A life lost in Sin City

THE FIRST MONTANA snow swirls across the broken yellow line like sand in a desert, dancing in the wind across the stretch of Highway 200 between Missoula and Bonner. A 2010 GMC Denali speeds down the slippery road five miles per hour over the speed limit.

Missoula's most notorious man reaches to the control panel and turns off the defroster.

"I'm gonna let the windows ice up," Rick Tabish says with a grin, "we're Montana boys."

Tabish has spent a lifetime building a reputation for pushing the limits of the law, but he says that the biggest part of that reputation isn't deserved. He admits that he drives recklessly, but is adamant that he didn't kill former casino tycoon Ted Binion, and that he only dug up Binon's silver as a favor to his famous, dead friend.

"I was never a great role model and I did a lot of bad things," he says, "but I've never killed anybody."

It has been 10 years since Tabish was convicted of murdering Ted Binion, the casino manager and heir to Binion's Horseshoe casino in Las Vegas, and then stealing $8 million worth of silver from Binion's underground vault.

Tabish was in the news in Las Vegas every day for years. At least four books were written about him. A Lifetime movie was made about him. But he says his true story has never been told.

After 10 years in different prisons in Nevada, Tabish left Sin City for good after the murder conviction was overturned and he finished his time in prison on other charges. In May 2010, he returned home to serve out parole at his parents' house in Missoula.

Now, he works for his dad, comes home to a dinner made by his mom and spends his weekends watching his nephew's flag football games. He secludes himself from the world that he says betrayed him, and sticks with the people he can trust.

Tabish leaves his parents' house in Missoula every morning at 5 a.m. to work out and then heads to his dad's petroleum company to work as "the extra guy," doing whatever job needs to be done.

The white, five-mile drive from the River City Grill, where Tabish ordered "The Trucker" for breakfast, to his office reminds him of the ride to maximum security Ely State Prison almost a decade ago.

Toward the end of the five miles, the Denali speeds through the snowy mountain gates back into his hometown.

A TWO-DECADE ROLLERCOASTER of money and power started and stopped in the same place for Tabish: prison.

Twenty-two years of earning a reputation as the tough guy — known around Missoula as the school bully who stole a $600,000 painting from a local attorney — culminated in 1987 with a charge of criminal possession with the intent to distribute.

Tabish got out of Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge one year into a three-year sentence.

In 1993, he started his first business, Wash Works, washing big trucks, but one small business wasn't enough. MRT Transportation. Tele-pro communications. Neway Transport Company LLC. MRT Contracting. MRT Leasing. Mon Tel Communications.

Over five years, Tabish started seven businesses — worth $3.7 million — in Montana and Nevada. Most of his commercial success came when he moved to Las Vegas in 1994. He brought his MRT tag with him, starting different businesses hauling heavy loads, blasting for pits, drilling and telemarketing.

He made $800,000 to $1 million per year and the money bought him a life Montana couldn't offer. He surrounded himself with gambling, drugs, women and the best friends Las Vegas could sell.

"I got intoxicated with the power," he said.

One night, at a urinal in the bathroom of Piero's, an Italian restaurant and club frequented by the rich and powerful, Tabish met Ted Binion.

Tabish knew it was Binion right away. Binion was a Las Vegas legend; he ran the Horseshoe Casino, the home of the World Series of Poker. His father, Benny Binion, was one of the founders of the modern Las Vegas, and the Horseshoe was his family's gold mine.

Tabish told Binion that he was from Montana, which immediately sparked Binion's interest. Binion had a ranch in Jordan, Mont. and loved talking about it. That night, Tabish made his biggest friend.

"He was a rich, drug addict, alcoholic cowboy," Tabish said. "Everybody treated him like royalty — casino royalty — and that includes me."

They were around each other almost every day in the months leading up to Binion's death. They'd share cowboy stories, Tabish said, or just hang out or talk business. Binion also hired Tabish for side jobs — hauling, building, whatever he needed.

So, when Binion wanted to bury his treasure in the desert like a real cowboy, whom else would he turn to but his Montana jack-of-all-trades? In July of 1998, Tabish built the vault and buried the silver that would round out his rollercoaster ride in Las Vegas.

LESS THAN TWO days after Binion was found dead of what coroners originally called a drug overdose in his Las Vegas mansion, Tabish drove 90 minutes east of the city toward the desert town of Pahrump, Nevada — population 30,000.

He drove to an open field where the town's two major roads intersect.

He drove to a plot of land bordered by a Burger King and a Smith's Food King.

He drove to a place that has no business being lit and security guards shouldn't patrol — but it was, and they did.

Tabish drove to a vault that he had filled with $8 million dollars worth of silver and buried in the middle of nowhere for his friend.

"Why in the hell would you put it where everybody could sit there and see it?" Tabish remembers asking Binion before building the vault. "It's a target."

"Well, that's the best part," Binion replied. "Who's going to come rip it off?"