I never heard of this scandal
Did it make national news? Was the movie accurate?
Tomorrow's just your future yesterday!
Yes, it made national news multiple times starting with the silver arrests.
I don't know how accurate the movie, but I can say that in the news Binion was portrayed as a rich, quirky man, who... oh yea... happened to have a small drug problem.
I wonder how accurate the portrayal of the sister is. The character was F'ed up! She should be in jail herself or at least locked up in the psych ward.
I think it was noteable within certain circles (the Vegas crowd, poker players, crime "fans", etc.)
If interested in a more dramatic more detailed coverage of the events, read the semi-nonfiction book "Postively Fifth Street", the author James McManus
was in Vegas to report on their murder trial (and ended up making it to the FINAL TABLE at the WSOP main event!) and in the book he goes back in forth between the present events (i.e. the trial, and his tournament run) and the past (speculations on the events leading up to Binion's death, based on evidence and probability... and of course DRAMA).
Well-written book, recommended even for those not interested in poker OR even "crime novels". Still a fascinating read.
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Chipping away at a mountain of pop culture trivia,
Darren Dirt.