Binion downfall fictionalized in ‘Death in the Desert’ — VIDEO

By Christopher Lawrence Las Vegas Review-Journal

February 16, 2016 - 1:34 pm

If you were to stumble across the Michael Madsen movie “Death in the Desert,” which debuted today on video on demand and as a digital download, the story may sound more than a little familiar.

Here’s the official description: “Death in the Desert” is a love triangle set in the fast-paced, sometimes lonely world of Las Vegas. The life of Kim Davis, the young live-in girlfriend of legendary casino owner Ray Easler, is thrown upside down when she falls for Matt Duvall, the man Ray hires to bury his $20 million fortune of silver on the floor of the Nevada desert.

Ray Easler, Kim Davis and Matt Duvall are used as character names because, presumably, Bed Tinion, Mandy Surphy and Tick Rabish were a little too on-the-nose.

Madsen portrays Binion stand-in Easler in the fictionalized account that’s based on the nonfiction book “Death in the Desert: The Ted Binion Homicide Case” by Cathy Scott.

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