All language subtitles for Super-Heists-s1-e1_1080p-English

Ff of a lifetime:

30 million in untraceable cash,

Hidden in a tiny defenseless
california bank.

The tipster?

One of the most notorious
mobsters in history.

- Amil:
The tipster was jimmy hoffa.

- Narrator: The alleged target?

The most powerful man
in the free world.

- Well, I'm not a crook.

- Amil: We knew
it was nixon's money.

- Narrator: The crew?

The best bank burglars this
country has ever seen.

- They were sitting ducks.

We called them gifts.

- This bank burglary was the
most amazing burglary ever.

- Narrator: Hunted by the
largest task force assembled

Since the kennedy assassination.

- It makes you wonder.

Could the white house have
had some type of leverage?

- Narrator: For the first time
on national television,

The real mastermind
who planned it.

- I thought it was a clean job.

- Narrator: And the cops who
led the nationwide manhunt--

- We're talking about one of
the most investigated cases

In the history of the fbi.

- Narrator: --Come together to
tell their own stories,

As we follow the money and
dissect a near-perfect crime--

- [loud whoosh]

- Narrator: --Plagued by
a simple yet fatal flaw.

- They made one
gigantic mistake.

- That was my biggest mistake.

I shouldn't have did it.

- And that's what
changed everything.

- Narrator: This
is "super heists."

- Man: Hey, we
speeding on sound two?

- Man #2: Sound speed.
- Go again?

- Man: Yeah, yeah, you ready?
- Yeah, let's go.

- Man: Start.

- All I can say the fbi is,
in our case...They framed us.

It's not that I'm an angel.

I did things, but they didn't
do things in the right way.

That's what tees me off.

- Normally, if I was
testifying, I'd say,

"not that I recall."

But absolutely not.

Amil alfred dinsio was not
framed by the fbi ever.

- ♪

- Narrator: It's Monday morning
at the united california bank

In the small town of laguna
niguel, california.

- [phone ringing]

- Kelly: Bank manager walks in,
just doing

A typical Monday activities.

- Narrator: An essential step
upon opening for the day is

Unlocking the bank's main vault.

- He's just looking to go
about his day, and dial the

Combinations, turn the handle.

Vault is open.

- [metal banging]

- ♪

- [metal banging]

- It won't budge.

It was stuck.

So they brought out an expert

Who had trouble opening the
door.

When he couldn't get into the
vault through the door, he went

To the roof to see if
the alarm was working.

And that's when he noticed
the roof has been breached.

- Narrator: Someone has somehow
blasted a hole through the

Concrete ceiling of the vault
without alerting anymore.

- The rebar is broken, dust
everywhere, safe deposit boxes

Broken open, money, valuables,
someone had busted up the place

Like a rock star
in a hotel room.

- ♪

- So you start wondering like,

"how could something like this
happen?"

- Narrator: The answer to that
question lies 2,000 miles east

Of balmy laguna niguel in the
hardscrabble city

Of youngstown, ohio.

Home to one of the most
notorious bank burglars

This country has ever seen.

- I loved it.

I like money.

Everybody likes money, I guess.

If you don't have it,
you're in trouble.

- ♪

- Kelly:
Amil dinsio was legendary.

Still is legendary.

And he perfected the art of bank
burglary

In a way that nobody else has.

- Amil dinsio had the best bank
burglary team in the world.

- The best.

I would say the best.

For what we were doing, we were.

We went after a bank, we got it.

- ♪

- Narrator: Growing up with
nothing, a young amil dinsio

Was determined to climb out of
poverty any way he could.

- We never had money.

We had kerosene
lamps in our house.

We didn't have electric.

We were as poor as poor can get.

- Narrator: Smart and
fearless...Amil earns a rep in

Youngstown's criminal underworld
as an expert bank burglar.

- Youngstown in that time,
you know, the mob had it.

And that's how I
met a lot of people.

- Narrator: One afternoon in
1972, dinsio gets a hot tip

About a bank in california
through his underworld

Connections.

- The tipster
was-was jimmy hoffa.

- Jimmy hoffa, the teamsters'
president, who had connections

Anywhere there was a union.

- Narrator: An associate
of hoffa's with ties to the

Cleveland mob presents dinsio
with the score of a lifetime.

- There's $30 million hidden
in a safe deposit box in this

Sleepy little town in southern
california called laguna niguel.

- When he says 30 million
bucks, ears perk up on that.

That would be a
score of a lifetime.

- Narrator: But why would a
tiny bank that seldom has more

Than $100,000 in cash on hand
have $30 million stashed

In a safe deposit box?

According to dinsio, the answer
lives just 15 miles south

In san clemente, california.

Then the home to the
western white house.

- This money?

It belonged the president of the
united states, richard nixon.

- Amil: The way I understand
it was nixon's money.

Where he got it, who he
got it from, I don't know.

- Narrator: In the beginning of
1972, nixon was in the middle of

A costly presidential campaign.

And there was supposedly a huge
amount of dirty money

Earmarked for his run.

- It's allegedly president
nixon's slush fund.

- Stories about tricky dick.

He'd taken all kind of money.

- Nixon would meet with donors,
and nixon would say, "if you can

Give me a million dollars,
you can give me $2 million."

Nixon would take their extorted
campaign contributions and he

Would hide it somewhere and one
of those places

Was in laguna niguel,
california.

- ♪

- Narrator: Alleged to be one
of nixon's biggest donors

Is teamsters president
jimmy hoffa.

And hoffa has a bone
to pick with mr. Nixon.

- Jimmy hoffa goes to jail
because he's a mobster.

He wants a pardon
from richard nixon.

In exchange for that pardon,
he's going to get the teamsters

To endorse richard nixon.

- And he told me
he paid $3 million

To get his sentence commuted.

Nixon commuted it.

- But nixon makes it impossible
for hoffa to be the president

Of the teamsters ever again.

So hoffa was pissed
off at nixon.

He wanted his $3 million
contribution back.

And where was that $3 million?

In a little bank in
southern california.

From dinsio's point of view,
he's stealing money that

The president stole
from somebody else.

It's not a crime.

- Yeah, if you take nixon's
money, who's he gonna cry to?

He can't cry to nobody.

"hey, they stole my money.

They stole my money."

He ain't gonna say that.

You know that and I know that.

- Narrator: With an eye on the
biggest bank heist in american

History, dinsio assembles his
core team, starting with his

Trusted brother, james.

Rounding out the crew are a
couple of dinsio's

Closest relatives--

His nephew harry barber, and his
brother-in-law chuck mulligan.

- So we had a four-man
team, you might say.

- Narrator: But to pull off the
nixon job, dinsio would require

The services of a friend
from cleveland

Named phil christopher.

- Amil and james, they told me
about the score in california.

- I liked phil.

I always thought he
was a pretty good guy.

- Amil and james, I felt the
vibes, they were just like me.

And they seemed very smart.

- Narrator: Accompanying phil
is an accomplished thief with a

Volatile track record
named charlie broeckel.

- Charlie broeckel was
a good friend of mine.

He was a firecracker.

But I always kept
him under control.

- Narrator: With his team
assembled and the job details

Outlined, dinsio
breaks down the score.

But he doesn't let the
outsiders in on the secret.

- I never told them
about nixon's money.

Sure, let them make
maybe $50-100,000,

Whatever they're gonna get.

The only big money was
mr. Nixon's money.

- Narrator: Only amil, james
and his brother-in-law, chuck,

Know the real
value of the heist.

And after paying off jimmy hoffa
and accounting for laundering

Expenses, the three of them
stand to see the biggest take

When all is said and done:
$8 million apiece.

Even if the score dwarfs
anything they've done before,

The job itself is business as
usual for the best bank burglary

Team in the country.

- Everything was kind
of routine, what we did.

We knew what we needed
to do to the job.

- Narrator: Years of experience
had taught this crew the exact

Toolkit needed for the job.

- They needed torches,
they needed wiring.

They needed explosives.

- Narrator: And you need a
way to get them to california.

- I made good
arrangement for that.

Girlfriend.

- Narrator: Next, the
crew hops a flight to lax.

- ♪

- Narrator: When they arrive
in l.A., they hunker down

In a seedy motel, where they
search for the perfect heist

Headquarters within close
proximity to their target.

- They ended up in this very
nice condo

On a golf course.

- Amil: My nephew, he
rented it for us.

- The condo from the bank, I
would say it was probably good

About a half a mile.

- In fact, in 1972, you could
see the roof of the bank

From the condo where they
stayed.

- Beautiful area
for a burglar.

[laughs]

- Narrator: Having secured the
ideal location to set up home

Base, dinsio and his crew begin
the final stage of preparation.

- Amil dinsio buys
a 1962 oldsmobile.

He was attracted to the car

Because of the size
of the trunk.

- It had the deep well where
you could have the spare tire.

We took the spare tire out, so
it was kind of like

A stash place for tools.

- Narrator: With the car
registered under a bogus name

And the tools safely stored,
dinsio's investment is complete.

- [cash register dings]

- They needed thousands of
dollars in preparation

For this crime.

But if you spend a couple
thousand dollars to set up the

Heist, you know that the payoff
is gonna be so massive

That it's worth it.

- [dogs barking]

- ♪

- Week before the crime,
they're watching

The comings and goings
of this bank.

- How the bank sets.

If anybody lives close by.

- We watched it, and we just
said, "no police ever drive

Around there at all."

And there was a good
escape route out of there.

- It had a audible alarm
hanging outside like.

You gotta know what you
need to beat the alarm.

- Narrator: After casing the
bank, dinsio realizes that this

Tiny branch is virtually
defenseless

To a burglar of his talent.

Since ucb is a part of a strip
mall, the trickiest variable

Isn't the bank itself.

It's the building
surrounding it.

After disabling the bank's
exterior alarm, they will need

To stealthily drill into the
roof of the bank and explode

Through the reinforced concrete
before busting open

The locked safe deposit boxes.

All without alerting
anyone nearby.

A tall task.

But one dinsio feels his team
is well-equipped to handle.

- It was a perfect
setup, in a way.

And it was a sitting duck.

- This heist, piece of cake.

- [loud whoosh]

- Narrator: But even the most
well-conceived heists

Don't always account for
everything.

- Chuck says, "car pulling
up, parking in front."

- He's walking to the door.
"whoa, whoa."

- ♪

- Narrator: After months of
intense planning, amil dinsio

And his crew are finally ready
to pull off

The heist of a lifetime
at the laguna niguel branch

Of the united california bank.

Dinsio's target?

Richard nixon's rumored slush
fund valued at $30 million.

- Had to wait for the drugstore
to close,

'cause it's right next to the
bank.

Backed it straight
up against the vault.

So we had to be careful.

- If you're not, you're gonna
get caught,

And you're gonna go to jail.

- Narrator: The last thing
dinsio wants to do is draw

Attention from local
cops in the area.

- Amil: We had the police
scanner set up and everything.

The guy outside is
your eyes really.

- Narrator: The crew quietly
sets up a ladder

Stolen from a nearby church.

- James and amil
go to the roof.

Phil christopher stands
guard with the shotgun.

The rest of them start to fill
up burlap bags full of dirt from

The garden, because that's what
they're gonna use to muffle

The sound of the explosion.

- Amil: We hoisted the
bags of dirt up.

And then we pulled the tools
up from down on the ground.

- Narrator: After their tools
are smoothly transferred to the

Roof, the dinsio brothers turn
their attention to job

Number one: Disabling the
bank's alarm system.

- The only thing protects
a bank is the alarm system.

That's all.

- Narrator: They start
with the exterior alarm.

- So one of them dangled over
the side of the building and

Sprayed liquid styrofoam
into that alarm.

- It expands and it solidifies
anything mechanical in there.

- It would harden, and
the clapper couldn't clap.

- And that takes
care of that alarm.

- Narrator: The dinsio brothers
are now ready to make their way

Into the bank.

But they won't be using a door.

- [drill hums]

- We cut the hole in the roof,
right above the door.

We put the tools on top of the
vault, and we put

All the sand bags
on top of the vault, too.

- Narrator: Next, the
master thieves follow suit.

- They lower themselves
onto the roof of the vault.

- Gotta be real quiet, because
you make too much noise,

The sensors in the vault
would set that alarm off.

- Narrator: After breeching the
bank's first line of defense,

Dinsio now needs to
disable its second.

- And I went and took care
of that interior alarm.

- Narrator: Amil cuts the two
wires in the telephone junction

Box hooked up to the alarm
system, ultimately severing

The direct line between the bank
and the laguna niguel

Sheriff department.

- It really wasn't
a good alarm.

Really cheap.

No good for a bank,
that's for sure.

- Narrator: With both the
exterior and interior alarms

Disabled, dinsio can now set his
sights on the ultimate prize.

- You're free to attack the
vault then,

And that's what we do.

- The vulnerable part of
this reinforced vault

Was its ceiling.

And amil dinsio was smart
enough to pick that out.

- We went to work
drilling the holes.

Drilled the first hole through
to see how thick it was.

It was 18 inches thick.

Then, put five holes.

One in the middle, boom,
boom, five all together.

- They place dynamite
in each of the holes.

- Dynamite like the size of a
chicken egg, 60% nitroglycerin.

- Narrator: They pile sandbags
on top of the dynamite to stifle

The sound of the explosion.

But nitroglycerin is highly
unstable,

And there's no guarantee things
will go according to plan.

- ♪

- James is in place.

Amil's in place.

This is the moment of truth.

- Shoot the juice.

- [explosion]

- Boom.

- They got lucky they
didn't get killed.

- Narrator: The crew outside
the bank waits to see if the

Explosion has attracted
any unwanted attention.

- They're monitoring the
police, and nobody comes.

- In fact, chuck called
and he says, "was that it?"

And I said, "that was it.

No more talk, we
got work to do."

- ♪

- We cut the rebars out
with a acetylene torch.

And I went down in and
I turned the light on.

And the whole wall, you could
see it

Just pretty with safety boxes.

- It must have looked
like fort knox to them,

Like this is gonna be the
promised land.

- Narrator: The next order of
business is to find a way into

The safe deposit boxes.

- They devised a hammer that
had a spiked end on it.

- It's made like a sledge.

One guy holds it to a lock,
the other guy

With a 20-pound sledge,
just one hit.

- [metal dinging]

- You'd pull the
door right open.

- Narrator: But dinsio isn't
busting open boxes at random.

He's after a few in particular.

- We had the box number
for nixon's boxes.

And that's the ones
we took out first.

When we open the lid, it was
lines of money

Front to the back with $100
bills.

- Narrator: Dinsio estimates
it's only about 2 million bucks.

But there's one more box that
allegedly

Belongs to the president.

- You open the lid, there's
white envelopes in there.

You could feel the envelopes,
you could tell there's cash.

And when you pull it open, you
could see thousand dollars bills

And 500s.

It was nixon's money,
no question about it.

Nobody else would
save money like that.

- Narrator: But dinsio was
running

Into a potential problem.

The sun is on its way up.

And there are hundreds of safe
deposit boxes

Still ripe for the taking.

- So we have 500
safe deposit boxes.

And we have one night?

No. We have to do this
over multiple nights.

- The bank closed on
saturdays and sundays.

So we had the whole weekend.

- Narrator: In order to ensure
a safe return over the weekend,

Dinsio lays the cut piece of
plywood over the hole

In the bank's roof and
lines it up with tar.

From the rented condo, they
spend Saturday afternoon keeping

Watch over the roof to make sure
they haven't been found out.

- ♪

- Narrator: On night two,
dinsio brings additional

Manpower down inside the vault
to crack open as many

Safe deposit boxes as possible.

- We climbed down
inside the vault.

And it was time to
get to work, you know?

- ♪

- [metal dings]
- one hit, it's open.

Next one, go down the line.

We'd bust open 25, 30 at a time.

You wanna dump that
stuff, bam, into the bag.

- ♪

- It's an awesome feeling.

- ♪

- You get excited what's
coming out of each box.

It's like robbing
everybody at one time.

- ♪

- Narrator: As dinsio and his
crew plunder the vault,

An unexpected surprise suddenly
puts

Their entire operation in
jeopardy.

- We got a call on the radio.

- [indistinct
police radio chatter]

- Chuck says, "car pulling up.

Car pulling up,
parking in front."

- He's walking to the door.

You know.

[laughs]

- ♪

- Cleaning crew came in.

They made an unscheduled stop.

I says, "set still, set still,
they don't know we're in here."

- ♪

- But don't you know,
my partner, charlie--

- [coughs]

- --He coughs.

- ♪

- We looked at him,
and we were horrified.

- Yeah, that was--that
was pretty close there.

- Should have left him at home.

[laughs]

- Narrator: In the wee hours of
Monday morning, having emptied

458 of the 500 safe deposit
boxes,

The crew was ready
to exit the vault.

But not before dinsio delivers a
coup de gras to the vault door.

- There's three precision
time clocks in there.

- Dave: When the time runs down
on one or more of the movements,

And the vault door will open.

If they ended up jamming time
lock movements,

It would not open.

- And I took the hammer, and I
just smashed each one of 'em.

- [metal dinging]

- They're not gonna get it open.

I wasn't worried one bit.

[laughs]

- ♪

- Overconfidence
got into their minds.

And when you start feeling
that way,

That's when you be discoverable.

- ♪

- Narrator: March 1972.

Police have been called to the
scene of possibly

The greatest bank burglary in
american history.

Someone's cleaned out the vault
at the united california bank in

Laguna niguel.

Investigators have no clue as to
why this modest branch

Would be the target of such
a high-level crime.

- This case fell under the
jurisdiction

Of the orange county sheriffs.

But when they saw how big the
heist was, they knew they were

Out of their league, so
they had to call in the fbi.

- ♪

- Man: Nixon job, a mark.

- By the way, it's
not the nixon job.

[laughs] paul chamberlain.

I was special agent with the fbi
and the case agent responsible

For the overall investigation.

But I'm not the only one
doing what I'm doing.

- Want me to look
like a marine.

- Man: [laughs]

- There you go, sir.

Francis a. Calley,

Better known
as frank calley.

I was a special agent in the
fbi in santa ana, california.

I loved working burglaries,
robberies, just loved it.

- Frank calley was a
hard-edged fbi agent.

He was a tough guy.

- My nickname in the
bureau was yosemite sam.

- ♪

- I did not know
him as yosemite sam.

But I could see how it fits.

- I like to get things done,
get 'em done fast

And don't take no for an answer.

- ♪

- L.A. Is known as

The bank robbery
capital of the world.

- We had bank robberies
happening every couple of hours.

- Guy walks in with a gun and
says, "give me all your money."

That was the normal thing.

- Narrator: But bank burglaries
typically occur

In the dead of night when no
one's around.

- Bank burglaries were
relatively unheard of.

And if they did in fact occur,
they were incredibly small

And barely worthy of note.

This bank burglary was the
most amazing burglary ever.

- ♪

- I had not seen this before.

- Inside the vault was a
scene of utter destruction.

The most amazing thing was the
number of safety deposit boxes

That had been busted open.

- We spent the better part of
that day just looking at it

And saying, "woe is me."
[laughs]

"where do
we go from here?"

- The hard part was trying
to identify what was gone.

- When we landed, almost 500
boxes had been popped open.

We came to realize that the
loss would be very significant.

My assumption at least, what
is multiple of millions.

It could have been a lot more.

- Narrator: Whatever money was
inside the united california

Bank of laguna
niguel is now gone.

While a forensics team sifts
through the pile of rubble in

The vault, agent calley heads
outside to scan the exterior of

The bank for clues.

- [indistinct
police radio chatter]

- The meantime, we looked
around on the bank premises.

- ♪

- Frank: We found--

- Paul: --A long ladder going
from the ground

To the roof of the bank.

- Frank: We saw where there was
an audible alarm system

Which had neutralized.

Somebody had put styrofoam on
the alarm, so if it was

Activated, it couldn't make any
noise.

The clanger couldn't
be clanged by the gong.

- Which was unheard
of at that time.

- Exterior alarm
had been beaten.

The interior alarm
had been beaten.

- They bypassed all of those
features,

And added some twists that we
hadn't seen.

They were very different from
our breed of criminal

Here in los angles.

- We knew immediately they
weren't from the l.A. Area.

- Narrator: This was obviously
no ordinary bank heist.

And in response, the fbi assigns
a staggering

125 agents to investigate.

- This was probably one of the
most investigated cases

In the history of the fbi.

- Narrator: Could this bank
burglary be commanding the

Attention of the top players
in us law enforcement?

- It just makes you wonder,
"could the white house have had

Some type of leverage?"

- Narrator: Renowned bank
burglar amil dinsio and his crew

Of professionals have blown a
hole through the vault

Of the united california
bank in laguna niguel.

While the fbi marvels at the
destructively spectacular

Heist...

Dinsio and his team begin the
meticulous process

Of covering their tracks.

- We're pretty careful
with stuff like that.

- After every score, there
was never no fingerprints.

- They cleaned the ceiling.

That's how detailed they were.

They wanted to make sure there
was no trace of human existence

In that condominium.

- Narrator: 36 hours after the
heist, dinsio and his crew leave

Laguna niguel in their rearview.

When it comes to the final tally
of the loot, it isn't quite

$30 million, but it's still
a significant take.

- Amil: Didn't get as much
as we thought we'd get.

Twelve million dollars of
nixon's money,

And about $800,000 out of
safety deposit boxes.

- Most of the money went to
las vegas to be laundered

By hoffa's connections in
organized crime.

- Narrator: In the '40s, east
coast mobsters took their money

West and built casinos with the
sole purpose

Of hiding their ill-gotten
gains.

And in the '60s and '70s, vegas
became a hub for well-connected

Criminals to wash
their dirty money.

The process was simple.

The criminals would convert
their dirty money to chips,

Gamble away their agreed cut to
the casino, and then convert

The remaining chips back
into clean cash.

The casino claims the dirty
money as earnings

Against a paying customer.

Everybody wins.

Dinsio and the casino agree to
a cut of $450,000--

About 3.5% of the final take.

- I thought it was a clean job.

Clean job.

We weren't concerned
about the fbi.

We just didn't leave nothing for
the fbi to come after us with.

- Narrator: Without a trace of
solid evidence left inside the

Vault, the fbi's investigation
into the united california bank

Job is going nowhere fast.

- At the time, we didn't really
know what we had here,

Because bank burglary was
unknown.

Mere days into
the investigation,

An unprecedented decision
is made.

- Within a couple of days,

125 agents were assigned to the
case.

- It was the most significant
burglary in the country

At the time.

- Chamberlain said he didn't
believe 125 agents had ever been

Assigned to a case,
except once,

And that was
the kennedy assassination.

- If you take nixon's money,
who's he gonna cry to?

He can only cry to the fbi.

- ♪

- It just makes you wonder,
"could the white house have had

Some type of leverage?"

- Narrator: Dinsio certainly
believes that to be the case.

- We did other bank vaults.

Did they put 125 agents on that?

Come on.

- No, I would not have known
about it if it was handled

At the highest level.

- Narrator: Regardless of
whether or not president nixon

Is calling the shots, the
pressure is on the fbi

To make an arrest.

So they bank on the idea that a
burglary this ingenious could

Have a signature that fellow
agents around the country

Might recognize.

- Frank: Gave 'em our m.O.
And we sent it out,

"do you have any suspects
or any informants

"that might be able to help
solve this case,

Please let the fbi office in
l.A. Know about it."

- Narrator: Weeks go by,

The investigation
seems dead in the water.

Until one afternoon nearly two
months after the heist.

- We heard back from our
cleveland fbi office.

- And that's what
changed everything.

- Narrator: Eight weeks
into investigating the most

Sophisticated bank burglary
they have ever seen, fbi agents

Discover that the genius of the
crime itself is what makes

The thieves vulnerable,

When an agent across the country
recognizes a familiar m.O.

- The cleveland fbi office
subsequently came back

And said, "hey."

- They've had a burglary at
a bank in lordstown, ohio.

- They had a similar thing.

Somebody had put styrofoam
on the audible alarms.

- We've got entry
involving explosives.

We got cutting the rebar.

We've got some boxes popped.

It's identical to ours.

Or at least very similar.

- Narrator: With bank
burglaries being more common in

The midwest, the cleveland fbi
office has more than a few

Possible suspects in mind.

- The cleveland office
thereafter

Furnished us the names

Of up to 100 individuals,
coalition of bad guys, who had

Specific expertise in dynamite
and some with alarms

And some with bypassing systems.

And that's when we first
realized we're getting close

To something.

- And so we checked with the
airlines around this time and

Before to see if any of these
people had flown

Into the l.A. Area.

- And what does he do?

He comes up with the name amil
dinsio on one of those flights.

- I'd never heard
the name before.

- The people in cleveland
knew the name amil dinsio.

They'd been chasing him for
years,

But they couldn't catch him.

- Amil was almost like a
popular folk hero in his

Community, well-known
to be beyond the law

And arrogant as hell.

- Narrator: Other names on the
flight manifest to lax include

James dinsio, chuck mulligan,
phil christopher,

Charlie broeckel,
and harry barber.

- They were so sure that nobody
would be chasing them,

That they used their real names.

- I definitely think it's a
game between amil dinsio

And the fbi.

"can you catch me?

How long can I
get away with it?"

- After that point, well, we
figured they had to get from lax

To some place.

- So they started to ask
all the taxi drivers

If they recognized pictures
of the dinsio gang.

And one guy remembered
amil dinsio.

- The guy said, "well, yeah, a
bunch of these guys scared

The hell out of me, and then
they tipped me $100."

Very unforgettable.

- I'm a good-hearted guy.

You might not
think so, but I am.

- Narrator: A hint of
generosity and a crisp $100 bill

Is all it takes to get fbi
agents hot on dinsio's trail.

Now, investigators focus their
efforts on finding where dinsio

And his crew laid their
heads during the heist.

- Thought they were
probably high rollers.

We figured that they would have
gone into a good ritzy hotel.

- So he's going to all the
five-star hotels

Showing pictures of the dinsio
gang.

What he didn't realize was that
they aren't five-star guys.

- We changed manpower.

And second time around,
we found a motel.

- Fleabag hotel in a
place called cudahy.

- Called the jubilee inn.

Mr. Mulligan checked in
using his true identity.

- They were flawless at the
bank job, but they made a number

Of mistakes prior to that.

- We obtained the telephone
records of the calls that were

Made from that room during the
period that the suspects

Were there.

- One of the calls mulligan
made was to a guy named

Earl dawson in tustin,
california.

- Earl dawson is from
youngstown, ohio.

- He had a relationship with
mulligan

From when they were younger.

- Narrator: Agent calley wastes
little time

Making the 20-mile trek north
to pay mr. Dawson a visit.

- ♪

- Earl dawson was a
ruddy, red-faced marine.

And calley appealed to
him as marine to marine.

- So we started asking
questions, and he told us he's

Good friends of mulligan.

And through mulligan, he met the
dinsios, and that they had come

Out twice to his
house in tustin.

- Earl dawson said he didn't
know anything about this heist.

All he knew was that his buddy
wanted to store a car

In his garage.

- That was my decision to just
take it and park it for now.

We'll come back later and
destroy it, you know?

Thought it was safe.

- They made stupid mistakes
that are consistent

With being arrogant.

- He looked through the windows
into the car, I could see what

Appeared to be evidence--the
concrete dust in the back.

So I called chamberlain and I
told them, "hey, start getting

A search warrant for that car."

- So calley gets the search
warrant, and they pop the trunk.

And it's all sitting
right in front of them.

- In that false bottom trunk,
there was shotguns, there was

Some drills in there, there was
pepper spray, there was masks.

- Dust again from the
vault of the bank.

- There was a snot-nose hammer
that popped the 500

Safety deposit boxes.

- They found a flashlight whose
batteries had amil dinsio's

Fingerprints on them.

- That vehicle
was the goldmine.

- Narrator: The agents now have
the tools, but they need

To uncover dinsio's hideout in
order to further connect

He and his cohorts to the crime.

- In addition to the phone call
from chuck mulligan's motel room

To dawson, there's another phone
call that went

To a real estate broker in the
laguna niguel area.

- ♪

- Condominium on the west 9 was
rented by one of the suspects

By the name of barber.

- Narrator: Since barber had
paid to rent the condo

For three months, nobody has
been inside for weeks.

- They go there, and
the place is spotless.

- And it appeared that the
entire condo has been wiped down

With zero physical
evidence left behind.

Zero.

- We had probably as good a
crime scene investigator that

I've ever seen, and he couldn't
come up with anything.

Except they made one
gigantic mistake.

- This was an
unforgivable error.

- And that was the beginning
of the end for the bad guys.

- Narrator: After running
in circles for months, fbi

Investigators are finally
closing in on mastermind

Amil dinsio and his band of
thieves.

- The fbi finds the condo
where the dinsio gang stayed.

- We had our forensic
team go to the condo.

- You could tell there
was like an oily film.

It had been wiped pretty clean.

- But one of them
notices the dishwasher.

They open the dishwasher,
and there are dishes inside.

- And it was our conjecture
that the dishwasher,

Although loaded, had never
been turned on.

- ♪

- We were able to develop
fingerprints on the dishes.

- ♪

- That's bingo.

- Narrator: After the
fingerprints are analyzed

And compared against dinsio and
his crew,

Arrests are imminent.

- Well, I was sleeping in
bed when I heard a ruckus

Downstairs.

Then I see couple guys in suits
look up the steps

And I hear him say,
"there he is."

So...

- June 27, when I got arrested,
I left the house in the morning.

- [siren wails]

- Pretty soon, they come from
side streets to lights flashing.

- [siren wailing]

- Guns all out.

- ♪

- "amil dinsio,
you're under arrest."

Don't say [bleep].

- During the search warrant
at amil's house, thousands and

Thousands of dollars from the
lordstown job was found

Just hidden in random
locations in his garage.

We recovered a lot of valuable
[unintelligible] instruments and

Cash in a nearby field and
stuff stored everywhere.

- Narrator: Submitting to the
same fate is amil's brother,

James, and his
brother-in-law chuck.

But as each member of the gang
is picked up, one in particular

Decides to cooperate.

- Charlie broeckel eventually
turns state's evidence

And testified against the
dinsios.

- Narrator: Charlie broeckel
was never charged

In connection to the heist.

- My biggest mistake was taking
charlie broeckel to california.

Biggest mistake.

- Narrator: Since james
dinsio's fingerprints were never

Recovered in the oldsmobile, he
gets 15 years for larceny and

Conspiracy, while amil
dinsio, chuck mulligan,

Phil christopher,
and harry barber all get 20

For conspiracy and bank
burglary.

- People have gotta know
whether or not their president's

A crook.

- Narrator: As for richard
nixon, well, he found himself

In hot water of his own
soon after the ucb heist.

- Well, I'm not a crook.

I've earned everything I've got.

- Narrator: Although nixon's
crooked dealings are well

Documented, what remains up for
debate is whether his rumored

Slush fund was truly housed
in the vault

Of the united california bank
in laguna niguel.

- ♪

- I think he kind of looked
back and figured out, "I'll just

Say something about nixon's
money being in the bank."

There's absolutely no chance
whatsoever that nixon's money

Was in that bank.

- That's what you wanna
believe, you believe it.

It don't matter to me.

I know what I got.

- ♪

- Narrator: While dinsio
proudly admits to masterminding

The ucb heist, he insists he was
too good to be caught, and even

Wrote a book claiming that the
fbi had to plant evidence

In order to seal his fate.

- [laughing]
oh.

- Narrator: Dinsio's conviction
stems largely from

The fingerprint evidence found
on the flashlight batteries

In the oldsmobile.

Evidence amil dinsio
heavily disputes.

- They framed us.

No question about it.

They framed us.

Fbi agents went in my garage,
took stuff to get this

Fingerprint right here on my
right thumb on a battery.

Put those batteries in a
flashlight, planted it

In the car in california, which
then tied me to the car.

That's how they did that.

- Amil is out to lunch, that
comment.

The fbi had nothing to do with
planting evidence that led

To his conviction for anything.

- It's not that I'm an angel.

We rob banks.

We made money robbing banks.

And it took the fbi to do some
underhanded stuff to get to us.

That's what tees me off.

- As a bank
burglar, he was tops.

Best I've been across.

At the end of the
day, we were better.

The fbi was better.

- Come on, no way. [laughs]

They put us in
jail at the end of the day.

But the only thing
they were better at?

Burglarizing my house and
making false search warrant,

No question about it.

But like walter cronkite
said, "that's the way it is."