The Frank Sinatra Jr. Kidnapping

Easy As A-B-C

Keenan, Amslet and Irwin

Keenan couldn't execute his scheme alone, so he brought in two accomplices—Joe Amsler, his school buddy who was working as an underemployed abalone diver, and John Irwin, 42, a house painter.

Irwin had once dated Keenan's mother.

In one of the more curious footnotes to the caper, Keenan would later reveal that he hired Irwin because he had a gruff voice. He was designated as the gang member who would phone Sinatra Sr. to demand a ransom. Knowing Sinatra's pugnacious reputation, Keenan felt he needed someone who could exchange tough talk, like a Hoboken hoodlum.

He offered to pay Amsler and Irwin $100 a week for their services—far more than they were earning legitimately.

Using the name Frank Long and a phony English accent, Keenan rented a house in Canoga Park where Sinatra Jr. could be held after the abduction.

Plan A was to grab Junior in October 1963 during an appearance of the Dorsey Orchestra at the Arizona State Fair in Phoenix. When that fell through, Keenan chose a new date for the kidnapping: Nov. 22, 1963, while the band was appearing at the Ambassador, the landmark Wilshire Boulevard hotel in L.A.

Plan B was aborted with the news of President Kennedy's assassination that afternoon. The kidnap gang was too depressed to muster a felony.

This led to Plan C, the kidnapping in Lake Tahoe, which occurred in a near-blizzard.