You know how some people just seem untouchable. Take Frank Sinatra, idolized around the world, the ultimate cool insider in Hollywood and Washington, DC for that matter, and even an insider with the mob. So what genius came up with the idea to kidnap his son was the ransom paid? I'm Patty Steele stealing Frank Sinatra Junior. Next on the backstory. We're back with the backstory. Late nineteen sixty three was kind of the end of the innocence in America. We were months away from the arrival of the Beatles, but we had just lost our young, incredibly popular President John F. Kennedy to an assassin in Dallas, Texas. Nobody could wrap their head around that emergence from the feel good nineteen fifties and the thrill of the Camelot story and into the JFK murder and the ramping up of the war in Vietnam. What else could happen? It was December eighth, nineteen sixty three, just a little over two weeks after the JFK assassination, the world still reeling as the holidays approached. But in one Nevada motel room, things turn even more chaotic. A nineteen year old singer is about to be snatched in a bizarre kidnapping plot that seems straight out of an episode of Law and Order. Here's the thing, this kid isn't just any teenage singer. We're talking Frank Sinatra Junior. His dad was and is iconic, definitely one of the most famous entertainers in the world. And Frank Sinatra Senior was incredibly powerful. He was still at the height of his fame after years of selling tens of millions of records. He'd just started his own label, Riprise Records, and it was wildly successful. Plus, his flourishing acting career had won him an Academy Award in a Golden Globe. He was the leader of the rat Pack at this point in his career. Folks claimed that every woman wants to have him and every man wants to be him. On top of that, this guy hung with presidents, and he was worshiped even by Hollywood's elite. And one more thing, he was an insider with the mob, with powerful friends, including mafia chieftains like Chicago mob boss Sam g and Kanna. Sinatra's FBI files show he hung with mob bosses in Philadelphia, Detroit, and in New Jersey in addition to Chicago. And he famously introduced Gancanna to John Kennedy's campaign in nineteen sixty in an attempt to deliver Union votes for his presidential election. So here's the question. With that kind of power in play, who in the heck would be stupid enough or genius enough to kidnap Frank Sinatra's kid This is a crime that completely captivated the nation. It also embarrassed the FBI, and it could have ended in tragedy. Here's who Frank Sinatra Junior was in those days and how the whole thing came down. As you can imagine, Frank Junior, Sinatra's only son, grew up in the shadow of his legendary dad. He was born in nineteen forty four, when Frank Sinatra Senior was red hot already a huge star, but that had made his personal life really complex. Just like his father, Frank Junior's world revolved around music, movies, and fame. By his late teens, his singing career was under way, but he was trying to make a name for himself outside of his father's enormous shadow. Frank Junior was performing in nightclubs, working hard, trying to prove he wasn't just a Nepo baby. So in December of nineteen sixty three, he was in Lake Tahoe on the Nevada side, performing at Hara's Club Lodge. Frank Junior was staying at the motel at the lodge along with a friend and his trumpet player named John Foss. The two were relaxing by the fire and eating dinner in the room room on the night of December eighth, when there was a knock at the door. They asked who was there. The guy outside the door said he was delivering a package, so John Foss opened it. As soon as he did, two guys with guns forced their way in. They were Barry Keenan and Joe Ampseller, two twenty one year olds who thought they had set up the perfect crime. Keenan was the mastermind of sorts. He'd grown up in La gone to grade school with Sinatra Senior's daughter Nancy, and had been a pretty good student at UCLA. At twenty one, he was the youngest member of the Los Angeles Stock Exchange ever. But as happens, he made a bunch of bad business decisions. On top of that, he became addicted to painkillers like Perkinden after a car accident. His mounting debts left him desperate and he needed money. Aha, why not kidnap a rich guy's son, and not just any rich guy. Frank Sinatra all powerful. Of course, he'd pay anything to get his kid back, And Barry said, as soon as he got on his feet, he'd pay back any ransom he got. He said he knew Sinatra Senior was tough enough to get through the ordeal and get his son back. But Keenan had a problem due to a psychiatric issue. He heard voices, he later claimed the voices called themselves the Committee. They told him his plan was blessed by God since he was going to pay back the ransom, and that it would somehow bring the Sinatra family closer together. Okay, Back to the motel in Tahoe, Barry Keenan and Joe Amsler tie up John Foss and, after blindfolding Frank Junior, force him out of the room and into the trunk of their car. They speed off into the night, leaving Foss tied up and gagged, but pretty quickly Foss is able to free himself. He immediately sounds the alarm, and law enforcement and the FBI go on high alert. Frank Sinatra Junior has been kidnapped. The FBI gets involved almost immediately, but Sinatra Senior is all about action. He's not waiting for the cops or the FBI to act. He's flipped out now. His pal, mob boss samgian Kanna even offers two air quotes take care of things. Sinatra says, no, thanks, no violence, he just wants his son back. Hours later, the ransom demand comes in. Barry Keenan calls the Sinatra home and demands two hundred and forty thousand dollars that's close to two and a half million in today's money. At first, Frank Senior offers the kidnappers way more than they ask for. He offers a million bucks almost ten million today, but Keenan weirdly doesn't feel he needs that much and he sticks to his original demand. Sinatra Senior immediately tells his lawyer to get the money together and follow the kidnappers instructions. Meantime, the FBI is trailing them. The pair had made stupid mistakes. Keenan u a payphone to make the ransom call, so agents were able to track the location. Now the FBI is closing in for Frank Junior. The ordeal lasts about fifty four hours, with the kidnappers moving him from one hideout to another. He's blindfolded most of the time, but he stays calm. He later said it was obvious the kidnappers were in over their heads. Then suddenly they set him free. On December tenth. They'd drive Frank Junior to bel Air and tell him to walk around until he finds help. Frank Senior had paid the ransom, but ultimately Keenan and Amseller's amateur moves left a trail right back to them. Within days, the FBI arrested them, along with a third conspirator, John Irwin. They confess almost immediately Frank's not for Junior is safe, but there's more to the story. The trial that followed was wild. Keenan and his crew were convicted and sentenced to prison. Keenan, as the ringleader, was set life, but he was later released after serving less than five years because the courts agreed he was legally insane at the time, and there were rumors, some from the press that suggested the whole thing had been staged, that maybe Frank Junior had been in on the kidnapping to publicize his struggling singing career. Never any proof of that, which shows you what it's like to be stuck in your father's massive shadow. Even in court, the kidnappers testified that Frank Junior was not involved in the scheme, but the stories kept making the rounds, which drove Sinatra Senior crazy. In the end, it was pretty clear his son was just an innocent victim. Afterward, Sinatra Junior continued his music career, although he never quite got out of his father's shadow. He was a conductor and musical director for his dad and focused on preserving his father's legacy rather than trying to go it alone. What happened to Barry Keenan Well After his four and a half year prison stin he went on to become a really successful real estate developer. He did TV and podcast interviews about the kidnapping and became good friends with some show biz hotshots. Only in Hollywood, right, It definitely wasn't the perfect crime. It was a messy, amateurish attempt at a ransom scheme orchestrated by young guys who needed money and who underestimated the cops and the power of the Sinatra name, but it did captivate the world. The son of an American icon kidnapped at gunpoint, held for ransom, and sent home unharmed, a Hollywood thriller in real life, Sadly, Frank Sinatra Junior died of cardiac arrest in twenty sixteen at just seventy two years old while on tour in Daytona Beach. His kidnapper, Barry Keenan, committed suicide at the age of eighty two just three years ago. On Instagram, his friend TV star John Stamos said, he's free now. Maybe wherever he is, he sitt being pretty at the big table with a white Russian in one hand and a Cuban cigar in the other. But Barry, if you see Sinatra Senior at that table, run he's still pissed at you. Hope you like the backstory with Patty Steele. I would love it if you'd subscribe or follow for free to get new episodes delivered automatically, and feel free to DM me if you have a story you'd like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty Steele and on Instagram, Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The Backstory is a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis Duran Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free to reach out to me with comments and even story suggestions on Instagram at Real Patty Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening to the Backstory with Patty Steele. The pieces of history you didn't know you needed to know.

You know how some people just seem untouchable. Take Frank Sinatra, idolized around the world, the ultimate cool insider in Hollywood and Washington, DC for that matter, and even an insider with the mob. So what genius came up with the idea to kidnap his son was the ransom paid? I'm Patty Steele stealing Frank Sinatra Junior. Next on the backstory. We're back with the backstory. Late nineteen sixty three was kind of the end of the innocence in America. We were months away from the arrival of the Beatles, but we had just lost our young, incredibly popular President John F. Kennedy to an assassin in Dallas, Texas. Nobody could wrap their head around that emergence from the feel good nineteen fifties and the thrill of the Camelot story and into the JFK murder and the ramping up of the war in Vietnam. What else could happen? It was December eighth, nineteen sixty three, just a little over two weeks after the JFK assassination, the world still reeling as the holidays approached. But in one Nevada motel room, things turn even more chaotic. A nineteen year old singer is about to be snatched in a bizarre kidnapping plot that seems straight out of an episode of Law and Order. Here's the thing, this kid isn't just any teenage singer. We're talking Frank Sinatra Junior. His dad was and is iconic, definitely one of the most famous entertainers in the world. And Frank Sinatra Senior was incredibly powerful. He was still at the height of his fame after years of selling tens of millions of records. He'd just started his own label, Riprise Records, and it was wildly successful. Plus, his flourishing acting career had won him an Academy Award in a Golden Globe. He was the leader of the rat Pack at this point in his career. Folks claimed that every woman wants to have him and every man wants to be him. On top of that, this guy hung with presidents, and he was worshiped even by Hollywood's elite. And one more thing, he was an insider with the mob, with powerful friends, including mafia chieftains like Chicago mob boss Sam g and Kanna. Sinatra's FBI files show he hung with mob bosses in Philadelphia, Detroit, and in New Jersey in addition to Chicago. And he famously introduced Gancanna to John Kennedy's campaign in nineteen sixty in an attempt to deliver Union votes for his presidential election. So here's the question. With that kind of power in play, who in the heck would be stupid enough or genius enough to kidnap Frank Sinatra's kid This is a crime that completely captivated the nation. It also embarrassed the FBI, and it could have ended in tragedy. Here's who Frank Sinatra Junior was in those days and how the whole thing came down. As you can imagine, Frank Junior, Sinatra's only son, grew up in the shadow of his legendary dad. He was born in nineteen forty four, when Frank Sinatra Senior was red hot already a huge star, but that had made his personal life really complex. Just like his father, Frank Junior's world revolved around music, movies, and fame. By his late teens, his singing career was under way, but he was trying to make a name for himself outside of his father's enormous shadow. Frank Junior was performing in nightclubs, working hard, trying to prove he wasn't just a Nepo baby. So in December of nineteen sixty three, he was in Lake Tahoe on the Nevada side, performing at Hara's Club Lodge. Frank Junior was staying at the motel at the lodge along with a friend and his trumpet player named John Foss. The two were relaxing by the fire and eating dinner in the room room on the night of December eighth, when there was a knock at the door. They asked who was there. The guy outside the door said he was delivering a package, so John Foss opened it. As soon as he did, two guys with guns forced their way in. They were Barry Keenan and Joe Ampseller, two twenty one year olds who thought they had set up the perfect crime. Keenan was the mastermind of sorts. He'd grown up in La gone to grade school with Sinatra Senior's daughter Nancy, and had been a pretty good student at UCLA. At twenty one, he was the youngest member of the Los Angeles Stock Exchange ever. But as happens, he made a bunch of bad business decisions. On top of that, he became addicted to painkillers like Perkinden after a car accident. His mounting debts left him desperate and he needed money. Aha, why not kidnap a rich guy's son, and not just any rich guy. Frank Sinatra all powerful. Of course, he'd pay anything to get his kid back, And Barry said, as soon as he got on his feet, he'd pay back any ransom he got. He said he knew Sinatra Senior was tough enough to get through the ordeal and get his son back. But Keenan had a problem due to a psychiatric issue. He heard voices, he later claimed the voices called themselves the Committee. They told him his plan was blessed by God since he was going to pay back the ransom, and that it would somehow bring the Sinatra family closer together. Okay, Back to the motel in Tahoe, Barry Keenan and Joe Amsler tie up John Foss and, after blindfolding Frank Junior, force him out of the room and into the trunk of their car. They speed off into the night, leaving Foss tied up and gagged, but pretty quickly Foss is able to free himself. He immediately sounds the alarm, and law enforcement and the FBI go on high alert. Frank Sinatra Junior has been kidnapped. The FBI gets involved almost immediately, but Sinatra Senior is all about action. He's not waiting for the cops or the FBI to act. He's flipped out now. His pal, mob boss samgian Kanna even offers two air quotes take care of things. Sinatra says, no, thanks, no violence, he just wants his son back. Hours later, the ransom demand comes in. Barry Keenan calls the Sinatra home and demands two hundred and forty thousand dollars that's close to two and a half million in today's money. At first, Frank Senior offers the kidnappers way more than they ask for. He offers a million bucks almost ten million today, but Keenan weirdly doesn't feel he needs that much and he sticks to his original demand. Sinatra Senior immediately tells his lawyer to get the money together and follow the kidnappers instructions. Meantime, the FBI is trailing them. The pair had made stupid mistakes. Keenan u a payphone to make the ransom call, so agents were able to track the location. Now the FBI is closing in for Frank Junior. The ordeal lasts about fifty four hours, with the kidnappers moving him from one hideout to another. He's blindfolded most of the time, but he stays calm. He later said it was obvious the kidnappers were in over their heads. Then suddenly they set him free. On December tenth. They'd drive Frank Junior to bel Air and tell him to walk around until he finds help. Frank Senior had paid the ransom, but ultimately Keenan and Amseller's amateur moves left a trail right back to them. Within days, the FBI arrested them, along with a third conspirator, John Irwin. They confess almost immediately Frank's not for Junior is safe, but there's more to the story. The trial that followed was wild. Keenan and his crew were convicted and sentenced to prison. Keenan, as the ringleader, was set life, but he was later released after serving less than five years because the courts agreed he was legally insane at the time, and there were rumors, some from the press that suggested the whole thing had been staged, that maybe Frank Junior had been in on the kidnapping to publicize his struggling singing career. Never any proof of that, which shows you what it's like to be stuck in your father's massive shadow. Even in court, the kidnappers testified that Frank Junior was not involved in the scheme, but the stories kept making the rounds, which drove Sinatra Senior crazy. In the end, it was pretty clear his son was just an innocent victim. Afterward, Sinatra Junior continued his music career, although he never quite got out of his father's shadow. He was a conductor and musical director for his dad and focused on preserving his father's legacy rather than trying to go it alone. What happened to Barry Keenan Well After his four and a half year prison stin he went on to become a really successful real estate developer. He did TV and podcast interviews about the kidnapping and became good friends with some show biz hotshots. Only in Hollywood, right, It definitely wasn't the perfect crime. It was a messy, amateurish attempt at a ransom scheme orchestrated by young guys who needed money and who underestimated the cops and the power of the Sinatra name, but it did captivate the world. The son of an American icon kidnapped at gunpoint, held for ransom, and sent home unharmed, a Hollywood thriller in real life, Sadly, Frank Sinatra Junior died of cardiac arrest in twenty sixteen at just seventy two years old while on tour in Daytona Beach. His kidnapper, Barry Keenan, committed suicide at the age of eighty two just three years ago. On Instagram, his friend TV star John Stamos said, he's free now. Maybe wherever he is, he sitt being pretty at the big table with a white Russian in one hand and a Cuban cigar in the other. But Barry, if you see Sinatra Senior at that table, run he's still pissed at you. Hope you like the backstory with Patty Steele. I would love it if you'd subscribe or follow for free to get new episodes delivered automatically, and feel free to DM me if you have a story you'd like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty Steele and on Instagram, Real Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele. The Backstory is a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis Duran Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday and Friday. Feel free to reach out to me with comments and even story suggestions on Instagram at Real Patty Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening to the Backstory with Patty Steele. The pieces of history you didn't know you needed to know.