Frank Sinatra Jr. Kidnapping

[Charles]

I came across Jan and Dean through the Deadman's Curve movie around 1980, and have been hooked ever since. Recently I've been spinning a bit of Sinatra, and it got me thinking about the Frank Jr. kidnapping. Has anything new come out about that? There was a lot that I never really understood about the case, such as why Barry Keenan and Dean were sharing a safety deposit box.

[ripplewine]

Hi Charles!  Mark Moore's written a great, detailed article on Sinatra Jr.'s kidnapping--you can read it here on this site.  Just go to the Features bar on the main menu page and you'll find it there.  Welcome to the site, fellow Titanic Twosome fan 

 I was introduced to Jan & Dean by the Deadman's Curve movie, too, around the same time.

[Charles]

Thanks! Great to be here. That kidnapping case is something I've wondered about from time to time. I interviewed him many years back, and asked him what it was like to be teen music sensation. He said something to the effect that it wasn't all that special, as he had people like Nancy Sinatra in class.

That article was interesting. Why would Dean be sharing a safety deposit box with this guy? What's with this paper sack filled with $25,000? That's a chunk of change today....but what would that be in 1963 dollars? I know Jan was a bit of a badass when he was young. Now I wonder about Dean.

[ripplewine]

Lou Adler claimed at the trial that the safety deposit box was for stock investments that Dean and Barry Keenan had been making together.  They'd been friends since their high school days. 

$25,000 was a LOT of money in 1963--back then it would buy either one new Ferrari 275GTB or about five new Corvette Sting Rays with all the options! 

I wouldn't really classify Dean as a badass.  He claimed he gave Keenan that money simply because he was unemployed; he didn't believe the guy would actually kidnap Frank Sinatra, Jr., even after he'd told Dean of his plan.  Apparently, Dean believed this was just another of a series of practical jokes they'd shared together, or just a silly way of asking him for money.  He claimed he thought Keenan was joking when he told him about his scheme.

[Charles]

I'm trying to imagine this situation in 1963, where Dean has a bag with $25,000 and is telling the judge that he thought it was just a joke. Perhaps more innocent times?

The late Dorothy Kilgallen suggested that Dean felt the wrath of the senior Sinatra. Has Dean ever spoken of this?

[Moon Dawg]

 The Wrath of Frank - surely unpleasant. My guess is Dean got off with a warning.

[Charles]

Some people speculated that the kidnapping was just a show, meant to bolster the career of Frank Jr. Normally I scoff at such things, but from my perspective this case is very fishy. If mean old Frank was really pissed, I'd think that all those involved with the kidnapping would have felt his revenge....yet no one did. I'd say all got off pretty easy. If Frank Jr. was my son, I could imagine being more than a little pissed with Dean.

[2dean2]

There is an old thread on here that discusses .  Frank Sr's  possible involvement in the sabotage of Jan's Corvette .  He and Dean were living together at the time and both were driving Sting Ray 's . An  LAPD  officer at  a cremony putting Jan's name on the writing LOL from Pas . Made the comment it was too bad  Frank got the wrong one.

[Mark A. Moore]

The government really went after the defense attorneys. They were indicted repeatedly for defending the kidnappers on the hoax theory. They didn't let up on Gladys Towles Root until 1968, more than four years after the original trial.