The ransom note stated that the bomb could not be disarmed even by the bomb builder, but if paid $3 million, he would give instructions on which combination of switches would allow the bomb to be moved and remotely detonated. The bomb was cleverly built and virtually tamper-proof. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) went to the spot that they believed to be the ransom drop, but Birges was waiting at a different location due to vague directions. Bombing Īs the mastermind behind the bomb, now-former millionaire Birges was attempting to extort $3 million ($10.7 million in 2022) from the casino, claiming he had lost $750,000 ($2.7 million in 2022) gambling there. Federal agents believed this destruction of the bridge to be a test run of the bomb later used at the hotel. Authorities later found additional hidden dynamite in an area adjacent to the creek. In June 1980, a dynamite blast in the area of north Fresno and Clovis destroyed the wooden-truss Dry Creek bridge located at the corner of Shepherd and DeWolf Avenue. His gambling debt and experience with explosives were primary pieces of evidence linking him to the bombing. From there, he emigrated to the United States.īirges built a successful landscaping business, but his addiction to gambling led to him losing a large amount of money and prompted the bomb plot. Eight years into his sentence in the gulag, he was released during a period of mass repatriation of POWs held in the Soviet Union to their home countries and returned to Hungary. He was captured and sentenced to 25 years of hard labor in the Soviet gulag. He claimed to later biographers he flew for the German Luftwaffe during World War II, during which time he provided intelligence to the United States. was a Hungarian immigrant to Clovis, California.

He died in prison in 1996, at the age of 74. was convicted of having made the bomb with a goal of extorting money from the casino after having lost $750,000 there.

The total cost of the damage was estimated to be around $18 million. After an attempt to disarm the bomb, it exploded, causing extensive damage to the hotel but no injuries or deaths. The Harvey's Resort Hotel bombing took place on August 26–27, 1980, when several men masquerading as photocopier deliverers planted an elaborately booby trapped bomb containing 1,000 pounds (450 kg) of dynamite at Harvey's Resort Hotel (now 'Harveys') in Stateline, Nevada, United States.

Harrahs casino resort reno