In August 1980, an extortionist planted a thousand-pound bomb in Harvey’s Wagon Wheel Casino in western Nevada. Unless the owners paid him $3 million within 24 hours, he said, the bomb would go off and destroy the casino. In this week’s episode of the Futility Closet podcast we’ll describe the tense drama that followed and the FBI’s efforts to catch the criminal behind it.
We’ll also consider some dubious lawn care shortcuts and puzzle over why a man would tear up a winning ticket.
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Sources for our feature on the Harvey’s bombing:
Jim Sloan, Render Safe: The Untold Story of the Harvey’s Bombing, 2011.
Adam Higginbotham, “1,000 Pounds of Dynamite,” The Atavist 39.
“5 Charged in Harveys Bombing,” Associated Press, Aug. 17, 1981.
“Five Suspects Arrested in Harvey’s Extortion Bombing,” Associated Press, Aug. 17, 1981.
“Son Pitted Against Father in Harvey’s Bombing Trial,” Associated Press, Oct. 17, 1982.
Robert Macy, “Ex-Freedom Fighter Found Guilty of Bombing Hotel,” Telegraph, Oct. 23, 1982.
Melinda Beck, “A Real Harvey’s Wallbanger,” Newsweek, Sept. 8, 1980.
Phillip L. Sublett, “30 Years Later: Trail of Clues Led Authorities to Harvey’s Casino Bombers,” Tahoe Daily Tribune, Aug. 28, 2010.
Guy Clifton, “35 Years Ago Today: The Bomb That Shook Lake Tahoe,” Reno Gazette-Journal, Aug. 26, 2015.
A brief FBI article about the case.
Full text of the extortion note.
Video discussion of the case by retired FBI special agent Chris Ronay (transcript):
Listener mail:
The imgur gallery with the German saboteur cache is here — click the link “Load remaining 44 images” just above the comments to see the photo we mentioned.
The book quoted by Stephanie Guertin is Weapons of the Navy SEALs, by Kevin Dockery, 2004.
Video of workers spray-painting the ground in preparation for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Malcolm Moore, “China Officials Caught Spray-Painting Grass Green in Chengdu,” Telegraph, March 4, 2013.
This week’s lateral thinking puzzle was contributed by listener Matt Sargent.
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Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode.
If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at podcast@futilitycloset.com. Thanks for listening!