He had an older brother, Jack, president of the Horseshoe casino and former chairman of Wynn Resorts, and three sisters: Becky, Brenda, and Barbara.

In 1964, Benny regained full control of the Horseshoe after previously selling his interest to cover his legal costs in defending himself on tax evasion charges.

His sons Jack and Ted — aged only 23 and 21, respectively — took over the day-to-day operation of the casino while Benny remained on the payroll, assuming the title of Director of Public Relations.

For the next thirty years, Ted Binion was the face that was most seen during the peak evening hours of the Horseshoe's casino operation and became well known as the host of its poker tournaments.

Ted Binion was arrested in 1986 on drug trafficking charges and began drawing attention for his connection to organized crime figure Herbert "Fat Herbie" Blitzstein.

The alleged perpetrator, cabdriver and petty criminal Marvin Shumate, was found dead, shot in the chest and in the head at the base of Sunrise Mountain on the east side of Las Vegas.

[3] After his death, Nye County sheriff's deputies[11] discovered that Binion had had a 12-foot-deep vault built on the desert floor on a piece of property he owned in Pahrump, 60 miles (97 km) west of Las Vegas.

[12] After Binion was banned from the casino, he contracted the construction of the Pahrump underground vault with MRT Transport, a trucking company owned by Rick Tabish.

[13][6] The vault was secured three days after Binion's death when Nye County sheriff's deputies discovered that Tabish and two other men were attempting to unearth the silver using an excavator and dump truck.

[7] On September 17, 1998, Binion was found dead on a small mattress on the floor of his Las Vegas estate home at 2408 Palomino Lane, near Rancho Drive and Charleston Boulevard.

Empty pill bottles were found near the body, and an autopsy and toxicology report revealed that he died of a combination of the prescription sedative Xanax and heroin, with traces of Valium.

The day before his death, Binion had purchased twelve pieces of tar heroin from a drug dealer and had gotten a prescription for Xanax from his next-door neighbor who was a doctor.

[18] Las Vegas homicide detectives suspected foul play in Binion's death, as his body did not show the typical signs of a drug overdose.

Although there were no specifics, law enforcement sources cited evidence that the death scene had been staged, as well as witness statements implicating Murphy and Tabish.

The prosecution contended that Murphy and Tabish had conspired to kill Binion and steal his wealth, drugging him into unconsciousness and burking him, a form of manual suffocation.

[19] Baden postulated that Murphy and Tabish had resorted to suffocation because their effort to kill Binion by drugging him had taken too long, and that the pair feared discovery.

A police report that was not used in the first trial by Tabish's first attorney, Louie Palazzo, revealed that there was a drive-by shooting at the front of Binion's Las Vegas, Palomino Lane home on June 5, 1997.

[28] The prosecution death theory, which the jury ultimately rejected, formed the basis for "Burked", a 2001 episode of the TV series CSI.

It was covered as well in Positively Fifth Street[30] by James McManus, which is about a poker tournament at Binion's Horseshoe casino; and in An Early Grave[31] by Gary C. King, which was released in 2001 as part of the "St. Martin's True Crime Classics" series.

[32] The cable TV network A&E aired an hour-long video about the case titled Who Wants to Kill a Millionaire, which is part of its "American Justice" series, and includes interviews and film clips of the characters surrounding Binion's death and aftermath.

The seventh episode of the CBS legal comedy-drama The Defenders, titled "Las Vegas v. Johnson" is a loosely depicted version of the trial.