That’s the bomb in the movie.
Simplify the detonator’s detonation line and the method of detonating it to make it easier for you to understand.
The following is from the film:
But real bombs are much more complex than film shows.
Dozens of wires entangled together.
For example:
If you want this kind of bomb back in a movie, you’ll be surprised if you introduce it.
The next one, the most complex and perfect bomb in the history of bombs, is used by the FBI as a textbook for agents.
In 1980, it was made by a lousy gambler.
When it was designed, it was placed silently in a casino where a man’s head was held…
01
In the early morning of August 26, 1980, a terrible event took place at the Harvey Casino Hotel in Nevada, United States.
At 6:30, the shift manager, Bob, went to the scene, as usual, and found out that a door never closed had been closed.
“What stupid bird did it?” Bob said.
It’s an electronics room.
He opened the door and went in, and a weird and weird thing just blindfolded him.
A large steel box on the four sides was placed in a corner, about the size of a washing machine.
It’s all round, with no cracks, and it’s a simple, rough beauty.
At the top of the large iron box, there was also a small iron box, both of which were welded together.
The side also drew several weird lines with a black pen, handwritten numbers 1-5.
What’s more, there’s a bunch of dial switches on the tin box, and they’re marked with numbers.
28 dials, all in the same position, except number 23…
Today, you’ll probably think it’s hand-carrying.
But 40 years ago in the United States, that scene really scared Bob to pee.
“What the hell is this? I’m sorry.
Bob doesn’t know why, but he’s scared.
— The two iron boxes appeared in this room silently, as if they had appeared in an empty space, from where they came and from whom they belonged.
As the manager in charge, Bob never heard of any major equipment coming in.
He also found that the other doors in the electronic device were locked in the eye with toothpicks and glue.
The door he himself entered was the staff passage — which meant that people did not want hotel guests or gamblers to enter the room by mistake.
Finally, he leaned down and found four sliders at the bottom of the iron tank, each of which was covered by wood, and the red carpets on the floor were crushed out of the pit.
Looks like this heavy piece of iron doesn’t say a thousand pounds.
So, what’s in it?
Bob can’t guess. His forehead was full of sweat and his subconscious wanted to leave.
At that point, he suddenly glimpsed the corner of the room and placed an envelope of bull paper.
On the envelope, the words were printed:
“The Harvey Hotel Management.”
Bob didn’t even want to touch the envelope, he immediately called the security guards and went away.
Two minutes later, the guard arrived.
The owner of the hotel, Harvey, came to see the scene, and the old man was so pale.
After ensuring that there was no danger, the security officer opened the envelope, which contained a long letter.
In the letter’s three pages, there’s one word that comes up most, the bomb!
After reading the letter, people realized that a big iron box filled with TNT explosives.
In the letter, the hotel was warned throughout that the bomb could not be removed or moved.
“Several warnings to management and bomb disposal teams:
Do not move or tilt a bomb, have an inner horizontal device, and can be detected by a slight movement.
Do not attempt to inflate or inflate the bomb, with internal floats and pneumatic switches, and exceed the standard.
Don’t try to untangle, all the screws are connected to the detonator, and the turn half will detonate. I’m sorry.
In short, the bomb could not be removed even by the producers themselves.
The letter, however, described its correct approach.
“There are three time-detonators in a different period of time in the iron tank.
The ransom must be paid in full compliance with the instructions contained in the letter, so that the ransomeer will inform him of the method of dismantling the detonators.
It will then be possible to move to other places for safe detonation. I’m sorry.
As for the guidance part of the letter, it’s white, it’s naked blackmail…
“We don’t have much, just $3 million.
The money must be all old banknotes, not marked, not added to the other ingredients, and not equipped with a tracking device.
We’re professional. Once we find out, the deal ends. I’m sorry.
Seeing here, Harvey’s all numbed up.
However, the one thing that broke him was the following:
“The transaction must be completed within 24 hours from 8 a.m. 26 a.m. I’m sorry.
02
24 hours! Only poor 24 hours.
This means that every step of action must be timed.
There’s no time to think.
The police assembled a bomb squad and arrived at the scene at speed.
One of the most important things was identified by the experts in their examination: It’s a real bomb. It’s full of explosives inside the big box!
Let’s see, at least 1,000 pounds!
Such an alarming amount of explosives, even these blasting birds admit, really … it’s an eye-opener.
1000 pounds of TNT. What’s the concept?
In the Second World War, the United States bombed an AM66 bomb at a Japanese military facility, which was less than 1,000 pounds of TNT.
In other words, this big box of bombs would have been a good one to blow up the whole hotel…
Immediately thereafter, the bomb squad used X-ray equipment to scan the entire iron tank.
They found that the wiring in the box was complicated and connected to the 28 switches, without unopening the structures.
But it is impossible to open it.
X-rays show a two-storey metal plate with an insulated rubber layer in the middle of the box, but when a hole is pierced, a conductive circuit is formed to detonate the explosive.
If only the outer iron is pried, the pressure sensors are triggered and the explosives detonated.
In the end, the bomb squad showed up:
Trying to tear this thing down in 24 hours is a dream.
In the meantime, Harvey had to turn to the FBI.
The first time the FBI heard about this, it was nervous.
In addition to fielding federal agents, an internal emergency seminar was held to study solutions.
In the end, they called Harvey and told him that even the FBI was not sure about the impossible.
He was advised to pay the ransom first.
Listening to this, Harvey’s brain blew up.
Three million dollars, in 1980 was undoubtedly a huge sum of money, to match today’s more than 10 million dollars.
But if the hotel is blown up, the losses are even greater.
The Harvey Hotel.
And this hotel is Harvey’s 30-year-old heart, and if it blows up, it’s worse than being killed.
Do you really need a drink?
Harvey’s pretty upset.
Faced with these two dilemmas, the FBI came up with a compromise and told Harvey quietly.
The old man sounds like he’s okay.
Under this programme, and in accordance with the instructions given in the envelope, the FBI sent a pilot named Cook with a package of 3 million knives in a helicopter to the point of contact.
The interface is a small remote airport.
In the nighttime, Cook circled and stopped the plane without seeing anyone.
He waited a little longer. He went to the field and pissed.
As soon as the boo-hoo, the phone rings from a distance.
The bell, a phone booth on the edge of the airport…
03
Cook picks up the phone, and there’s a boring, obviously unspeakable man:
“The next direction is in front of you. I’m sorry.
As a matter of fact, Cook drew a little note from under the phone booth, printed a message and directed him to the next meeting point.
It was a deserted clearing, and there would be lights flashing to signal where he landed.
Cook didn’t even think about taking off right away and continuing to the next location.
Soon he arrived at the location in the note, but looked at it, it was all a forest, and it was very difficult to find a place to land.
And I waited a long time and I didn’t see any lights flashing.
Cook’s first reaction is: Is the other side aware of his real intentions?
It turns out that Cook did not really pay the ransom.
According to the FBI’s program design, his big bag of $3 million, every dollar, except for the top few real dollars, is full of replicas of green paper.
In addition to Cook, he was hiding from an FBI agent, disguised as luggage.
But when there is movement, action will begin quickly.
He did not know what had gone wrong and was surprised by the other party, but the fact was that the next meeting was interrupted.
As the tank bottoms, Cook will have no choice but to return…
And at that point, it was the morning of the next day, 24 hours away, with only a few hours left.
I didn’t think it would be half an hour later, at more than 6 a.m., when the local police suddenly received a telephone call, or the voice of a man who had changed his voice:
“You have the right attitude, even though you have failed to do so…”
“Close the dial five now and the first time trigger will be shut down. We will move on to our next plan later. I’m sorry.
After the news, William, head of the FBI Special Agent Team, smoked a big smoke:
“Will we be fooled by this piece of shit? I’m sorry.
In front of him, sitting around experts:
Police officers, fire department, blast squad, bomb disposal unit, and officers from the Naval Operations Centre and Lawrence Rivermore National Laboratory.
Big guys have a phone line, they’re looking for a way out.
Back then, FBI, temporary conference room.
Everyone thinks this switch number 5 is not a bad idea.
There is even a feeling that the whole thing is a pure prank.
But, on the other hand, if the bomb actually had a timer, once it had exploded, then no one dared to bear the consequences.
So it is only credible.
At the same time, bomb disposal experts are working on viable options. But the only thing the big guys have agreed is:
This thing, they’ve never seen before, an unprecedented freak bomb!
With the help of a variety of equipment, experts have studied at least eight trigger mechanisms for this tank bomb …
In addition to the previously mentioned trigger of the layer, the pressure trigger, there is a toilet float in the box, most likely a floating trigger.
In the middle of the iron tank, there is a precision horizontal instrument, which produces a small tip, and it explodes.
As for the edges of the inner wall of the case, there were many aluminum plumes, the former apparently used to prevent damage, while the latter was triggered by vibration.
Besides, the timer and the 28 dials can be triggered.
It seems that the blackmailers did not lie at all, and the iron container bomb was indeed a “perfect work”.
It’s even a “tempered legend of the bomb world”
In fact, until 30 years after the incident, the FBI was replicating the bomb’s internal structure for training of bomb disposal personnel.
A replica for practice.
At this point in time, the big guys blew their heads off when they thought they were going to take down such a tricky bomb.
But time is running out for a second.
No one knows how long the next timer has been set, and it must be disposed of as soon as possible.
In the end, Ronee, an old expert from the Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal Division, proposed a very bold, as crazy solution.
04
Rooney indicated that the greatest characteristic of TNT explosives was the need for detonators to detonate.
According to the layout, the detonator that triggers the detonator is in the small iron box on top of it.
So, if there is a connection between the two iron boxes, direct blast;
It may be possible to destroy only the wires from which the detonator transmits the signal, thus avoiding the detonation of TNT explosives in the big steel case.
Rone made a beheading and explained:
“Like a sniper’s head blast, a man’s brain is blown out of hand, and his body is too late to react. I’m sorry.
It has to be said that the Rooney programme is very radical, and after all, the inside of the iron box is not as well known as the experts.
The chief, William, pulled Harvey and told him about the consequences of the incident.
The FBI.
This old fox is a chicken thief — if it’s the boss, then the moths don’t have to take the fall.
Harvey, who’s been running a casino for the rest of his life, can’t imagine the biggest bet on his head.
In a desperate manner, he took the programme by biting his teeth.
Subsequently, the bomb-dismantling team moved quickly and, after calculating the quantity of explosives used, attached a pack of linear fusion explosives to the connection of the two boxes.
A large number of sandbags were then placed around the bomb room.
At the same time, the Magistrate began to evacuate all personnel within a half-mile radius of the casino hotel.
After learning about this, the gamblers fled the casino while eating the melon around.
What’s more, a lot of people are betting on the results…
On August 27th, at 3:46 p.m., everything was set, and the remote detonator was in the hands of FBI agents.
At William’s order, the agent pressed the button in his hand…
It’s loud, amazing.
A few kilometres away from the Harvey Hotel, tourists on Lake Tahoe were able to hear this thunderstorm.
The huge dust wraps the whole hotel, and the waves smash the windows around it…
William himself was almost blown to the ground by a shock wave, and he managed to stabilize himself after a few times.
It was clear to him at the time that it was definitely not just those linear bombs that had exploded.
A whole box of explosives, over 1,000 pounds, all detonated!
It is possible to have such dramatic consequences.
William still doesn’t understand what went wrong, how could the TNT be detonated so quickly, even if it had not succeeded in cutting the detonator line?
At the same time, Harvey watched his beloved hotel and became a broken wall after the explosion.
A big hole over 20 metres in diameter, from the ceiling to the basement.
Steel bars, cement plates, wood chips…
There’s a lot of chips. The world’s full of…
21 The table of cards was burned to black carbon; the tiger machine broke into a piece of metal.
Harvey sat down on the floor. Tears are pouring out of the air…
It wasn’t until after the investigation that the FBI agents figured out where the big mistake was.
Turns out that the tin box was really a detonator, and there was a thousand pounds of explosives in the big box.
Only, these explosives are not TNT, but nitroglycerin.
Nitroglycerin, the one that Nobel invented.
The biggest difference between it and TNT is that nitroglycerine is much less stable, and the explosion of the linear bomb triggered it.
Moreover, nitroglycerin is more powerful and the damage it causes is more terrible.
Were it not for early evacuation, there would have been casualties.
Afterward, René analysed that if it was really TNT, there was a great chance that his programme would succeed.
Nitroglycerin.
It’s nitroglycerine. Why would a blackmailer call it TNT in a letter?
From the point of view of the parties, if the police were informed that it was nitroglycerin, they would be less likely to risk dismantling and more willing to pay the ransom.
So, why would it be TNT?
The agents couldn’t understand.
Perhaps the only way to get answers from criminals is if they are caught.
Fortunately, for them now, there is no longer time to fight.
After all, the bomb has exploded, and the agents have a lot of time to find the blackmailer and find out the truth.
05
However, the police have little at hand.
Broken iron boxes, both inside and outside, are made purely handmade and cannot be determined by anyone.
The letter and the note in the telephone booth did not leave any fingerprints, the paper itself, or any useful leads.
William understood that this was a hard hit.
He felt the biggest breakthrough was the bomb itself.
After all, how can this big piece of steel pass in silence?
The agents collected the pieces of the iron case at the scene, found hundreds of them before and after, and packed them together to a professional laboratory in Washington, D.C.
A ransom letter.
The laboratory was drumming for half a day and concluded that it was impossible to identify the manufacturer.
William listens, he’s pissed.
That’s all there is to it.
No way. There’s no way. There’s no way.
In the next few weeks, the FBI investigated over 500 suspects. Hundreds of witnesses were called.
That’s a very effective move.
One of the witnesses, the owner of a motel in South Tahoe Lake, had a rather suspicious lead.
On the night of August 25th, a number of sneakers drove a white Dodge van with something in it and a gray cloth.
Moreover, the attitude of several people is rather negative, and the hotel facilities are highly selective.
The boss lady was angry, so she was particularly impressed.
“What’s in the car, it’s like a box, square. I’m sorry.
A white Dodge van, which had been driven to the hotel parking lot, was witnessed by several casino staff.
After the car had stopped, two men carried a clothed device into one of the hotel doors.
Eyewitnesses say that it says IBM three letters.
It is clear that this is only a criminal cover and that the bomb must have been brought into the hotel.
Unfortunately, there were no surveillance cameras at that time.
Even if the model and pattern of the vehicle were to be ascertained, it would be difficult to trace it without the exact licence plate.
The police have been following this for a long time, and most of the year has passed without finding the vehicle.
At that time, the FBI, the seniors, were in a hurry.
That’s it. There’s a lot of money.
In this case, the local police in Lake Tahoe immediately mentioned a reward of 500,000 from 200,000.
“There must be a brave man with a great reward.”
One day, the FBI operator suddenly received a call from a man who claimed that he had found the location of the blackmailer.
On the phone, he revealed that the offender was his ex-boyfriend, who had boasted to her that he would make a bomb to blackmail the casino.
And this fast-mouthed woman told him that.
Immediately after the phone was hung up, the police locked the “ex-boyfriend” through the “ex-girlfriend”.
His name is Burgess Jr. and he is a jobless traveler.
As soon as the police arrived at his house, the truck stopped in the yard.
Uh, white.
The two cops looked at each other. Okay, that’s what happened.
Further, the day before the incident, his car had been parked in another hotel near the Harvey Hotel.
In the face of police questioning, Burgess Jr. argued that he had been driving around the national park the night of the incident, looking for a place to grow marijuana and not at the scene.
Although the police knew that the rate was bullshit, they did not have any real hammer to arrest him and had to leave temporarily.
But the FBI commissioner, after learning about little Burgess’ life, felt that this drunk drug addict all day didn’t fit the profile of a high-intellectual criminal.
“This is a bastard… to design a bomb of that level. I’m sorry.
However, in subsequent investigations, the police found a very interesting point:
Little Burgess’ father, old Burgess, is a gambling old man.
And his favorite casino, the Harvey Hotel Casino.
That’s interesting.
06
Next, the FBI led a covert investigation into old Burgess and found that the man’s identity was a little exaggerated…
Old Burgess, of Hungarian origin, served for the German Air Force during the Second World War and was turned by allies into an intelligence source to the United States.
Later, he was arrested by the Soviets and sent to the Gulag concentration camp, where he served eight years in prison before being deported to Hungary.
He has since emigrated to the United States with his family, including his two sons.
Old Burgess quickly made a small fortune and started a greening company.
In the meantime, however, he was caught in gambling and soon lost.
The veteran ‘ s curriculum vitae also proves from a side that he is likely to have the capability to make his own bombs.
“This man is highly suspected, first arrest his son and first trial!” I’m sorry.
So, on August 14, 1981, FBI agents found that little Burgess, John Burgess, and brought him to the station for questioning.
During the interrogation, the agent showed a speeding ticket and saw this little note, and John’s line of defense collapsed.
It turns out that this was a record he left a year ago of speeding at high speed, which was the exact destination of Cook’s flight to pay the ransom.
That proves that John was the one who went to that phone booth with the note.
And what he invented about the National Park is bullshit.
In order to knock on John, FBI agents also told him that his brother Jimmy was in another room at the moment.
John and Jimmy.
“In such a big case, confession is the only solution. If you confess, you can reduce your sentence.”
“But if you’re late and your brother Jimmy pleads guilty, then your sentence will be lost. I’m sorry.
This is indeed a standard “prisoner dilemma”.
The FBI in the ’80s was really good at playing. Very good.
In the end, the brothers and the brothers could not stand the test.
One day later, their father, Burgess, was arrested.
The moment the police showed up, the sly old man knew that the two unchallenged sons had spoken.
Old Burgess.
So he planned the whole thing.
Old Burgess was rich.
Well, it’s really rich and it’s huge, and it’s even private.
But after the second marriage, he married a gambling wife, and he got out of his stimuli.
They stayed in the Harvey Casino, drunk and dying every day, and ate a big meal and threw up.
Enough with the gambling.
They’re rich, they’re rich, they’re rich, they’ll soon rise to VIP.
But you know what happens to gamblers. I lost both of them quickly, and I’m in debt.
The luxury suite has no money to keep, and old Burgess has even been invited out of the hotel by “bite.”
Old Burgess.
He was angry and decided to play a big game — he wanted to blackmail the casino and bring back the money he lost for years.
As a military expert, the man’s greatest gift is to make bombs.
He had a rather terrible design and hands-on ability to design a “textbook”-grade bomb on his own.
As for the critical explosives option, old Burgess would have wanted to use TNT, but never had enough.
Under the circumstances, he had to start a backup program, go to a Helms power plant in the mountains of California and steal over 1,000 pounds of nitroglycerin.
The process of making the bomb was dramatic and almost done on its own, in the words of old Burgess himself:
“But if anything goes wrong, I’ll have to see the Hungarian soldiers’ brothers…”
Fortunately, the bomb was safely completed.
But it’s a “floating” and “unmoveable as soon as it’s set,” and it’s impossible to send it to the Harvey Hotel in a safe manner.
And as for the two sons, who weren’t stingy.
Old Burgess is very conscious of one thing: to be successful, there must be a reliable insider, as a helper.
07
Who should I call?
Old Burgess thought he had a good relationship with the two employees while he was at the casino.
Moreover, he could see at first sight that they also had a very rich dream in their hearts.
He then found the two men, Brown and Hall, and entrusted them with the task and promised them a share of the money when it was done.
Old Burgess and his wife and children and Brown and Hall.
As soon as Brown and Hall thought about it, they agreed.
So, in the early morning hours of the 26th, in the night, a white Dodge van drove into the Harvey Hotel parking lot.
When the car was parked, the two sons of old Burgess lifted the bomb out of the car and drove it into the side door of the hotel.
Brown and Hall, who were waiting at the door, took the cart and carefully pushed it to a well-established destination.
No one’s going to suspect it because it’s covered with IBM, disguised as a large electronic device.
Subsequently, the two men strictly complied with the requirement to have the large iron case covered with wooden planks and to have it secured between the communication equipment.
They also need to put out the ransom letters, as explained. This letter was prepared by John.
And yet, even a simple job like this, there was a moth…
When printing the ransom letter, John thought that Nitroglycerin Dynamite had been too hard to fight and had cleverly changed to TNT.
Maybe in his perception, these two things don’t make any difference…
However, it was this seemingly small mistake that led to a completely different outcome.
Later, in Cook’s ransom operation, the brothers made another mistake.
According to the original plan, after the first contact had been successful, they would drive to the next site and bring the helicopter in a flash.
When they land, they leave a note and arrange for the pilot to go into the darkness 300 metres away and find the last clue.
But this step is just a diversion.
It was planned that the brothers would rush into the helicopter while the pilot was looking for clues and take the bag and run.
In the end, they go to the US-Mer border, they meet the old man, they roll away 3 million to Mexico.
“Perfect plan” isn’t it?
Apparently, the brothers would not know that it was a bag of fake money.
And there’s a loaded FBI agent in the cabin.
But it doesn’t mean much to them.
Because when the second meeting took place, the two of them found out that the heavy light was still on.
It took half a day to find out there was no electricity.
Turns out, the first night, both of them drank a break, forgot to charge the battery…
As a result, Cook failed to find a second node that night and returned directly.
To make amends, John had to call the police and pretend to have them dial 5;
As a measure of hindsight, we thought about the way forward.
But the FBI didn’t give them a second chance.
We all know the rest.
The Harvey Hotel was blown to pieces, and the Burgess family understood:
Now, it’s all over.
In 1982, Old Burgess was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.
The old Burgess gang.
John and Jimmy, including Brown and Hall, have been softened by their good guilty pleas.
As for the owner, Harvey, work began on the re-establishment of the casino hotel.
Eventually, he spent 18 million dollars…
Then the Harvey Hotel was rebuilt.
Even worse, the hotel has not been as popular as it was before and has been sold for a few days.
Now, we don’t know if Harvey regrets his decision.
A lot of people were laughing at him, saying that they would pay 3 million dollars earlier, so nothing happened.
One can only say that those who say that may not understand what a real gambler mentality is.
Even with a low probability of a bomb being dismantled, Harvey would be willing to take a shot and would never give up 3 million for nothing.
Yeah, the whole casino bomb thing, Harvey’s gambling, old Burgess’s gambling, even FBI experts.
It’s just that this game ended up without a winner. Case number: YXA1ogBKmN2U5DMdkp1sdPdj
I don’t know.
Keep your eyes on the road.
