Posted on: January 11, 2024, 04:37h.
Last updated on: January 11, 2024, 04:37h.
A recently released true crime series that hits the headlines re-examines an often-overlooked bomb plot against Las Vegas casinos in its first episode.
“Undercover: Caught on Tape” showcases undercover law enforcement agents during some of their most perilous assignments through surveillance video and audio recordings from real investigations.
In the show’s premiere, it revisits the case of Jeffrey Tenpenny, a Las Vegas resident with a severe grudge against the Mirage and the Golden Nugget, then properties owned by Steve Wynn’s Mirage Resorts.
Casino Vendetta
Tenpenny intended to blow up both properties by purchasing bombs. He also planned to murder Carolyn Ellsworth, an attorney for Wynn and now a senior Nevada judge.
However, Tenpenny’s plan was foiled as the people who sold him the bombs were undercover agents with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.
Previously, Tenpenny had been 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 article that reported on his sentencing at the time.
Tenpenny’s public defender attempted to portray his client as a harmless “braggart” who was simply “venting” and 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.
However, U.S. District Judge Philip Pro disagreed. He described Tenpenny’s plans as “horrific,” and sentenced him to seven years, the maximum term available.
“God only knows what might have happened” had Tenpenny been in touch with “misfits” rather than federal agents, Pro said at sentencing, the Sun reported.
Media Silence
The agents who stopped Tenpenny’s plan are Jay Dobyns and Vince Cefalu, who discuss the case in detail on the show.
Dobyns described it as a “momentous investigation,” expressing surprise that it didn’t get more attention and that it was promptly forgotten.
[…] 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’t get much attention,” he told TV Insider this week.
“It was ultimately explained to me that the media in Las Vegas initially put that on the back burner,” Dobyns said. “They were like, ‘This 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?’ Now we’re at almost 30 years and A&E with this series is giving everyone a firsthand.”
“Undercover: Caught on Tape” premieres on A&E on January 11, 10/9c.
[ad_2]
Source link