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The Gas Station Mogul Who Rigged Pumps and Ordered Murders · FBI Files

0:05
Speaker 1: In the 1990s, a close-knit immigrant community was terrorized by
0:10
Speaker 1: one of its own. Those who turned to the police
0:13
Speaker 1: for help found themselves threatened or killed. Despite the risk,
0:19
Speaker 1: two men refused to back down. Their testimony could help
0:24
Speaker 1: end the killing if the FBI got close enough to
0:27
Speaker 1: uncover one man's deadly business.
1:01
Speaker 2: Many immigrants escaped the poverty of India to start new
1:04
Speaker 2: lives in the United States. Most dream of a better
1:07
Speaker 2: life for their families. One twisted the American dream into
1:10
Speaker 2: a nightmare. When people started turning up dead in New
1:13
Speaker 2: York's Indian community, law enforcement struggled to link fraud and
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Speaker 2: murder to one powerful man. I'm Jim Kallstrom, former head
1:22
Speaker 2: of the FBI's New York office. When the promise of
1:25
Speaker 2: the American dream was shattered by murder and corruption, the
1:28
Speaker 2: FBI provided hope to those people who had seen their
1:31
Speaker 2: lives and families torn apart.
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Speaker 1: July 9th, 1995. Gas station attendant Kulwant Singh commuted to
1:51
Speaker 1: a gas station in the Bronx to work the late shift.
1:58
Speaker 1: Less than a year earlier, he had arrived in New
2:00
Speaker 1: York from a poor town in India, hoping to make
2:02
Speaker 1: a better life for himself and his family. That night,
2:12
Speaker 1: he disappeared. In October, the missing man's brother, Manmohan Singh,
2:31
Speaker 1: traveled to the U.S. to find him. He hadn't heard
2:37
Speaker 1: from his brother in months. It wasn't like him not
2:43
Speaker 1: to write or call. He began his search in Queens
2:51
Speaker 1: at the address of one of his brother's friends. His
2:58
Speaker 1: name was Satindarjit Singh. His family was from the same
3:03
Speaker 1: village as the missing attendants. Although this friend had the
3:08
Speaker 1: same last name, he was not related. Like many members
3:17
Speaker 1: of the Sikh religion, Satindarjit took the surname Singh, which
3:20
Speaker 1: means lion in the Punjabi language. Where are you? Satindarjit
3:28
Speaker 1: said a missing persons report had been filed, but police
3:30
Speaker 1: had found no trace of his friend. He advised the
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Speaker 1: new arrival to be careful who he talked to. Searching
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Speaker 1: for the brother would be dangerous. Manmohan visited the gas
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Speaker 1: station in the Bronx where his brother had worked. He
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Speaker 1: spoke to an attendant, but the man was afraid to respond.
4:11
Speaker 1: His supervisor made it clear that no one should be
4:14
Speaker 1: asking questions. The employee was instructed to keep the point.
4:28
Speaker 1: But Monmahan was persistent and convinced the attendant to meet
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Speaker 1: him at a diner a few days later. The attendant
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Speaker 1: said the missing brother had been accused of stealing from
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Speaker 1: the gas station. Whether or not the allegations were true,
4:43
Speaker 1: they had made the station's owner angry. The attendant believed
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Speaker 1: Monmahan's brother had been kidnapped and probably killed. By March
5:02
Speaker 1: of 1997, a year and a half after his brother's abduction,
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Speaker 1: Manmohan took a job at a gas station in New York.
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Speaker 1: He worked nights so he could spend his days secretly
5:13
Speaker 1: gathering information. He believed he knew who was responsible and
5:22
Speaker 1: was ready to go to the police. Here, I need
5:25
Speaker 1: some oil. Then, on the night of March 16th, 1997,
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Speaker 1: he was silenced. Brooklyn North homicide detectives received a call
5:50
Speaker 1: from a customer who found the body.
5:52
Speaker 3: 105 wants it, 10-25.
6:03
Speaker 1: They photographed the crime scene to record its condition, then
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Speaker 1: gathered evidence. They collected two shell casings from a nine
6:11
Speaker 1: millimeter Ruger. Detectives found the register had been robbed, but
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Speaker 1: were surprised that the thief had left some cash behind.
6:29
Speaker 1: Police also found no fingerprints. Detective Tony Brazada concluded that
6:35
Speaker 1: robbery was not the prime motive.
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Speaker 4: We examined the scene and it looked like it was
6:40
Speaker 4: a typical gas station robbery at the beginning, but then
6:42
Speaker 4: examining the scene thoroughly, it seemed that it was more
6:46
Speaker 4: like an assassination or this person was a target because
6:49
Speaker 4: he was shot very close range behind the head and
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Speaker 4: he was on his knees.
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Speaker 1: Detectives visited the Sikh temple where the funeral was being held.
7:02
Speaker 1: They knew this immigrant community was wary of outsiders, but
7:06
Speaker 1: hoped to find friends of the victim willing to talk.
7:13
Speaker 1: Satyajit Singh stepped forward. He told detectives that he knew
7:18
Speaker 1: the slain man. Detectives explained that without cooperation, the killer
7:24
Speaker 1: would likely go free. Although he knew he was jeopardizing
7:29
Speaker 1: his own safety, he promised to meet with detectives and
7:32
Speaker 1: help them in any way he could. The following day,
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Speaker 1: Satinderjit Singh came to the police station as promised. He
7:41
Speaker 1: brought with him another witness, Savjit, who was also willing
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Speaker 1: to talk. They told detectives they believed a wealthy and
7:50
Speaker 1: powerful Indian man named Dinza had ordered the murder of
7:53
Speaker 1: their friend, as well as the abduction of their friend's brother.
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Speaker 1: Dinser was a corrupt and ruthless businessman who was well
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Speaker 1: known in the Sikh community. Like many others, he had
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Speaker 1: come to the U.S. from India in the mid-1980s with
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Speaker 1: only a few dollars in his pocket. But his story
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Speaker 1: was different than most. He had amassed an empire of
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Speaker 1: more than 50 gas stations in and around New York City.
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Speaker 1: The witnesses knew several of Dinser's employees, and explained to
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Speaker 1: Detective Teddy Braun that the millionaire would stop at nothing
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Speaker 1: to protect his business.
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Speaker 5: His whole thing was fear. He used the fear tactic
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Speaker 5: that he had this community petrified of him. I mean,
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Speaker 5: to the point where he could walk in and do
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Speaker 5: something in front of hundreds of people and no one's
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Speaker 5: going to say nothing.
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Speaker 1: Police also learned that Dinsa was no stranger to crime.
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Speaker 1: His record included convictions for felony assault, kidnapping, robbery, gas
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Speaker 1: pump fraud, and weapons possession. He'd served time, but always
9:02
Speaker 1: managed to get back on the street to run his
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Speaker 1: mafia-style operation. Within the Sikh community, Dinza was known as
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Speaker 1: the Indian Godfather. The witnesses said Dinza's empire was a
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Speaker 1: family affair, with Dinza's brother a member of the Inner
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Speaker 1: Circle and an enforcer for the organization. Sarjeet had seen
9:26
Speaker 1: for himself just how ruthless the brother could be. In 1993,
9:33
Speaker 1: outside a Queen's restaurant, the informant witnessed Dins' brother arguing
9:37
Speaker 1: with a man. The disagreement ended with Dins' brother shooting
9:43
Speaker 1: him in close range. Sarjeet rushed to the victim's side,
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Speaker 1: but it was too late. Dindz's brother was spirited out
9:55
Speaker 1: of the country to India. He was never captured. The
10:05
Speaker 1: witnesses now told the detectives that they'd heard the brother
10:07
Speaker 1: would soon be returning to America. They were risking their
10:14
Speaker 1: lives talking to police, but they couldn't let the violence continue.
10:19
Speaker 5: Yes, sir?
10:20
Speaker 1: Both promised to report when Dins' brother arrived.
10:25
Speaker 5: He's going to be coming back to the United States
10:28
Speaker 5: because Dins' company was getting so big that Dins needed
10:33
Speaker 5: another hand. And Dins was the type of person where
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Speaker 5: he'd rather have family hands-on than outsiders when it came
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Speaker 5: to his money.
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Speaker 1: True to their word, in May of 1997, the witnesses
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Speaker 1: told police that Dins' brother was back in New York.
10:50
Speaker 1: Police set up outside the warehouse of Dins' headquarters in Brooklyn,
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Speaker 1: waiting for his brother to arrive. Both witnesses were present
11:00
Speaker 1: to assist police with identifying the murder suspect.
11:07
Speaker 4: We have a possible target.
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Speaker 1: Stand by. Armed with an arrest warrant, Police surrounded the
11:19
Speaker 1: building and cordoned off all entrances, including the back doors
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Speaker 1: of the warehouse. From the surveillance van, Satyajit confirmed that
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Speaker 1: it was Denza's brother heading for the front door.
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Speaker 2: We have a target entering the building.
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Speaker 1: Moments later, officers reported that shots were fired inside the building.
11:41
Speaker 1: They held their posts, waiting for orders.
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Speaker 4: Ready?
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Speaker 3: We're going in.
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Speaker 1: Let's go. Officers forcibly entered the front of the building.
12:00
Speaker 1: Three men raced out the back door into the hands
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Speaker 1: of police. The men were Dins' brother, his cousin, and
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Speaker 1: his nephew. All three were arrested. Quickly securing a search warrant,
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Speaker 1: police confiscated firearms. seven pistols, a shotgun, and a silenced
12:27
Speaker 1: machine gun. As they loaded the contraband into a police car,
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Speaker 1: Dinsa himself arrived at the scene. He protested the seizure,
12:40
Speaker 1: claiming that the building and guns were his property. But
12:48
Speaker 1: the guns were illegal. Police arrested him on weapons possession charges.
13:04
Speaker 1: They took him to the 112th Precinct, where Dinza was
13:07
Speaker 1: booked and fingerprinted. Police pressured him to cooperate. They had
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Speaker 1: two witnesses who would testify against him and his brother
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Speaker 1: for murder. Insisting he was innocent, he refused to talk.
13:27
Speaker 1: Dinza was held in the Brooklyn Correctional Facility awaiting a
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Speaker 1: bail hearing. But incarceration did not prevent the murder suspect
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Speaker 1: from running his empire. Speaking in Punjabi so guards couldn't
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Speaker 1: understand him, he coerced employees and acquaintances to find out
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Speaker 1: who dared to testify against him and his brother. Besides
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Speaker 1: witness statements, police had little other evidence. Dinza would be
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Speaker 1: out on bail shortly. If he discovered the identity of
14:03
Speaker 1: the witnesses, they might not testify. Then, the murder and
14:08
Speaker 1: weapons charges against the brothers would have to be dropped.
14:15
Speaker 1: In May 1997, New York City police arrested two East
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Speaker 1: Indian brothers who had been terrorizing their immigrant community for years.
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Speaker 1: Except for the statements of two witnesses, investigators had little
14:30
Speaker 1: evidence against them. but they believed that Dinser was the
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Speaker 1: ringleader and that he had ordered two murders and a kidnapping.
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Speaker 1: Dinser had posted bail on May 4th, 1997, just days
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Speaker 1: after his arrest. But his brother remained held on a
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Speaker 1: murder charge in New York City's Rikers Island Prison. Through informants,
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Speaker 1: Dindza had learned the identity of the two witnesses against him.
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Speaker 1: If they continued to cooperate with the police, he, his brother,
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Speaker 1: and his multi-million dollar gas station empire would be in jeopardy.
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Speaker 1: One of the witnesses, Adindrajit Singh, was close with several
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Speaker 1: employees of the suspected murderer. He knew a great deal
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Speaker 1: about how Dinser ran his $ 60 million gas station chain.
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Speaker 1: He said that Dinser rigged pumps, skimmed profits, and ordered
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Speaker 1: people abducted if they talked. Detectives believed the information was
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Speaker 1: compelling enough to seek an indictment. In early June of 1997,
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Speaker 1: Investigators met with the assistant U.S. attorney to explore Dins'
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Speaker 1: illegal activities. NYPD detective Teddy Braun explained how Dins' pump
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Speaker 1: rigging scheme worked.
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Speaker 5: Dins owned like 53 gas stations, and he had this
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Speaker 5: unique skimming system. And what it did was it regulated
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Speaker 5: the amount of gas that was pumped into a consumer's vehicle.
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Speaker 1: So.
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Speaker 5: If you would have went in and asked for $ 10
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Speaker 5: worth of gas, he'd be able to set up that
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Speaker 5: machine and give you 80%, 90%, whatever percent that he
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Speaker 5: wanted to give you, and the rest would be saved.
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Speaker 1: Assistant U.S. Attorney Ben Campbell learned that not only was
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Speaker 1: Dinsa's empire corrupt, it was extensive.
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Speaker 6: The NYPD informed us that Dinsa had, among other things,
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Speaker 6: an organization built around pump fraud, basically ripping off customers
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Speaker 6: at his gasoline stations throughout the New York and New
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Speaker 6: Jersey area, by which he generated millions of dollars in income,
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Speaker 6: that he protected that pump fraud activity through a pattern
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Speaker 6: of violent crime, including murder.
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Speaker 1: On June 18th, just as the federal investigation was beginning,
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Speaker 1: witness Satyajit Singh was shot to death in Queens. It
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Speaker 1: was the day before Dinsa's brother, suspected of murder, was
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Speaker 1: scheduled to attend a hearing. At the crime scene, a
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Speaker 1: neighbor told police he had witnessed the crime. He had
17:35
Speaker 1: been outside at the top of his stoop when the
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Speaker 1: shooting took place. Since his apartment lacked air conditioning, he
17:42
Speaker 1: was watching a Mets game on his front porch. Breaks
17:45
Speaker 1: long outside, a slider missed. He was distracted by what
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Speaker 1: appeared to be a.
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Speaker 5: Traffic dispute.
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Speaker 1: The neighbor described the shooter as a tall African-American male,
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Speaker 1: but he never saw his face. The slain man's cousin
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Speaker 1: was sitting beside his relative in the car he was killed.
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Speaker 1: The cousin told police it had all happened so fast.
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Speaker 1: He was too shaken to remember any details. Forensic technicians
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Speaker 1: photographed the scene. They collected shells that had been fired
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Speaker 1: from a 9mm handgun. No other physical evidence was found.
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Speaker 1: Nothing to prove that Dinser was responsible. Investigators believed that
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Speaker 1: Dinser would continue to use any means necessary to protect
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Speaker 1: his millions. They needed some way to stop him. NYPD
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Speaker 1: detectives turned to Assistant US Attorney Ben Campbell for guidance.
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Speaker 1: he would refocus the investigation to take advantage of the
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Speaker 1: federal RICO statute, the Racketeering Influence and Corrupt Organizations Act,
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Speaker 1: a law used to prosecute organized crime.
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Speaker 6: This looked like it had all the hallmarks of a
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Speaker 6: racketeering prosecution. It had an organization with leadership, it had
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Speaker 6: racketeering activity which generated income, and it had a pattern
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Speaker 6: of criminal activity which spanned several years, almost a decade.
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Speaker 1: This would widen the scope of the investigation considerably. The
19:48
Speaker 1: Assistant U.S. attorney called on the FBI for help. Special
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Speaker 1: agent in charge Kevin Donovan from the FBI's New York
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Speaker 1: field office worked the case.
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Speaker 3: The FBI was planning on conducting a traditional organized crime
20:02
Speaker 3: investigation that would focus on development of cooperating witnesses, use
20:07
Speaker 3: of cooperating witnesses, review of records and search warrants to
20:12
Speaker 3: focus on the multiple acts of violence and the multiple
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Speaker 3: acts of fraud.
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Speaker 1: That would not be easy. In order to develop new witnesses,
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Speaker 1: agents would have to ensure the safety of those who
20:26
Speaker 1: came forward.
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Speaker 3: As long as Dinza Singh was able to intimidate witnesses
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Speaker 3: through violence, threats of violence and homicides, our investigation would
20:35
Speaker 3: be very limited. We needed to make sure that no
20:38
Speaker 3: other individuals who would cooperate with us would be hurt
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Speaker 3: by Dinza Singh.
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Speaker 1: News of the most recent killing spread quickly through the
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Speaker 1: Sikh community. The other witness, Sarjit, and his family prepared
20:52
Speaker 1: to leave town. Investigators pleaded with him to allow the
20:57
Speaker 1: FBI to place him under protective custody. But he insisted
21:02
Speaker 1: on taking his wife and two small children away from
21:05
Speaker 1: New York. Despite investigators' best efforts, Dinser had intimidated another witness.
21:15
Speaker 1: To the Sikh community, the police and the FBI seemed
21:19
Speaker 1: powerless to protect them. In the summer of 1997, the
21:25
Speaker 1: FBI was on the trail of a violent businessman named Dinser.
21:32
Speaker 1: Investigators believed he had already killed two men, kidnapped a third,
21:35
Speaker 1: and scared another out of New York. They needed an
21:39
Speaker 1: informant close to Dinser to get enough evidence to arrest him.
21:44
Speaker 1: But Special Agent in Charge Kevin Donovan found that Dinser
21:47
Speaker 1: was well-protected.
21:49
Speaker 3: The major hurdle that the FBI and the New York
21:52
Speaker 3: City Police Department had to overcome was an inability to
21:56
Speaker 3: develop cooperating witnesses and informants early on due to language
22:01
Speaker 3: difficulties and due to the fact that most of the
22:04
Speaker 3: individuals who worked at City Gas Corporation were not willing
22:07
Speaker 3: to come forward because of Dinsa Singh's threats of violence
22:11
Speaker 3: and his acts of violence that were well known throughout
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Speaker 3: the community.
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Speaker 1: Dinza now threatened the life of another member of the
22:20
Speaker 1: Sikh community. Balwant Singh was close friends with the witness
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Speaker 1: who had fled the city with his family. The man
22:29
Speaker 1: was terrified. Dinza had come after him to find the
22:32
Speaker 1: one remaining witness. He remained holed up in his apartment
22:36
Speaker 1: with his wife and daughter for three days before he
22:38
Speaker 1: finally called police. He reached the Queens Homicide Unit, which
22:44
Speaker 1: was investigating the murder of Satinderjit Singh, a witness against Dinza.
22:52
Speaker 1: Bolwand told police that he had attended the slain man's funeral.
22:58
Speaker 1: There he was approached by one of Dinza's men. He
23:05
Speaker 1: asked Bolwand where the other witness was hiding. Stinzo wanted
23:12
Speaker 1: to discuss the witness's testimony face to face. Baldwin refused
23:18
Speaker 1: to tell him anything. But now he feared for his
23:23
Speaker 1: own life. Police told him that they would discuss the
23:31
Speaker 1: possibility of providing him and his family with protective custody.
23:37
Speaker 1: Two detectives would be right over him. Since the funeral,
23:43
Speaker 1: he had been ignoring the demands of the construction company he.
23:52
Speaker 2: Owned.
23:52
Speaker 5: Mr.
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Speaker 1: Singh, please.
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Speaker 6: Hello?
23:55
Speaker 4: Yes, Mr.
23:56
Speaker 1: Singh. When the company called, he agreed to run an
24:00
Speaker 1: urgent errand. He left his frightened family, promising he'd return
24:07
Speaker 1: as soon as he could. He knew Dins' reputation. It
24:27
Speaker 1: would be difficult to avoid him for very long. Just
24:45
Speaker 1: minutes after pulling out, the man noticed a sedan that
24:48
Speaker 1: seemed to be following him. It was Denzel. Balwant didn't
25:21
Speaker 1: want to take any chances, so he returned home. Dinza
25:26
Speaker 1: sped away. As detectives headed for Balwant's apartment, they received
25:34
Speaker 1: a page. It was a coded message from their supervisor,
25:44
Speaker 1: asking them to call in immediately. Lacking a cell phone,
25:51
Speaker 1: they stopped to make the urgent call. While the detective
25:57
Speaker 1: was on the phone, he noticed an Indian man watching
26:00
Speaker 1: him closely from a car. He decided to investigate. The
26:13
Speaker 1: detectives asked the driver for his license and registration. It
26:22
Speaker 1: was Dinza. When detectives asked to search his car, he agreed. Inside,
26:38
Speaker 1: they found some gas receipts. In the trunk, detectives also
26:44
Speaker 1: found electronic gauges for gas pumps. Dinza possessed nothing that
26:50
Speaker 1: was illegal. Since there was no outstanding warrant for his arrest,
27:01
Speaker 1: detectives let him go. The detectives were called away on
27:05
Speaker 1: an emergency. They never made it to the informant's home
27:09
Speaker 1: that day. The next morning, the man's frightened wife called police.
27:17
Speaker 1: Her husband had taken refuge in a friend's gas station.
27:21
Speaker 1: He waited anxiously for them to arrive and was relieved
27:24
Speaker 1: to see them pull up. His wife and daughter were
27:36
Speaker 1: picked up moments later. That evening, the family was taken
27:44
Speaker 1: to an undisclosed hotel outside of New York. The family
27:50
Speaker 1: would hide there under police protection until Dinza could be arrested.
27:59
Speaker 1: Detectives informed Balwant that they had run into Dinza near
28:02
Speaker 1: his neighborhood. They asked if he could verify the man's
28:07
Speaker 1: identity from a photo. Balwant identified him instantly. Investigators had
28:19
Speaker 1: one more witness in their case against the deadly businessman,
28:23
Speaker 1: but they still lacked sufficient evidence to make an arrest.
28:26
Speaker 3: In July.
28:30
Speaker 1: Of 1997, FBI agents and NYPD detectives believed gas station
28:36
Speaker 1: mogul Dinsa was the man behind the murders of two
28:39
Speaker 1: Indian immigrants and the disappearance of a third. Investigators had
28:44
Speaker 1: little evidence to prove their theory. And Dinsa's intimidation had
28:49
Speaker 1: silenced most witnesses. But a few among the community were
28:55
Speaker 1: tired of living in fear. At the end of July,
29:00
Speaker 1: Brooklyn North homicide detective Teddy Braun interviewed a source close
29:04
Speaker 1: to Dinser.
29:06
Speaker 5: During the interview with the confidential informant, my partner Tony
29:09
Speaker 5: Rosada came across a name Marvin, who was linked as
29:13
Speaker 5: Dinser Singh's strong arm.
29:16
Speaker 1: The man's full name was Marvin Dodson. He was a
29:19
Speaker 1: 35-year-old African-American male. Detectives discovered that he had an arrest
29:25
Speaker 1: record for illegal firearms. Any of these men look familiar?
29:29
Speaker 1: They showed a photo lineup to the cousin of the
29:31
Speaker 1: slain witness who was in the car when the shooting occurred.
29:34
Speaker 5: He immediately identified.
29:40
Speaker 1: Dodson as the gunman. Detective Anthony Brazada now began searching
29:47
Speaker 1: for Marvin Dodson.
29:50
Speaker 4: My partner and myself put together a list of various locations,
29:54
Speaker 4: like about six or eight locations where he hung out,
29:57
Speaker 4: his residence, his relatives.
30:01
Speaker 1: On July 4th, 1997, police cornered Dodson in a Queens neighborhood.
30:07
Speaker 2: They arrested him and took.
30:09
Speaker 1: Him to the station. Dodson agreed to testify against Dinser
30:37
Speaker 1: in return for a lighter sentence. On Sunday morning, July 6, 1997,
30:44
Speaker 1: Dodson and his attorney met with Queens homicide detectives, the
30:47
Speaker 1: assistant U.S. attorney, and the FBI. Dodson confessed that he
30:54
Speaker 1: had been hired by Dinser for the murder. Dodson said
30:59
Speaker 1: the plan to kill one of the witnesses began on
31:01
Speaker 1: May 18, 1997. At the time, Denza had just been
31:08
Speaker 1: released on bail. Dodson would be the trigger man, hired
31:16
Speaker 1: to kill the witness scheduled to testify against Denza and
31:20
Speaker 1: his brother. First, they picked up the murder weapon, a
31:27
Speaker 1: 9mm Ruger. The same caliber of shell casings were later
31:34
Speaker 1: collected at the crime scene. Dodson told investigators that Dinsa
31:40
Speaker 1: then ordered him to hire a driver for the hit.
31:43
Speaker 3: Go ahead and tell us the story.
31:48
Speaker 1: Dinsa's next move was to conduct surveillance of the witnesses.
31:56
Speaker 1: Assistant U.S. Attorney Ben Campbell recalls that Dinsa provided Dodson
32:00
Speaker 1: with all the information he'd needed to get to Satyajit Singh.
32:06
Speaker 6: He gave Mr. Dodson the address where Satyajit Singh lived,
32:09
Speaker 6: the license plate number to his vehicle, and instructed Mr.
32:13
Speaker 6: Dodson to watch Satyajit Singh and kill him at the
32:16
Speaker 6: first opportunity.
32:17
Speaker 4: What did he.
32:17
Speaker 1: Do with the gun? On June 18, 1997, Dodson received
32:21
Speaker 1: a phone call from Denzel. His boss told him that
32:25
Speaker 1: the witness needed to be dead before nightfall. Denzel's brother's
32:30
Speaker 1: hearing was the following day. The hit would send a
32:35
Speaker 1: message to everyone who considered testifying. Dodson said that he
32:43
Speaker 1: and his driver, Walter Jazz Samuels, met Denza at one
32:47
Speaker 1: of his gas stations. Denza provided them with a white van.
32:56
Speaker 1: They watched Satyajit's house until he came out. He was
33:03
Speaker 1: with his cousin. The plan was to cause a disturbance
33:24
Speaker 1: so that Satindajit would pull over and allow the.
33:26
Speaker 2: Van to pass.
33:31
Speaker 1: When he did, the van blocked him from moving. Dodson
33:41
Speaker 1: shot the unarmed man eight times at close range. The
33:47
Speaker 1: hitman's description of the events of that day. corroborated a
33:50
Speaker 1: neighbor's statement to police. Dotson also told investigators that after
33:56
Speaker 1: the killing, he had returned the white van to Dinza's
33:59
Speaker 1: garage on Roosevelt Avenue. He gave the gun back to Dinza,
34:04
Speaker 1: who paid him and the driver $ 20, 000 for the hit.
34:11
Speaker 1: On July 6, 1997, police approached the Brooklyn home of
34:15
Speaker 1: Walter Jazz Samuels, the man who Dotson claimed had driven
34:18
Speaker 1: the van. They arrested him without incident. Police learned that
34:33
Speaker 1: Samuels had a record of previous arrests. With Samuels in custody,
34:40
Speaker 1: investigators turned their attention to Dinser. The U.S. Attorney's Office
34:46
Speaker 1: believed agents and detectives now had enough evidence to indict
34:50
Speaker 1: Dinser on federal racketeering charges. Special Agent in Charge Kevin
34:55
Speaker 1: Donovan recalls that agents dispersed across the city to find him.
35:00
Speaker 3: FBI agents and New York City Police Department detectives initiated
35:04
Speaker 3: surveillances at several city gas stations in which Dinsa Singh
35:10
Speaker 3: was known to frequent.
35:13
Speaker 1: At 5 p.m. on July 7, 1997, FBI agents and
35:18
Speaker 1: NYPD detectives followed Dinsa to his Foster Avenue gas station.
35:25
Speaker 1: When he arrived, they arrested him for murder, kidnapping, pump fraud,
35:30
Speaker 1: and obstruction of justice in aid of a corrupt organization.
35:36
Speaker 1: The entire case hinged on the testimony of Dins' hitman,
35:39
Speaker 1: Marvin Dodson. But because Dodson was a murderer, the U.S.
35:46
Speaker 1: attorney still needed to substantiate his story with other evidence
35:49
Speaker 1: or witness testimony. They hoped that testimony would come from
35:59
Speaker 1: Walter Jazz Samuels, the man who Dodson fingered as his
36:02
Speaker 1: accomplice in the murder of Satyajit Singh. Samuels now told
36:08
Speaker 1: investigators he was not in the van at the time
36:10
Speaker 1: of the shooting. He claimed he was at a nearby restaurant.
36:16
Speaker 1: His story checked out. Investigators believed Samuels knew who drove
36:22
Speaker 1: Dodson on the day of the killing. but he wasn't
36:26
Speaker 1: talking and neither was Dodson. Investigators needed something else to
36:35
Speaker 1: corroborate Dodson's story. They secured a search warrant for Denza's
36:42
Speaker 1: Roosevelt Avenue gas station, the place where Dodson had returned
36:46
Speaker 1: the white van after the murder. They searched the entire premises,
36:52
Speaker 1: but found little other than stolen license plates, They believed
36:56
Speaker 1: they were probably used on getaway cars during the commission
36:58
Speaker 1: of crimes. But once again, they had no proof. They
37:04
Speaker 1: found nothing that could corroborate Dodson's story or connect Dinser
37:08
Speaker 1: to the murder. As the FBI and police continued to
37:15
Speaker 1: pursue evidence, Dinser was behind bars once again pending a
37:18
Speaker 1: July 14th bail hearing. Investigators hoped Dinza's incarceration would encourage
37:24
Speaker 1: witnesses to come forward. It did not. As before, Dinza
37:31
Speaker 1: continued to rule with an iron hand.
37:35
Speaker 3: Unfortunately, as a result of Dinza Singh's ability to make
37:39
Speaker 3: telephone calls from jail, he was able to continue to
37:42
Speaker 3: run his corporation and his business and to focus on
37:47
Speaker 3: threatening additional individuals who might have come forward to cooperate
37:50
Speaker 3: with the FBI and the New York City Police Department.
37:54
Speaker 1: For the second time in three months, authorities held the
37:57
Speaker 1: suspected murderer behind bars. They hoped it would be his
38:02
Speaker 1: final arrest. But the millionaire hired a high-priced defense team,
38:07
Speaker 1: and the prosecution's entire case still hinged on the testimony
38:12
Speaker 1: of a confessed killer. In July of 1997, a man
38:21
Speaker 1: named Dinsley had been arrested on federal racketeering charges that
38:24
Speaker 1: included murder and kidnapping to protect his corrupt business empire.
38:31
Speaker 1: It was his second arrest in three months. As he
38:35
Speaker 1: had before, Dinsley directed his business and even threatened potential
38:38
Speaker 1: witnesses from a prison telephone. But this time, investigators were listening.
38:46
Speaker 1: Assistant U.S. Attorney Ben Campbell was not going to let
38:49
Speaker 1: Dinsa slip through his hands again. They had to keep
38:52
Speaker 1: him behind bars.
38:54
Speaker 6: First, his conversation was in Punjabi, which is a very
38:59
Speaker 6: unique dialect, and it took us some time before we
39:03
Speaker 6: could find a Punjabi translator to translate those telephone calls. Secondly,
39:08
Speaker 6: he was not very overt in his conversation, so he
39:12
Speaker 6: was somewhat cryptic in his conversation with his colleagues.
39:17
Speaker 1: The translations opened a rare view into just how tightly
39:21
Speaker 1: Denza held the reins to his empire. Denza attracted customers
39:26
Speaker 1: to his rigged pumps by advertising the lowest gas prices
39:29
Speaker 1: in New York. But his pumps provided less than a
39:34
Speaker 1: gallon for the price.
39:37
Speaker 6: He was issuing routine instructions to the members of his office,
39:40
Speaker 6: telling them to change the price of gasoline at his
39:43
Speaker 6: various stations, to continue to order supplies for his company.
39:46
Speaker 6: In addition, he also gave them instructions about things to
39:50
Speaker 6: communicate to their attorneys and steps to be taken in
39:53
Speaker 6: order to try and get him out on bail.
39:56
Speaker 1: As Campbell raced to find evidence to keep Denzel from
39:58
Speaker 1: making bail, police processed the suspect's car. They found business
40:06
Speaker 1: cards that linked Denze to his hit man, Marvin Dodson,
40:09
Speaker 1: and Dodson's operative, Walter Jazz Samuels. Police also recovered a
40:15
Speaker 1: list of names and addresses that appeared to be a
40:18
Speaker 1: hit list. The list included the home address of Savjit Singh,
40:23
Speaker 1: a federal witness who had fled the city with his family.
40:28
Speaker 1: Balwant Singh, who was under protective custody, had also made
40:31
Speaker 1: the list. Seven more men with Punjabi names appeared as well.
40:37
Speaker 1: It was just what investigators needed to keep Dinza from
40:40
Speaker 1: making bail. While they did not know whether these men
40:44
Speaker 1: were dead or alive, they knew who might. Agents asked
40:51
Speaker 1: Walter Samuels about the list, hoping it would prompt his memory.
40:58
Speaker 1: He finally opened up. He said that Dinza had planned
41:02
Speaker 1: to kill those nine men. Two of them, Balwant and Sarjit,
41:06
Speaker 1: were federal witnesses. The other seven were Balwant's family members.
41:12
Speaker 1: They were all still alive. Once again, agents would need
41:18
Speaker 1: to corroborate the story. Confined in the room next door,
41:23
Speaker 1: Marvin Dodson and his lawyer waited to be questioned. Dodson
41:27
Speaker 1: confirmed Samuel's story and added something else. He said that
41:33
Speaker 1: on July 3rd, just days before Denza's most recent arrest,
41:37
Speaker 1: Denza had purchased two used police cruisers as part of
41:40
Speaker 1: the assassination plan. Dodson had copies of the titles, which
41:46
Speaker 1: his lawyer now offered to the agent as proof. Mr.
41:50
Speaker 6: Dinsa's plan was for Mr.
41:52
Speaker 1: Donson and Mr.
41:53
Speaker 6: Samuels to pose as law enforcement officers and to stop
41:58
Speaker 6: Balwant Singh on the street along with members of his
42:02
Speaker 6: family and kidnap them and bring them to Mr.
42:05
Speaker 1: Dinsa at an undisclosed location. Feeling the pressure and hoping
42:10
Speaker 1: to cut a deal, Samuels now told investigators the name
42:13
Speaker 1: of the man who drove the white van during the murder.
42:17
Speaker 1: His name was Evans Alonzo Powell. Because Powell had no
42:22
Speaker 1: arrest record, Dodson wanted to protect him. He had threatened
42:25
Speaker 1: Samuels not to give him up. On July 19, 1997,
42:31
Speaker 1: police arrested Powell on a Brooklyn street. He agreed to cooperate.
42:38
Speaker 1: Powell admitted that he had driven the van for the
42:40
Speaker 1: murder in Queens. Investigators finally had their corroborating witness. Powell
42:49
Speaker 1: also talked about another crime Denza had ordered the murder
42:55
Speaker 1: of the Indian man who had traveled to America to
42:57
Speaker 1: search for his missing brother. Powell was present when Dodson
43:05
Speaker 1: killed the attendant at the Brooklyn gas station on the
43:08
Speaker 1: night of March 16th, 1997. Detective Tony Brazada remembers Dodson's confession.
43:19
Speaker 4: He admitted to shooting him twice in the head, had
43:22
Speaker 4: him kneeling down. And he said he got paid by
43:28
Speaker 4: Singh for doing this. That Singh wanted this person killed.
43:33
Speaker 4: He didn't give him a reason, but he just wanted
43:34
Speaker 4: him killed.
43:36
Speaker 1: Ginza had paid Dodson just $ 4, 000 for taking the man's life.
43:43
Speaker 1: Dodson stole money to pay Powell for being the lookout.
43:57
Speaker 1: Special Agent in Charge Kevin Donovan continued to gather evidence
44:01
Speaker 1: about Dins' pump rigging activities.
44:04
Speaker 3: The FBI and the New York City Police Department executed
44:07
Speaker 3: a search warrant at the Foster Avenue City Gas gas station.
44:10
Speaker 3: The focus of our search was to identify and obtain
44:15
Speaker 3: evidence of the pump rigging scheme. As a result of
44:19
Speaker 3: the excavation of the area around the pump, electronic devices
44:23
Speaker 3: were located in a box that was used to control
44:27
Speaker 3: the pump rigging scheme.
44:29
Speaker 1: Investigators determined that Dinser manipulated the flow of gasoline to
44:32
Speaker 1: customers' cars through devices controlled by remote. Wired to the
44:39
Speaker 1: pumps and buried underground, the systems could be turned on
44:42
Speaker 1: or off at will. Detective Teddy Braun explains that Dinser
44:47
Speaker 1: taught many of his employees when to turn them on
44:49
Speaker 1: and off.
44:52
Speaker 5: You were taught how to work on remote. And what
44:54
Speaker 5: would happen would be if a person, for instance, if
44:58
Speaker 5: a person came in for a gallon of gas for
45:00
Speaker 5: their lawnmower, what would happen was the gas attendant would
45:04
Speaker 5: hit a remote in his pocket, which was just like
45:07
Speaker 5: a car alarm remote. And what that would do, it
45:10
Speaker 5: would shut off the skimming system. And the system would
45:13
Speaker 5: go right up to perfect. So that when the gas
45:16
Speaker 5: attendant pumped a gallon worth of gas in a container...
45:21
Speaker 5: It was perfect, so there would be no question.
45:25
Speaker 1: In late July of 1997, the FBI conducted an exhaustive
45:30
Speaker 1: search of Dins' Brooklyn warehouse headquarters. There they found his
45:35
Speaker 1: double books.
45:39
Speaker 6: We discovered documents reflecting bribery payments to a corrupt Department
45:43
Speaker 6: of Consumer Affairs inspector. In addition, we also estimate the
45:47
Speaker 6: total value of Mr. Dins' pump fraud activities in a
45:50
Speaker 6: neighborhood of $ 40 million over 10 years.
45:55
Speaker 1: By September of 1998, the body of the man abducted
45:58
Speaker 1: from a gas station in the Bronx in 1995 was
46:02
Speaker 1: still missing. But agents had a hunch. Based on New
46:09
Speaker 1: York City construction records at the time of his disappearance,
46:13
Speaker 1: agents suspected that Denza had buried the attendant underneath one
46:16
Speaker 1: of his gas stations.
46:19
Speaker 3: It was determined that the most likely gas station that
46:22
Speaker 3: was under construction at that time was a gas station
46:25
Speaker 3: located at Farragut and Flatbush Avenue.
46:29
Speaker 1: On September 16, 1998, investigators arrived at the station with
46:33
Speaker 1: heavy equipment. They employed ground-penetrating radar to help locate the
46:40
Speaker 1: body beneath the earth. They selected two separate sites where
46:45
Speaker 1: they believed the man might be buried.
46:49
Speaker 3: The construction crew removed slabs of concrete, and the FBI,
46:53
Speaker 3: the New York City Police Department, examined these two sites
46:56
Speaker 3: that were located by the ground-penetrating radar.
47:01
Speaker 1: Investigators never found the man's body. Though this news was disappointing,
47:08
Speaker 1: investigators were having better luck with other leads. Assistant U.S.
47:13
Speaker 1: Attorney Ben Campbell subpoenaed Dinsa's cell phone records. They placed
47:19
Speaker 1: Dinsa at the time and place of Satinderjit Singh's murder.
47:26
Speaker 1: Prosecutors were well armed when Dinsa's trial began in Brooklyn
47:30
Speaker 1: Federal District Court. They hoped to convict him on 29 counts,
47:37
Speaker 1: including capital murder. Savjit Singh, who assisted the investigation despite
47:44
Speaker 1: death threats, testified against the man accused of killing his friends.
47:51
Speaker 1: On March 2nd, 1999, after two and a half days
47:54
Speaker 1: of deliberations, the jury found Dinza guilty of 21 of
47:59
Speaker 1: the 29 counts. They included murder. attempted murder, and fraud.
48:09
Speaker 1: Dinser was acquitted in the kidnapping of the man whose
48:11
Speaker 1: body was never found. On October 5th, 1999, Dinser received
48:19
Speaker 1: eight life sentences without possibility of parole. He escaped the
48:25
Speaker 1: death penalty. Later that month, the same judge sentenced Dinser's
48:31
Speaker 1: hitmen for their roles in the murders. For assisting in
48:36
Speaker 1: the conviction of Dinser, their sentences were considerably lighter. Powell
48:42
Speaker 1: received 10 years, Samuels 12, and Dodson 18. But it
48:49
Speaker 1: was the conviction of Dinser that was most satisfying to prosecutors.
48:54
Speaker 6: Prosecution of Mr. Dinsa was a very, personally for me,
48:57
Speaker 6: a very rewarding experience. We were able to step into
49:00
Speaker 6: a community that frequently does not turn to law enforcement
49:03
Speaker 6: for assistance and to render some significant help to them
49:07
Speaker 6: in order to remove an individual who was, for lack
49:11
Speaker 6: of a better term, a plague on that community.
49:15
Speaker 1: Like many immigrants before him, Dinza arrived a poor man
49:19
Speaker 1: and was embraced by a community of compatriots. But he
49:23
Speaker 1: repaid their kindness with swindles and murder. For his greed
49:28
Speaker 1: and brutality, he will never be free again.