The Perfect Heist | FULL EPISODE | The FBI Files

at a bank outside los angeles a nighttime explosion that no one hears cunning criminals no one sees [Music] it's the perfect burglary in which cash and bandits vanish without a trace with little to go on the fbi must use instinct and determination to solve a case that seems impossible to crack [Music] so [Music] bank robbery is a brazen yet simple crime a mask a gun a note passed to a teller but bank burglary is different it takes skill to disable an alarm to penetrate a locked vault i'm jim calstrom former head of the fbi's new york office in 1972 the largest bank burglary in u.s history went down without a hitch 8 million dollars gone now agents must track a gang of sophisticated criminals with enough money to disappear forever laguna niguel california march 27 1972 it's monday morning at the united california bank employees prepare to open for business [Music] when the bank manager tries to unlock the bulk door [Music] a technician from the vault manufacturer arrives 20 minutes later to check the door's locking system he works for hours the combination is right the tumblers are in place but unexplainably even the expert can't get it open it's not working looking for another way in the technician climbs into the rafters above the vault [Music] he is stunned to find a hole cut in the roof below a second gaping hole leading to the vault agents from the fbi santa ana resident agency immediately respond to the bank the first investigator to survey the cluttered crime scene is special agent jim conway upon arriving and getting up on the vault and looking down at this hole we can see a pile of rubble i would say six feet tall and expanding out [Music] once inside the vault the technician discovers a screwdriver jammed into the lock's gears [Music] agents suspect the thieves wanted to delay the discovery of the crime the places of disaster my first impression was there was going to be a lot of time and effort needed to work this out it was something we couldn't just plow into because we had a crime scene we were able to walk in a few of us and look around and see what the extent was as best we could determine but we're walking over watches and rings and valuables and everything else because it was all piled into this big cement mess special agent frank callie begins sorting through the chaos just everything was thrown all over the place there uh the locks of hair all kinds of check statements photographs uh things that people would normally put in the in the in the safety deposit box i remember seeing the urns with ashes of deceased people in there the agents begin the arduous task of determining how the burglars entered the seemingly impenetrable vault they noticed dark soil and pieces of burlap mixed with the cement rubble [Music] outside they find the bank's audible alarm disabled they also find a ladder interpreting the clues investigators pieced together the burglar's intricate plan to breach the vault they disabled the alarm by injecting it with liquid styrofoam it hardened freezing the clapper in place and rendering the alarm useless [Music] then the burglars climbed onto the roof investigators find tape on a rooftop outlet suggesting the burglars use the bank's electricity when agents cannot find fingerprints on the tape they conclude the burglars wore gloves fully powered the burglars saw the four-foot opening into the roof [Music] good good all right once inside the rafters they clearly knew how to bypass the interior silent alarm system they took a couple of the wires and actually would have normally transmitted the alarm signal and they clipped them both and soldered them together it was delicate highly skilled work knew right away they they they were smart they did the homework even with the alarm disabled 16 inches of steel reinforced concrete stood between the burglars and the contents of the vault the only way through an intensely powerful blast agents believe the bandits drilled holes into the cement then inserted dynamite and electric blasting caps [Music] the blast had to be precisely directed to blow through the cement without injuring the burglars or attracting attention [Music] agents conclude that the burlap fragments in the soil and the vault indicate that the burglars came prepared they placed the burlap bags over the explosive not only to muffle the sound but also it would direct the the charge into the into the vault itself and keep the charge going into the concrete where they want it rather than coming back out where they work [Music] the investigators discover burn marks on the steel rebar that reinforces the cement they conclude that the burglars knew the blast could not crack steel and came prepared with an acetylene torch agents turned their attention to assessing the total loss bank officials report fifty thousand dollars is missing from cash drawers but the thieves were not content with the cash they took the time to break into 458 safe deposit boxes investigators find tool marks on the locks of the boxes and deduce the burglars used a pointed instrument and a lot of brute force to break them open one by one they carefully sorted through every item leaving behind what they didn't want [Music] amazingly the bandits were so methodical that they got in and out without being seen or heard in 1972 most banks were closed on weekends agents conclude that the suspects took full advantage of that fact apparently they had been in there several times in and out over the weekend it probably went in on friday night and they probably didn't get out there late sunday night not only had the burglars pulled off such a lengthy complex crime they did it without leaving a single fingerprint [Music] although investigators do find a brown cotton glove and broken drill bits neither is unique enough to be traceable agents and deputies collect the debris for further examination at the crime lab but with no apparent evidence and no witnesses agents are facing the tough challenge of identifying and locating a group of highly skilled criminals including electronics and explosives experts [Music] investigators turn their attention to determining the total loss from the safe deposit boxes it will be extremely difficult since banks do not keep records of their contents ordinarily if you had a bank burglary you would be missing cash you'd go out and say yes we've got to find 350 000 worth of cash at this point we did not know what was gone it's a very affluent area and so the possibilities of a tremendous amount of money and material being lost was was evident investigators begin the arduous task of carefully sorting and cataloging every item left in the vault then by interviewing every box holder agents learn the details of missing jewelry rare gold coins and bearer bonds by a process of elimination they slowly create a list of the stolen goods the bank's loss of fifty thousand dollars in cash pails by comparison as the value of the missing items rises to over eight million dollars the heist has now become the largest bank burglary in u.s history with no physical evidence to go on investigators hope to develop leads by thinking like the bandits we felt that they would need oxygen to burn the rebar and so we canvass hospitals oxygen supply places and things like that despite checking every oxygen supplier in the area agents come up with nothing we also felt that a drill of some type had to be used obviously a large one so we can't list places to find if anybody had sold or rented a large drill as we felt that would have to be used again agents go to dozens of equipment shops checking records during the time surrounding the break-in but they find no suspicious purchases or rentals clearly the criminals in this case have masterminded and pulled off a nearly perfect heist with no witnesses no direct clues and certainly no suspects it seems impossible to solve but the fbi is determined to identify the burglars and find them wherever they are in march 1972 the professional crew of burglars blasted their way into a bank vault in laguna niguel california near los angeles over a weekend they emptied hundreds of safe deposit boxes made off with more than 8 million dollars in cash and valuables then disappeared without a trace agents believe they are an experienced band of criminals the case is difficult to crack for the small santa ana fbi office needing more resources they seek the help of the larger los angeles fbi field office special agent paul chamberlain supervises the investigation at the time it was our conclusion that this was the largest bank burglary in the history of the united states we went to just about everyone in the office it was several hundred agents and that's not a typical response but it became apparent that the crime was a significant crime the santa ana agents quickly briefed the los angeles office on the details we'd not had a bank burglary like that in recorded history in in the los angeles division burglaries that did occur with banks involved a small effort and this was a systematic big time operation that lasted over three days since the burglars seem to be highly skilled professionals yet have not struck los angeles before agents conclude that they're probably from out of town an agent sends a teletype to all other fbi offices asking if anyone knows of similar bank burglaries they get a hit from the cleveland ohio field office where agents have been investigating similar bank heists 13 of them in fact the description of the california burglary immediately strikes a cord with them including special agent buddy nicks we knew from the modus operandi the mo the outside alarm had styrofoam spray placed in it to keep the audible alarm from activating the fact that it was a roof job the fact that the alarm system had been bypassed were all indications that bank burglary crews in youngstown very well may have been involved the ohio agents believe the 13 ohio bank heists were committed by the youngstown erie bank burglary group a loose association of criminals tied to organized crime the california agents were right these are no small-time crooks youngstown at that time was just a mecca for organized crime act activities i mean they controlled the illegal gambling businesses and they they were you know very much involved in interstate transportation of stolen property and and tracked trailer thefts and there were burglary crews that were operating and there were a lot of very sophisticated burglaries that were taking place at that time as part of earlier investigations the youngstown ohio agents have identified nearly 100 men believed to be part of the burglary group they've collected intelligence on each of them agents send the men's names and mug shots to the los angeles fbi there investigators try to narrow the list since the criminals must have traveled to california agents check airline passenger manifests from around the time of the burglary without the benefit of modern computers it is a time-consuming process done by hand after an exhaustive search they find the names of five men from the youngstown list who had boarded a recent flight to los amal angeles harry barber charles mulligan charles brockles and philip christopher arrived in california nine days before the heist sixth man james denzio came in on a different flight the day before the burglary agents have developed suspects and his brother emil denzel [Music] agents review the intelligence gathered on the six members of the burglary group [Music] all have long records for home and small business burglaries first [Music] [Music] he plans the jobs and hand-picks the team to pull them off [Music] is an explosives and electronics expert well versed in bank alarms [Music] agents believe philip christopher is a lookout for the gang all right he's known for his expertise the other gang members are all relatives of the leader and probably help with the grunt work there's older brother james his face only a mother could love him and charles mulligan amal's brother-in-law here you're gonna really appreciate this guy yeah there's also amal's nephew harry barber okay would you take a look at this guy the men are all seasoned professional criminals well connected in organized crime the youngstown ohio fbi has linked them circumstantially to many bank burglaries but never had direct evidence all right and uh the charges never stopped nobody not a heavy weight but we gotta the only information that links the suspects to the crime is that they were all in los angeles at the time of the burglary agents begin the difficult job of tracking their movements starting at the airport we then canvassed and interviewed every cab driver at lax that was working that day that was a massive project agents spend days interviewing dozens of drivers it finally pays off one cab driver recalls taking a group of five men to a home in the nearby community of southgate [Music] he remembers the trip well the cab drivers specifically remembered these folks for for two reasons one because of 100 tip but for the other reason they were tough mean looking guys agents get the address from taxi records and decide to go there but it is a risk agents fear that if the suspects find out they're investigating the burglary they might skip town they have to take the chance it is their only lead according to special agent jim conway but we had to interview somebody we had to get our investigation started and we were concerned that naturally that the rest of them would be aware that we were at least that close to identifying them agents learn that the southgate house belongs to the barber family ronald barber the brother of suspect harry barber agrees to an interview but is elusive we did not have a warrant or anything at that particular time we had nothing positively to tie him to it but the more he talked the more he seemed to know and the more we were impressed that uh he knows a whole lot ronald barber claims the six men were never at his house agents still have no direct evidence yet they believe barbara's story may be at least partially true they note that the house seems too small to accommodate ronald and six other men staying there agents conclude that at least some of them likely stayed elsewhere so agents spread out checking one hotel after another starting with those closest to the bank special agent frank callie we figured these fellows were high rollers they knew they're going to get a big house they're going to stay at a nice place so we were knocking on the doors of every fine hotel in the la orange county area it is more tedious time-consuming footwork but they do not give up sir on a hunch one agent decides to take a different approach there was an agent who figured that maybe they didn't stay at the best hotels and he took it upon himself to walk into a truck stop hotel and lo and behold he found out that amel had stayed there you're sure you should be positive amel denzio is the leader of the burglary group records show his brother-in-law charles mulligan also rented a room there around the time of the heist agents check mulligan's registration card and find a license plate number stenzio they trace it to the southgate address of ronald barber [Music] investigators now have seven suspects the six from ohio and the local ronald barber they still have nothing directly linking them into the crime but the investigation is finally rolling forward and the fbi is closing in weeks after a well-planned multi-million dollar bank burglary in southern california the fbi identifies seven suspects ring leader anal denzio and his brother james tincio charles mulligan philip christopher and charles brockles and harry barber and his brother ronald barber a notorious gang of professional thieves based in youngstown ohio agents determined at least two of the men stayed at an area motel days before the heist special agent paul chamberlain is convinced the men are responsible but he has no evidence to prove it by referencing innuendo you kind of knew who was involved but you need to have the evidence in federal court agents subpoena the motel phone records and fined a series of calls to a local man named earl dawson our background investigation concluded he was a former military a marine guy with some training in uh munitions explosives uh and in as much as we had major explosions that occurred at the bank it became interesting to us special agent frank kelly learns of another interesting connection dawson is from youngstown ohio the base of operations for the burglary group so there's the light goes off again and then we say well now we got another break we got the connection somehow between the boys from youngstown to denzios and and their cohorts in dawson the agents decide to approach dawson at his house to convince him he should cooperate they show him pictures of emil dincio and his associates and ask if he knows them [Music] dawson is reluctant to talk i was in the core as well knowing dawson is a former marine special agent callie appeals to his sense of duty there was a very patriotic individual and i'm a former marine and we just kind of played that i said come on earl you know you're a former marine you've served your country i said what's important or also a big case and he said what is it i said heard about that bank burglary down lagoon and i gave works dawson comes clean he admits knowing three of the suspects emil denzio amel's brother james and charles mulligan [Music] he and mulligan are old friends who grew up together in youngstown [Music] dawson tells cali that the day before the laguna niguel heist mulligan came to his house with the other suspects mulligan gave him a hundred dollars to leave the house for a few hours so they could hold a meeting [Music] dawson left without hearing what they discussed but dawson adds that he does have something the agents might want to see he shows up the other day mulligan left a car in his garage it's still there it is a huge break perhaps the car holds the evidence they've been looking for but before they can check it out they're interrupted [Music] while i'm talking to him the phone rings he answers the phone and he picks it up and he points to the phone and he mouths the word mulligan thinking quickly agent callie asks dawson's permission to eavesdrop a legal requirement for using what he hears in court dawson signals that there is another phone in the bedroom mulligan comes and says hey there is anybody the fbi been around plus it says no they they're not around i think i've almost had to laugh myself at the time listening this he's playing a beautiful role out there he's really flip flop he's on our side now mulligan explains that he knows the fbi has been asking questions about him and his cohorts and that they're getting worried and he's heading back to the los angeles area mulligan said uh i want to come out tonight and uh to see us i'm gonna move my the car in the garage agent cali seizes the opportunity to trap mulligan but he fears that he might be setting up dawson and the fbi i didn't know for sure this offer seems he could be sitting across the street at the time watching us before we know with earthbay icar sitting out front cali instructs dawson to arrange a meeting with mulligan in a public place dawson tells mulligan to meet him at his favorite bar the walnut room mulligan agrees now agents have a chance to inspect the car mulligan left in the garage but it does not belong to dawson so we cannot give them permission to search it through the window they can see a pair of brown cotton gloves exactly like the one found in the vault the back seat is covered in what appears to be cement dust similar to the debris found at the crime scene it is the probable cause agents need to obtain a search warrant for the car they also obtain an arrest warrant for charles mulligan and set up surveillance at the walnut room clothes agents positioned themselves inside the bar not far from dawson we staked it out so to speak we four of us were inside waiting and we had a couple of men outside waiting for him to arrive dawson introduces agent calitos and regulars as a buddy from the marine corps the agents have to look natural while staying sharp earl dawson's safety is their primary concern didn't know what was going to happen so we had to protect earl agents devise a method for cali and dawson to communicate either one of them can signal the other by simply going to the restroom where they will meet three hours later mulligan finally arrives he appears to be alone and greets his old friend who tries to get him to talk about the heist i didn't want to be too close i was across the bar from earl was talking to him and and asked him something about you were involved in that that deal down in laguna niguel and old mulligan says well what do you think unable to hear everything they're saying callie heads to the restaurant dawson follows [Music] in the men's room kelly asked for an update dawson explains that mulligan is anxious to leave to pick up the car from dawson's garage cali tells him to go but instructs dawson not to get into mulligan's vehicle is that agents are in the parking lot poised to capture mulligan agents finally make the first arrest in the case as they take mulligan into custody they pretend to arrest dawson as well to mask his involvement with authorities mulligan is charged with bank burglary he does not resist arrest but when agents try to question him he refuses to talk they hope to find answers in the car he was trying to pick up agents returned to dawson's house and searched the car in the garage we found this large motor used as a drill and some other tools that we felt were very much uh probably the ones that were used in the actual committing of that crime [Music] agents recover stolen coins along with drill bits acetylene torches hammers and other items that could have been used for the laguna niguel heist and we felt very good about it felt we hit pay dirt we hit a home run evidence technicians ship everything to the fbi lab in washington dc for processing as examiners take days to analyze the evidence field agents follow up on more phone records from the motel one number belongs to a real estate agency in laguna niguel california a manager shows agents a condo she rented to suspects ronald and harry barber days before the burglary the barbers told her they planned to stay three months but left after only three weeks she was able to put the day that they got there and the day they left together for us the men moved out suddenly on march 27th the day the crime was discovered the manager gives investigators permission to search the condo which is within sight of the targeted bank agents begin processing the condo for evidence but initially find nothing the entire inside had been wiped clean with some kind of a product it seems the suspects were as meticulous there as they had been during the burglary there were no evidence recovered at the bank of any value and therefore it was not surprising to see a place that had been wiped down and appears as if they had done everything to to ensure there was no evidence they'd done just about everything right but in fact they made one crucial mistake one of the evidence persons went to the dishwasher and open the dishwasher and realize that it was loaded with dirty dishes and that someone had neglected to push the on button the dirty dishes are covered with multiple latent fingerprints at the fbi lab examiners recover the prints from the dishes and from the tools agents found in mulligan's car and match them to five of the seven suspects toolmark experts examine the damage on the safe deposit boxes and compare them to the striking point of a snout-nosed hammer from mulligan's trunk they report another match the fbi's case is gaining momentum with good circumstantial evidence and one suspect in custody now agents must find the other six and enough evidence to put them away for good [Music] in southern california the fbi connects a team of seven members of an organized crime ring based in youngstown ohio to a multi-million dollar bank burglary when they recover tools used in the heist from the car of suspect charles mulligan mulligan's arrest puts the investigation into high gear according to special agent paul chamberlain we did realize that with the rest of mulligan eventually and shortly thereafter they were going to figure out that we had figured who this group was and and therefore we heightened our investigation we did everything as fast as we possibly could but since most of the evidence is circumstantial the case hinges on the testimony of informant earl dawson a man the fbi must protect go ahead and leave whatever you do whatever happens earl was probably the key witness because the case was kind of dry all along it's physical evidence it's a burger's very dry earl was able to put all the principles together they were charged with conspiracy and burglary and they could put them all together at his house darson begins receiving threatening phone calls pressuring him to keep quiet the caller insists on a face-to-face meeting to discuss the matter the fbi learns the meeting may have a more sinister purpose we received informant information uh that a contract was put out on earl dawson's life and we're going to come out and attempt to kill dawson agents instruct dawson to arrange a meeting at his favorite bar the walnut room but don't tell him about the planned hit agents want to confront the men to send a message to the youngstown crime ring that the fbi is on to them agents are confident that they can protect dawson as long as he stays in a public place i told earl don't leave this bar whatever you do don't go anyplace with this you'll ever leave that room you stay right in that bar as before if either dawson or cali needs to communicate they will meet in the restroom the alleged hit men arrive he started buying earl some pretty heavy drinks earl was basically a beer drinker but you could see they were trying to switch back to stronger drinks when dawson starts to look concerned callie heads to the restroom [Music] dawson tells the agent he's scared the hitmen wanted to leave with him i said earlier not leaving this place with him believe me you're not leaving agent cali tells dawson to wait in the restroom stay right here and i'll be right back to get you all right just stay right here okay hurry up the agents finally approach the men they say they know what they came to do to the hitman the message is clear stay away from dawson they had no problem leaving i went directly to lax where they were escorted by la's finest to an aircraft and they left southern california to keep earl dawson safe for good the fbi decides to put him in the witness protection program agents then go after the remaining burglary suspects [Music] investigators secure warrants to search their last known addresses [Music] at one house agents get their first direct link to the burglary [Music] inside a woman's purse they find a new twenty dollar bill [Music] they compare it to the list of serial numbers of sequence bills taken from the [Music] bank it's a match [Music] special agent buddy nicks of the youngstown fbi office receives information from an informant indicating that these gang members had been known to bury the cash they stole until they could launder it safely we identified about a 20 or 25 acre field that we had information that some of the loot was buried in we dug in that field for days on end and uh using picks and shovels and probes and uh and we finally rented a bulldozer the land is adjacent to property owned by james denzio after more than a week of digging hey agents hit the jackpot they unearth several foot lockers filled with millions of dollars in cash and bonds that they're able to trace back to the laguna niguel bank burglary agents then get yet another tip a neighbor of gang leader emil denzio calls police a lot of money in there he reports finding a cooler buried in his yard it is filled with nearly thousand dollars right over there mr denzio over here investigators match their serial numbers to those taken from the bank and recover ameldinsio's prints from the cooler with more direct evidence against the gang agents begin making arrests they first go to ronald barbour's southgate california home they are armed with search warrants the only person they find is ronald's mother the brothers have disappeared all six remaining suspects are still at large three months after a multi-million dollar bank burglary the fbi has solid evidence against seven members of an organized crime ring with only one suspect in custody charles mulligan they set out to arrest the others amaldincio james dincio charles brockles philip christopher harry barber and ronald barber agents go to amuldencio's home near youngstown ohio and discover he's made no attempt to run because of his attitude and his era of arrogance mr denzio actually believed he was above the law and was the kind of guy that um could make things happen his way when agents arrest dinzio he is carrying 537 in cash stolen from the laguna niguel bank other gang members are also surprisingly easy to find [Music] within days authorities arrest emile's brother james dincio at an ohio airport his carry-on luggage is full of more money from the heist agents make their fourth arrest nabbing phil christopher in his apartment they discover over two thousand dollars in stolen cash hidden in his closet the three men arrogantly maintain their innocence and refuse to cooperate two months later agents nab alarm expert charles brockles and get a break they decide to confront him with what evidence they have and explain they can put him away for decades they offer him a deal in exchange for his full cooperation and outlining the burglary group in their crimes prosecutors will drop all charges against brockles and place him in the witness protection program he agrees authorities have captured five of the seven suspects everyone except the barber brothers authorities extradite them to california and indict them on charges of conspiracy burglary and larceny of a federally insured bank while in jail amel dencio brags about the heist to another inmate and asks for his help in beating the charges you don't take care of me mr denzio confided in him a great many details that were not in his best interest to confide he got this other inmate to help him buy an alibi for the time of the bank but denzio has chosen the wrong accomplice the other inmate was someone who had had contact with law enforcement on many occasions in the past and he realized that what he was being told would be of some importance to someone and he came to us hoping to receive a lenient sentence for his own burglary case the inmate tells agents of denzio's confession and the plan to purchase an alibi and that was vegas in vegas the alibi was mr duncio was going to be in a motel room a hotel room in las vegas with a prostitute and with physical evidence that would show that he was there the fbi sets up a sting agents give the inmate a contact to offer dencio the contact is actually an undercover agent who will provide denzio's alibi materials dincio takes the bait at the jail's visitation room he meets the undercover agent who plays the role of a fixer a criminal expert in solving problems mr denzio received what he asked for he got a registration card which he registered in on he put his fingerprint on it he got a listing of shows and he got the name of a prostitute who he was with and that became part of his subsequent defense in october nineteen seventy two the trials begin in los angeles ameldinsio offers his false alibi but the fbi's undercover fixer testifies about the stem the jury convicts denzio and the other four defendants they receive sentences ranging from 15 to 20 years [Music] but it is not over two suspects harry and ronald barber are still on the run within months the fbi receives a tip that the two brothers are living in an apartment in rochester new york agents respond and ronald barber answers the door they arrest him and return him to california where a jury convicts and sentences him to 15 years he refuses to say where his brother harry is for eight years harry remains a fugitive then in 1980 a woman in brookville pennsylvania contacts the fbi i knew him as brent she tells agents that her friend has been living with a man who told her he committed a famous bank burglary in california and that his real name is harry barber the woman tells the fbi that in an attempt to lead a legitimate life the fugitive is working maintenance at a local campground agents move in and [Music] harry barber is convicted and sentenced to 20 years agents can finally close the case on the largest bank burglary in united states history authorities believe emil denzio and his gang committed more than a dozen bank burglaries stealing over 30 million dollars altogether by putting them away fbi agents from ohio to california stopped one of the most sophisticated bank burglary rings of all time [Music] you

Channel: The FBI Files

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Keywords: FBI, FBI Files, FBI Documentary, Documentary, Crime, Crime Documentary, Crime Patrol, True Crime, True crime daily, Unsolved, Crime Stories, Crime Documentaries Full Episodes, Full Episode, unsolved true crime, fbi files full episodes, we got him, mystery, solved, investigation, police, criminal, prison, jail

Id: WvrBNCZqRig

Length: 49min 23sec (2963 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 10 2021