Frank Sinatra Jr, dies, was just 19 when kidnapped from Harrah's Tahoe in 1963

Frank Sinatra Jr., the son of the legendary entertainer who also had a long musical career of his own, died Wednesday at a Daytona Beach, Florida hospital. He was 72.

Sinatra had been on his "Sinatra Sings Sinatra" tour and was scheduled to perform at the Peabody Auditorium on Wednesday. The venue posted an announcement in social media that the singer had taken ill.

His sister Nancy Sinatra made the following announcement: The Sinatra family mourn the untimely passing of their son, brother, father, uncle, Frank Sinatra, Jr. of cardiac arrest while on tour in Daytona, Florida. January 10, 1944 - March 16, 2016. Sleep warm, Frankie...

When just 19 years old, the younger Sinatra made headlines around the world for something that happened on the South Shore of Lake Tahoe.

Here is a glimpse of that story from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's website:

Just days after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, a group of amateur criminals hoping to strike it rich engineered one of the most infamous kidnappings in American history, and it happened on the South Shore of Lake Tahoe.

For several weeks, two 23-year-old former high school classmates from Los Angeles, Barry Keenan and Joe Amsler, had been following a 19-year-old singer from city to city, waiting to make their move. Their target: none other than Frank Sinatra, Jr., son of one of the most famous singers in the world, “Old Blue Eyes” himself. Their plan was bold but simple…snatch the young Sinatra and demand a hefty ransom from his wealthy father.

The pair decided to strike on the evening of December 8, 1963. Sinatra, Jr., just beginning his career in music, was performing at Harrah’s Club Lodge in Lake Tahoe. Around 9 p.m. he was resting in his dressing room with a friend when Keenan knocked on the door, pretending to be delivering a package. Keenan and Amsler entered, tied up Sinatra’s friend with tape, and blindfolded their victim. They took him out a side door to their waiting car.

The singer’s friend quickly freed himself and notified authorities. Roadblocks were set up, and the kidnappers were actually stopped by police...but they bluffed their way through and drove on to their hideout in a suburb of Los Angeles.

By 9:40, the FBI office in Reno was brought in on the case. Agents met with young Sinatra’s father in Reno and his mother in Bel Air, California. The motive was presumed to be money. The FBI recommended that Sinatra wait for a ransom demand, pay it, and then allow the Bureau to track the money and find the kidnappers.

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