On 26 August 1980, a huge metal box was delivered to Harvey’s Wagon Wheel casino in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, disguised as an IBM photocopier. An X-ray confirmed that the complex explosive inside contained 1,000lb (450kg) of dynamite. An attached ransom note demanded $3m (£1.3m) within the next 24 hours. An FBI scientist, Kirk Yeager, says the fear was that this “metal box of mystery” had the potential to flatten a portion of the city. “I had never seen anything so sinister in my life,” says Mike Rowe, the district attorney at the time. “It was absolutely frightening.”
Over three episodes, This Is a Bomb unpicks a messy tale of exploitation and extortion. It isn’t a whodunnit, but rather a howdunnit – a sad exploration of how a father coaxed his two teenage sons into a plot that had the potential to kill and injure thousands of people.
