Book Review: Murder in Sin City, The Death of a Las Vegas Casino Boss by Jeff German
With the trial of former politician Robert Telles beginning its jury selection, renewed interest in the life and death of reporter Jeff German has appeared on law/true crime social media channels. Jeff German was found brutally murdered outside of his Las Vegas home in the fall of 2022, stabbed 7 times in the neck and torso. Telles has claimed he was framed for the murder, despite his DNA being found at the crime scene, him having a clear and compelling motive, his wife’s vehicle being found in the area during the time the crime took place…and he’s prepared to take up to 2 weeks of taxpayer money and a jury’s time to try and convince them of such. But alas, he’s not who I wish to discuss today.
German published one true crime novel during his life, and after his death I decided to pick it up as my own way to honor his memory. Murder in Sin City: The Death of a Las Vegas Casino Boss, covers the death of one of the most well-known casino executives of the 80s and 90s, Ted Binion. His death made national news in the late 90s when he was found dead at his own home, and later his girlfriend and her lover were arrested for his murder. German published the novel in 2001, prior to their convictions being overturned, but the novel is a compelling look at the investigation into Binion’s death, the people he was involved with, and the course of the trial that had Vegas locals glued to their television sets.
The book opens with the death scene of Binion and works backwards. It goes into the background on his family, including his father, whose own life seems to be the stuff that movies are made of. We then move into the younger Binion losing his gaming license, in part due to a decade-long battle he wasn’t winning against his heroin addiction. His volatile relationship with a stripper named Sandy Murphy and the rich kid from Montana with something to prove named Rick Tabish marked the beginning of the end for Binion, as the two began an affair and according to police, conspired to take Binion for everything they could.
It’s a straightforward read, which you’d expect from a journalist. He doesn’t offer much in the way of opinions as to whether Binion was murdered, but the evidence he presents certainly suggests that. The book paints a balanced, yet unflattering portrait of Ted Binion in life. As the younger son of casino mogul Benny Binion (who seemed like a real life cross between a cowboy and a Batman villain), Ted seemed to have lived a life similar to many of those with parents with the means to provide them with everything material and nothing of true substance. The book paints an even less flattering picture of Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish as people, both before Binion’s death and after. According to German, Murphy was a woman looking for a man to take care of her by any means necessary, and Tabish was a con man of the highest order. German is no more forgiving of the side characters in the story, including Judge Bonaventure, Kurt Grazer, and pathologist Michael Baden. The book also covers the history and theft of Binion’s collection of buried silver, which Tabish was convicted for and still hasn’t been recovered to this day. The story of Binion’s murder and the theft of buried treasure at times seems so outlandish that it’s hard to believe German was writing a true crime book and that makes it all the more a compelling read.
Jeff spent over half of his life exposing corruption. As a reporter for the Las Vegas Sun and later the Review Journal, he covered stories about local government, organized crime, and murder. By his own admission, he had a hand in getting Ted Binion’s gaming license revoked. He made an enemy in Tony Spilotro for calling him “The Ant” in his stories. And just before he died, he published a series of stories on the former Clark County Administrator and the hostile work environment he created. He lived and breathed his work, and if you’re at all inclined, I hope you’ll consider picking up his book.
