Silberman in S.F. Hospital; Note Released

Businessman Richard T. Silberman is recovering at a San Francisco psychiatric hospital after an attempt to kill himself, his wife, San Diego County Supervisor Susan Golding, said Thursday at a press conference.

In what Golding said was a suicide note found in her husband’s Las Vegas hotel room, Silberman wrote her that he was innocent of federal money-laundering charges but wanted “to leave with some parts still unshattered,” adding that “enough has been destroyed.” Golding read from that note Thursday as she struggled to hold back tears.

Silberman attempted suicide--by swallowing an overdose of prescription sleeping pills--because he felt he could not get a fair trial before U.S. District Judge J. Lawrence Irving, who is hearing the complex money-laundering case, Golding said. “He felt he could not receive a fair trial, and he did not want to destroy anything else,” she said.

Silberman, who was found unconscious in his fifth-floor Las Vegas hotel room two days after he abruptly vanished Feb. 15 from San Diego, is suffering from “severe depression,” Golding said. Silberman told his family he was going to Orange County. Instead, police said, he flew to Las Vegas.

Golding said she did not know how long her husband would remain hospitalized and offered no details of his treatment, but said he is “getting better and feeling better.”

A top aide to Edmund G. Brown Jr. when he was governor, Silberman was scheduled to stand trial April 10. Prosecutors said Thursday that they do not know whether Silberman’s hospitalization will postpone the trial. Irving’s law clerk said the judge could not comment on any particular cases.

Silberman, reputed mobster Chris Petti and three other men are accused of laundering $300,000 given them by an undercover FBI agent who allegedly had told them it was the proceeds of Colombian drug dealing. An FBI report released last Friday, the day Golding reported Silberman missing, alleges that Silberman confessed to the money laundering.

Federal prosecutors have filed papers asking Irving to revoke Silberman’s $500,000 bail. A hearing on that request is scheduled for Tuesday. Golding said she did not know whether Silberman will attend that hearing but said he “will definitely be ready for trial at some point.”

Golding said she did not know how many sleeping pills Silberman took or when he took them. Although he remembers taking the pills, he “doesn’t remember much about it after that,” she said.

Defense lawyer James Brosnahan has identified the pills as Halcion 2, a commonly prescribed sleeping medication. Golding said the pills were “in the house, that we used occasionally for transcontinental flights.”

After he was found, Silberman spent the next two days, until Monday, in a Las Vegas hospital, where Golding, other family members and Brosnahan joined him. Silberman was released after he was “able to walk on his own,” Golding said, and flew immediately to San Francisco, where he voluntarily admitted himself to the Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute, a 70-bed UC San Francisco hospital.

“He is getting better,” Golding said. “I do not know how long he will be at Langley Porter. A week, two weeks, three weeks, that’s for the doctors to say.”

A UCSF spokeswoman said state law bars her from providing any information about the psychiatric institution or its patients.

A psychiatrist who used to work at Langley Porter, however, said Thursday that the institute offers both inpatient and outpatient services. Treatment varies, though it often involves “both medication and psychotherapy to address individual treatment needs,” said the doctor, who asked to remain unidentified.

“Most of the inpatient adult wards are locked units and require a key to gain access,” the doctor said. The length of time that an inpatient--such as Silberman--might stay “can vary from days to weeks, again depending on individual treatment considerations,” the doctor said.

The institute has a nationwide reputation as being a “first-class” facility and is a “costly, costly place,” said the psychiatrist.

Silberman can leave “any time he wants,” Golding said.

The Las Vegas police officer who found Silberman also found the suicide note, Golding said. Though it was addressed to Golding, the officer opened it because “he was required to do that in the case of a potential suicide,” she said.

Lt. Randy Oaks, a Las Vegas police spokesman, could not be reached Thursday for comment on either the note or department policy. Detective Chuck Woodworth said no other Las Vegas police officer was qualified to comment on the Silberman case.

Golding said Thursday she had decided to read the note at the press conference and to make it available to reporters because there had been “a lot of speculation” about whether Silberman had tried to kill himself.

The note is dated Feb. 15, the last day Silberman was seen in San Diego and also the day Las Vegas police said Silberman checked into the Las Vegas Hilton. It is written on that hotel’s stationery.

In the version Golding distributed, she had blacked out several names she didn’t want publicized.

The second paragraph says, “I am innocent. Petti and Benjamin,” an apparent reference to key government informant Robert Benjamin, “know the truth--no drugs, no drug money--no make believe drug money--just the opposite. It’s too bad Judge Irving believed the FBI. His conclusions today are sadly wrong.”

In an opinion issued that day, Irving rejected a defense request to block the introduction of FBI testimony about comments Silberman made to several agents after his arrest last April and characterized those comments as “self-incriminating.”

Defense lawyer Brosnahan has repeatedly maintained that the judge’s characterization convinced Silberman that Irving had overstepped his authority and could not be fair, prompting Silberman’s disappearance.

Silberman took “nothing with him” to Las Vegas except a satchel that contained a newspaper article that mentioned Irving’s comment, Golding said.

Shortly before he left last Thursday, Silberman transferred a “sizable sum of money”--the proceeds from the sale of one of his houses--from an account he controlled to an account to which Golding has access, prosecutors said in the legal brief they filed Tuesday. Sources have told The Times that the amount may be as high as $1 million.

Golding maintained Thursday that she didn’t think there was “any connection” between the transfer and Silberman’s disappearance. She also said the couple has “no financial problems whatsoever.”

Golding also said she would be in San Francisco, at Silberman’s side, for about a week before she returns to her duties with the county board.

Note on Hotel Stationery Tells Wife to Thank Friends

This is the text of Richard T. Silberman’s letter to his wife, found by police in his Las Vegas hotel room Saturday afternoon. San Diego County Supervisor Susan Golding, Silberman’s wife, released the letter to reporters Thursday. She marked out some names in the text, indicated here by (blank) .

15 Feb. 1990

Dearest Darling:

I have had a fabulous time together with you. You are the greatest person, wife, mother--any one could ever hope for. Please try to think about and remember our great days.

I am innocent. Petti and Benjamin know the truth--no drugs, no drug money, no make believe drug money--just the opposite. It’s too bad Judge Irving believed the FBI. His conclusions today are sadly wrong.

The last few years I’ve done some silly things, and I am sorry for the pain and suffering I’ve caused you, the family--and others. But you know I love you like no other person on earth!

I want your life to be happy--you’ve accomplished an incredible amount in a very short time--your future is un-limited.

I love Sam and Vanessa tell them to just keep thinking of the great times we’ve had together. They are bright, beautiful and loving children--I know they will have happy, wonderful lifes.

Tell Karen, Craig and Jeff we’ve had more from God than any family could ever dream of; be happy, loving and look to the future. Thanks for Nicholas and Adam--what great gifts. Help them, love them the whole world is in front of them.

Please give my deepest heartfelt thanks to (blank) and (blank). I’ll never forget Mr. (blank). Thanks to (blank) and (blank) for standing by.

Be sure you thank (blank) and (blank). They will help you I am sure with the loose ends--for which Ireally apologize.

All my love to (blank) and (blank)--what great kids to get as a bonus. Give my Love to (blank) and all the kids. Tell (blank) we wouldn’t have gotten this far without her. I love her in a very special way.

(Blank) is the best father in-law any man could have--I have a deep love for him and your priceless mother--who will always be with us.

I am sorry our twosome couldn’t go on forever--But I want to leave with some parts still unshattered--enough has been destroyed. Please remember the Best--you are the best--you have given me more than I deserve--and I love you so very, very much.

Love,

Dick

P.S. I’m sorry for not thanking everyone--but please do so many have been so kind and supportive. I am sorry I’m in Las Vegas--But I thought that here they would let me sleep! Love. P.S. Car in SD airport back lot.