BOMBINGS Ep. 5 | “Harvey’s Casino, Part 1: A Simple Plan”

Infamous America

Black Barrel Media

True Crime, Documentary, History, Society & Culture

4.5 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 12 February 2025

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In the spring of 1980, John Birges hit rock bottom. For about 10 years, he was living the good life. But then his life started to fall apart. His gambling addiction caused major problems, and he desperately needed money. His solution is to build the perfect bomb and extort the money from his favorite casino, Harvey’s Wagon Wheel Resort and Casino in Stateline, Nevada. When he delivers the bomb to the casino, the authorities have never seen anything like it. The race is on to stop the bomb and catch the bomber. Join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/join Apple users join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes, bingeable seasons and bonus episodes. Click the Black Barrel+ banner on Apple to get started with a 3-day free trial. On YouTube, subscribe to INFAMOUS+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: hit “Join” on the Legends YouTube homepage. For more details, please visit www.blackbarrelmedia.com. Our social media pages are: @blackbarrelmedia on Facebook and Instagram, and @bbarrelmedia on Twitter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is brought to you by Sun Express Airlines.
0:04.0	Planning your next get-away? Early bird offers are here.
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0:13.0	Soak up the sun in Antalya or explore Izmir's vibrant streets.
0:18.0	Why settle for tea time when happy hour in Turkey awaits? These non-stop
0:22.5	flights won't last long. So book now, tan later, at sunexpress.com. Somewhere south of Lake Tahoe, Big John Burgess and his two helpers, Terry Hall and Bill Brown,
0:51.4	pulled off the road and stopped at a creek to take a piss.
0:55.0	Terry and Bill had been on a solid beer bender for at least two days,
0:59.0	and they had stopped to buy more beer a short while ago as they drove out of Tahoe,
1:04.0	so they needed the relief.
1:06.0	While they stood at the creek side, a curious thing happened.
1:09.0	Big John grabbed a homemade dolly out of the back of the white
1:13.1	cargo van they were driving and started to smash it to pieces. As he threw the pieces into the
1:18.9	creek, Terry and Bill inquired, what's going on, Big John? Why don't you want to keep the dolly?
1:25.3	An hour or so earlier, Terry and Bill had used the rolling contraption to deliver a heavy
1:31.0	machine to Harvey's Wagon Wheel Resort and Casino in Stateline, Nevada.
1:37.3	State line sits just inside the border of Nevada on the shores of Lake Tahoe, and Harvey's
1:42.5	casino butts right up against the state line between
1:45.5	Nevada and California.
1:48.3	In 1980, gambling was legal in Nevada, but not in California.
1:53.8	For people who visited the resort town of South Lake Tahoe, California, all they had to do was
1:59.1	drive two miles up the road to state line Nevada, and they
	...

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