A device disguised as office equipment arrives at a Lake Tahoe casino, resists more than 30 hours of analysis and explodes during the best remote disarming attempt available. The evacuation prevents every casualty.
The bomb maker said it could not be disarmed. The bomb squad still had to try.
Early on Tuesday, 26 August 1980, two men in white coveralls wheeled what appeared to be an IBM photocopier into Harvey's Resort Hotel and Casino at Lake Tahoe.
It was not a photocopier.
The large metal device contained nearly 1,000 pounds of dynamite and an extortion note demanding $3 million.
The note warned that the device could not be moved or disarmed safely.
Investigators soon understood why.
The bomb incorporated multiple triggering systems inside a casing built to resist access. The FBI later described it as unlike any explosive device it had encountered.
Harvey's and nearby buildings were evacuated.
For more than 30 hours, specialists studied the device with X-rays and constructed models to understand its internal arrangement.
On Wednesday afternoon, 27 August, they attempted a remote procedure designed to separate the detonating components from the dynamite.
It failed.
The explosion tore through the casino and created a chasm extending through several floors.
Yet no one was killed.
No one was injured.
The evacuation had removed employees, guests and investigators from the immediate danger area before the attempt.
The blast destroyed much of the physical evidence, but investigators sifted through rubble, traced components and followed the extortion plan.
John Birges Sr was ultimately convicted. His two sons cooperated with investigators and received suspended sentences.
A full-scale model constructed for the criminal trial was later used by the FBI for bomb-technician training.
The device arrived on Tuesday.
Its defining event belongs to Wednesday: the day a bomb designed to defeat disarming efforts exploded inside a casino, after the building had been cleared well enough to save everyone.
An extortion device disguised as office equipment defeated more than 30 hours of analysis and a carefully planned remote disarming attempt, yet a large casino explosion caused no deaths or injuries because the evacuation worked.
The bomb squad could not save the casino. The evacuation saved every person inside it.
Evidence status
Sources
Federal investigative history
Original language: EnglishContemporary reporting
The Washington Post — Bomb Placed for Extortion Rips Casino · 28 August 1980
Original language: English