01x05 - The United California Bank Job

[bunniefuu]

The target is tempting.

A haul that could net
over $30 million.

From the outside, looks
like an ordinary bank.

But on the inside
it's anything but ordinary.

With ties to big labor,
a US president,

and the mafia...

There's Nixon campaign money
in this one remote bank.

This heist isn't just
daring, it's dangerous.

Outside of the vault
they hear footsteps.

Is he Secret Service?
Does he work for the bank?

Is he security?
Everyone is panicking.

[man coughs]

What the [bleep]?

[man coughs]

Maybe this isn't as easy

as we thought it might be.

♪ ♪

The masterminds
behind every great heist

see what most people don't:

risking everything to pull
off the score of a lifetime.

It takes a bold plan...

the right team...

and the skill to stay
one step ahead of the law.

[jazzy music]

♪ ♪

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

[watch out] Watch out.

This way.

[boom]

United California Bank
in Laguna Niguel.

It's isolated, in a town
with a lot of money,

and its vault is filled
with the safe deposit

boxes of wealthy locals.

It's also allegedly
heist-proof.

[clank]

[surf music]

♪ ♪

The United California Bank
was structurally well built.

It had a vault inside
about 12 by 15

with very, very thick walls and
rebar all the way around it.

The vault door is
fireproof and blast proof,

and weighs nearly 1,000 pounds.

Its time-lock
mechanism means that it

can't be opened after hours...

at least not by
law-abiding citizens.

It was significant
and state of the art

for that time period.

But it has a
secret that makes

a crew of professional
thieves travel 2,400

miles from Ohio to rob it.

United California Bank,
from the outside,

looks like an ordinary bank.

But on the inside is
anything but ordinary.

The tipster says that
there is a $30 million stash

rumored to be dirty money

belonging to
President Richard Nixon

inside this bank.

And that's the background
that gets this all going.

♪ ♪

It's a few months
before Watergate

and Richard Nixon is already
known as Tricky d*ck.

Nixon is running
for reelection

and he's amassing
his w*r chest.

And the money is coming in
from some interesting sources,

including the Teamsters.

Jimmy Hoffa, who's the
president of the Teamsters,

is serving 4 years
of a 13-year sentence

for bribery and fraud.

Hoffa wants out of prison,
so he allegedly

tries to cut a deal
with President Nixon.

As the story goes, Nixon says
in exchange for a pardon

he wants $3 million
and an endorsement

from the Teamsters Union.

So Hoffa goes along
with this agreement.

But the money
comes with a condition.

The caveat is that Hoffa

cannot serve as the head
of the Teamsters

for nine whole years.

And when he does get
out of prison, he's pissed

and he wants
his $3 million back.

Jimmy Hoffa uses his
mob ties to figure out

that this money, this fund,
is held in a bank

in little old Laguna Niguel.

And so using
his mobster connections,

Hoffa decided to call it the
best burglars in the country.

The question goes out
to mobsters everywhere:

who would you use
on a bank job

if your life depended on it?

There's one answer:
the Dinsio brothers,

out of Youngstown, Ohio.

Cleveland mafia members,
on behalf of Hoffa,

approached Amil Dinsio

and his brother James Dinsio.

The Dinsio brothers,
with this $30 million heist,

and of course
they can't refuse that.

The mastermind
will be Amil Dinsio.

Born in 1936 to Italian
immigrant parents,

his father's restaurant
hosted backroom gambling

run by local mafiosos.

These men mentored young
Amil in the art of the heist,

and he was their star student.

Amil Dinsio is the brains.
He's the mastermind.

He's methodical, his attention
to detail is second to none,

and he's exactly who you
want in a heist like this.

I met with Amil Dinsio
multiple occasions,

and he made it
a point to tell me,

you know,
"We never hurt nobody."

Amil Dinsio is a popular
folk hero,

and crimes like this
were part of the way of life.

So not only is Amil the
best burglar in the world,

he's also the planner
and the recruiter,

and he wants to build the best
team to pull this thing off.

So he starts
building his crew,

and it starts with his
brother James Dinsio.

James Dinsio,
who's Amil's older brother,

is a self-taught
expl*sives expert.

And he has a gift.
And we know he has a gift,

because he has all 10 fingers.

James and Amil have
been hitting banks

since they were teenagers.

They've worked together,
they trust each other.

Together they form
the core of the crew.

The deal is that
Hoffa is made whole,

he gets his $3 million back,
the mob gets 5%,

and the team splits the rest.

They've done a lot
of heists.

They've done something
like 70-plus heists,

but never anything like
a $30 million heist.

The brothers'
first step is a scout

to learn all the
obstacles standing

between them and $30 million.

That means trading Ohio snow
for some California sunshine.

When you're doing a heist,

you have to case the place,
check out the security,

check out the environment.

They're casing the shopping
center day and night.

How busy is it during
the day, after it closes?

And what they're finding
out is after 10:00 p.m.,

it's pretty much dead.

The lack of
nightlife is expected.

But the lack of
after-hours security

is a welcome surprise.

Laguna Niguel is
essentially Sleepy Hollow.

There was very little in
the way of law enforcement.

The Orange County Sheriff's
Department had jurisdiction

over the entire county,
and at nighttimes

they only had allotted one
car for South County,

which was the entire area
from Tustin, California,

all the way down
to Laguna Niguel.

They realized that the
bank closes Friday evening,

a cleaning crew comes
through, and then

they have the whole
weekend to do whatever

they want in the bank.

So Amil and James
are casing the place.

They are going
through the bushes.

It's like the dead of night.

They're doing it very, very
carefully, very covertly,

hiding behind these bushes.

They're trying to figure out
what makes this bank tick

when a car pulls up.

A car pulls up
into the plaza,

right in front of the bank.

A man gets out.
He's dressed in dark clothing.

Opens up the back door and
a German shepherd gets out,

and the dog starts patrolling
the perimeter of the bank.

The dog, meanwhile, gets
closer and closer to them.

Amil and James are
thinking, who is this guy?

Is he just taking his dog
out for a midnight stroll?

Or is he some kind of security
they didn't know about?

The Dinsios fear the worst.

If this is a canine patrol,
they're dead on arrival.

And then the dog
starts getting closer

and closer to where
they're hiding

and then looks
directly at them.

[growling]

With millions on the line,
Amil and James Dinsio

are scouting the biggest
heist of their careers.

♪ ♪

But an encounter with what
looks like a canine patrol

could stop this job
before it begins.

[suspenseful music]

[dog barking]

If they get caught, it's all
the planning down the drain,

millions of dollars
down the drain,

and then having to answer
to the Cleveland mob.

They think,
we've been found out.

[dog barking]

[music escalates]

[man whistles, dog barking]

But then the dog leaves.

Gets back in the car
and they drive away.

Even after the man
and the dog leave,

there's this
wild-card element that

they have to contend with.

Is he security for the plaza?

Is he FBI?
Is he Secret Service?

And will it get in the way of
them pulling this thing off?

♪ ♪

It's an alarming prospect.

And has the team
worried about

what kind of security
system the bank has.

What's standard in
a bank at this time

is an outside alarm, an
alarm that makes a sound,

and an alarm in the vault,
a silent alarm.

Now these guys are pros.

They know there are going
to be two kinds of alarms.

They're creeping around
the perimeter of the bank

to find that
exterior alarm bell.

Amil finds it and he
notices the company name.

Amil looks up and he sees
Diebold Alarm,

and a smile is on his face.

He knows a lot about Diebold.

He's robbed a number of
bank vaults with Diebold,

so this is the
best-case scenario.

So they have the
exterior alarm covered;

it's that silent alarm they
need more information on.

And they know there's going
to be at least a wire that

goes from the vault
to either the police

or the alarm company.

♪ ♪

Amil and James
begin to work out

a plan for a two-night heist.

Night one, they'll cut
a hole through the roof

and drop a few feet down
onto the top of the vault.

They'll disable
the loud exterior

alarm and then the
interior silent alarm

that alerts the police.

James will then drill holes
down into the vault's ceilings

and fill them with expl*sives.

From there, they'll
use sandbags to muffle

the sound and direct the blast
into the vault.

On night two,
they'll use brute force

to bust into
hundreds of safe deposit

boxes and get the loot.

It's simple,
but it's a lot of work

and the devil will
be in the details.

Now that they've completed
their very thorough recon

and have the broad
strokes of a plan,

they need to build out
the rest of the team.

And that means

going back to Ohio.

After Amil and James
fly home and report in,

their mafia handlers make
an offer they can't refuse.

They add a mob-connected alarm
specialist to their crew.

♪ ♪

My name
is Philip Christopher,

and they call me
the Super Thief.

♪ ♪

Born and raised
Cleveland, Ohio.

Still there to this day.

Cleveland was home
to some of the best

burglars in the world.

Phil Christopher is
known as an alarm guy.

They want the best
of the best,

so they're going to
recruit that.

They would come to
us because they knew

damn well we were the best.

Nobody could beat the
alarms like I could.

But I got in there, you
know, by hook or by crook.

I was going to get
in there because

I wasn't going home empty.

The next member
of the Dinsios

add to the team
is Chuck Mulligan.

He'll acquire the specialized
gear to get the job done

without leaving a trail.

They go to Chuck Mulligan,
who is their brother-in-law

so they trust him.

They've worked with him before.

Meanwhile, James Dinsio
begins building some

of the custom tools
they'll need for the job,

including a drill...

one you can't just pick up
in your local hardware store.

This drill
runs on 2,500 RPMs

and has a 3/8-inch
carbon tip drill bit

that can pulverize concrete.

And it is super, super quiet.

This is a critical element,
because not only will they

be able to drill the
hole that they need,

it'll be quiet enough that
no one else will hear it.

Busting into safe deposit
boxes takes serious muscle,

so the Cleveland mob also adds
Charles Broeckel to the team.

He's not just an associate,
he's also

Phil Christopher's cousin.

He's a mobbed-up partner.

He's worked with Phil.

He is someone that Phil trusts.

So he's not going to
let anything happen to me,

you know,
because we were close.

The mob puts two
of their guys on,

so when they're
splitting up the money,

no one forgets how to do math.

♪ ♪

With an ace team,
a great plan,

and custom gear
packed and ready,

it's time to fly
back to California.

The Dinsios are determined
that the biggest heist

of their careers be flawless.

So Charlie and I
got to the airport

and they tell Charlie,
Charlie, where's

our driver's license, our
phony ID that we had made up?

And he said, oh, I forgot them.

I said, how the hell
are we going to get

on a plane with no phony ID?

Because I had to be careful
because I was on probation.

Nobody knows how long
the cash will remain

in the bank in California,

so the heist team
has to decide,

do they make their move now...

or lie low for one more week?

When Charlie Broeckel
forgets the fake IDs,

they use their real IDs,
their real names.

They still got on the planes.

I didn't want to do it, but
I knew the other guys were

on a plane waiting for us
and I didn't want to say,

well, we'll catch you
on the next flight.

I didn't want to
make it seem like we

didn't know what was doing.

Once they arrive
in Laguna Niguel,

they're joined by
the last member

of the crew, getaway driver
and radioman Harry Barber.

So Harry Barber is a nephew.

Again, it's mostly
a family affair.

These are people
he's worked with,

these are people he trusts.

Chuck Mulligan picks
up the last items

on his unusual shopping
list, walkie talkies,

nitroglycerine,
and a getaway car.

The team gathers for
final preparations.

Harry Barber rented
a place down there

at the West Nine in
Laguna Niguel, which

is a condominium area
about a couple

of miles east from the bank.

It was like perfect.

The condo's on the edge
of the golf course,

so nobody's going to see us
approach the bank at all.

♪ ♪

At 10:00 p.m. on Friday,
the heist team heads out,

carrying their tools
across the golf course...

on the way to a
different kind of green.

Charlie Mulligan takes his
position on top of the hill

as we walk down the embankment.

For the duration of this
mission, he's the lookout.

Harry Barber stays
back at the condo,

listening to the
police scanner,

and he's on standby with the
getaway car in case anything

goes wrong.
[police radio chatter]

[suspenseful music]

Friday, March 24,
1972, at 11:00 p.m.,

the Dinsio crew is ready
to put their plan, their gear,

and their nerves to the test.

The heist starts now.

♪ ♪

Amil, James, and Phil
make their way up the ladder

to the roof,
leaving Broeckel down

below as a secondary lookout.

Their first order of business?

To cut a hole in the roof
to get to the vault below.

We were drilling our
holes where we estimated

the top of the vault would be.

Then we drilled four holes in
the square and then got a saw

and cut it and then made sure
we didn't drop it because it

might have a vibration
alarm inside the vault.

So we had to be careful not
to drop anything on there.

So once they
have the hole cut,

they bring the ladder up
from the side of the building

and lower it down
above the vault.

Amil and Phil enter
the building to look

for the vault's silent alarm.

As silently as possible.

Any vibrations could land
the crew in handcuffs.

Amil and I, we crawl down
on top of the vault.

At this point, we're
looking for a junction box

where the alarm was
coming from inside the vault.

They came in through
the roof and they

were trying to find the alarm.

They were looking
for wires all around.

Phil and Amil finally
find the junction box

that should contain the
wires for the silent alarm.

But they can't figure
out which ones, if any,

are the actual alarm.

They were looking
for the wires that

will connect to
this box that sends

a frequency to the police.

And they could not for the
life of them find these things.

Did they underestimate
this suburban bank?

Does it have a kind
of silent alarm

system they've never seen?

With millions at stake
and the Cleveland mob

expecting results,
they need answers... fast.

So they're thinking, is this
bigger than we ever thought?

What's going on?
Are we in over our heads?

They were freaked out.

In Laguna Niguel,
an elite crew of criminals

is attempting to
steal $30 million

from the
United California Bank.

But the silent alarm
they need to find

might as well be invisible.

Amil says,
there ain't no alarm.

I said, no, there's
gotta be an alarm.

I said, move over.

So I'm checking the
same way he was doing.

And I said, dang,
you're right, what the hell?

It's got to be in
here somewhere.

They're in the middle of
this crazy, intense situation.

The clock is ticking
and they can't find it.

Maybe there's another
box in here somewhere.

So we looked around, looked
around, looked around.

We couldn't find it.

So now we figured we've
been in there long enough,

let's get out of here.

So after hours of
searching, they decide

to regroup back at the condo.

But before they leave on
that first night, they make

sure to cover their
tracks, which means

the hole that they've cut
into the roof, they take it

and they put it back and they
seal it with a light layer

of tar, which means
people from above

won't know that anything
has happened to the roof.

Nobody is the wiser.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

This team of
elite thieves isn't

feeling very elite right now.

The heist of the century?

Well, it has fizzled
after four hours.

They retreat to the condo
filled with doubt.

If the bank's rumored
connection to President Nixon

are true, then its security
setup could be something

they've never seen before.

Then, Phil Christopher
considers another possibility.

It dawned on me after
a lot of thinking,

could it be possible
they got it the old way?

I mean, no,
they can't have it...

I mean, can they have it?

Phil suspects
that the silent alarm

might be the simplest kind
there is,

a configuration
so out of date

that they can't imagine
a well-protected

bank would still use it.

They're unsure.

It looks almost too simple
for what this heist is.

At this time, they expected
the bank had the kind of alarm

that they would need all their
sophisticated tools to jump.

But what if it has the
old style of alarm?

And Amil and James,
they look at one another,

and look back at me...you
know, it's possible, you know?

♪ ♪

After dark on
day two, the crew

hikes back across
the golf course

to the bank to see if
they can salvage the job.

Considering the Cleveland
mob indicates

that there might be
Nixon campaign funds

in the bank,

they're thinking to themselves,
can it really be this simple?

The team is risking
30 million on Phil's guess,

but before he tries
to jump or bypass

the interior vault alarm,
Amil Dinsio needs

to disable the exterior one.

To do this, he takes
some inspiration

from the local surf scene.

To beat the exterior alarm,

Amil uses this liquid
surf foam

that is used to prepare surfboards.

♪ ♪

Amil drills a hole in the
audible alarm and injects

a fast-setting foam
that causes the alarm bell

to seize up and not gong.

So they have the
exterior alarm covered;

it's that silent alarm
they need to jump.

It looks like
Phil was right;

it looks like a closed-loop
circuit alarm.

And a closed-loop
circuit alarm can

be bypassed by creating
a loop that keeps

the circuit from breaking.

And the alarm system
thinks that

it's still guarding the vault.

Because if you cut it, it'll
be an open circuit; that's

when the alarm goes off.

So they have to
keep the circuit going

while they're both
cutting the wire,

soldering it almost instantaneously.

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

They retreat to the nearby
bushes to watch and wait.

If they're right about
the silent alarm,

they'll be heading
back into the bank.

If they're wrong, they
might be heading to jail.

After 20 minutes,
Harry radios them.

No alarms, no police,
no problem...

except one...

Time.

So they're behind schedule,
the clock is ticking,

they're under pressure,
there is a lot at stake.

The next step involves
backbreaking work.

Before they can bring bags
of loot down from the roof,

they need to bring
bags of sand up to it.

The sandbags not only serve
as a way to muffle the sound,

but also to direct the
energy downward as they

explode into the vault.

That is intensive work
that requires some muscles.

They definitely had
muscle with them.

With sandbags
in place, the team

is ready to blast down through
steel-reinforced concrete.

It's the part of the plan
that separates the pros

from the amateurs,
and if they're not careful,

limbs from torsos.

So James,
our expl*sive expert, gets

to work drilling holes
in the roof of the vault

and filling it with
nitroglycerin putty.

There's a very delicate
balance filling these holes.

You need enough nitroglycerin
putty to get into the vault,

but not too much so everything
crumbles or anyone hears you.

People think it
just blows up, but no.

You put the dynamite
cap in and then

put the wires
together to bring them

all up to the top of the roof.

This is a good way of
blowing the concrete out.

And then when
that's all hooked up

together, got to know
what they're doing

or they're going to
meet their maker.

[muffled boom]

[exciting music]

So this is the
moment of truth.

They have these giant
sandbags, they've placed

the expl*sives in the holes.

They're very excited
to get this going.

They want this to
be a one-shot deal.

James looks at Amil, nods.

James flips the switch.

[click]

Boom!

Sometimes the phrase
"blowing the roof off a place"

is a figure of speech.

On this job, it's real.

The Dinsio's expl*sive
charges breach the vault roof

of the United California
Bank in Laguna Niguel

and they're in.

And it's incredible.

You expect to hear
this loud expl*si*n,

and they felt it
in their bodies

but all they heard
was a muffled thud.

And it's exciting.

And it's great.

But they're also
worried that maybe

they've tripped something.

So they have to make sure
that there's no alarms that

are sounded,
that nobody has been

notified of this
expl*si*n or otherwise.

They check in
back at the condo,

make sure the police scanner
hasn't heard anything.

No one hears it.

No one calls the police.

No car alarms are going off.

So now it's showtime.

They have to cut through
a few pieces of rebar

and they're in the vault.

♪ ♪

Dinsio's crew is now inside
what some mobsters call

Nixon's vault.

They still have to contend with
500 safe deposit boxes,

but they're so close now

they can practically
smell the money.

♪ ♪

Whenever you got
into a vault or a safe

was always exciting
because you find out what

reward you had coming to you.

They see these
500 pristine security boxes,

just Nixon's money
waiting for them to take it.

♪ ♪

Now, this is
really tough work.

They have so many safety
deposit boxes to bust into,

and not a lot of time.

They're in this tiny vault.
The clock is ticking

and they've got to get as
many of these as they can

before their time is up.

Rocco comes in.
He's the muscle,

and he's going to help them
open those

500 safety deposit boxes.

There was a special tool
that was used on this job,

and that tool was a snout
nose hammer,

in which the end of the hammer

was milled to the circumference

of the lock boxes.

So you place that hammer
up against the lock,

you take a sledge, and you
pound the lock through.

And then you're in.

[dynamic music]

Charlie and I
started working,

hammering, beating on these
boxes, popping them open.

They're finding money,
they're finding jewelry,

they're finding valuables.

It was the score
of a lifetime.

There's so much
money in this place,

you know our hearts
are pounding,

we're sweating there.

I mean, there's so much
that it's burning our eyes

and because of the adrenaline,
the heat, and the work.

With less than five
hours to go before sunrise,

the Dinsio g*ng works hard to
bag as much loot as possible.

But delays have
run out the clock,

and they still haven't found
the so-called Nixon cash.

As dawn approaches,

they have a $30 million
decision to make.

It comes to a point
where they have to decide,

should we keep going or should
we get out while we can?

And by dawn, even though
they didn't get all the boxes

they call it...
it's time to get out of there.

The Dinsio crew
retreats through

the diminishing darkness
to the safety of the condo.

The team spends all
day Sunday debating

whether to take the
loot already in hand

or risk one more night
in the vault for more.

The guys are on edge, but
they listen to the police

scanner the whole next day.

Nothing.

Laguna Niguel is blissfully
unaware that their bank

is being robbed.

They have a great crew and
they have a great opportunity,

so they make their way back.

[edgy music]

The crew decides going back
into the vault on Sunday night

is less risky than going back
to the mob empty-handed.

There's no more cutting,
there's nothing left

to blow up...they just
spend the whole night

going through those boxes
and getting that loot.

♪ ♪

They found a treasure trove.

It's euphoric and sweaty, and
then all of a sudden they get

a call on the walkie talkie.

♪ ♪

James says, quiet, quiet.

We all stop, what, what?

He's pointing to the walkie.

And Mulligan says,
somebody just

pull up in front of the place.

It gets worse.

Mulligan lets them know that
somebody got out of the car

and is heading
towards the bank.

And they're thinking the worst.

I said, oh s***.

Then Charlie says,
he's coming inside.

We're just beside
ourselves now.

What are we going to do here?

He comes inside and
we're all listening

because we don't understand.

We've got the alarms
shut down and everything.

What the hell is going on here?

And outside of
the vault they hear footsteps,

footsteps walking
slowly around the bank.

They are trying
to make no sound

at all if at all possible.

[coughing]

It's so quiet.

Next thing we know,
Charlie coughs.

We turn to look at him.

[coughing]

♪ ♪

What the [bleep]?

Dinsio Crew is finally
getting their hands

on the real money when
an uninvited visitor arrives.

And at the most
pressure-packed moment

of the heist,
Charlie Broeckel chokes,

literally.

Amil and James look at him,
too, in disbelief.

Coughing...now we're
listening real hard.

We're listening to see
if the guy might have heard us.

[suspenseful music]

Keep in mind,
they're in a confined space,

and there's particles of dust,
particles of concrete,

and he cannot stop coughing.

Then Charlie coughs again.

I was in disbelief.

I look at him, get
the [bleep] outta here.

You know?

He's trying to climb around
to get up on the stool

to get up on top
of the cabinets

so he can go up
out of the hole.

And he put his feet
in our hands

and we just like threw him
all the way up to the hole

to get him out of there,
you know?

♪ ♪

And then they wait
for 30 agonizing minutes.

♪ ♪

Finally, Mulligan
gets on the walkie.

The person has left.

Harry chimes in, there's no
chatter on the police scanner.

They gather up as much loot
as they can,

and they get out of there.

So after the guy came out
and he got in his car

and he took off, well,
we figured we were good to go.

The heist team has
miraculously pulled off

the biggest haul
of their careers.

With sunrise minutes away,

it's time to make
those millions disappear.

They give themselves
extra time

by giving a coup de grace
to the vault door.

They disable the door
by driving something

into the locking mechanism.

Amil Dinsio showing
his expertise,

he's able to damage
the vault lock from the inside,

so that
when Monday morning arrives

and employees return to work,
they're not going to be able

to get inside this vault
right away.

♪ ♪

The g*ng is cutting it close,

so this is going
to buy them more time

to hopefully get away safely.

I felt like Santa Claus when
I was going back to the condo.

So they get back
to the condo,

and it's the first time
seeing what they got.

And it is a fortune.

And according to Amil Dinsio,

they got the Nixon millions
and more.

When I pressed Amil
for details, he smiled.

It proved out
to be a great job.

It was $30 million,

you know,
can't ask for more than that

when you're a burglar.

By the time I went
to lay down to sleep,

Charlie already had
$20 million,

and there was that much more,
if not more,

left to be tabulated.

There was around $30 million
to $40 million

that I could see.

♪ ♪

And by the time the bank
opens on Monday morning,

the crew is not even
in Southern California.

The Cleveland guys are
flying home,

and Amil, James,
and Chuck are heading to Vegas

to fence the loot.

[phone ringing]

I recall sometime
around mid-morning,

my partner at the time says,

I just got a call
from United California Bank.

He said, they told me they
can't get into their vault.

We think we need you down here.

There's a hole in the roof.

Jim says,
don't touch anything.

We'll be right down.

I drove down to the bank.

I go over to the vault,
and I'm looking down.

You looked right
into the vault down below.

You knew right then and there,
this is a career case.

♪ ♪

Initially, investigators fear
the thieves stole $50,000.

But reported losses soon passed
$2 million,

$4 million, $8 million.

That's when the FBI realizes

this heist is unlike
any they've ever seen.

We told them it was
going to be a big one.

We're going to have
to have manpower.

I was working bank robberies
in the Los Angeles office

at the time the Laguna Niguel
burglary occurred.

And I got involved
shortly thereafter

when we realized that the loss
was substantially greater.

The FBI realizes
this is a big deal,

so they put eight agents
on the case.

J. Edgar Hoover is
the boss of the FBI

during this time period.

Mr. Hoover was a very
motivated guy,

and therefore he motivated us.

Then J. Edgar Hoover gets involved

and the number
of agents jumps from eight

to 125 in the first few weeks.

Hoover personally committing
the FBI to the case

stokes rumors about
what might have been stolen

from the sleepy little bank
in Laguna Niguel.

2,000 miles away,

the crew is confident
they made a clean getaway.

So when a Amil Dinsio
gets a new tip,

it's too tempting to pass up.

They decide
to do another heist.

This one is in Lordstown, Ohio,

at a bank across the street
from a GM factory.

I talked to Dinsio about this,

and I was like, why would
you do this at this point?

You just got all this money.

They decided a haul like this

doesn't come around often,
let's do it again.

I don't believe we should
have made another move

on that Lordstown bank

because we had
so much already,

we didn't need that job.

I had a bad feeling about it.

There's a lot
of similarities in a*mo,

method of operation,
between the two.

So much so
that it was pretty clear

that our players were involved
in that bank burglary.

♪ ♪

I concluded that we needed
to figure out

how the bad guys got
to Laguna Niguel, California.

We had identified
a large group of people.

We asked the major hubs
for airlines

to run all of these names
through their system.

We found subsequently
the five names

we were looking for
within a couple of days.

I admired the job they did.

They were fantastic
bank burglars

but lousy criminals.

The phone records gave us
a witness named Earl Dawson

who turned out to be living
in Tustin, California,

and a friend of Mulligan's.

I got the call
late in the afternoon

to check out
Earl Randall Dawson.

But the thing that really
hit me is his place of birth

was Youngstown, Ohio.

And you don't have to be an FBI
agent to say that's a clue.

Frank Calley and his partner
go to Earl Dawson's residence

and show him photos
of the usual suspects.

He immediately picks
out Chuck Mulligan

and says his old friend
from Ohio asked

if he could park a car in
Earl's garage for a few weeks.

[phone ringing]

While I'm talking to him,
the phone rings

and he picks it up.

He looks at me, and he...

just a sec,
I'll be right with you.

He says, it's Mulligan.

♪ ♪

June 1972,

more than nine weeks after one

of the largest heists
in history,

the Feds get one
of the most implausible

breaks of their careers.

[phone ringing]

They're interviewing
an associate

of Dinsio's g*ng
when Chuck Mulligan phones

to discuss getting rid
of evidence.

I said, do you mind if we
listen in on the conversation?

Mulligan says,
hey, Earl, how you been?

Then he said, I'm flying out
to LA tonight, get there late,

and then I'm going
to come down to your house.

I got to get rid of the car
in the garage, he says.

Have the FBI
or anybody been around?

And he said, no, nobody's
been around down here.

He says, are you sure?

He said,
no, nobody's come around.

[suspenseful music]

And I said,
this guy we can trust.

Could the car in the garage

Mulligan is coming
to get rid of

be the vehicle used
in the heist?

Calley tells the FBI bosses

that a suspect is coming
to him,

and he quickly gets a warrant
to search the vehicle.

♪ ♪

They pop open the trunk
and they find ski masks,

they find g*ns,
and they find the tools

that were used
in the Laguna Niguel heist.

It was clear
that everything in the car,

everything in the trunk had
been wiped down significantly,

with the exception of
a fingerprint behind the mirror

when somebody apparently
was adjusting the mirror.

Mulligan shows up.

I walked up, said, Mulligan?
And he said, yes.

The FBI.

He said, what?
I said, you're under arrest.

A true professional,

Mulligan doesn't
rat out his crew.

Even when FBI agents locate
the condo Harry Barber rented,

the heist team isn't worried.

They're confident
they've made quite literally

a clean getaway.

That place was wiped
from ceiling to floor

of anything that could
possibly be evidence,

anything, with the exception
of the dishwasher.

♪ ♪

Five people were identified
from the fingerprints

on dirty dishes,
in that someone forgot

to push the Start button.

Fingerprints will
get you every time.

[laughing]

They knew who did it,
they knew.

They just couldn't figure out
how they were going to jam us.

And that's why they were
on this like night and day.

They had a great plan.

They had the appropriate
team players.

They had the right bank.
They had everything.

However, they were
above it all.

Now let's go to Lordstown.

FBI agents in Ohio
arrest Amil Dinsio,

and in a search of his house,

find rare coins
belonging to one

of the United California Bank customers.

Agents also find cash
they can trace

to the Lordstown bank job.

From there, they focus
on the so-called super thief,

Phil Christopher.

The FBI come to my home,

and they came there to arrest
me for a probation violation.

And sure enough,
because I didn't have

the phony ID that day
I went on the airplane...

they would have never got me.

Never would have got me.

In October 1972,
215 days after the heist,

trials are held for both
the Laguna Niguel

and Lordstown jobs.

For all their meticulous planning,

the Dinsio crew didn't
plan on this.

Amil Dinsio,
Charles Mulligan,

and Phil Christopher are convicted

and sentenced to 20 years
in prison.

James is convicted and gets
sentenced to 15 years.

Harry Barber is a fugitive
for eight years

before he's caught.

But what about
the huge haul taken

from the United California Bank?

Whatever happened
to what Amil Dinsio insisted

were Nixon's millions?

♪ ♪

After a heist of $20 million,
even $30 million or more,

only a small fraction
was ever recovered.

I don't think there's
a good final estimate.

I personally believe it's
$50 million, plus or minus.

But the feds, they recovered

somewhere between $2 million
and $4 million.

There is a lot more money
out there.

According to the burglars,
it's something

between $12 million
and $30 million.

Where's the rest of the money?

Somebody out there got rich
off this heist.

[jazzy music]

For some, the missing
money just reinforces

the Dinsio g*ng's
reputation...

[expl*si*n blasts]

As the best heist crew ever.

I haven't seen
anybody compare to us.

You tell me if we're the best.
I know we are.

Even the FBI said
we were the best.

That burglary just
blew everybody away.

They were meticulous.

This is the biggest
bank burglary in history

at that time in America

with a very sophisticated plan
and some major bad guys.

♪ ♪

In the case of the United
California Bank burglary,

there are still
unanswered questions.

Was labor leader Jimmy Hoffa
really the catalyst?

Was he trying, as mastermind
Amil Dinsio insists,

to get back what he considered
his money?

Whatever the answers,
the ingenious plan,

bold execution, and millions
of dollars associated

with the United California Bank
job place it

among history's
greatest heists.

♪ ♪