JFK+50: Volume 6, No. 1792
FRANK SINATRA JR. TALKS WITH DAD AFTER KIDNAPPINGLake Tahoe, California (JFK+50) Fifty-two years ago today, December 10, 1963, just two days after having been kidnapped from his hotel room at Harrah's Casino here in Lake Tahoe, Frank Sinatra's son, Frank Sinatra, Jr.,* was permitted to talk with his father by telephone.
The younger Sinatra had been taken to Southern California's San Fernando Valley. At the conclusion of the brief conversation between father and son, the kidnappers demanded a $240,000 ransom.
Frank Sinatra, Sr. contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation who advised him to pay the ransom and then permit them to track down the kidnappers. According to the FBI, the ransom was dropped between two school buses parked at a Texaco Service Station in Sepuleda, California on December 11.
After Frank Sinatra, Jr. was released, the FBI was able to track down the three kidnappers, Barry Keenan, Joe Amsler and John Irwin, and arrest them. In the Spring of 1964, the trio were convicted.
The kidnapping plan had originally been scheduled for late November 1963 but the assassination of President John F. Kennedy had caused the three men to reschedule the event for the next month.
*Frank Sinatra, Jr. was born in Jersey City, NJ in 1944. He became a singer, songwriter and conductor but spent most of his career touring 47 states & 30 countries.
SOURCES
"A Byte Out of History: The Kidnapping of Frank Sinatra, Jr.," The FBI, www.fbi.gov/
"Frank Sinatra, Jr. endures a frightening ordeal," This Day in History, December 10, www.history.com
Frank Sinatra, Jr.
San Diego, California
Photo by Phil Konstantin (2008)
