Harvey's Wagon Wheel Slot Machine

Harvey's Resort Hotel Bombing
Location	Stateline, Nevada
Coordinates	38°57′37″N119°56′31″W / 38.9602°N 119.9420°WCoordinates: 38°57′37″N119°56′31″W / 38.9602°N 119.9420°W
Date	August 26–27, 1980
Target	Harvey's Resort Hotel
Attack type	Bombing, attempted extortion
Weapons
Deaths	0
Injured	0
Perpetrators	John Birges and three others
Motive	Extortion

Harvey's Wagon Wheel Slot Machine Videos

This listing is for a Vintage 5 Cent Harvey's Slot Machine attached to a wooden stand. This item is being sold As Is. When you pull the arm it doesn't spin much and sometimes not at all, it appears as though something is spinning on the inside but the outer wheel does not spin much and sometimes not at all. This listing is for a Vintage 5 Cent Harvey's Slot Machine attached to a wooden stand. This item is being sold As Is. When you pull the arm it doesn't spin much and sometimes not at all, it appears as though something is spinning on the inside but the outer wheel does not spin much and sometimes not at all.

Nevada State Fire Marshal Thomas J. Huddleston examining the bomb

The Harvey's Resort Hotel bombing took place on August 26–27, 1980, when several men masquerading as photocopier deliverers planted an elaborately booby trappedbomb containing 1,000 pounds (450 kg) of dynamite at Harvey's Resort Hotel (now 'Harveys') in Stateline, Nevada, United States.^[1] After an attempt to disarm the bomb, it exploded causing extensive damage to the hotel but no injuries or deaths. The total cost of the damage was estimated to be around $18 million.^[2] John Birges Sr. was convicted of having made the bomb with a goal of extorting money from the casino after having lost $750,000 there. He died in prison in 1996, at the age of 74.

Background[edit]

John Birges Sr. was a Hungarian immigrant to Clovis, California. He flew for the German Luftwaffe during World War II. He was captured and sentenced to 25 years of hard labor in the Sovietgulag. 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. From there, he immigrated to the U.S. and built a successful landscaping business, but his addiction to gambling led to his losing a large amount of money and prompted the bomb plot.^[3] His gambling debt and experience with explosives were primary pieces of evidence linking him to the bombing.^[4]

Bombing[edit]

As the mastermind behind the bomb, now-former millionaire Birges was attempting to extort $3 million ($9.3 million in 2019) from the casino, claiming he had lost $750,000 ($2.3 million in 2019) gambling there.

The FBI went to the spot that they believed to be the ransom drop, but due to vague directions, Birges was waiting at a different location. No money was paid to Birges.^[5]

The bomb was cleverly built and virtually tamper-proof. 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.^[5] The FBI determined that it would take four men to move it and there was no way to know if the bomb was truly disarmed or safe to move. The FBI decided that the bomb would have to be disarmed in the hotel. All guests and staff were evacuated from the hotel and the gas main was shut off.^[5]

After studying the bomb for more than a day through x-rays, bomb technicians decided that, although there were warnings from the bomb maker that a shock would trigger the device, the best hope of disarming it was by separating the detonators from the dynamite. The technicians thought this could be accomplished using a shaped charge of C-4. The attempt to disarm the bomb failed as the technicians did not know that dynamite had also been placed in the top box containing the detonation circuit; the shaped charge detonated the top box explosives, which caused the rest of the bomb to detonate. The bomb destroyed much of the hotel, although no one was injured. Harrah's Casino (which was connected to Harvey's Resort via a tunnel) was also damaged by the explosion, which broke many of the casino's windows.^[6]^[7]

The bomb, one of the largest the FBI had ever seen, was loaded with an estimated 1,000 lb (450 kg) of dynamite stolen from a construction site in Fresno, California. According to FBI experts, the Harvey's bomb remains the most complex improvised explosive device they have examined, and a replica of 'the machine', as the extortionists called it, was still used in FBI training as of 2009.^[1]

Investigation[edit]

Birges was investigated as a possible suspect due to his white van being identified as being in South Tahoe at the time of the bombing.^[5] Birges was eventually arrested based on a tip.^[8]^[9] One of his sons had revealed to his then-girlfriend that his father had placed a bomb in Harvey's. After the two broke up, she was on a date with another man when they heard about a reward for information, and she informed her new boyfriend about Birges. This man then called the FBI.^[6]

Birges was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without parole.^[10] In 1996, at the age of 74, he died of liver cancer at the Southern Nevada Correctional Center, 16 years and a day after the bombing.

References[edit]

^ ^a^b'A Byte Out of History: The Case of the Harvey's Casino Bomb FBI'. U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation. August 26, 2009. Archived from the original on August 9, 2016. Retrieved July 27, 2016.
^Hoffman, Ryan (August 21, 2020). '40 years ago, Tahoe casino bombing was biggest in U.S. history'. The Record Courier.
^'Federal Grand Jury Indicts 6 in Bombing of Casino at Tahoe'. The New York Times. Associated Press. August 19, 1981. Archived from the original on September 14, 2017. Retrieved December 19, 2017.
^Esposito, Richard; Gerstein, Ted (March 6, 2007). Bomb Squad: a year inside the nation's most exclusive police unit. Hyperion. p. 178. ISBN978-1-4013-0152-1. Archived from the original on June 26, 2014. Retrieved August 25, 2011.
^ ^a^b^c^dHigginbotham, Adam (2014). 'A Thousand Pounds of Dynamite'. The Atavist Magazine. Archived from the original on October 9, 2015. Retrieved May 26, 2015.
^ ^a^bVogel, Ed (August 27, 2005). 'Casino explosion nearly forgotten'. Las Vegas Review-Journal. Archived from the original on October 28, 2012. Retrieved August 25, 2011.
^Fabio, Adam. 'This is What A Real Bomb Looks Like'. Archived from the original on February 19, 2016. Retrieved February 8, 2016.
^King, Wayne (August 18, 1981). 'F.B.I. Says Casino Bombing Figure Considered Coast Bank Extortion'. The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 24, 2015. Retrieved December 19, 2017.
^Special to the New York Times (August 17, 1981). 'Arrests Reported in Casino Bombing'. The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 14, 2017. Retrieved December 19, 2017.
^'Conviction in Casino Bombing'. The New York Times. October 23, 1982. Archived from the original on September 14, 2017. Retrieved December 19, 2017.

Harvey's Wagon Wheel Slot Machine Videos

A Family-Run Business in the 1940s

When Harvey Gross, a successful meat retailer from Sacramento, and his wife, Llewellyn Gross, moved to South Lake Tahoe, there were no phones, water, sewer, or power lines in the area. There was no highway maintenance and as soon as a significant amount of snow fell on Echo Summit, the road closed. Gross worked delivering meat and running a summer market for a few years before he and Llewellyn opened Harvey’s Wagon Wheel Saloon & Gambling Hall in 1944 on seven acres of land near Stateline on Highway 50. The one-room, log cabin resort housed a six-stool lunch counter, three slot machines, two blackjack tables, and the only gas pump open 24 hours a day between Placerville, California and Carson City, Nevada. Harvey and Llewellyn worked 16-hour days preparing food, pumping gas, and dealing cards.

The Grosses were a devoted couple—partners from the start. It was Llewellyn’s idea to give the club a western theme with its trademark wagon wheel and longhorn skull. William Ledbetter, who married the couple’s only daughter, became Harveys’ vice-chairman in 1983 and has described the two as “complementing each other.” She was a “woman of action” he had a “plodding business nature.” In their gaming escapades, she was acknowledged as the driving force. The Wagon Wheel was very much a family affair; in the early years, when business slowed, family, friends, and employees sat around Harveys’ fireplace in the casino eating popcorn and telling stories.

In the 1950s Tahoe boomed as a tourist playground, and Harveys boasted “more slot machines under one roof than any other casino in the world.” By then the Wagon Wheel encompassed an entire city block, and a maintenance station topped Echo Summit to keep Highway 50 open during the winter. Giant billboards advertising Harveys dotted nearby highways, and Harveys offered shuttle service to customers between the casino and their hotel, along with a free keno game and a meal. Business was so good that Harvey Gross put off plans to retire and, instead, built an 11-story, 197-room hotel, changing Harveys Wagon Wheel to Harveys Resort Hotel & Casino. In the early 1960s Harveys’ flagship casino expanded, adding on gaming tables and more hotel space, and by the time Gross died in 1983, at the age of 79, his operation was earning $4.1 million on revenues of $70 million and had virtually no debt. Even so, Harvey Gross refused to expand beyond Lake Tahoe. When asked why, he always gave the same answer: “I have a nice little business…. How many steaks can I eat?”

Gross had made a commitment to Lake Tahoe, and he was not about to back out of it. He was committed to “spending money where he made it,” sponsoring scholarships for local students, and providing job opportunities for disabled citizens. He and Llewellyn were instrumental in opening Highway 50 toyear-round traffic. He also played a key role in establishing the South Lake Tahoe airport, a medical center at Al Tahoe, and Barton Memorial Hospital at South Shore.

The Early Yturbide Years

William Ledbetter, Gross’s son-in-law, who assumed control of the business shortly before Harvey’s death, had different ideas. On a borrowed budget of $70 million, he moved to double the size of the casino and triple the number of rooms by 1985. Three years after Gross’s death, in 1986, the project was slightly less than about three-quarters complete and the money gone. Ledbetter then called upon Thomas Yturbide to run the business. Yturbide, an experienced casino hand who had worked for nearly three decades for the competition, Harrah’s, cut the staff back by ten percent, refinanced the construction loan, and finished a revamped expansion for an additional $30 million.

Yturbide also revamped Harveys’ marketing program. Gross had relied upon nearby Harrah’s to lure people to Lake Tahoe, in turn luring them from Harrah’s with his billboards and his well-known $2.99 steaks and cheap drinks. In 1988 Yturbide approved a $10 million marketing budget, five times more than Harveys had ever spent. He bought radio and television spots and plastered Highway 50, the main artery between Sacramento and Lake Tahoe, with dayglo signs which read, “The Party’s at Harveys.” His plan brought results. Between 1987 and 1994, Harveys market share rose from 21 percent to 28 percent, the second highest among Tahoe hotels.

Beyond Lake Tahoe: Two New Casinos in the 1980s

Then, in 1988, Yturbide began to pursue expansion beyond Lake Tahoe. His first plan to partner with the Council Bluffs, Iowa Sioux in building a casino fell through after four years of discussion and planning when the land they had hoped to develop upon proved unavailable. Yturbide then tried to acquire the bankrupt Bally’s hotel in Reno, but Hilton outbid him in his effort to buy. Harveys’ luck turned around when Peter Morton, founder of the Hard Rock Cafes, approached Harveys to jointly launch a Hard Rock hotel and casino in the mid-1990s. The idea was that Morton would provide seven and one half acres in Las Vegas and Harveys would supply $66 million of the $88 million the two businesses needed to finance the project. Together they planned to buy another eight and one half acres and split another $24 million capital contribution.

The first deal was not yet even closed when Yturbide signed on to another. Partnered with Mountain City Casino Partners, Harveys would build a 118-room hotel and casino in Central City, Colorado, 35 miles east of Denver. Yturbide committed his business to putting up $9.4 million and guaranteed $28 million of debt and $7.5 million worth of gambling equipment. He then took the company public in 1993, selling 2.25 million shares of common stock (and another 1.2 million that belonged to the heirs of Harvey Gross) to raise capital for the planned ventures. At $14 a share, the sale raised $48 million.

The Wagon Wheel opened in Central City in 1995. It was designed from the outside to resemble ten separate, vintage storefronts and businesses, in keeping with the Western theme, and contained a 400,000-square-foot casino with 938 slot machines and 24 gaming tables, two restaurants, and a two-level underground parking garage. In subsequent years the complex also included a 118-room hotel, restaurants, and entertainment lounges. Before the year was out, however, it had defaulted on a $4 million principal payment to one of its minority investors. Earnings had not met expectations, and Harveys was exploring ways of restructuring its $11.9 million debt. It did so by buying out its minority partner and making Harveys Wagon Wheel a wholly owned subsidiary of Harveys Casino Resorts.

The Hard Rock Hotel also opened in 1995, tiny by Vegas standards with only 340 rooms. In keeping with the rock theme, slot machines had arms shaped to resemble guitar necks and roulette tables were shaped like pianos. The $25 chips were purple and featured Jimi Hendrix’s profile and the title of his hit, “Purple Haze.” Morton, whose entrepreneurial genius had dreamed up the first Hard Rock Cafe in London more than 20 years earlier, was in agreement with the Harveys philosophy of treating the guest well. The rooms in the Hard Rock Hotel had windows and supplied room service, to make the guests feel at home, rather than to chase them out into the casino.

More expansion was afloat back in Council Bluffs, Iowa. There, in exchange for $1.5 million and another $1.5 million to be spent on the construction of an athletic field complex on public land, the city council voted to sell Harveys a docking site on the Missouri River for its Kanesville Queen. The project cost Harveys $70 million and, in addition to the 2,352-passenger riverboat casino, which housed 1,100 slot machines, 48 table games, and seven poker tables, included a futuristic-looking, 251-room hotel, 20,000 plus-square-foot convention center, and docking site. In December of 1995, the Kanesville Queen received a ceremonial christening.

Company Perspectives:

Harveys’ business strategy is to develop premium hotel/casino facilities in markets in which the company believes it can establish and maintain a prominent position or niche. Each of the company’s properties offers casino gaming and a full range of amenities in a friendly atmosphere that caters to middle- and upper middle-income customers. As part of its commitment to providing a quality entertainment experience for its patrons, the company is dedicated to ensuring a high level of customer satisfaction and loyalty by providing distinctive and modern accommodations and attentive customer service in a friendly atmosphere. Management recognizes that consistent quality and a comfortable atmosphere can differentiate its facilities from the competition in all of its markets.

A Focus on Established Markets in the 1990s

Things quieted down for the next year or so. After the Wagon Wheel in Colorado failed to make expected earnings and missed its principal payment on $11.9 million in bonds that had been sold to help finance its building, Harveys proposedbuying out the venture’s minority partner, Mountain City Casino Partners. When New York State appeared about to open its doors to big-time gaming in 1996, Harveys took out an option on 27 acres of land in upstate Greene County. When the pending gambling bill stalled, however, no new ground was broken; Harveys decided not to seek approval for casino gaming in new markets, but instead to focus strategically on open markets where gaming was already legal—Nevada, Mississippi, and Atlantic City.

Also in 1996, Harveys hired Bill Cosby to serve as casino spokesperson. Cosby’s role included promoting the firm’s properties via television, radio, and billboard, and raising money for charities through benefit concerts. In keeping with the tradition of Harveys Project Care, an in-house corporate contributions program that in 1992 gave $416,000 to education, health, youth, and service organizations regionally, Cosby’s six concerts raised more than $100,000 for charitable, educational, and youth groups across the country.

By 1997 Harveys had captured 28 percent of Tahoe gaming revenues, a conspicuous achievement in a market that included two other leading national casino companies. In Council Bluffs, net revenue increased approximately 44 percent over the previous year and market share increased to 33 percent. In Central City, revenue reached $320 million and market share was at 15 percent, while the Wagon Wheel Casino added a self-parking garage and 160 additional slot machines, bringing the total number of machines to 1,000. The company as a whole posted 1997 net revenues of $283,563,000 and net income of $30,775,000. It sold its stake in the Las Vegas Hard Rock Hotel and Casino to its joint venture partner, Hard Rock Hotel, Inc. for $45 million cash when it became clear that Harveys and Peter Morton had different ideas on how to best expand the property.

In 1998 Harveys also reached a second agreement with Hard Rock Cafe International to bring the Hard Rock Cafe brand to Harveys Resort Hotel and Casino in Lake Tahoe. According to this plan, a Hard Rock Cafe was built on the main casino floor of Harveys, outfitted with rock and roll memorabilia. The new cafe and retail outlet, completed by the busy summer season, encompassed approximately 6,500 square feet, with seating for about 200.

Harveys was going strong, posting earnings per share at the end of the first fiscal quarter of 1998 slightly less than double analysts’ estimates. Chuck Scharer, chairman, president, and chief executive officer, attributed these results to strong performances assisted by mild weather at all properties. “In Colorado, our property continues to experience the benefits of the new 530 parking structure. In Iowa, the Council Bluffs market has continued to show its strength and support as we continue to lead as the state’s top performing riverboat. And at Lake Tahoe, favorable weather patterns and road conditions … lead to increased volume at the property.”

Scharer also stressed that the company had remained true to its initial focus on people as well as products. “As we aggressively seek to take the company to the next level, our goal is to translate the essence of Harveys—the best possible service, quality and customer experiences—to new properties in new markets. The positive feedback from our customers tells us we are doing just that, and we intend to continue raising the bar in service and quality.” Management at Harveys believes that it is the personal involvement of Harveys personnel that drives the company’s success, and they insist that their front-line employees respond quickly to guests’ needs, empowering workers to do “whatever it takes” to make the customer happy.

But times were changing at Harveys. Acquisitions and consolidations were becoming common in the casino industry and growth was slowing after the mid-1990s boom. In 1998 the company was sold to the real estate investment firm of Colony Capital and some Harveys executives for $420 million, including assumed debt, putting an end to the era of family control. Chuck Scharer continued to run the company, and Harveys’ 4,000 employees retained their jobs, while three members of Harvey Gross’s family continued to sit on the Harveys board. But the Ledbetters, who retained 40 percent of the company’s shares through a family trust, were no longer central to Harveys’ day-to-day operations. The sale to Colony Capital, completed in early 1999, was designed to provide a big financial boost to the company, affording it the resources necessary to explore new opportunities, such as building a luxury hotel next to Harveys in Lake Tahoe, returning to Las Vegas, and building a $300 million casino in Salisbury Beach, Massachusetts. At the time of the sale in February 1998, Harveys’ stock soared to $27, showing investors’ continued faith in Harveys’ future.

Principal Subsidiaries

Harveys Tahoe Management Company, Inc.; Harveys C.C. Management Company, Inc.; Harveys L.V. Management Company, Inc.; Harveys Iowa Management Company, Inc.

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