In early December 1963, three men kidnapped Frank Sinatra Jr., The Voice's son. They demanded a ransom of the equivalent of $2.4 million in 2023. The case kept society in suspense for several days
Even though birth is beyond their control, all the children of the greatest superstars the world has ever seen have had to pay the price of inherited fame. and some took care of broken dishes. From the day they were born, they were in the public spotlight and were often able to determine crucial events in their fate, be it good or bad.
In this line, Being the only son of Frank Sinatra, one of the biggest stars in Hollywood and the world, wouldn't be easy at all.. It's inevitable to think that whatever he decided to do would be overshadowed by his father's exorbitant success, or that the comparisons would grow ever crueler. However, both Frank Sinatra Jr. and his older sister Nancy Sinatra decided to follow in their father's footsteps into show business. The result was a path full of possibilities. But at what cost?
Frank Sinatra Jr. became a singer with a voice very similar to his famous father, but decided to develop a different jazz repertoire. So he started his own show at a young age in the casino hotels of Las Vegas, which were Sinatra senior hotels, such as Harrah's Lake Tahoe.
On his part The Voice's eldest daughter, Nancy, made such valuable contacts around her that she signed a contract with the great songwriter Lee Hazlewood, which produced several hits for them. What Nancy didn't know was this One of her classmates wanted to betray her involved in a serious incident that threatened the stability of his family.
Frank Sinatra, icon of cinema and music, had three children with Nancy Barbato: Nancy, Frank Jr. and Tina (Photo: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
The night of From Sunday, December 8 to Monday, December 9, 1963, the “New York, New York” singer's only male child was kidnapped when he was just 19 years old. While Frank Jr. was in his dressing room at Harrah's Club Lodge at the Lake Tahoe Hotel, preparing for his performance, there was a knock on the room door. The one who answered was Joss Foss, his orchestra trumpeter, who found a man dressed as a skier pointing a revolver at him. That subject and an accomplice entered the room, minimized Foss and blindfolded Jr. before taking him to a car and fleeing the scene with a third kidnapper.
The intellectual author and executor of the vandalistic act was none other than Barry Keenan, who had a connection to the Sinatra family through Nancy, the daughter of the Hollywood star. Although they weren't exactly friends, they went to the same school. “I can imagine Junior looking at the balls,” Keenan said in a chilling statement People in 2016 and recalled waving a gun in front of his face as a young man.
This was the result of the subsequent comprehensive investigation Barry Keenan, Joe Amsler and John Irwin conspired Kidnapping Frank Jr. for money reasons. Keenan led the operation, the Washington Post reported in 1998. But did it turn out exactly as he had calculated?
At the time, Frank Sinatra was some kind of perverted fedora-wearing immortal. The star whose only son no one would mess with. But Keenan thought he had it all planned. “In my state of dementia, I saw it as a business,” he said.
The extent of the kidnapping soon became clear: the emergency operation was magnanimous and worthy of the top American star of the time.
The extent of the kidnapping soon became clear: The emergency response was generous and worthy of the greatest American star of his time. Sinatra, icon of music and cinema, canceled all his commitments, including the start of filming on a new film. Concerned for his son's life, he urgently traveled from Palm Springs to Zephyr Cove, triggering a major operation involving the FBI and more than 80 police officers. He even ordered the closure of major roads, something only he could achieve.
Unusual, a wave of speculation The police and media commented on the possible reason for the kidnapping, even going so far as to suggest that the incident may have been the reason Connection with a conflict between Sinatra senior and the mafia. However, they were wrong.
The next evening, Sinatra received one Call one of the kidnappers, the He said to communicate with them only through public phoneswhich in 1963 could be paid for with ten cent coins. The singer and actor followed the instructions and began wearing He always carried 10 dimes with him, a tradition he maintained until his death.
As expected, the kidnappers demanded a large sum of cash for the return of Frank Jr.: $240,000 ransom, equivalent to more than $2.4 million in 2023, but not before ordering him to move into the home of his ex-wife and mother of his children, Nancy Barbato, and make arrangements there. Sinatra managed to raise the money and delivered it to an agreed delivery location on December 11th.
Frank Sinatra held a press conference during his son's kidnapping. The singer mobilized all of his contacts and influences to achieve his performance (Don Cravens/Getty Images)
The water calmed down and Sinatra was born again on his birthday: in the early hours of December 12, 1963one of the private security guards in the neighborhood where Barbato lived met a little boy who asked him to take him “to his mother's house”: It was Frank Jr.who appeared just 45 minutes before his father returned from posting the ransom.
“I can tell you that I am 46 years old and I believe I have just received the most beautiful gift of my life: my son Frank.”“The Voice” said honestly. For her part, the victim said she spent the three days of the kidnapping blindfolded and was never afraid. Although he couldn't see anything visually, he added that there were no more than three of them and that “they looked complete.” Amateurs“.
The kidnapping of Frank Jr., one of the most high-profile since the kidnapping of the son of the famous American engineer and aviator Charles Lindbergh, was a complete failure. Why was he released so quickly? Before kidnapping author Barry Keenan collected the loot payment, Irwin panicked and freed Frank Jr., demonstrating the trio's clumsiness and inexperience.
“That’s one of the things I regret most,” Keenan said. “Junior lived with the stigma the rest of his life.”
Barry Keenan, the perpetrator of the kidnapping, was arrested after being betrayed by his partner William Irwin. Although he was sentenced to 75 years in prison, he was free four and a half years later. “That’s one of the things I regret most,” he said.
It was the will of the eldest of the three perpetrators that brought about his own downfall. William Irwin, forty years old and with multiple criminal convictions, reflected on the gravity of the mess in which he was involved. Irwin said it was clear to him that he had the police, the FBI and possibly the Mafia against him He decided to turn himself in and betray his 23-year-old companions Barry Keenan and Joseph Amsler.
Ultimately, The three kidnappers were convicted for his involvement in the kidnapping. The sentences reduced after appeal were less than four years for Amsler and Irwin and about four and a half years for Keenan.
After the death of Frank Sinatra, the celebrated singer is said to have passed away buried with a bottle of whiskey, cigarettes, a lighter and 10 dimes in his pocketsthe last ones he had with him since his son Frank Sinatra Jr. was kidnapped on December 8, 1963.
Frank Sinatra Jr., son of Frank Sinatra, died on March 16, 2016 at the age of 72.