Sandy Murphy's first attorney was Oscar Goodman, a personal friend of Ted Binion's, who became famous for defending clients like Mike Tyson, Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo, reputed Chicago mob boss Tony "The Ant" Spilotro (who, one report claimed, once put a rival's head in a vise and squeezed out his eyeballs) and La Cosa Nostra financial wizard Meyer Lansky. Goodman left the Murphy case to run for mayor, which he now is. Both Murphy and Tabish are currently appealing their convictions.

On March 13, Murphy fired her top appeal lawyer, Thomas Pitaro, because in his capacity as court appointed co-counsel in the Rudin case, he's associating with two Vegas investigators who worked on the Murphy case -- though only one of them worked for the prosecution -- and are now involved in the Rudin defense.

And the coziness gets even cozier. Earlier, Rudin, Murphy and a young woman named Jessica Williams ("a former stripper with a genius-level IQ," as Court TV identifies her) found themselves sharing the same cell. Williams was recently convicted of driving with drugs in her system after swerving off a highway and killing six teenagers who were doing roadside cleanup; she'll be sentenced on March 30th. However, the three are no longer cellmates, as Rudin complained that Williams and Murphy were behaving "inappropriately." What precisely Rudin meant by "inappropriately" was never made clear and, indeed, no bad behavior was proved, but the three were separated anyway.

See what I mean? It's a story that gives and gives and gives. Then gives more. And more. It just won't quit. But that, after all, is the Vegas way.

As Rudin's trial lumbers forward, the Stratosphere Tower, long ago completed, looms over Las Vegas' constantly morphing skyline. Meanwhile, down below, the business of America's most exciting, dazzling and creepy city continues as usual -- the magnetism of the desert's dark star pulling in free-spending visitors from across the globe.

Of course, most of those visitors are probably not even aware of the Rudin trial or the Binion case or any of the others. They're untouched by (and uninterested in) Las Vegas' eerie soul. They're just average, middle class people like you and me. And the Freeling family.

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