It was by his grandfathers side a young Fechser, who died this past week at age 55 of an apparent heart attack, learned a life lesson. Today, only a caretaker and some horses use the property. He helped the late Ted Binion move his silver fortune from the Horseshoe Club in 1998. That wasnt entirely true. District Attorney Henry Wade worked with the Feds to nab Binion for tax evasion. No limits, no entertainment, no gurgling fountains or fancy decor. And if you happen to live as fast as Fechser, it never hurts to pray for a timely blossom. Meeting at a tourist court near Love Field (and speaking into a hidden microphone planted by the Dallas police) Shimley assured the Cat that no one was more grief-stricken by his wifes death than Benny Binion, that Benny had sworn on the lives of his own wife and five children that he had nothing to do with the bombing. Five days later somebody threw a bomb through the front door of the Airmens Club. After his release from the hospital, Noble moved from his house in Oak Cliff and moved to the ranch, where a floodlit yard and six vicious dogs offered some security. In 1951, even while Benny was fighting extradition to Texas, the governor of Nevada and the Nevada Tax Commission saw no reason to deny the Cowboy a license to operate his new casino, Binions Horseshoe. Werent no mystery to it, dont you see, Benny would cackle. He was an organ donor. Binion then allegedly shot himself in the shoulder and turned himself in to police, claiming that Frieden had shot him first. Benny Binion lived the first half of his life in Texas and the last half in Las Vegas and became a legend in both places. By previous agreement, the sentences would run concurrently: five years in the federal prison at Leavenworth, a fine of $20,000, and a payment of $776,000 in back taxes, penalties, and interest. On Christmas Eve, less than a month after Mildred Nobles death, the 31-year-old Lois Green, the depraved gunman who liked to bury his victims alive, walked out of the Sky-Vue Club in West Dallas and was ripped apart by the blast of a shotgun. Binion's Horseshoe opened with craps limits at $500 while the city's standard was $50. Benny Binion, the founder and owner of Binion's Horseshoe Casino in downtown Las Vegas from 1946 until his death in 1989, was known for being an affable Texan with a reputation for taking care of his family as well as his employees. Benny Binion's dice game. As a young woman she had predicted, If I marry Benny Binion, Ill spend my life in a room above a two-bit crap game. She was half right. [20], In 1951, Binion purchased the Eldorado Club and the Apache Hotel, opening them as Binion's Horseshoe, which immediately became popular because of the high limits on bets. Prison took something out of Benny and maybe put something else in its place. back to Texas.. The estate of Ivy Miller sold off the 1,300-plus-acre property to a private Dallas-based family in the late 1960s, following the gangster's death, property records show. Hijackers loved to prey on poker and craps games because players probably had more pocket money than banks had deposits and were not inclined to report their losses. In 1953, the district attorney got his wish. Challenging a racketeer like Warren Diamond was a bold move for a 22-year-old, but it was exactly the sort of risk that energized Benny. 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003. Documents and records seized from the Harlem Queen policy headquarters on Texas Highway 183and from Bennys safe-deposit box at the Hillcrest State Bankshowed that in 1948 Binion had netted more than $1 million from the rackets in Dallas, hardly any of it reported to the Internal Revenue Service. Noble didnt buy Shimleys story. A few days later, while Noble was in the hospital recovering, three of his boys bushwhacked Minyard in his back yard. Though he now lived 1,500 miles away, he continued to control the policy racket, and he got a share from all craps games. What made Binions Horseshoe such a successat least in Bennys opinionwas adherence to two bedrock rules. His parents initially kept him out of school due to poor health. Jack worked for his father at the casino and hotel called Binion's Horseshoe which was located in Las Vegas, Nevada. He also invented the now-famous World Series of Poker. Another dependable gunsel was Ivy Miller, who bushwhacked a gambler named Sam Murray after he made a move on Bennys territory in 1938. "Up until that time, gambling around . Like us on Facebook. The rule was, Do your enemies before they can do you, and Benny often found it necessary to arbitrate business differences with a .45 automatic. That didnt end it, however. Big rains and snowfall since late last year have freed half of California from drought, but low groundwater levels remain a problem, officials said. By continuing to browse or by clicking I Accept Cookies you agree to the storing of first-party and third-party cookies on your device and consent to the disclosure of your personal information to our third party service providers or advertising partners to optimize your experience, analyze traffic and personalize content. He took $777,000 from the full suitcase and slapped it on the dont pass line. After reading about Benny Binion, learn about other famous gangsters of the 1920s. [16][17], Binion lost his Nevada gaming license in 1951, and was sentenced to a five-year term in 1953 at Leavenworth federal penitentiary for tax evasion. Though he was only 42, Noble could have passed for 60. But Benny Binion was now part of the Las Vegas establishment, which meant that his feud with Nobleand particularly the publicity generated by the brutal murder of Mildred Nobleput a lot of heat on national crime organizations. Benny Binion died on Christmas Day, 1989, of heart failure. 1969. He has a Christian religion. In 2004, federal agents seized $1 million from the Horseshoe's bankroll to satisfy unpaid union benefits, forcing its closure and eventual sale to Harrah's Entertainment. There had always been a dispute over how many bullets were fired from Bennys .45. In 1980, the little mining town of Clayton, Idaho was a two-bar town it still is to look at it on Google maps. Although Murphy and Tabish were convicted in their first trial, a second jury failed to convict. He was in the same courtroom on the circuit where his father, grandfather and great-grandfather tried cases as the elected prosecutor for more than 80 years. He almost never wore a necktie and used gold coins as buttons on his cowboy shirts. Again the Cat escaped with his life, but his odds were diminishing fast. Dave Berman said if he raised it, hed kill him. To a gangster whod racked up multiple murders, the threat wasnt much of a deterrent. You dont know when good deeds will pay dividends, Binion says, so its better just to do them. After his wifes death, Noble went a little crazy, spending hours alone staring at a photograph of her flower-bedecked coffin. He was losing face with everybody in the rackets.. Funeral mass will be celebrated at 10:00 a.m., Tuesday, August 2, 2022, at St. Ann's Catholic Church in Canyon. But before he became the patron saint of World Series Poker, Binion lead the Texas underground in a vicious, nefarious gambling war that lasted over fifteen years. [5] In addition to his moonshining, in 1928, Binion opened up an even more lucrative numbers game. Binion died in Las Vegas in 1989.. He was kind of a fast liver, says the understated Binion, who would probably describe Secretariat as kind of a fast runner. Benny had a talent for knowing exactly who and where he was and for sensing when it was time to fold his hand and go home. Noble was a city boy, raised in West Dallas, which also spawned such infamous outlaws as Clyde Barrow, Bonnie Parker, and Raymond Hamilton. "People want good whiskey, cheap, good food . But within a few years, Binion would change the casino game and put the so-called Glitter Gulch on the map. When Benny loaned $30,000 to Clark County sheriff Ralph Lamb, for example, he didnt expect Lamb to repay the money, but he expected Lamb to be there for him when he needed a favor. In February 1951, Noble attacked an associate of the late Lois Green outside a West Dallas grocery store and got his earlobe bitten off. Every year during the NFR there is a large rodeo stock auction called "Benny Binion's World Famous Bucking Horse and Bull Sale. Jack and Ted took over as president and casino manager, respectively, in 1964. Ted was under nearly constant scrutiny from the Nevada Gaming Commission from 1986 onwards for his involvement in drugs and associating with known organized crime figures. With electrifying details and piquant . You used to give me hamburgers.'. His checkered history includes murders and a reputation for getting rid of anyone who got in the way of his business dealings. Brown. Binion spent 42 months behind bars for income tax evasion and state charges of operating an illegal policy wheel. On New Years Eve, exactly a week after Lois Green was cut down, Noble walked out onto his front porch and into the beam of a spotlight and the hail of automatic rifle fire. As usual, Bennys timing was perfect. For Bennys eighty-third birthday party, in November 1987, 18,000 friends and admirers showed up. Binions son Ted recalls that his father was going to raise the keno limit to $500. Born in Pilot Point in Grayson County in 1904, the son of a layabout who drank up the family inheritance, Benny left home at fifteen, bumming around El Paso and the DallasFort Worth area, punching cattle, trading horses, gambling, bootlegging, getting in a little trouble but nothing he couldnt handle. As for the skid-row bum, Bob Minyard, he became one of Binions regulars after that. By August of 1961, 24-year-old Jack Binion, was seeking city gaming approval to buy another 20% of the . This was a betrayal that could not go unchallenged. Even in his later years, he adapted with the times as the casino industry in Vegas evolved. Nevertheless, U.S. district judge Roger Foley, Sr., whose son Thomas was one of Bennys lawyers, dismissed the case. But a mellower, more mature Benny was content to buy a newspaper ad calling Laxalt a welsher. Ted Binion's House (Former) Ted Binion was a wealthy U.S. gambling executive and one of the sons of famed Las Vegas casino magnate Lester Ben "Benny" Binion, owner of Binion's Horseshoe. After the Cowboy suffered two major heart attacks and surrendered even a pretense of control, the rough stuff got out of hand. The FBI showed the dossier to a federal judge, who, as Wade recalls, read it and was incited to remark, Im gonna get that S.O.B. Benny was a product of turn-of-the-century Texas, when gambling was an accepted occupation and killing was a proper way of settling things, Old West style. His parents kept him out of school due to precarious. A Texas jury convicted Binion of tax evasion. He decided to make a new . One was a federal judgeship for Bennys friend and lawyer Harry Claiborne, the second was an exemption from interstate trucking regulations for a business acquaintance in Oklahoma, and the third was a pardon for himself. Everyone in the rackets was making big money by this time. 102 Years Later, She Died Of COVID-19, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. The Binion family lived here from 1947 until Benny passed away in 1989. Jack took his show to Mississippi and Louisiana and has been hitting home runs "out of the park" ever since . (This narrative is disputed as fact and is most likely a myth. Work through the federal courts, Wade reasoned, nail Binion on charges of income tax evasion, then hit him with gambling charges after the feds had returned him to Texas. The specialty of the house was (and still is) generous drinks and Bennys greasy, fiery chili, made not from Chill Wills recipe as advertised, but from Smoot Schmids old Dallas jailhouse recipe. Benny's wife, Teddy Jane, managed the casino cage until her death in 1994. Ted Binion died on September 17, 1998, at the age of just 54 years old. He would later relocate to Nevada, where gambling was legal, and open the successful Binion's Horseshoe casino in downtown Las Vegas. He was a guy you could shake hands with, and feel you had met a real American character, said Howard Schwartz of Gamblers Book Club. She and her dad had a relationship like no other. Unlike later casinos, the Horseshoe didnt offer entertainment or fancy decor. Family. Benny Binion's World Famous Bucking Horse & Bull Sale is held at the South Point Hotel & Casino during. Keys fogged memory improved; of course he remembered. Jack Benny Binion was born on 21 February 1937, in Dallas, Texas USA, and is a businessman, best known to be the son of casino magnate Benny Binion. Outraged by the light sentence, Wade traveled to Washington, where he consulted with U.S. attorney general James McGrannery and other high officials of the Truman administration. The network was a living thing, as solid as gold. Binion wasted no time in setting up operations in the Southland once the city of Dallas ceased enforcing gambling laws. After Murray was killed, Noble recruited one of Bennys most valued men, Ray Laudermilkhe was Binions steerman, the guy who steered clients off the street and up to room 226. Instead, his son Jack became the licensee, with Benny assuming the title of Director of Public Relations.[28]. Ted's live-in girlfriend, Sandra Murphy, and her lover, Rick Tabish, were charged and convicted of his murder, but the verdict was later overturned. [23], After his trial and conviction in 1953, to cover back taxes and legal costs, Binion sold a majority share in the Horseshoe to fellow gambler and New Orleans oilman Joe W. In January 1988, Bennys grandson, 33-year-old Steve Binion Fechser, and two security guards were convicted of assaulting the two blackjack players. Generous to his friends, hospitable to his customers and dangerous to his enemies, Johnny Hughes remembers Binion through his own words. He almost got it in 1978 when his friend Robert Strauss, then the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, brought Bennys plight to the attention of the Carter administration. Binion had fled Dallas after his chosen candidate for sheriff was defeated and an anti-corruption crusading District Attorney came into office in the '46 election. Binion and his wife Teddy Jane had five children: two sons, Jack and Ted, and three daughters, Barbara, Brenda and Becky. Benny Behnen is an unlicensed executive at the Horseshoe. With Minyards murder Benny was on the spot, a former Dallas police captain explained later in an interview with the authors of The Green Felt Jungle, a book about Las Vegas. Benny Binion was a true pioneer who understood the makings of running a successful gambling casino by offering visitors and gamblers a better deal for their money: good food, fine whisky, lovely-looking women, private rooms, and beautiful central air suites to sleep in. [31], In January 1949, Binion arranged for Johnny Moss and Nick "The Greek" Dandolos to play a head-to-head poker tournament which ended up lasting five months, with Dandalos ultimately losing a reported two million dollars. Benjamin, Mr. Benjamin,' close enough to Binion under the circumstances, Dont you remember me? He negotiated Middle East peace, or tried. Pros flocked to the tournament, along with wealthy amateurs who didnt mind losing the money. He took over most of the gaming-related matters, along with son Benny Behnen (grandson of the late Benny Binion, founder of the Horseshoe). He was thrown into a cell jammed with fellow imbibers, angle-shooters, hustlers, and neer-do-wells of the sort that end up frequenting the local lockup after midnight. When you met Benny Binion, you felt youd been part of history.. Binion didn't consider himself to be very good at poker, nor did he participate much in competition or private cash games, preferring to organize them. The bullet-riddled bodies of policy runners were found from time to time beside railroad tracks or in fields of weeds near the Trinity River bottom, but the lawmen didnt bother to investigate. Fechser was awarded a prized sleeping space complete with a blanket and pillow. [15] Binion posted a reward on Noble's life, which eventually reached $25,000 and control of a Dallas crap game. 31. [34] Bred by Binion, ridden and trained by George Glascock, the solid black 15 hand gelding is the only horse to capture the NCHA World Championship three years in a row.[35]. Jos R. Ralat is Texas Monthlys taco editor, writing about tacos and Mexican food. [7] In retaliation, Noble planned to fly his private plane to Las Vegas to bomb Binion's house, but was restrained by local law enforcement before he could execute his plan. The younger Binion abused illicit drugs and alcohol. Benny Binion was born in Grayson County, Texas in November 1904 and passed away in December 1989. Never again would Benny Binion be allowed to hold a gambling license in Nevada, not that it really mattered. Benny Binion had a long-time rivalry with another Dallas gangster known as Herbert the Cat Noble. The Horseshoe is also believed to be the first major casino to offer 100-times-odds at craps (a patron with a bet on the pass or don't-pass lines could take or lay up to 100 times their bet in odds). Binion was indicted, but the indictment was later dismissed on the grounds that Binion had acted in self-defense. In November 1949 his wife was killed in a car bombing intended for him. In 1949, Noble discovered dynamite in his car before starting the engine. He would take the subject for a ride in the country, march him to a pre-dug grave, strip him naked, shoot him in the guts with a double-barreled shotgun, kick him into the hole, cover him with quicklime, and bury him while he was still alive, screaming for mercy. Hed brought $100,000 to bribe the judge, but the FBI threatened him and scared him off, Binion later claimed. Dallas County sheriff Bill Decker, the longtime deputy who had replaced the hapless Steve Guthrie in 1950, summed up his official take on Herbert the Cat this way: He was folks. The high maximum encouraged gamblers to try their luck at the Horseshoe. His gaming license was revoked in 1989, and he died in mysterious circumstances about a decade later. The show will be based on the biography Blood Aces: The Wild Ride of Benny Binion. They say it was hard for anyone to dislike Benny Binion, unless, of course, Benny had his gun in that persons ear and was in the process of blowing that persons brains into West Dallas, which Benny was known to do when displeased. That charitable streak paid off in this life, and can only help in the next one. The following year, a freeze-out format was introduced with a $10,000 buy-in, and the World Series of Poker was born. Two men assumed to be cheating at blackjack were hauled into the security office, beaten, and robbed. He was also 37% owner of the property on which Binion's Horseshoe Casino stood. A few years after playing waiter to the unwashed little ones, Key found himself a guest of the government after one of many long nights of partying. [36] Poker great "Amarillo Slim" Preston suggested as an epitaph, "He was either the gentlest bad guy or the baddest good guy you'd ever seen. It wasnt the classiest joint in town, but it was an authentic and unique experience. [11] By the end of 1936, Binion had gained control of most gambling operations in Dallas, with protection from a powerful local politician. Key Fechser, the grandson of Benny Binion, died Jan. 28 of an apparent heart attack while visiting his son, T.J. Fechser, in Santa Fe, N.M., family members inform me. Spent pill bottles and drug paraphernalia were found near his body. Benny did not cut his ties with Dallas, however. Fremont Street, the site of Binions casino, in 1952. But the Cat ultimately died when a mailbox bomb blew him up in 1951. A few days later Noble found another bomb in another airplane. He settled down. Nobody had to tell Benny Binion the party was over. He was 85 years old. . This time Noble was saved by the armored plating of his bulletproof car. ProRodeo Hall of Fame stock contractors such as Harry Knight, Lynn Beutler, Harry Vold and Mike Cervi have owned . The 138-acre Pahrump property where Binion's silver stash was hidden before his untimely death has been sold. In 1998, Binion's daughter, Becky, took over the presidency after a legal battle, and Jack moved on to other gambling interests. Benny's protg is Rick Rizzolo's impressionable 23 year old son Dominic. Binion died of heart failure at the age of 85 on December 5, 1989, in Las Vegas. Benny Binion was born on a Texas farm in 1901 and began trading horses for a living when he was just 10 years old. Benny often dispatched his grandson, Key Binion Fechser, to distribute what often was the only hot meal of the day for the African-American kids. By the late thirties he was a bodyguard for Sam Murray. Early Humans Used 2-Million-Year-Old Stone Balls To Get To Bone Marrow, New Study Finds, Her Sister Died Of Spanish Flu. His body was found in his home on Palomino Lane. He died on September 17, 1998. The Airmens Club was doing so well that in January 1946, Benny decided he deserved 40 percent of the action. Jack Binion's career began at an early. Binion pleaded guilty and paid his fine on the spot in cash. Not long before Benny died, some aging Dallas blacks, in Las Vegas for a class reunion, stopped by the Horseshoe to pay their respects to the Cowboy. H-E-Bs True Texas BBQ Restaurant Is Slipping. Benny Binion, the creator of the World Series of Poker has been implicated in a mysterious 40-year old murder case, hundreds of miles north of Vegas, in the Idaho mountains. The feud was like those old Tom and Jerry cartoons, except the bullets and bombs were real. Key was a free-spirited fellow who lived his life as fast as the law allowed and, in truth, a little faster. Benny Binion Michael Gaughan Gary Primm Terrance Watanabe Jack Binion net worth: Jack Binion is a casino owner who has a net worth of $500 million. After teaming up with the FBI, Wade found a judge who apparently vowed, Im gonna get that S.O.B. Nobody ever found or even looked very hard for his killerthough gangland rumor had it that the shock waves of the explosion knocked Jim Clyde Thomas, one of the premier hitters of the time, out of a nearby tree and broke his arm. Benny and Francis "Teddy" Jane Binion had five children. By the 1980s, Benny had amassed an 85,000-acre (340 km 2) ranch, according to the county recorder's office. In 1998, Binion's daughter, Becky, took over the presidency . The ranch was built in 1959 and acquired in the 1960s by Benny Binion, the original owner of the Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas, according to media reports. Monday, 23 December 2013. By the 1930s, Benny Binion was king of the Dallas rackets, under this motto: Do your enemies before they can do you.. Just before the plane took off, police stopped Noble. By continuing to browse or by clicking I Accept Cookies you agree to the storing of first-party and third-party cookies on your device and consent to the disclosure of your personal information to our third party service providers or advertising partners to optimize your experience, analyze traffic and personalize content. Two times each week, an officer from the vice squad visited all the gambling houses and did a head count of customers. [7] In August 1951, as Noble drove up to his mailbox, a bomb exploded nearby, killing him instantly. He has a zodiac sign that is Leo. Mafia hitman Jimmy the Weasel Fratianno had testified that Benny had hired him to kill a gambler named Russian Louie Strauss, which the FBI knew was not true. Frank Sutton, a detective sergeant with the Las Vegas metropolitan police department, says, The Horseshoe was the only casino in town that didnt believe in calling the police. Semantic distinctions concerning loans, gifts, and contributions were not the sort of thing that got people confused or caused them to lose sleep. The danger to high-stakes gamblers was from robbers, not cops. Gambling executive Ted Binion, son of the casino owner Benny Binion, died more than 20 years ago in Las Vegas under suspicious circumstances. Murder was also technically illegal, but in the spirit of those times it was usually easier to beat a murder rap than to get exonerated for breaking and entering. It was the first time someone had actually defied him and lived. Wade was so determined to get Binion that he had an assistant DA furnish the FBI with an extensive dossier outlining Bennys criminal history, real and alleged. He noticed they liked to gamble an . Inside the Decades-long Effort to Commemorate a Notorious Waco Lynching, How Florence ButtNot Her SonLaunched the H-E-B Empire. Benny disagreed. The ranch property is in the middle of Pahrump behind Walmart near Highway 160 and Wilson Road. Until recently, the dealers wore jeans. He was 55. His death has since been the subject of much scrutiny, largely due to his death being as mysterious as the life he lived.. Every weekend thousands of troops poured into town. He was the son of Benny Binion, the proprietor of Binion's Horseshoe in. Benny had built a goldmine with Binion's Horseshoe. Through the years, he raised some of the best bucking and pickup horses in rodeo. If his son and grandson had inherited this talent, they wouldnt be facing federal racketeering charges today. Becky bought out her brother Jack 's share in the Horseshoe Club a few years ago. The following September, another high-speed chase ended when Nobles car overturned. Noble and Laudermilk set up several lucrative policy wheels and a downtown craps game at a joint called the Airmens Club, near the intersection of Pacific and Ervay. Hell, yes, he remembered gunning down Ben Frieden in 36. A day or so after Green was killed, the Groceryman arrived in Las Vegas to assassinate Benny but was captured instead by some of Bennys gangsters, taken to the desert for rehabilitation, and returned to Dallasostensibly with a mission. He had a lot of his grandpa in him, attorney David Chesnoff says. This story is from Texas Monthlys archives. Benny apparently was under the misapprehension that U.S. district judge Ben Rice was prepared to give him probation in exchange for a gift of $100,000. It was by his grandfather's side a young. Key was especially good with young people, and he also had a unique ability to be friendly with all different kinds of people, from very sophisticated people to people who were down on their luck.. The business of Vegas was gambling, which meant that everyone could be more out-front. Benny Binion, who shifted his operations from Dallas to Las Vegas in the late '40s, was pictured on the steps of the federal courthouse in Waco in 1953. Green was the nastiest, most depraved hit man of his time. [33] However, by 2006, the tournament's main event (not including all of the other events) would have 8,773 entrants. The official order to close came by hand when a posse of armed U.S. He said, When I realized how good it could be up here, I said, Let em have Texas.'. Benny wanted two things: a pardon, and a federal . Benny got a suspended sentence for that killing. In 1983 at age 49, she died of a drug overdose, an apparent suicide. Someone was just saying that if they opened up his body theyd say, We cant use these organs. But the last 10 years or so he really behaved himself. Cheating was a way of life for the gamblers and gangsters whom Binion soon befriended. Benny Binion went to the White House and had lunch with President Jimmy Carter's secretary. Claiborne got his judgeship and was later impeached for income tax evasion. Back in Dallas, Henry Wade had moved into the district attorneys office when Will Wilson was elected to the state supreme court, and was plotting a strategy to get Benny behind bars. This is the true story of a gambling icon. Benny Binion at the 1979 World Series of Poker. State senator E. L. Nores, who appeared before the commission as a character witness for Binion, claimed that Bennys only limitation was his unbounded generosity. It remains a unique home with its rustic "Old West" ranch style incorporating native stone and log construction and sweeping veranda. His face was gentler and rounder, his blue eyes cloudy and not so hard, his waist and hips going to fat, his voice husky but good-humored. At Christmas the Binion gang passed out turkeys to regular customers. Bennys eldest child, Barbara Binion Fechser, was a drug addict and died from an overdose in 1983, an apparent suicide; and his youngest son, Ted Binion, pleaded guilty to a drug charge in 1987. The man had thousands of friends, a fair number of enemies, and the good sense to tell the difference. The reform administration in Dallas kept an eye out for Binion even after he moved to Vegas. Born on Nov. 20, 1904 in Pilot Grove, Texas, Binion spent his early years trading horses instead of going to school. [10] By the early 1940s he had become the reigning mob boss of Dallas, and was seeking to take over the gambling rackets in Fort Worth. Todays installment of What Are They Hiding? is a primer that defines a public record and explains how a person who wants public information can go about getting it. They called him the Cowboy, for reasons that had to do with guns, not horses. He was the first in the downtown Glitter Gulch to replace sawdust-covered floors with carpeting, the first to dispatch limousines to transport customers to and from the casino, and the first to offer free drinks to players.