54 Hours With a Price on His Head : Barry Keenan, Joe Amsler & Johnny Irwin

Added: 2026-05-28

[00:00:08]On December 8th, 1963, 19-year-old Frank  Sinatra Jr. was following in his father’s footsteps and preparing to sing on stage  at a casino. The children of legendary singer Frank Sinatra would all end up in show  business and that wasn’t surprising. Being the namesake of a legend meant Frank Jr. would  spend most of his time in clubs and studios, surrounded by other industry greats. It also  meant that desperate criminals would see him as a possible payday. Before he even had a  chance to perform that day, Frank Jr. was taken from his hotel room and held for 54 hours  while his captors demanded money for his release.

[00:00:48]This is Monsters 1963 was another successful year for the  Sinatra family. Not only had the patriarch Frank released two hit albums in the form of  “The Concert Sinatra” and “Sinatra's Sinatra”, but two of his children, Nancy and Frank Jr., were  also gearing up to start their own music careers.

[00:01:35]One person who was not having so much  luck was a former classmate of Nancy’s named Barry Keenan. Despite having  found success as the youngest member of the Los Angeles Stock Exchange when  he was still just twenty one years old, a subsequent car accident had left him  penniless and addicted to painkillers.

[00:01:53]In desperate need of money to  fund his ever-worsening habit, Barry came up with the initial kernel of a plan  that would hopefully see him get back on his feet.

[00:02:02]The only problem was, the plan involved kidnapping someone and then using the situation to  blackmail their family for ransom money.

[00:02:10]Sure, it may have seemed like an extreme option  to any reasonably minded person when there were plenty of other ways out there to make some cash,  especially for a man who was as skilled as Barry was in the business world. But addiction can  do strange things to the mind, and anyway it wasn’t like he planned to outright steal the  ransom. No, as far as he told himself at least, he was going to invest it and then pay the  initial sum back in full at a later date.

[00:02:36]In that sense then, there really was no stealing  involved. All he was really taking on was a loan of sorts. The only question remaining was  who he would target, a thought process that initially led the struggling young man to  consider going after Bob Hope’s son Tony.

[00:02:52]After realizing Bob was out of the country  entertaining American troops taking part in the Vietnam War, he decided against that path as  he felt it wouldn’t be very American. Instead, what he needed was someone closer to  home, someone who, in his own words, had parents that were tough and could handle  a few hours of worrying about their kids.

[00:03:13]That’s when he came upon the idea of  targeting the Sinatra family. Of course, it wouldn’t be his old classmate Nancy he’d  go after though. No, that would be far too obvious. Instead Barry convinced another high  school friend named Joe Amsler, as well as his mother’s former boyfriend John Irwin, to help him  work out the kinks in his plan to kidnap Frank Jr.

[00:03:36]Unfortunately however, as the trio would soon  learn, none of them were exactly master criminals.

[00:03:42]In fact, they were a lot closer to the  bumbling kidnappers from Fargo than they were the Symbionese Liberation Army who had  once successfully indoctrinated Patty Hearst.

[00:03:52]That would become increasingly apparent during  their early attempts to enact their plan, a plan that amounted to following Frank Jr. around as he  was touring Arizona performing shows, then once he was offstage and relaxing in his dressing room,  bursting in and carrying him away at gunpoint.

[00:04:09]Needless to say, this proved to  be easier said than done because, during the first show where  they saw the singer in Phoenix, Barry, the ringleader behind the whole  thing, got cold feet once he realized his fingerprints were on the phone he’d  been practicing making ransom calls from.

[00:04:26]Yes, while holed up in a nearby guest house, the former day trader had decided to test out his  abilities in sounding threatening over the phone.

[00:04:35]The only problem was, once he  realized he wasn’t wearing gloves, he’d called the phone company to come in and  set up a replacement line. When they did that, he let them take the original handset away with  them before he had a chance to wipe it down, leaving his prints readily available for anyone  to find should they investigate hard enough.

[00:04:55]So, spooked, Barry called the whole  thing off and instead brought someone else into the fold to help the trio out.  That ended up being his girlfriend Pam, a young woman from a rich family who could  help to fund further trips for them. That eventually led to a second attempt taking  place on November 22nd 1963, a date that might sound familiar because it was the same  day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

[00:05:19]That’s right, with the leader of the nation  being shot dead in Dallas that afternoon, the country was on higher alert than  ever before and so the team of hapless criminals had no choice but to  pull the plug on the operation once again. That wouldn’t deter them  from trying a third time though. No, a few weeks later, after Frank Jr. had briefly  returned home to his apartment in Los Angeles, the trio, minus Pam, all decided to break into  his laundry room and lay there in wait for him.

[00:05:48]Sadly for them though, as they  were about to do just that, a neighbor spotted them in the act. When that  neighbor asked what they were doing and the only flimsy excuse they could come up with on the  spot was to say they were making a delivery, she threatened to call the cops  should they not leave immediately.

[00:06:03]So, they fled the scene and set about making  plans for a fourth attempt on December 8th, the very day Frank Jr. would return to touring  at Harrah’s Club Lodge in Lake Tahoe, Nevada.

[00:06:14]That time, they weren’t going to let anything  as trivial as a set of rouge fingerprints, an eye witness, or a national tragedy stop  them. They all instinctively realized this was their last chance, so they made sure  they had everything in place ahead of time.

[00:06:30]Sure, it was only Barry and Joe there in person  now, and they managed to make things harder for themselves right off the bat by blowing the  $1,800 Pam had given them ahead of time while waiting around on the casino floor, but  that didn’t matter because soon they’d have a wealth of money coming in from the Sinatra  family. All they had to do was find Frank Jr.’s room, something they did by running around the  hotel area of the casino until they found the correct room number then knocking on the door at  around 9pm, claiming they had a package for him.

[00:07:00]Of course, even that didn’t go as planned though  because, once Ol’ Blue Eyes’ son answered and the kidnappers barged inside, they found John Foss,  the trumpet player of the band, also there.

[00:07:12]Obviously, that presented a problem as he was an  eyewitness to what the kidnappers had planned.

[00:07:17]That was why, in the hopes of  scaring him into staying quiet, Barry attempted to pull a gun out  of his pocket, but when he did, the hammer got stuck, causing him to fumble  and briefly lose control of the situation.

[00:07:30]Desperate to recover, he shouted, “Okay. This  is a robbery. Where’s your wallet?” Then he instructed Joe to tie up John Foss and blindfold  him. Sure, the blindfolding meant little by then as the trumpet player had seen both of their  faces, but Barry and Joe were likely panicking, so everything they were doing was out  of instinct and not careful thought.

[00:07:50]It was that very panicked attitude that  also led the ringleader to mistakenly call Joe by his real name as he was wrapping  masking tape around the mouth of Frank Jr. He then dragged him outside where he  threw him into the trunk of a getaway car.

[00:08:05]Yes, the kidnapping may have been messy, but the  group of criminals had what they came for. Well, that was until they were driving away and Barry  realized he’d left his gun in the dressing room, something that forced them to  turn around and go back in for it.

[00:08:19]Once they had retrieved the gun though,  things were finally good. After all, they had Frank Sinatra Jr. in their  captivity and, after loading him up with sleeping pills and booze, they would  finally be able to drive him the twelve hour journey towards their safe house in  Los Angeles without any further incident.

[00:08:38]At least that was what they thought.  Unfortunately for the worst criminals in existence though, their technique  at tying up John Foss had not been so great. Because of that it hadn’t taken him  long to free himself and call the police.

[00:08:52]So, with the cops now on the lookout  for the two men who were very clearly identified by the trumpet player,  the heat was on. That led to a number of roadblocks being set  up across the state of Nevada.

[00:09:04]In a rare moment of luck however, Barry and Joe  were able to avoid capture when Barry was somehow able to bluff his way out of the situation when  they were stopped at one of those roadblocks.

[00:09:15]Apparently they weren’t entirely inept as  a group of kidnappers and that was how, after a four hundred mile trip, they arrived  safely in LA on December 10th where Barry immediately got in contact with John Irwin  and told him to report to their hideout.

[00:09:32]As Barry and Joe were waiting for John to  arrive, further panic began to dawn upon Barry when he realized he’d forgotten to check out  of their casino hotel room before they had left, and as a result of that they still had  a $1,089 bill waiting to be paid under their names. That wasn’t even the worst of it  though because, inside that same hotel room, they’d also left behind wigs and  fake mustaches they’d originally planned to wear during the abduction but had  forgotten to do so in the heat of the moment.

[00:10:04]Really, to leave such evidence  behind would be tantamount to handing themselves over to the police.  So, in order to remedy the situation, Barry and his girlfriend Pam drove back to Lake  Tahoe where, upon arrival at the casino hotel, they found FBI agents already  there investigating the scene.

[00:10:23]Of course, none of those agents suspected  the pair had anything to do with what had just taken place. After all, who would be  stupid enough to return to the scene of the crime so quickly? And that was what allowed them  to go back to their room, collect the disguises they’d left behind then pay their bill, all  before setting off for Los Angeles once more.

[00:10:43]But things weren’t going particularly well  back there either because, at least initially, Frank Sinatra Jr. had refused to give over his  father’s phone number when asked for it by John Irwin. Rather than contact him directly then, John  called the Maples Hotel in Reno where they knew Ol’ Blue Eyes was now located and told them to  let the singer know they wanted to speak to him.

[00:11:05]It wasn’t exactly the smoothest way to begin  negotiations and it led to another big blunder for the gang as, once they were offered one million  dollars in exchange for handing the boy over safe and sound, John replied, “Well, we don’t need  a million dollars. We’re asking for $240,000.”

[00:11:23]Yep, for some reason, the gang were demanding  only a quarter of what was initially being offered. Needless to say, Sinatra quickly  agreed to their demands and the next morning he traveled to a Chevron Station in Carson  City as per the kidnapper’s instructions.

[00:11:39]Once there, he received another call, this  time from Barry as he and Pam had by that point returned to the safe house in LA. It was  during that call that Barry informed Frank Sr.

[00:11:50]to place the cash inside a suitcase and have it  dropped off the following day at a spot located between two school buses parked at a Texaco  station on Sepulveda Boulevard in Los Angeles.

[00:12:03]Why there? Well, it was close enough to where  the trio were hiding out that they felt they could get to the location, get the money,  and then get away quickly without being seen.

[00:12:13]What they hadn’t counted on though was  that the FBI would be there waiting for them at the pick up point. So, when Barry  and Joe arrived to collect the briefcase, three cars immediately rolled up filled with  uniformed officers all waiting to question them.

[00:12:28]Even then, that wasn’t the end to their  plan because, correctly guessing that the FBI wouldn’t make an actual move until they  knew Frank Jr. was safe, Barry simply picked up the briefcase, tossed it in his car, then  instructed his co-conspirator to drive off.

[00:12:44]Yes, as long as they still had their ace in the  hole, the trio were in the clear. It’s just a shame that, as Barry and Joe were collecting  the ransom money, back at the safe house John was getting cold feet over the whole situation,  enough to where he decided to drive his captive to Mulholland Drive then let him go in the hopes that  would free him from any culpability in the crime.

[00:13:06]In the end, all that did was ensure he’d be  caught sooner rather than later. That was because, after wandering around the area for several  miles, Frank Jr. flagged down a car driven by a private security guard who was able to  take him to his mother’s house in Bel Air.

[00:13:22]Once there, he was able to relay the  entire situation to the authorities, including what they looked like, what  at least one of their names were, and the general area of the safe  house he’d been kept in. Obviously, it didn’t take long for the FBI to track down  the exact location of the safe house and, when they did, they found Barry and Joe there with  the entirety of the ransom money on their persons.

[00:13:46]As for John Irwin though, well he’d  already been caught by that point because, once he cracked under the pressure and confessed  to his brother about his involvement in the crime, that same brother called the  authorities and turned him in.

[00:13:59]With all three men now in custody, it was a case  of putting them on trial as quickly as possible.

[00:14:05]That said, the trial that followed  would prove to be just as bizarre as the kidnapping itself. When trying  to explain his actions to the court, Barry Keenan argued that he’d only done  what he did because he wanted to bring the Sinatra’s closer together, all while  protecting himself from financial ruin.

[00:14:23]As he saw it, such a scare would no doubt cause  the family to appreciate each other more. And that wasn’t the only “out there” statement that  he gave during the four week trial either.

[00:14:34]At one point Barry claimed Dean Torrence,  one half of popular music duo at the time Jan and Dean, had actually given him $500  in order to help him out with his plan as he’d considered it an investment which would  pay dividends once the ransom was received.

[00:14:51]Then as if that wasn’t enough, there was also  the rumor Barry started that suggested Frank Jr. had come up with the whole abduction plan  himself in the first place as a publicity stunt.

[00:15:02]What evidence did he have that such a claim was  true? Well, as Frank Jr. would later admit when called to the stand, he’d at one point told his  captors, “I hope you guys get away with this.”

[00:15:13]Sure, it wasn’t exactly a smoking gun and  Barry would later recant that part of his story entirely. Still it didn’t stop such stories  from following the Sinatra son around for the rest of his life. It also didn’t do anything to  keep the trio from being convicted either as, after a month passed, the judge decided to hand  down life sentences plus seventy five years to both Barry and Joe, as well as a single  seventy five year sentence to John.

[00:15:40]Not that any of them would remain  behind bars for that long though. No, following a series of successful appeals,  each person's stay behind bars would be reduced to twenty five years after a  psychiatric evaluation deemed Barry Keenan in particular to be both legally and  mentally insane at the time of the crime.

[00:16:00]How was that determined? Well, during  his evaluation it came to light that the ringleader regularly heard voices  which he believed to be coming from God.

[00:16:09]Voices that told him that kidnapping the  child of a famous person was the only way to make the kind of money he needed in order  to succeed as part of the American dream.

[00:16:19]That had been an issue Barry had been dealing  with for quite some time, and it was one that he claimed ran in his family. In fact, according  to some it was thought it might even be part of the reason he so easily fell into addiction  and financial ruin following his accident.

[00:16:34]Obviously, with such an underlying  psychiatric issue, it meant he could not be held responsible for his actions  in the same way a regular mentally sane person could. And given the fact no one  was actually hurt during the kidnapping, it made it easier for a judge to later reduce  the sentences of all three men as a result.

[00:16:53]But even that new twenty five year period  wouldn’t mark the length of their stays behind bars because, after only three and a half years,  both Joe Amsler and John Irvin would be released on account of good behavior. Only a year after  that, the same would happen to Barry Keenan too.

[00:17:11]What would they do with their new found  freedom? Well, as far as John was concerned, he’d live a mostly quiet life under the radar,  probably on account of him not wanting to draw any more attention at that point. When it came  to Joe, things would mostly play out the same as he worked as a farm hand and Hollywood stunt  double all the way up until his death in 2006.

[00:17:32]As for Barry though, he had no intentions  of disappearing into the night so easily.

[00:17:37]Now back on his feet somewhat, he was able  to use his prior skills in business to turn himself into a true titan of industry,  a real estate developer who, come the 1980’s was worth over $17 million dollars. But that wasn’t all because on top of that, he also made a further $1.5 million from  Columbia Pictures in 1999 after selling the rights to his story, although production  of that movie would initially be delayed after Frank Sinatra Jr. tried to file a  lawsuit arguing California law forbade felons from profiting financially  from the stories of their crimes.

[00:18:14]In the end though, the lawsuit would be thrown  out on appeal and the film Stealing Sinatra was released in 2003 with a cast that included  David Arquette and William H. Macy. That said, it wasn’t all good luck and prosperousness  for Barry following his release from prison.

[00:18:32]No, his addiction issues would continue to  haunt him throughout the subsequent decades, with that leading him to eventually  joining a twelve step program and using his positive experience there to help  others by building new treatment centers, psychiatric hospitals, and shelters  throughout the Los Angeles area.

[00:18:50]Really then, perhaps the lesson he should  have learned from everything is that he was a far more skilled businessman than he was  a kidnapper, and maybe he should have been focusing on that as a way to get ahead right  from the start. But the past can’t be changed, and while it’s the events of 1963 that will go on  to define the three criminals involved, it should always be remembered that for all their flaws they  were far more than one incident. Each of them was and is a complex individual just struggling to  get by in life, and for that reason alone, even if they did make their fair share of mistakes,  they deserve some empathy from us all, and maybe some lessons in how to not get immediately  caught when trying to commit a major crime.