Dubbed 'America's Greatest Bank Burglar' by the FBI,
Amil Dinsio Has Become a Subculture Folk Hero

More than four decades after the FBI's most-wanted burglar stole $12 million from the nation's most infamous president in modern history, Amil Dinsio is finally telling his side of the story.

"After federal agents perjured themselves and falsified evidence against me, I told the media I'd give them a story - the real story," says Dinsio, author of "Inside the Vault" (www.amildinsio.com).

Long the object of folk hero worship in the subculture of "Oceans 11"-style criminals and those fascinated by their deeds, Dinsio has been the focus of secondhand articles, fictionalized pulp novels and secretive FBI files.

"None of them could possibly get it right - my brother and me and our crew are the only ones who know the full story," he says.

The following is a summarized breakdown of the heist, and later developments.

•  What he and his team managed to do ... In a small Orange County, Calif., bank, millions of illegally obtained dollars sat in the vault of America's most infamous president, Richard Nixon. Dinsio - the alarm expert and mastermind of the heist - and his crew from Youngstown, Ohio, pulled off the burglary in April 1972, resulting in a score of more than $12 million dollars - the biggest bank vault burglary in U.S. history. They penetrated the building's thick steel-reinforced walls, circumvented multiple alarms, and dropped down into the state-of-the-art vault, where they emptied hundreds of safe deposit boxes over the course of three nights.

•  Why they did it ... "I am what I am - a master burglar, which means I broke the law, but I think most people would see this heist as something of a victory, since it was against a man who is arguably America's biggest war criminal," Dinsio says. He and his crew had inside information about the source of the dirty money, some of which came from the dairy farmers' lobby in exchange for a promise to increase the price of raw milk, he says. At least $3 million came from then-Teamsters Union head Jimmy Hoffa - money paid to have his prison sentence commuted by Nixon in 1971. Hoffa helped lead Dinsio to the vault in order to get some or all of his money back, Dinsio says.

•  Why he wrote the book ... Dinsio, described by the FBI as "America's greatest bank burglar," and the historic heist have been the subject of numerous documentaries and books. All of them, he says, got a lot of it wrong.

"For 40 years I've come across so much speculation, and among my more than 100 successful burglaries, this is one history should get right," he says. "Many might say that I wasn't so successful since I went to prison, but the reality is that government officials had to break the law in order to convict me." If nothing else, the book is a reliable document available for future historians, he says.

•  The lengths government officials went to in securing a conviction ... "In order to send me to jail, federal agents, prosecutors and judges had to break their oath to the Constitution by stealing, perjuring themselves and planting evidence on me," he says. "They weren't smart enough to convict me honestly."

Officials supposedly found a flashlight battery with prints found in the getaway car, as well as some coins. "I'm telling you - there's no way we left anything like that for investigators," he says. "I watched as one FBI investigator after another sauntered into the courtroom and lied about the evidence right to my face."

About Amil Dinsio

Amil Dinsio, mastermind behind the greatest bank burglary in U.S. history, had committed scores of bank burglaries before stealing $12 million from President Richard Nixon in 1972. Because the law was unable to catch him, he says officials committed criminal acts such as perjury, falsification and burglary in order to secure a criminal conviction. "Inside the Vault" is his first book and the first insider revelation of the details behind one of the greatest heists in U.S. history.

DES MOINES (June 13, 2014) - The largest provider of HIV/AIDS care in the U.S., AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), today praised the Iowa Supreme Court for justly setting aside a discriminatory conviction of a man living with HIV, Nick Rhoades. The decision that came down today marks a growing recognition from Iowa courts that HIV-positive individuals who have a reduced viral load as a result of effective treatment pose little risk of transmitting HIV. The ruling follows the first change in state health code regarding HIV transmission in nearly a decade, which came when Iowa Governor Terry E. Branstad signed a landmark bill on May 30 that redefines state law to ensure only those who intend to spread HIV or behave with "reckless disregard" are penalized through the criminal justice system.

"It is heartening to see the Iowa Supreme Court cutting through the inflammatory hyperbole that caused Mr. Rhoades to face such discriminatory persecution where he should have received due process," said Michael Weinstein, President of AHF. "The court's decision infuses common sense and the upholding of human rights into a case where a man was targeted simply because of his HIV status with disregard for the responsibility he takes in managing his condition."

Rhoades was initially sentenced to 25 years in prison, with required registration as a sex offender, after having a one-time sexual encounter with another man in June 2008 during which they used a condom. Several days after the encounter, a friend told the man who had had sex with Rhoades that Rhoades might be HIV-positive. The police arrested Rhoades in September 2008, and on the advice of his counsel, he pled guilty. Despite the fact that a condom was used and the other man did not contract HIV, Rhoades was convicted under Iowa's now-amended HIV criminalization law. He received the maximum sentence: 25 years in prison and classification as the most serious type of sex offender. Rhoades spent more than five years appealing the wrongful conviction before finally receiving justice with today's decision.

"We applaud the Court for applying the law in light of current medical understanding of how HIV is and is not transmitted," said Christopher Clark, Counsel for Lambda Legal, the firm representing Rhoades.  "An individual who takes precautions to prevent transmission should not be considered a criminal for choosing to be sexually active, and we are very pleased that the Court agrees."

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About AHF

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is the largest non-profit HIV/AIDS healthcare provider in the USA. AHF currently provides medical care and/or services to over 312,000 individuals in 34 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, Eastern Europe, and Asia. For more information, visit www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us on Twitter: @AIDSHealthcare