The glamorous one-time topless dancer and her trucking contractor lover are accused of drugging and then suffocating casino boss Lonnie “Ted” Binion in a case that has links to a Chicago mobster and a fortune in buried treasure. Such has been the captivation with what the media refers to as “the crime of the century” that every moment is being beamed live from the courtroom and the blow-by-blow newspaper accounts may already stretch longer than the famous Las Vegas Strip. Binion’s large personality, his battles with drug addiction and his friendship with Chicago mobster “Fat Herbie” Blitzstein made him a subject of local fascination even before his death of a heroin overdose in September 1998. More importantly he was the son of legendary Horseshoe casino founder Lester “Benny” Binion, who came to Las Vegas half a century ago after being run out of Texas and who soon lived up to his reputation as a big-time poker player. The direct link to one of the town’s founding fathers made 55-year-old Ted Binion as close to Vegas royalty as you can get. (RIGHTS SOLD: St. Martin’s Press, Fall 2000, paperback)