Cold Open

It’s 9 PM, on December 8th, 1963, at Harrah’s Lodge hotel in Stateline, Nevada.

23-year-old Barry Keenan creeps up the exterior stairs to the second-floor balcony. His friend, Joe Amsler, follows a step behind.

When they reach the top of the stairs, a car suddenly starts up in the parking lot below them. Barry and Joe press themselves flat against the wall. They wait in the shadows until they see the taillights disappear out of the lot. Then, they continue along the balcony toward room 417.

Joe hands Barry a box wrapped in brown paper. But they’re not delivery men. The parcel is just a ruse—because they’re here to kidnap the son of world-famous singer Frank Sinatra.

Barry knocks on the door, and a voice from inside asks who it is. Barry holds the parcel up and says he has a special delivery for Frank Sinatra Jr.—a box of wine.

The lock turns, and the door opens a crack. That’s all Barry needs.

He shoves the door open, and Frank Jr. lurches back as Barry and Joe muscle their way into the room. Barry throws the fake package aside and whips a revolver out of his pocket. But then, his stomach drops. Because Frank Jr. isn’t alone. By the window is another man, his face frozen in fear. This wasn’t part of the plan. But Barry and Joe have come too far to give up now.

Thinking fast, Joe takes out a roll of tape. He pushes the second man down onto a chair and winds the tape around his wrists. Frank Jr. turns to Barry. And his voice cracking, he asks if he should sit down too. But Barry answers no because he’s coming with them.

Moments later, Frank Sinatra Jr. is hustled out the door, down the steps, and into a waiting car. Within hours, Barry Keenan and his accomplices will issue their ransom demand. The kidnapping of Frank Sinatra’s son will dominate headlines around the world, but the scheme will quickly unravel, and Frank Jr. will be free again just three days later, on December 11th, 1963.

Introduction

From Noiser and Airship, I’m Lindsay Graham, and this is History Daily.

History is made every day. On this podcast—every day—we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world.

Today is December 11th, 1963: Frank Sinatra Jr. Is Released by His Kidnappers. 

Act One: A Simple Plan

It’s early afternoon on November 22nd, 1963, in a cheap hotel in Los Angeles, California, two weeks before Frank Sinatra Jr. is abducted.

Barry Keenan turns over in bed, his head pounding. He squints up at the windows. He didn’t close the drapes properly, and now a shaft of agonizingly bright sunlight cuts right across his pillow. It hurts his eyes. So groaning, he rolls over.

Last night, he and two friends visited the famous Cocoanut Grove nightclub. It wasn’t meant to be a celebration, though. He was there to watch Frank Sinatra Jr. perform. Frank Jr. hopes to follow in the footsteps of his famous father, the singer and movie star, Frank Sinatra Sr., and for weeks now, Barry has followed Frank Jr. around LA, tracking his every movement until he was sure he was ready to put his plan into effect. But having decided that the kidnapping would go ahead the next day, Barry and his friends had a few drinks to toast their assured success. But now he’s paying the price with a brutal hangover.

Barry staggers to the sink, fills a glass of water, and downs it in three long gulps. He then fills it again and walks to the desk. He lifts the telephone and calls the switchboard. But when the operator answers, her voice is just as shaky as his. Struggling to hold back tears, she stammers out the devastating news—President John F. Kennedy has just been shot and killed in Dallas.

Barry’s hangover suddenly feels even worse. He lowers the receiver, switches on the television, and sits on the edge of the bed to watch the coverage. Anchors speak in stunned, but flat voices. But for Barry, the death of the president is more than just a shock. It’s a major wrench in his plans. With the nation suddenly plunged into mourning, bars and clubs are bound to close. Frank Jr.’s performance tonight will be cancelled. And Barry’s going to have to postpone the kidnapping.

After freshening up, Barry summons his two accomplices from their rooms. Barry is certain this only needs to be a temporary hitch. The plan is still solid. But the delay and the assassination seem to spooked his co-conspirators, and they no longer want any part in the scheme. Barry pleads and cajoles, trying to convince them that the plan is workable, but they’re adamant—they’re out.

For his part, though, Barry refuses to give up on the scheme—he can’t afford to. He once had a different life. A few years ago, he was a successful financier. And as the youngest member of the Los Angeles Stock Exchange, he was on track to become a millionaire. But following a car accident that left him unable to work, he lost it all and became addicted to painkillers and alcohol.

As his debts increased, Barry was increasingly desperate to reclaim his wealth. He also began to hear a voice, and he believed it was God telling him to turn to crime to help his family. He initially tried to ignore the voice, but soon, he was pondering various illegal ways to make money. Finally, he hit upon the idea of kidnapping and ransoming the child of somebody famous.

It didn’t take Barry long to settle on his target: Frank Sinatra Jr. is the son of one of the world’s wealthiest entertainers. So, Barry called up two friends and let them in on the plan. He believed it was foolproof. But then President Kennedy was shot.

In the days that follow the assassination, the voice in Barry’s head tells him to see the plan through, though. So, he keeps following Frank Jr. as he goes about his daily life in Los Angeles. And Barry believes his chance finally comes when Frank Jr. announces that his upcoming performance at a casino in Stateline, Nevada will go ahead.

Still, Barry knows his plan can’t be carried out by just one man. He convinces one of his ex-accomplice to meet him in Stateline by claiming they can look for construction work there. When Joe Amsler arrives in the lakeside town 350 miles north of LA, he realizes that Barry has duped him—but now that he’s come so far, Joe is persuaded to rejoin the plot.

Barry lays out the new plan. They will snatch Frank Jr. from his motel room and drive him back to Los Angeles at gunpoint. There, they’ll stash him at the house of the other man from the original kidnapping plot, John Irwin. John may not want to be part of it, but Barry figures that when they show up with Frank Sinatra Jr., he’ll change his mind. Then, all they need to do is wait for their ransom demand to be answered, and they'll all be rich.

Sixteen days after the assassination of President Kennedy, Barry and Joe will set the plot in motion. And one of the most famous singers in the world is about to get the worst news he’s ever heard.

Act Two: My Way

It’s December 9th, 1963, at Mapes Hotel in Reno, Nevada, the day after the abduction of Frank Sinatra Jr.

In a hotel an hour’s drive from where his son went missing, 47-year-old Frank Sinatra Sr. stares at a telephone. Beside him are his publicist and five FBI agents. They’re all waiting for the kidnappers to make contact.

Earlier this morning, Sinatra was in Palm Springs, California, when he received a frantic call from his ex-wife Nancy, telling him that their son had been kidnapped. She told him all she knew, that two men had tricked their way into Frank’s hotel room in Stateline, Nevada, tied up his trumpet player, and then taken Frank away. After the trumpet player freed himself, he raised the alarm. The police immediately put roadblocks on the highways all around Stateline, but there are no sign of the kidnappers. And Frank Jr.’s whereabouts are now a mystery.

After hearing the news, Sinatra immediately booked a flight to Nevada, wanting to be as close to the scene as he could. But bad weather hampered his travel, and he could only make it as far as Reno. Now, he’s hunkered down in a hotel there with the FBI, waiting for the kidnappers to call.

When the phone finally does rings, Sinatra snatches the receiver off the hook. But the voice on the other end of the line isn’t the kidnappers. It’s J. Edgar Hoover, the director of the FBI. Hoover tells Sinatra that he’s pulling out all the stops to find Frank Jr., but he needs Sinatra’s support. Hoover tells the singer that he can’t talk to the press. He just needs to wait for the kidnappers to call, pay any ransom they demand, and then let the FBI try to trace the money after his son’s release.

Sinatra reluctantly agrees. He has little love for the FBI. Not long ago, Hoover put Sinatra under surveillance in an attempt to prove his ties to the mafia. But despite their clashes in the past, Sinatra knows the FBI is his best hope for bringing home Frank Jr. safely. So, through gritted teeth, Sinatra thanks Hoover for his help and ends the call. Then, he returns to his vigil by the phone.

The ransom call finally comes at 4:45 PM. The man on the phone asks Sinatra if he can be available to talk at 9 AM, the following day. Sinatra surprised at the kidnapper’s polite tone—he doesn’t sound much like a criminal. But Sinatra answers without hesitation that of course he’ll be free.

Then after a sleepless night, Sinatra takes another call the next morning. This time, the kidnapper hands the phone to Frank Jr. to prove that he’s alive and unhurt. And when the kidnapper comes back on the line, the conversation finally turns to money. Sinatra insists that he’ll pay—he just wants the criminals to name a price. But the voice on the other end suddenly gets angsty. He hangs up, leaving Sinatra petrified that he’s done something wrong and endangered his boy’s life.

Thankfully, the kidnapper calls back within the hour, telling Sinatra that he must pay $240,000 for his son’s safe return—a far lower figure than Sinatra was expecting. Then, the kidnapper declares that he’ll give Sinatra the instructions for a drop at a payphone in Los Angeles.

Sinatra rushes back to LA and hurries to the payphone identified by the kidnapper. But when he gets there, the kidnapper sends him to another payphone. Over the course of the day, Frank is sent from phone to phone, having no idea why he has to travel all over the city like this, but he does as he’s told.

Finally, the call comes with instructions of where to drop the ransom money. Kidnapper says the cash must be left in one suitcase, wedged between two parked buses near a gas station. And there’s one extra demand—Sinatra must not be anywhere near the drop off. Someone else must do it.

After running around the city all day, Sinatra isn’t happy that he won’t be the one to make the final hand off. But he continues to follow FBI advice and cooperates with the kidnappers as best he can. So, the suitcase of money will be prepared. Sinatra will ask an associate to drop it off. And then Sinatra will wait and pray that his son makes it home alive.

Act Three: Safe House. Dangerous Talk.

It’s the morning of December 11th, 1963, in Los Angeles, California, an hour after the ransom drop.

Barry Keenan walks up the driveway of the suburban house where Frank Sinatra Jr. has been held for the last three days. He has a suitcase tucked awkwardly under his arm. $240,000 is heavier than he expected, and he’ll be glad when he can finally set it down. But when he reaches the door, he stops in his tracks—it’s unlocked.

Hours earlier, Barry left Frank Jr. with his accomplice, John Irwin, while he went to the ransom drop. He saw no sign of a stakeout. And confident the coast was clear, he grabbed the suitcase from between the two parked buses and rushed back to release Frank Jr. But now, he can’t understand why the front door has been left unlocked.

Gingerly, Barry steps inside. He calls John’s name. But there’s no answer. He even shouts for Frank Jr. But the house is empty. Panicking, Barry grabs the suitcase and runs.

Soon, he hears on the radio that Frank Jr. is back at home. The reports state that his kidnapper released him on a street in Bel Air in the early hours of the morning. Frank Jr. was then picked up by a local security guard and taken home.

Hearing this, Barry is relieved. Despite the chaotic way that Frank Jr. was released, he tells himself that his plan has succeeded. And the money is now his.

But not for long. Within days, the reluctant kidnapper John Irwin cracks. He confesses his involvement to his brother, who immediately turns him in to the authorities. Under questioning by FBI agents, John then gives up the identities of his co-conspirators. Barry and Joe Amsler are quickly arrested, and the suitcase full of cash is recovered and returned to Frank Sinatra Sr.

Two months later, all three kidnappers go on trial. Barry claims that the kidnapping was Frank Jr.’s idea—nothing more than a crude attempt to raise his profile and boost his fledgling show business career. But the jury doesn’t buy it, and Barry and his accomplices are each found guilty.

Despite the high-profile crime, though, Barry will serve less than five years in prison. And after his release, he will build a lucrative career in real estate and finally make the millions he always believed were his destiny.

But the real target of Barry’s abduction plot will never be able to forget what happened to his son. For the rest of his life, Frank Sinatra will carry a roll of coins with him everywhere he goes—ready in case a loved one is ever taken again, and he has to reach the kidnappers by payphone, just as he did before the release of his son on December 11th, 1963.

Outro

Next on History Daily. December 13th, 1939. Less than two weeks after a Soviet invasion, Finland wins its first major victory in the Winter War.

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily, hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Audio editing by Muhammad Shahzaib.

Sound design by Mollie Baack.

Music by Thrumm.

This episode is written and researched by Owen Paul Nicholls.

Edited by Scott Reeves.

Managing producer Emily Burke.

Executive Producers are William Simpson for Airship, and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.