The Backstory: Stealing Frank Sinatra Jr.

It’s hard to imagine how a couple of 21-year-old kids could think up a scheme to snatch the son of one of the most famous entertainers in the world, much less carry it out. This is the crazy story of the kidnapping of Frank Sinatra Jr.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
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.

(00:28):
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

(00:50):
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.

(01:15):
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

(01:38):
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

(01:59):
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.

(02:21):
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,

(02:43):
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

(03:06):
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

(03:26):
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.

(03:50):
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

(04:12):
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

(04:33):
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,

(04:56):
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

(05:19):
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

(05:41):
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

(06:05):
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

(06:28):
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

(06:49):
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

(07:09):
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

(07:30):
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.

(07:52):
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,

(08:14):
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.

(08:36):
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

(08:57):
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

(09:21):
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

(09:44):
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,

(10:06):
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
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feel free to DM me if you have a story
you'd like me to cover. On Facebook, It's Patty Steele

(10:27):
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

(10:47):
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.