Saturday night in Pahrump Nevada isn't exactly the place to be unless you're looking for a Subway sandwich and a video rental for the night. But this Saturday was a little different. A few dozen curious people showed up as the Chief Deputy District Attorney David Roger, who brilliantly prosecuted Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabbish for the murder of Ted Binion, will know how it must have felt to have been Geraldo Rivera in 1986 when he stood in front of Al Capone's vault in front of millions of viewers and found nothing more than a few beer bottles.

David Mattsen, Ted Binion's Pahrump ranch manager who was caught digging up $7 million of Teddy's silver along with Rick Tabish and Michael Millot on Ted Binion's ranch at 2 a.m., took David Rogers and company on a wild goose chase reminiscent of a Geraldo Rivera treasure hunt. In a plea bargain with the District Attorney's office who agreed to drop all charges for theft against David Mattsen if Mattsen could lead them to the remaining silver and other valuables that were not found with the rest of Binion's treasure. Although everyone thought that the silver that was brought out of the buried vault on Binion's Pahrump ranch was all the silver that existed, the D.A.'s office has kept the fact that there was much more silver missing a secret until now. The fact is that there was supposed to be around $11 million worth of silver bullion buried. Only $7 million was found in the vault. The reason given was the mistake in the weight of the silver. But the fact is that all the silver was accounted, and there should have been close to $11 million according to records and the price of silver.

At 10 a.m. Saturday, three helicopters, a half-dozen television cameras and dozens of curious residents gathered at the gates of the ranch. David Rogers dressed in Levis and a shirt and shovel, showed up with a few assistants also donning shovels. At Mattsen's direction, workers probed various places pointed out by Mattsen. One place pointed out by Mattsen was a hollow Cottonwood tree. "He buried diamonds and some gold coins in there" said Mattsen. The workers started tapping on the dead tree that sounded completely hollow. They dug under the tree and into the innards of the tree and found nothing. Then on to various places where Mattsen said there were valuables buried in a septic tank. Heavy machinery was used to dig a hole 30 ft.wide and 10 ft. deep, but there was nothing but sand. "Ted had a habit of burying something, then telling someone where it was buried, and not trusting anyone, would dig it up the next night and buried somewhere else. That's probably what happened." Mattsen told Rogers. When asked what would happen next, Rogers reply was "I'm tired of digging empty holes. If this was just a stalling ploy, it didn't work since his immunity depended on us finding something to lead us to believe he knew what he was saying."

Mattsen was slated to begin his trial next month on the theft charges along with David Millot.When Mattsen's attorney James "Bucky" Buchannan heard his client knew of the whereabouts of the missing silver, he called D.A.Rogers and asked for complete immunity for his client. Rogers than contacted private investigator Tom Dillard,who not only compiled most of the evidence of the murder against Tabish and Murphy, but was the driving force into the initial investigation into Binion's death being a possible murder when the Clark County's Coroner's office originally labeled Binion's death an accidental overdose. Dillard, a close friend of the Binion family for years approached Becky Behnen, Binion's sister and the current owner and manager of the Horseshoe Casino, about the offer. Behnen's reply was that as long as the rest of the silver was found, she would agree to the plea bargain. But in the light of today's treasure hunt, Rogers withdrew his immunity deal with Mattsen, and the trial will begin next month, along with Millot's trial for the same charges.

So now I'll relate a true story about Teddy who I knew personally. In 1988 I was a regular at the poker tables of the Horseshoe. I was also a jeweler/diamond setter since 1977, and had done a few jewelry jobs for Ted through the jewelry store I worked at. The owner of the jewelry store was a personal friend of the Binion family. Ted loved diamonds, not mounted in a ring or necklace, just loose diamonds. He would buy them by the lot which is usually between 5-10 carats wrapped in diamond papers. Diamond papers are blue wax paper that reflects the true color and brilliance of the diamonds inside. He would keep a few carats, usually .10 or .20 pointers (100 points to a carat), so papers containing 20-50 diamonds (a value of at least $10,000) sitting in his desk wasn't unusual. He would take them out and show people the loose stones, he loved how they sparkled, and he only bought the best stones and always paid cash. He would say they were strictly for investment, but I know he just liked to play with them and show them off. Ted was always afraid to be outclassed, he was uncomfortable in the company of people wealthier or classier than himself. He was afraid he'd be broke someday, and feared more than anything that someone would steal his money, so he always carried alot of cash on him, tens of thousands at times, and usually carried the diamonds also so when he would meet with anyone that he considered above his class, he could show them off. He kept money in alot of different places so if someone ripped him off or held him up, they would only get one stash and miss the rest. He always carried a gun, usually several guns because he was so paranoid. He would carry one under his arm, and sometimes one strapped to his ankle. At home, he had guns everywhere, and all loaded, at least until Sandy Murphy came on the scene.

One night I delivered a package of diamonds to him at his office in the Horseshoe, and as we talked, he played with the stones. He would open and close the package several times. He wrapped the package up and put it behind some books on a shelf in his office. A few minutes later, he took the package out of the stash, and opened it and played with the stones somemore under a blue/white fluorescent light that would make the diamonds sparkle. He wrapped them back up again and put the package in a flower pot that had artificial flowers and leaves stuck in a piece of styrofoam, he put the package under the styrofoam and replaced the flowers. A friend came into the office, and Ted took the package out and showed it to him, then took the package and put it in the freezer of a small refrigerator he had in the office. That's when I left, noting that he stashed the diamonds 3 times in 3 different places in a period of maybe 20 minutes. Now I'll quote Mattsen from the newspaper.."Mattsen said Binion likely moved the valuables to another location without telling him "Mattsen said "He'd bury the stuff at night, then dig it up the next day and bury it somewhere else because he was always afraid someone was watching him when he'd hide it." Mattsen said "He must have moved his diamonds, coins, and other items to a different location after divulging his hiding places to me and my wife, Theresa." God bless him (Ted) only he knows where it is" said Mattsen.

-Kenny Pearlman