| A BYTE OUT OF HISTORY The Case of the Harvey's Casino Bomb | ||||||||||||||
| 08/26/09 | ||||||||||||||
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In the early morning hours of August 26, 1980—29 years ago today—men wearing white jumpsuits and pretending to deliver an IBM copy machine rolled a bomb into Harvey’s Resort Hotel and Casino in Stateline, Nevada, near Lake Tahoe. So began one of the most unusual cases in our history.
“Do not try to take it apart,” the note went on. “The flathead screws are also attached to triggers and as much as ¼ to ¾ of a turn will cause an explosion. … This bomb is so sensitive that the slightest movement either inside or outside will cause it to explode. This bomb can never be dismantled or disarmed without causing an explosion. Not even by the creator.”
The “creator,” we later discovered, was 59-year-old John Birges, Sr.—who wanted $3 million in cash in return for supplying directions to disconnect two of the bomb’s three automatic timers so it could be moved to a remote area before exploding. The device—two steel boxes stacked one atop the other—contained nearly 1,000 pounds of dynamite. Inside the resort, Birges made sure the bomb was exactly level, then armed it using at least eight triggering mechanisms. “We had never seen anything quite like it,” said retired Special Agent Chris Ronay, an explosives examiner who was called to the scene along with other experts. After being discovered, the bomb was photographed, dusted for fingerprints, X-rayed, and studied. Finally, more than 30 hours later, a plan was agreed upon: if the two boxes could be severed using a shaped charge of C4 explosive, it might disconnect the detonator wiring from the dynamite. Harvey’s and other nearby casinos in Lake Tahoe were evacuated, and on the afternoon of August 27, the shaped charge was remotely detonated. The plan was the best one available at the time, but it didn’t work. The bomb exploded, creating a five-story crater in the hotel. “Looking up from ground level,” Ronay said, “you could see TV sets swinging on electric cords and toilets hanging on by pipes. Debris was everywhere.” Fortunately, because of the evacuation, no one was killed or injured. To this day, the Harvey’s bomb remains one of the most unique improvised explosives devices (IEDs) the Bureau has ever come across.
“Today’s IEDs use more advanced electronics,” said Special Agent Thomas Mohnal, an examiner in our Explosives Unit, based at the FBI Laboratory in Quantico, Virginia. “Our techniques and tools for dealing with these devices are also more advanced,” Mohnal added, “but you still probably couldn’t build a bomb much tougher to defeat than Harvey’s.” Birges, Sr., said to be an inveterate gambler who had lost a substantial amount of money at Harvey’s, was caught (with the help of an alert clerk at a nearby hotel who had written down the license plate of the bomb delivery van) and convicted—he never did get the ransom money. His two sons, charged as accomplices, were given suspended sentences because they cooperated with authorities. Birges died in jail in 1996. Today, a mockup of the Harvey’s bomb—built for Birges’ trial—with all its booby traps and fusing mechanisms, is used for training purposes by our Laboratory Division. Tune in on Friday for a video that shows the actual explosion along with more details about the one-of-a-kind bomb and what we learned from our post-blast investigation. |
Harvey's Casino Bombing
Transcript
[Sound of police sirens, followed by large explosion]
Narrator: Chris Ronay, retired FBI Special Agent
Harvey's bomb was probably for me the biggest event, or the biggest bombing case I was ever involved with.
As the case developed we came to know that John Birges Sr. was the principal person involved in this case, along with his two sons, two other accomplices, and his girlfriend.
He needed money. His restaurant business was failing. It was an extortion to get money to save his business. He chose Harvey’s casino because he had lost money there. He said in this very involved letter that the device could not be disabled or moved. And that if the demand was met he would give instructions as to how to disable the bomb.
This device was a pretty sophisticated, quite complicated piece of machinery unlike anything we'd seen before, or anybody in the bomb disposal business had ever seen before.
What we know about it afterwards is that it virtually was undefeatable. There were eight fusing systems, as it turned out. The timer simply was one of them. The anti-motion switch was another. The float mechanism was another. The device was enclosed in a metal box and the lid of the box was secured by some flat head screws around the perimeter of the lid. Those screws were attached to wires and contacts so that if they were removed that would detonate the device. There were layers of rubber and metal on the inside of the metal box so that of an entry was attempted--a drilling or some inspection entry was made--that that contact would function the bomb.
When I got out there and got the full story it was reported that somewhere in the middle of the night these fellows delivered this bomb on a cart or a dolly, rolled it into the casino main floor into an elevator and took it up to the administrative offices with a cover over it that said IBM, and it was ostensibly a delivery of a piece of office equipment.
The group consensus was they would try to create a tool, a shape-charge tool that could disrupt the device, basically cut it in half--take the brains in the top box away from the brawn in the bottom box.
When the device did detonate as designed when the attempt was made to render it safe, it exploded as intended and we had terrific damage in that building. But fortunately no one was injured because there was time for evacuation.
The neighboring casinos weren't necessarily evacuated if they were in a safe area. So the people that were there on holiday and gambling began to make book on when the bomb would go off, or if it would go off. I mean the casinos set up the gambling procedures on this event.
And the crowds gathered around at a safe distance and the device was functioned.
[Sound of large explosion, followed by cheers]
And this horrific explosion took place and the crowds cheered and there was reveling. And since no one was hurt it seemed to be a celebration the tourists kind of enjoyed and took part in. But, of course, that was just the beginning of the FBI's work trying to process the scene and gather evidence.
After the blast went off we had a little shock effect as the magnitude of this crime scene. Most of the people that we brought to bear to investigate this, myself included, had considerable experience with bombings and post-blast investigations, but nothing of this size.
This was complicated by the fact that on a casino floor there were millions of dollars in negotiable instruments--money and casino chips, coins in the machines. All of that had to be recovered and considered while we're searching for evidence.
The casino operation wanted to open part of their gambling area that was not damaged. And they did build this big wall and put a big picture window in it so that the gamblers could watch the FBI process the crime scene for the next few weeks.
From start to finish this case was a learning experience for everybody. So, as bad as it was, although no one was injured, it was really a beneficial training exercise.