New York Man Arrested for Threatening to Blow Up Finger Lakes Gaming Facility
Posted on: August 5, 2025, 07:33h.
Last updated on: August 5, 2025, 02:04h.
- Finger Lakes Gaming was the recent subject of a bomb threat
- An unruly guest who was asked to leave threatened to bomb the New York property
- Bomb threats against casinos occasionally occur
A New York man has been arrested and charged with making a terroristic threat after law enforcement alleged he told staff at the Finger Lakes Gaming & Racetrack in Farmington that he would return with bombs and blow the place up.
The Ontario County Sheriff’s Office alleges that Jose Luis Torres-Berrios, 34, of Farmington, became unruly and got in a verbal altercation with staff after he was asked to leave the casino’s bar.
Casino workers told local police that Torres-Berrios said he would go home and create “multiple explosive devices,” which he would return with to bomb the video gaming establishment.
Finger Lakes Gaming has over 44K square feet of gaming space equipped with 1,175 slot-like video gaming machines (VGMs). The VGMs are operated by the New York State Gaming Commission’s central system.
In June, Finger Lakes Gaming players bet almost $136 million on the machines. The terminals kept a little more than $10 million, or $284 per machine per day.
Suspect Remains in County Jail
Local media reported that Torres-Berrios was located by police while still inside the gaming facility. He was arrested and charged with a felony count of making a terroristic threat.
Torres-Berrios remains in Ontario County Jail, where he is awaiting arraignment. A person found guilty of making a felony terroristic threat faces up to seven years in prison.
Police searched Torres-Berrios’ home but didn’t find any explosive materials or bomb-making supplies. However, New York law says it does not matter if a person charged with making a terroristic threat had a true intent or capability of following through on the threat.
Casino Bomb Threats
With financial losses at stake and alcohol flowing, incidents involving bomb threats against casinos aren’t uncommon.
In April, a similar incident occurred at a tribal casino in Oklahoma.
Police said a call was received at the Choctaw Casino & Resort in Durant around 11 pm local time on Saturday night, April 12. Law enforcement probed the casino but didn’t find a bomb. The matter was reported to the FBI for further investigation.
Only two days later, a 40-year-old man at the Agua Caliente Casino in California’s Cathedral City allegedly told casino security that he was planning to bomb the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. Police arrested him hours later and booked him into a county jail on a $1 million bail. The case is ongoing.
Real Bomb Threats
The most notorious casino bomb came back in August 1980 when a call came in at Harvey’s Resort Hotel in Stateline, Nev., regarding a bomb containing 1,200 pounds of dynamite.
John Birges Sr., who would later be found guilty of being the bombing group’s kingpin, sought to extort money from the resort after losing $750K gambling there. His ransom note said the bomb couldn’t be disarmed, even by the bomb builder, but in exchange for $3 million, he would provide instructions on how the bomb could be safely moved to the desert for detonation.
The FBI decided the bomb needed to be disarmed inside the hotel. Federal authorities tried to disarm the explosive safely, but failed. The bomb went off while the property was evacuated. While no injuries or deaths were caused, the bomb resulted in $18 million (~$70 million today) in damages to the property.
Birges was sentenced to life in prison without parole. He died in 1996 at the Southern Nevada Correctional Center.
Two accomplices, who helped Birges move the bomb into the resort, also served prison time. Birges’ two sons didn’t serve prison time in exchange for testifying against their father.
No comments yet