I frequented the Horseshoe heavily from the early nineties through to
the Harrah's buyout. The locals that hung out there were gossips of
the highest order, and the Binion's were the favorite gossip subject-
just about he only gossip subject. Aahhh, the good old days of "As the
Horseshoe Churns." So here's some old gossip:
Bob Stupak, the owner of the old Vegas World, was good friends with
Jack and Ted Binion. He gave them action at craps and other games out
of courtesy and kept money deposited at the cage along with $5000 chips
in a safe deposit box.
Sidenote: I met an old newspaper man in Billings last year who told me
Stupak once hired him to start a newpaper in Las Vegas. I think it was
called something like "The Las Vegas Bullet." Stupak wanted the
newspaper guy to dig up dirt on his casino industry enemies and
political enemies. Stupak once ran for Mayor, or maybe twice, I don't
know. But Stupak gave the newspaper guy explicit instructions that the
Horseshoe was strictly off limits to write about. I guess the
newspaper guy did a pretty good job because he quickly made enemies out
of alot of people. Someone planted drugs in the newspaper guys car and
called the cops. The problem was they didn't see the Sheriff's car
sitting close by. The newspaper guy was in the squad car with the
Sheriff discussing some things when they saw the guys planting the
drugs. The Sheriff stuck up for the newspaper guy but advised him that
he better leave town. He did. End of sidenote.
Now it gets up sometime in 97 or 98, I think. Becky Behnen, Jacks
sister and 24% owner of the Horseshoe is suing to get Jack and Ted
out. She wanted to take over the Horseshoe. Meanwhile Jack is
investing in Casinos in Shreveport, Tunica, Illinois and Indiana. I
personally think Jack seen the handwriting on the wall. The Horseshoe
was a dying property. I've told people before that Benny Binion did
not have to compete against the Megaresorts on the strip. Benny died
in 89, the year the first Megaresort, The Mirage, opened. And Jack
wanted the virgin territories back east.
So I think he let Becky think she was pushing him out. As it wound up,
Jack cashed for billions with the Harrah's buyout, and Becky got raided
by U.S. Marshalls seizing her bankroll.
Becky made her son, Benny Binion Behnen, in his early twenties, the
manager of the Horseshoe. The fight between Behnen and Stupak at
Piero's was over the infamous "$5000 chip" fiasco. When Becky took
over Stupak was holding 20 of these chips, Billy Baxter, a famous poker
player was said to have 17, and Hamid Dastmalchi, a former WSOP winner
was said to have 77 of them. Supak also had about $100,000 on deposit
at the cage.
Stupak went in and got his chips and tried to cash them and get his
money at the cage back. Becky refused both requests and accused him of
having counterfeit chips. That's when the real gossip churned at the
Horseshoe.
Becky barred Stupak off the property. Jack Binion vouched for the
validity of the chips, to no avail. Stupak, Baxter, and Dastmalchi
sued to recover their money. Stupa wound up being escorted onto the
Horseshoe property by a gaming agent to get his money out of the cage.
Meanwhile, there were some kind of Congressional Hearings, going on
around the country on the spread of gambling, and it's effects, across
the U.S. Las Vegas was one of the stops.
There was a militant anti-gambler preacher, who was the head of some
anti-gambling faction, who showed up for the Las Vegas Hearings. I
think his name was Tom Grey and he was from Illinois or Indiana.
At the hearings Stupak walked up to the preacher and said "Excuse me,
Sir. I would like to make a $5000 donation to your church, then handed
him a $5000 Horseshoe chip and said "But you'll have to cash this chip
yourself. The preacher took the chip to the Horseshoe but they
wouldn't cash it. The preacher was quoted in the Review-Journal the
next day as saying "You can't tell me this gambling is fair, I couldn't
even cash a chip."
Stupak's got a great sense of humor. Becky lost in court and had to
cash the chips.
Tune in next week for another episode of "As the Horseshoe Churms."
···
--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, "vpFae" <vpFae@...> wrote:
Q: I was wondering if you could discuss the history of Piero´s
Italian Cuisine on Paradise and Convention Center Drive. I´ve
been told it used to have a different name and was popular mob
hangout.
Read the answer here:
http://www.lasvegasadvisor.com/qod.cfm
