Harveys Casino Lake Tahoe Explosion
A quarter-century after an extortion attempt made national news, the Harvey’s explosion will once more appear on televisions coast to coast.
Harveys Resort Hotel suffered an explosion from a 1,000-pound bomb on August 27, 1980, that left a crater three stories deep when it was detonated by the FBI. (The area around the hotel had been cleared and no one was injured.). All reviews lake tahoe cabo wabo slot machines poker room across the street sports book sage room underground tunnel gaming tables hard rock cafe friendly dealers table games get away harveys casino hotel starbucks harrahs service rooms arcade concert. JCraig wrote a review Dec 9. This hotel and casino in Stateline, Nevada offers live entertainment and various dining options. Heavenly Ski Resort is less than 10 minutes' drive away. Harvey's Lake Tahoe features a 4,800 square yard casino with nonstop gaming excitement. After gambling in the casino, guests can go for a swim in the year-round, outdoor pool or enjoy the stunning views of the Sierra Mountains from the hot tub. Harveys Lake Tahoe Casino. Harveys Lake Tahoe. Highway 50, Stateline, NV (775) 588-6611. The casino in Harveys is a more intimate and friendly setting than in some of the other gaming establishments in the state. In addition to the slot machines (including the Wheel of Fortune Super Spin) and table games (such as blackjack, roulette.
Episodes on the blast will be featured on both the Discovery Channel and A&E over the next month. “Deadly Payout” airs 10 p.m. Thursday on the Discovery Channel, Channel 28 in Carson Valley. The story will appear again 1 a.m. Aug. 26 and 4 p.m. Sept. 4.
A&E, Channel 39 in the Carson Valley, will air “Casino Bomber” on its program “City Confidential” at 8 p.m. on Sept. 17.
When John Birges Sr. was arrested in 1981 after his attempt to extort $3 million with a homemade bomb planted at Harvey’s Hotel Resort, he was building a new bomb to plant at Harvey’s or a bank.
Birges Sr., a landscaper in debt, was apparently hell-bent on recapturing at least $1 million lost to gambling and likely viewed the botched extortion attempt of casino owner Harvey Gross as fixable.
Birges’ actions brought international exposure to Lake Tahoe and is credited with tightening casino security.
Dwayne Kling, a retired Lake Tahoe and Reno casino executive, said Gross installed $385,000 worth of security equipment when Harvey’s was rebuilt after the attempt to defuse the 1,200-pound bomb failed and technicians ended up detonating the device. It shattered top-story windows and blew a three-story crater in the eastern portion of the casino, which was being prepped for a remodel.
The security equipment included cameras, recorders and monitors.
Douglas County Sheriff Ron Pierini, a captain at the Lake Tahoe substation in 1980, said “casinos got extremely tight” with security personnel at entrances and exits. Casino security “became more proactive” in reporting unknown objects, he added.
Days after Birges Sr. and his two cronies, Willis Brown and Terry Hall, wheeled the bomb into Harvey’s second story executive offices, other casinos at Lake Tahoe and the surrounding area received bomb threats from copycats.
“There were calls after the bomb went off,” Jerry Maple, sheriff of Douglas County in 1980, said in news accounts at the time. “Some callers said, ‘See what happened? The next one will be bigger.’ Others asked if it (was) too late to negotiate and some didn’t know the bomb had gone off.”
Kling, who worked at Silver Spur in Reno at the time, said the casino received a bomb threat by an anonymous person who said an explosive was in the hotel lobby. But the casino didn’t have a hotel. Thus no hotel lobby.
“In its own time frame it was a bad event but minor compared to the other three because of the loss of life,” Rocha said.
“It was a series of tremendous devastating events in Stateline, Las Vegas, Reno, back to Las Vegas,” Rocha continued. “They were the principal gambling destinations at the time. The state was reeling. Clearly the state was reeling.”
In addition to its place in Nevada’s history, the Harvey’s bombing brought more international attention to Lake Tahoe.
“When do places really capture people’s attention?” Rocha said. “And I’m saying that’s the period (Lake Tahoe) captured people’s attention.”
Birges died from liver cancer at the Southern Nevada Correctional Center in 1996. The Las Vegas Sun ran a three-paragraph notice on Birges’ death.
“I would say he’s now receded into obscurity,” Rocha said. “The event still has a dynamic, but I don’t think that many people remember (Birges).”
FBI agents, bomb squad technicians and others who worked on the case saw their experience in the bombing in demand. Bill Jonkey, an FBI special agent who worked the criminal investigation, toured the country, giving lectures on the bomb. He even assisted investigators at the Oklahoma City bombing site.
“We developed technology in the course of that crime scene investigation that was ultimately used in Oklahoma City,” Jonkey said.
Douglas County Sheriff’s Department bomb technicians who tried to defuse Birges’ bomb also participated in bomb investigations and lectures. Investigators had a unique opportunity to examine the bomb in the 33 hours or so between the time it was found Aug. 26 and detonated Aug. 27.
Map Of Lake Tahoe Casinos
Although technology has improved to neutralizing explosives, Jonkey said if the same bomb with at least eight trigger systems was slipped into Harvey’s today bomb experts would still scratch their heads.
“None of these improvements would not have definitely rendered that bomb safe,” Jonkey said.
Yet up-to-date security enhancements would block the bomb from being slipped into the casino in early hours, authorities said.
“I don’t know if they ever would get it inside if it happened today,” Pierini said. “I don’t even think they could get it in and I think that chances of apprehending the suspects are greater now.”
Harvey's Lake Tahoe Resort
Extortion attempts, a sign of the times a few decades ago, have since dwindled. Some attribute the more lucrative drug trade and other crimes. One law enforcement figure pointed out that in extortion cases someone has to always pick up the money.
Also more casinos are corporate owned. Part of the allure to extort Gross, authorities said, was he would be the sole decision-maker regarding his property and not a board of directors.
“Crime at Tahoe was a lot different then than it is today,” Pierini said. “It’s changed a lot. It truly has.”
Still, as fears of terrorism persist and desperate debtors will always hatch illogical plans to recapture money, the Harvey’s bombing underscores the fact that anything can happen anywhere.
“I don’t think people realize that message: You can live in a relative safe environment and safe community you can just never know (what) will happen,” Pierini said.