{"id":306371,"date":"2024-01-11T16:37:53","date_gmt":"2024-01-11T22:37:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=306371"},"modified":"2024-01-12T11:41:46","modified_gmt":"2024-01-12T17:41:46","slug":"las-vegas-casino-bomb-plot-revisited-in-new-ae-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-casino-bomb-plot-revisited-in-new-ae-series\/","title":{"rendered":"Forgotten Las Vegas Casino Bomb Plot Revisited in A&E True Crime Series"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new true crime series debuting on A&E Friday revisits a largely forgotten bomb plot<\/a> against Las Vegas casinos in its first episode.<\/p>\n

\"Jeffrey
Jeffrey Tenpenny, pictured above in surveillance video from the case, planned to bomb Las Vegas casinos. But why was the case underreported at the time and so quickly forgotten? (Image: A&E<\/em> via Jackson Progress Argus)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The show Undercover: Caught on Tape<\/em>\u00a0follows undercover law enforcement agents during some of their most dangerous assignments through surveillance video and audio recordings from actual investigations.<\/p>\n

On Friday, the show revisits the case of Jeffrey Tenpenny, a Las Vegas man with a serious grudge against the Mirage<\/a> and the Golden Nugget<\/a>, then properties owned by Steve Wynn\u2019s<\/a> Mirage Resorts.<\/p>\n

Casino Vendetta<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Tenpenny purchased bombs with the intent of blowing both properties sky-high. He also planned to murder Carolyn Ellsworth, an attorney for Wynn and now a senior Nevada judge.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for Tenpenny, but happily for everyone else, the people who sold him the bombs were undercover agents with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF).<\/p>\n

\n

Previously, Tenpenny was injured in an elevator accident at the Golden Nugget and sued the casino for damages. The trigger for his vendetta against Mirage Resorts and Ellsworth was the repeated postponement of the trial, according to a Las Vegas Sun<\/em> article that reported on his sentencing at the time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tenpenny\u2019s public defender tried to characterize his client as a harmless \u201cbraggart\u201d who was simply \u201cventing,\u201d and who would have never gone ahead with the plot. Tenpenny blamed the elevator accident for epilepsy and memory loss, and claimed his personality had changed after the incident.<\/p>\n

U.S. District Judge Philip Pro ultimately disagreed. He called Tenpenny\u2019s plans \u201chorrific,\u201d and sentenced him to seven years, the maximum term available.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“God only knows what might have happened” had Tenpenny been in touch with “misfits” rather than federal agents, Pro said at sentencing, the Sun<\/em> reported.<\/p>\n

Media Silence <\/strong><\/h2>\n

Those agents were Jay Dobyns and Vince Cefalu, who discussed the case in-depth on the show.<\/p>\n

Dobyns described it as a \u201csignificant investigation,\u201d adding that he was surprised that it didn\u2019t garner more column inches and that it was so quickly forgotten.<\/p>\n

[\u2026] In this bombing case, you had a guy there who was actively planning to set off IEDs [improvised explosive devices] in Las Vegas casinos, and it didn\u2019t get much attention,\u201d<\/strong> he told TV Insider<\/em> this week.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cIt was ultimately explained to me that the media in Las Vegas initially put that on the back burner,\u201d Dobyns said. \u201cThey were like, \u2018This town and the people thrive on tourism. Who wants a story on the front page that says three of our leading casinos were about to be bombed?\u2019 Now we\u2019re at almost 30 years, and A&E, with this series, is giving everyone a firsthand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Undercover: Caught on Tape<\/em>\u00a0premieres on A&E on January 11, at 10 p.m. est\/9 p.m. cst.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new true crime series debuting on A&E Friday revisits a largely forgotten bomb plot against Las Vegas casinos in its first episode. The show Undercover: Caught on Tape\u00a0follows undercover law enforcement agents during some of their most dangerous assignments through surveillance video and audio recordings from actual investigations. On Friday, the show revisits the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":306373,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,81886],"tags":[86616,13598,89458,23,89459],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLas Vegas Casino Bomb Plot Revisited in New A&E Series<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Undercover: Caught on Tape shows Jeffrey Tenpenny plot to bomb the Mirage and the Golden Nugget and kill Steve Wynn\u2019s lawyer.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-casino-bomb-plot-revisited-in-new-ae-series\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Las Vegas Casino Bomb Plot Revisited in New A&E Series\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Undercover: Caught on Tape shows Jeffrey Tenpenny plot to bomb the Mirage and the Golden Nugget and kill Steve Wynn\u2019s lawyer.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-casino-bomb-plot-revisited-in-new-ae-series\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-01-11T22:37:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-12T17:41:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Undercover-Tenpenny-AE-1014x545-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1014\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"545\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-casino-bomb-plot-revisited-in-new-ae-series\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-casino-bomb-plot-revisited-in-new-ae-series\/\",\"name\":\"Las Vegas Casino Bomb Plot Revisited in New A&E Series\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-casino-bomb-plot-revisited-in-new-ae-series\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-casino-bomb-plot-revisited-in-new-ae-series\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Undercover-Tenpenny-AE-1014x545-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-01-11T22:37:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-12T17:41:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Undercover: Caught on Tape shows Jeffrey Tenpenny plot to bomb the Mirage and the Golden Nugget and kill Steve Wynn\u2019s lawyer.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-casino-bomb-plot-revisited-in-new-ae-series\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-casino-bomb-plot-revisited-in-new-ae-series\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-casino-bomb-plot-revisited-in-new-ae-series\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Undercover-Tenpenny-AE-1014x545-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Undercover-Tenpenny-AE-1014x545-1.jpg\",\"width\":1014,\"height\":545,\"caption\":\"Jeffrey Tenpenny, pictured above in actual surveillance video from the case, planned to bomb Las Vegas casinos. But why was the case underreported at the time and so quickly forgotten? (Image: A&E via Jackson Progress Argus)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-casino-bomb-plot-revisited-in-new-ae-series\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Crime & Scandals\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/scandals\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Forgotten Las Vegas Casino Bomb Plot Revisited in A&E True Crime Series\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\",\"name\":\"Philip Conneller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Philip Conneller\"},\"description\":\"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Las Vegas Casino Bomb Plot Revisited in New A&E Series","description":"Undercover: Caught on Tape shows Jeffrey Tenpenny plot to bomb the Mirage and the Golden Nugget and kill Steve Wynn\u2019s lawyer.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-casino-bomb-plot-revisited-in-new-ae-series\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Las Vegas Casino Bomb Plot Revisited in New A&E Series","og_description":"Undercover: Caught on Tape shows Jeffrey Tenpenny plot to bomb the Mirage and the Golden Nugget and kill Steve Wynn\u2019s lawyer.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-casino-bomb-plot-revisited-in-new-ae-series\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2024-01-11T22:37:53+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-01-12T17:41:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1014,"height":545,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Undercover-Tenpenny-AE-1014x545-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Philip Conneller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@casinoorgphilc","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Philip Conneller","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-casino-bomb-plot-revisited-in-new-ae-series\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-casino-bomb-plot-revisited-in-new-ae-series\/","name":"Las Vegas Casino Bomb Plot Revisited in New A&E Series","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-casino-bomb-plot-revisited-in-new-ae-series\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-casino-bomb-plot-revisited-in-new-ae-series\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Undercover-Tenpenny-AE-1014x545-1.jpg","datePublished":"2024-01-11T22:37:53+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-12T17:41:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b"},"description":"Undercover: Caught on Tape shows Jeffrey Tenpenny plot to bomb the Mirage and the Golden Nugget and kill Steve Wynn\u2019s lawyer.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-casino-bomb-plot-revisited-in-new-ae-series\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-casino-bomb-plot-revisited-in-new-ae-series\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-casino-bomb-plot-revisited-in-new-ae-series\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Undercover-Tenpenny-AE-1014x545-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Undercover-Tenpenny-AE-1014x545-1.jpg","width":1014,"height":545,"caption":"Jeffrey Tenpenny, pictured above in actual surveillance video from the case, planned to bomb Las Vegas casinos. But why was the case underreported at the time and so quickly forgotten? (Image: A&E via Jackson Progress Argus)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-casino-bomb-plot-revisited-in-new-ae-series\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Crime & Scandals","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/scandals\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Forgotten Las Vegas Casino Bomb Plot Revisited in A&E True Crime Series"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b","name":"Philip Conneller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","caption":"Philip Conneller"},"description":"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk","https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306371"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306371"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306371\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":306470,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306371\/revisions\/306470"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/306373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}