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1000 LBS OF DYNAMITE vs CASINO: The Largest Bombing Plot in Nevada History
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Jun 20, 2025
The shocking true story of how a disgruntled gambler planted a massive bomb in Harvey's Casino demanding $3 million ransom. Follow this incredible tale of the FBI investigation, the explosive standoff, and how authorities dealt with the largest attempted bombing-for-ransom in Nevada history. Learn how John "Jack" Birges, a mechanical genius and former Hungarian resistance fighter, orchestrated this audacious plot that changed casino security forever. 1000 LBS OF DYNAMITE vs CASINO: The Largest Bombing Plot in Nevada History --~-~~-~~~-~~-~--~-~~-~~~-~~-~--~-~~-~~~-~~-~- Like and subscribe will be greatly appreciated! 🙏 -~-~~-~~~-~~-~--~-~~-~~~-~~-~--~-~~-~~~-~~-~- Grow Your YouTube Channel Faster with vidIQ! Want to get more views, subscribers, and take your YouTube game to the next level? I personally use vidIQ to optimize my videos, find the best keywords, analyze trends, and crush the algorithm. Whether you’re just starting out or already growing fast, vidIQ gives you the tools, insights, and strategies you need to stand out. Start for free today and see the difference: 👉 https://vidiq.com/MCICM -~-~~-~~~-~~-~--~-~~-~~~-~~-~--~-~~-~~~-~~-~- 🌟 Earn Money by Inviting Friends! 🌟 Invite your friends to sign up through our link, and they get 50% off their first 3 months! You’ll earn 40% of any purchase they make (up to $50). The more friends you refer, the more you earn! 👉 Get started here: Join the referral program! Don’t miss out—start earning today! 💰
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0:00
early dawn on Tuesday 26th August 1980
0:04
the normally placid Stateline community
0:07
hugging the southern edge of Lake Tahoe
0:09
was wiping sleep from its eyes when an
0:12
unfamiliar delivery truck rattled up to
0:15
Harvey's Wagon Wheel Hotel Casino Two
0:18
men in white jumpsuits unloaded what
0:21
they claimed was the latest photocopier
0:24
something the accounting staff had
0:26
supposedly ordered weeks earlier It
0:28
weighed more than half a ton They
0:30
steered it through the employee entrance
0:32
rode the service elevator and parked the
0:35
monstrous crate in the second floor
0:36
executive office A note glued to the top
0:39
with electricians tape warned everyone
0:42
to stay back Within minutes a guard
0:44
tried to open the office door found the
0:47
lock gummed shut with epoxy and finally
0:49
muscled his way inside The crate wasn't
0:52
a copier at all It was a bomb holding
0:55
roughly ÂŁ1,000 of dynamite The warning
0:58
letter typewritten with chilling
1:01
precision demanded ÂŁ3 million in small
1:04
bills If even a single law enforcement
1:07
radio transmission entered the building
1:09
or if any attempt was made to tilt
1:12
freeze or x-ray the device the hotel and
1:15
its neighbors would vanish in flame The
1:19
extortionist promised a second assault
1:21
if he wasn't taken seriously True crime
1:25
fans brace yourselves investigators
1:27
would later remark because this incident
1:30
remains the largest attempted bombing
1:32
for ransom in Nevada history A thousand
1:36
vacationers had to be evacuated leaving
1:38
roulette wheels spinning unattended
1:41
while Douglas County deputies Tahoe
1:43
Douglas bomb techs and an army of FBI
1:46
agents descended on the scene The
1:49
specialists unspooled portable X-ray
1:52
film slid sheets against the thick steel
1:55
skin and prayed the shutter click would
1:59
not trigger catastrophe The X-rays
2:02
returned ghostly images Twin metal boxes
2:06
toggle switches labeled from 1 through
2:09
28 triple redundant timing circuits tilt
2:13
switches spring-loaded mercury vials An
2:17
entire library of underworld secrets
2:19
packed into one malicious machine
2:23
Outside locals watch from behind
2:25
barricades Skiers stepping off summer
2:28
chairlifts gawkked at the column of
2:31
police cruisers Helicopters thuttered
2:33
above the pine treetops searching for
2:35
any white van whose driver might fit the
2:38
unknown bomber Reporters muttered about
2:41
organized crime Though in truth this act
2:45
had been engineered by a single furious
2:48
man John Jack Burgess a Hungarian
2:52
refugee turned Fresno landscaper who
2:55
owed Harvey's
2:57
$115,000 in gambling markers A
3:00
mechanical genius and former Hungarian
3:03
resistance fighter Burgers had spent
3:06
months welding the bomb inside his
3:08
garage while his teenage sons helped
3:11
haul stolen dynamite from a quarry The
3:14
extortion instructions were elaborate
3:17
Burges wanted the cash air dropped along
3:19
a desolate stretch of Highway 50 then
3:22
placed in yet another vehicle then flown
3:25
by helicopter to a second way point The
3:29
FBI played along loading a helicopter
3:32
with 5,000 genuine dollars and duffel
3:35
bags filled with scrap paper At 11 that
3:38
night the chopper skimmed the Black
3:40
Canyon its pilot wearing a hidden
3:43
microphone so agents could track every
3:46
word Midnight passed No beacon no signal
3:51
only the rushing wind Burgess lost his
3:54
nerve never appeared and the pilot
3:56
returned empty-handed The standoff
3:59
dragged into Wednesday then Thursday
4:03
tension mounting by the hour With no
4:06
fresh contact from the bomber and
4:08
fearing hidden timers they made a
4:10
fateful decision On 28th August 1980 at
4:15
3:55 in the afternoon bomb technicians
4:19
fixed a shaped charge to the top control
4:22
box hoping the cutting blast would shear
4:24
the circuitry before the main charge
4:27
sensed
4:28
trouble 5 4 3 2 1 A crack of light and
4:35
concrete dust erupted Windows throughout
4:38
the valley shattered but the mountain
4:41
did not fall The improvised procedure
4:44
worked The dynamite failed to sympathize
4:47
Harvey's upper floors sagged like a
4:49
broken spine Yet nobody died
4:52
Investigators collected paint chips a
4:55
smear of blood on one weld seam
4:58
fragments of toggle switches and spent
5:00
the next 40 days combing every cubic
5:03
inch of the crater learning cataloging
5:07
and vowing this dark history would never
5:09
repeat The extortion case seemed cold
5:13
until the reward doubled to half a
5:15
million dollars The following winter a
5:18
Fresno motel owner phoned the hotline
5:21
She had seen Burgess's white van leave
5:24
her parking lot at 4:30 the very morning
5:27
the bomb appeared Agents swarmed the
5:30
Sanwaqin Valley interviewed Burgess's
5:33
sons recovered 600 lb of dynamite buried
5:37
in a dry creek and eventually arrested
5:40
the patriarch on 16 August 1981
5:44
At trial 4 years later he smiled
5:47
defiantly while prosecutors displayed
5:50
the pipework the soldering iron the
5:53
schematic scrolled on butcher paper He
5:56
received life without parole dying of
5:59
liver cancer in
6:01
2005 That explosive saga could have been
6:04
the climax of any crime documentary Yet
6:07
the neon capital of the Mojave Desert
6:10
was only warming up for an even wilder
6:13
decade
6:14
Shift the calendar forward to the winter
6:17
solstice 21 December
6:20
1998 In glittering Las Vegas Bank of
6:23
America's ATM clearing center prepared
6:26
to receive night deposits from 12,000
6:29
cash machines across three states Three
6:33
custodians husband wife and the wife's
6:36
little sister arrived in their weathered
6:38
van to wax floors and empty trash bins
6:42
Out of the shadows leapt two masked men
6:46
brandishing 9 mm pistols They bound the
6:49
crew with flex cuffs barked orders into
6:53
walkie-talkies and stage managed every
6:56
second The gunman seemed to know the
6:58
janitor's access code The staggered
7:00
arrival schedule of the Lumis guards
7:03
even the blind spots between security
7:05
cameras At 11:30 sharp the Lumis truck
7:09
backed into the bay One guard dialed the
7:12
alarm company for clearance Routine So
7:16
routine he never sensed danger The vault
7:19
door swung wide revealing
7:23
$1,188,000 stacked in bricks and the
7:26
robbers
7:27
pounced "Nobody be a hero!" one yelled
7:31
but a pistol discharged accidentally the
7:33
slug ricocheting into a guard's chest
7:37
Blood pulled on polished marble while
7:39
the crew scooped cash into nylon duffles
7:43
sprinted to a white Chevy S10 pickup and
7:46
vanished into suburban streets A shaken
7:49
truck driver told police he'd seen the
7:52
switch Two figures tossing bags into the
7:56
Chevy then abandoning it for a white GMC
7:59
Julie That Chevy it turned out belonged
8:02
to the Las Vegas Police Maintenance
8:04
Fleet stolen days earlier Now the
8:07
detectives had a partial tag a make and
8:11
a thundercloud of rage They issued an
8:14
APB By dawn the Julie surfaced on a
8:17
sleepy culde-sac A neighbor recalled yet
8:20
another vehicle rotating through the
8:22
same curb space earlier Three layers of
8:25
anti-surveillance The FBI sensing an
8:29
outside job rather than an employee leak
8:32
pumped
8:33
$50,000 into a reward fund keyword
8:36
heaven for any true crime headline The
8:40
break came from the strip club circuit
8:43
An informant whispered that dancer
8:45
Jennifer Arden stage name Fuzbot had
8:48
been showering friends with fresh $100
8:51
bills Agents traced her phone number to
8:55
a trailer on the city's ragged outskirts
8:58
The white GMC rolled into the driveway
9:02
like a smoking gun SWAT burst in
9:05
arrested Riley Bates Jennifer's
9:07
boyfriend and cracked open a brand new
9:10
safe hiding
9:12
$50,000 plus bricks of marijuana Riley
9:16
insisted he was only a pot dealer Agent
9:20
smiled politely but brought in master
9:23
interrogator Brett Shields under
9:26
flickering strip mall lamplight Riley
9:29
folded He named the gunman His older
9:32
brother Robert Bates and Robert's
9:34
martial arts buddy Timothy Scott
9:36
Blackburn Robert was partying at Luxaw
9:40
burning cash on penthouse suites and
9:43
designer drugs He surrendered without a
9:46
struggle too intoxicated to form
9:48
sentences Blackburn was not so tame
9:52
Metro police and FBI lucky 13 moved on
9:56
his tracked house near Henderson As
9:59
agents approached the front door a black
10:02
SUV squealled into the driveway then
10:05
fishtailed away Inside sat Blackburn's
10:08
sister-in-law The fugitive had vated
10:10
backyard fences vanishing into the
10:12
desert grid K9 units sniffed him out
10:15
beneath the wooden deck two blocks away
10:17
Ankle holster empty Ski mask in his
10:19
waistband Palms scraped raw from cinder
10:22
block landings The duff of money hidden
10:24
in the doghouse $900,000 soaking in
10:27
kibbled dust Charges piled up like
10:29
casino chips Armed robbery kidnapping
10:32
attempted murder Blackburn and Robert
10:36
Bates cooled their heels at North Las
10:38
Vegas detention center awaiting trial
10:41
But organized crime mythologies feed on
10:43
desperation and Blackburn refused to be
10:47
caged On 11th August 1999 his wife
10:51
Sophia visited the jail During contact
10:54
hours she produced a mini tool from her
10:57
keychain loosened the security glass and
11:00
slipped her husband a small pistol
11:02
previously stashed beneath a pay phone
11:05
Blackburn wriggled through the opening
11:08
barreled into the sallyport and exploded
11:11
into daylight firing Guards returned
11:14
shots Sophia screeched up in an Isuzu
11:17
Rodeo and the couple plus their two
11:19
young daughters blazed off
11:22
campus Now Las Vegas had a family on the
11:25
run thriller worthy of any unsolved
11:27
mysteries countdown Although tragically
11:31
it would end in no mystery at all FBI
11:35
task forces raided every friend cousin
11:38
and ex-sparring partner They arrested
11:41
Blackburn's brother for aiding escape
11:43
seized Sophia's sister for lying and
11:46
squeezed the circle tighter than a
11:49
chokehold 17 days later agents tracked
11:52
the fugitive clan to a weekly rental
11:55
complex just off Tropicana Negotiator
11:59
Henry Schlump phoned the apartment He
12:01
could hear little girls giggling water
12:04
running in the bathroom Blackburn
12:06
barricaded his daughters in the tub for
12:08
safety he claimed 4 hours of pleading
12:11
and tactical patience followed SWAT
12:14
snipers poised across the courtyard
12:17
Blackburn spoke of honor of nightmares
12:20
of never going back to prison Then a
12:23
single shot SWAT kicked the door but
12:26
arrived moments too late Blackburn had
12:29
murdered Sophia shot both children and
12:32
turned the gun on himself One of the
12:35
darkest endings in Vegas crime families
12:38
law A horrific punctuation mark
12:41
underscoring the cost of violent ego
12:44
While Clark County coroner staff
12:46
processed that carnage a separate wave
12:49
of heists already threatened the strip
12:52
Enter Cuban immigrate Jose Viggoa stocky
12:56
scar-lipped former Soviet trained
12:59
commando who sailed the Mariel boatlift
13:02
in
13:03
1980 By 1998 Viggoa had assembled a
13:07
tight crew Brother-in-law Pedro Dwarte
13:10
sometime electrician Oscar Cisneros and
13:13
former box car thief Luis Suarez Their
13:17
spree began on 20 September 1998 at MGM
13:22
Grand Dressed in maintenance jumpsuits
13:25
Viggoa and Dwarte intercepted armored
13:28
couriers inside the casino leveled twin
13:31
Glock pistols one in each hand
13:34
swashbuckling style and vanished with
13:38
$350,000 Two months later detectives
13:41
found the getaway truck abandoned in the
13:44
San Remo lot Plates stolen from a junked
13:47
car Vin ground smooth daredevil
13:50
theatrics but no fingerprints Fast
13:54
forward to 28th June
13:56
1999 Desert in resort High noon
14:00
Tripledigit heat shimmering off asphalt
14:03
This time Vgoa's gang tried to jack the
14:06
entire Lumis van in front of shoppers
14:09
Gunfire crackled Two guards took rounds
14:13
One gunman was struck in the knee yet
14:15
still escaped limping thanks to level
14:17
three body armor Witnesses watched the
14:20
trio scurry into a silver SUV then
14:23
scrambled when the key failed It was the
14:26
wrong Chevy They hotwired the ignition
14:29
under shellfire lunged into traffic and
14:32
ditched the ride miles south At this
14:35
scene investigators recovered 45 caliber
14:38
casings a plastic water bottle and the
14:41
surgical glove a shooter had used to
14:44
stench his bleeding leg DNA later
14:47
matched Oscar Sisner Even so the case
14:51
stalled until 11 October
14:54
1999 At Mandandalay Bay exactly 6:06 a.m
14:59
the Goa repeated the MGM blueprint
15:02
yanking
15:03
$888,000 while employees restocked slots
15:07
for the breakfast crowd Security guards
15:10
tailed the suspects but VGOA shattered
15:13
their windshield with an AK round and
15:15
was gone Metro detective Dave Milby
15:19
rifling through evidence trays noticed
15:22
something quirky A storage facility
15:25
knight watchman named Joseé Viggoa had
15:28
inserted himself early in the MGM
15:30
inquiry His face body type and swagger
15:34
bore resemblance to Manderlay
15:36
surveillance stills The watchers became
15:39
the watched task force agents traced
15:42
strange cash down payments on a suburban
15:46
stucco home Though Viggoa's reported
15:48
income as a laborer barely cracked
15:51
$10,000 the mortgage they discovered was
15:54
actually signed by Oscar Cisneros whose
15:57
closet contained Polynesian shirts cash
16:01
count bands and stuffed behind drywall
16:04
two pipe bombs wired to garage door
16:07
openers Cisneros folded faster than wet
16:10
tissue once cornered He identified the
16:13
whole syndicate admitted the desert in
16:16
ambush and confessed that the crippled
16:18
knee was indeed his He described how
16:22
Viggoa's temper flared after every score
16:25
How the ring leader dreamed of a final
16:27
spectacular takeover robbery When SWAT
16:30
captured Viggoa on 7 June 2000 after a
16:34
100 mph chase down Flamingo Road the
16:38
Cuban fled on foot leaving his young
16:41
daughter in the back seat Pedro Dwarte
16:44
surrendered weeks later Cisneros
16:47
tormented by guilt or fear of
16:49
retaliation hanged himself inside Clark
16:52
County Jail leaving prosecutors to rely
16:55
on recorded interviews and ballistic
16:58
traces Yet the evidence was overwhelming
17:01
DNA on ski masks fiber transfers from
17:05
Manderlay carpet and Viggoa's
17:07
fingerprint etched in brass on a
17:10
magazine spring In 2003 the saga closed
17:15
Viggoa avoided the needle by pleading to
17:17
firstderee murder for the Ross dress for
17:20
less armored car killings plus 44 other
17:23
felonies He will breathe Nevada air only
17:27
through a prison ventilation shaft
17:29
Dwarte took 16 to 70 years Luis Suarez
17:34
captured in Florida accepted 6 to 15
17:37
after testifying These true crime
17:40
episodes stitched together across two
17:42
decades illustrate a Verete collage of
17:45
greed hubris and blood Harvey's bomb
17:49
born from one gambler's ruin Blackburn's
17:53
spiraling domestic siege Viggoa's
17:56
ruthless blitzkrieg against casino cash
17:59
cages Each story line exposes a
18:02
different corridor inside Nevada's
18:04
underworld labyrinth Infamous syndicates
18:07
powered by hatred of the house by
18:10
machismo by dreams of easy millions that
18:13
melted like desert mirages The societal
18:17
consequences linger Harvey's blast
18:20
prompted nationwide revisions to bomb
18:23
response doctrine Las Vegas Metro
18:26
modernized surveillance analytics
18:29
because of the Bates heist knitting
18:31
realtime license plate readers into
18:34
casino alleyways The Viggoa rampage
18:37
accelerated Nevada's armored guard armor
18:39
standards mandating rifle rated vests
18:43
and remote sensor door locks Today
18:46
visitors tossing dice under crystal
18:48
chandeliers rarely sense the invisible
18:51
fortresses humming behind the walls
18:54
Biometric vaults silent alarms fusion
18:57
center analytics cross-linking every
19:00
craps table to federal
19:02
databases Each protocol carries the DNA
19:06
of past tragedies Still the Mojave
19:09
lights continue to beckon dreamers and
19:11
drifters Some arrive seeking fortune
19:14
others to loot it History's ledger
19:17
reminds us that behind every jackpot
19:20
rings a shadow Organized crime
19:23
improvisers law enforcement adapts and
19:25
families innocent or complicit tow the
19:29
fault line between luck and doom That
19:32
tension keeps Las Vegas locked forever
19:35
in the imagination of real mafia stories
19:39
enthusiasts a neon theater where
19:42
unsolved mysteries might prowl even now
19:45
waiting for the next daring outlaw or
19:48
the next tireless investigator to step
19:50
into the glare Yeah