From neighbor to cousin to friend to the media, the message spread: Come down to the gaming center and bring a car or pickup. The first calls came from tribal members at the hall.
SWAT teams set up guard on the roof.īy then the Indian telephone network was awake and at work.
Armed agents broke into the tribal bingo hall and began carting slot machines into the vans. At 6:00 on a May morning in 1992, a team of FBI agents accompanied by eight Mayflower moving vans invaded the Fort McDowell Reservation. It started as a traditional cowboy and Indian battle - one the Indians were supposed to lose.
