and we had to squeeze to get out. Just by looking at the two I'd bet money (Paul said the same thing) he looks like a cold calculating killer and she just looks like a patsy (a cute patsy). None of the Binion's were there, they probably knew what was going to happen. With their influence in this town, there's 6 of them altogether and they're all going to do time, but Tabish is in line to get the death penalty and I won't be surprised if he does.

-- KennyP