When Frank Sinatra Jr Was Kidnapped And Held For Ransom
In the aftermath of President John F. Kennedy's assassination in 1963, another American icon faced a tragic incident, albeit with a somewhat more fortunate outcome. On December 8, 1963, 19-year-old Frank Sinatra Jr., affectionately known as Junior and the son of the renowned crooner Frank Sinatra, was kidnapped.
On paper, the plan appeared reasonably well-considered. Three former classmates of Junior's older sister—Barry Keenan, Joe Amsler, and John Irwin—devised a scheme to kidnap the son of the famous crooner, holding him hostage for ransom. Observing Junior's promising career and emulating his father's footsteps, the trio believed that Frank Senior would pay a substantial sum for his talented son's safe return.
Interestingly, they had initially contemplated kidnapping Bob Hope's son but dismissed the idea as "un-American." Eventually, they settled on Junior, deeming it morally acceptable to cause Frank Senior temporary distress given his history.
However, in execution, the plan fell wildly, and thankfully, awry.
Upon identifying their target, Keenan and Joe Amsler proceeded to monitor Frank Sinatra Jr., trailing him to performances in Arizona and Los Angeles with the plan of forcibly entering his dressing room and holding him captive. However, on both occasions, their nerves overwhelmed them, leading to the abandonment of the scheme. Subsequently, faced with a critical decision, in 1963, Sinatra Jr. was scheduled to appear in Lake Tahoe before departing for Europe as part of his tour. Recognising this as their final opportunity, they drove to the hotel where Sinatra Jr. was lodging and, posing as delivery men, inquired about his room number at the reception. Excited and anxious, they briskly navigated the carpeted hallways until locating the room, where they cautiously turned the doorknob.
When the door opened, Keenan and Amsler, both armed with pistols, caught the singer in the act of eating fried chicken. Bob Foss, a member of the singer's band, was seated across from him. A half-eaten drumstick slipped from the trumpeter's oily fingers as Amsler restrained and secured him to the chair. At the same time, Keenan, holding his gun against the singer's head, silenced Frank Sinatra Jr. by wrapping masking tape around his mouth to prevent any cries for help. After leaving Foss in the hotel room, they forcibly took Sinatra Jr. outside and placed him in the trunk of their car.
While Keenan and Amsler made their way to Los Angeles with Sinatra Jr. in tow, Foss managed to untie himself and immediately called the police. The police, in turn, notified Frank Sinatra. Keenan, aware that Foss would likely make a break for it, made a deal with Sinatra Jr. “I said, ‘Frank, your friend’s going to get up before we get out of Lake Tahoe, and I’m concerned that there’s going to be gunplay,'” Keenan later explained. “‘There’s one way that we can work this out, and that’s if you play along with us, and we pretend that we’re just guys out having a good time.'” Sinatra Jr., not having many other options, ended up submitting, allowing Keenan and Amsler to evade capture despite being pulled over by police.
After driving for 400 miles, Keenan, Amsler and Sinatra Jr. arrived at their LA base, at which point they were met by fellow conspirator John Irwin, who had just called Frank Sinatra and demanded $240,000 in exchange for the release of his son. The FBI, who by this point had liaised with Frank Sinatra and his wife, advised the worried parents to pay the ransom and then allow their agents to track their money and capture the kidnappers. Following this suggestion, Sinatra Sr. gave the money to the FBI, who then photographed it before dropping it off at the agreed location. That’s when things started to unravel for Keenan and Co. While on their way to pick up the money, Irwin, who was little more than a bundle of nerves by this time, decided to release the hostage. After walking around LA in a state of befuddlement for a little while, Sinatra Jr. eventually found a security guard, who agreed to take him to his sister Nancy’s house.
Irwin couldn't keep what he'd done to himself and told his brother what he was involved in. His brother, who called the FBI, who located Keenan and Amsler mere hours later, still in possession of the entire ransom.
All three men were later convicted of kidnapping, despite numerous conspiracy theories that argued their innocence. Some theorists argued that Frank Senior had orchestrated the kidnapping himself as a publicity stunt, while some believed that it had been real, and orchestrated by the mafia, to whom Sinatra had multiple well-known ties.
Irwin blabbed on his co-conspirators. At a widely publicised trial, Keenan and Amsler were sentenced to life in prison, while Irwin was sentenced to 75 years.
But, in reality, the trio served but a fraction of their total sentence. Indeed, as Keenan recalled: “They said in effect that I was legally and mentally insane at the time of the kidnapping, and we had no criminal malice, and didn’t fit the profile of normal criminals.” Subsequently, Amsler and Irwin served only three and a half years, Keenan, four and a half. Following his release, Keenan became an incredibly powerful figure in the world of real estate and, in 1999, was offered $1.5million by Columbia to recount the story of the kidnapping on film. However, Frank Sinatra Jr. filed a lawsuit that led to a court ruling forbidding any of the conspirators to profit financially from their crimes.
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