No one is ever kidnapped for a good reason, but some kidnappers around the world just do it to make a quick buck. Kidnapping for ransom has a history that goes back centuries. The first kidnapping for ransom in American history dates back to 1874 . Sometimes it works and everyone stays safe, and other times the results are far more tragic. But every now and then, it's just weird. Really weird. Check out these 10 Strange Kidnappings for Ransom Cases.
10. J. Paul Getty did not pay the ransom for his grandson
If you spend much time on the Internet, you have undoubtedly come across Getty Images, which is arguably the largest repository of stock photos on the Internet. Along with that, the Getty family is behind the J. Paul Getty Museum and Getty Oil. The head of the family, J. Paul Getty, was once the richest man in the world, and people knew it.
In 1973 in Rome was kidnapped Getty's grandson, John Paul Getty III The younger Getty was held for five months while they tried to get a $17 million ransom from the family. What they may not have known at the time they kidnapped the young man was that the elder Getty was notoriously stingy and paid for as little as possible. He hadn't gotten rich by spending money; it seemed. So when the ransom demand came, he simply refused to pay.
Rumor has it that Getty initially thought the kidnapping was a hoax, so not paying made sense. But when it became clear that it was the real deal, he didn't change his tune. Getty said, "I have 14 other grandchildren, and if I pay one penny now, I'll have 14 kidnapped grandchildren." Harsh, but probably not so wrong.
As time went on, negotiations went nowhere and the kidnappers became frustrated. They eventually cut off the teenager's ear and mailed it to a local newspaper to prove how serious they were. The ransom was lowered to $3 million and Getty still wouldn't pay. Instead, he was willing to shell out $2 million, as that was the most he could use as ransom. tax write-offs .
The senior Getty was prepared to lend the remaining million to his son, the boy's father, at 4% per annum. The money was paid, and the boy was released.
9. Bobby Brown was kidnapped by a gang over a drug debt.
Celebrities seem to live their lives entirely in the public eye, so it's quite surprising to learn something secret about them many years after the fact. Such is the case with the story of how Bobby Brown, singer and husband of Whitney Houston, was once kidnapped, paid a ransom, and was released before anyone knew it.
Brown was kidnapped back in 1993 At this point, he had already had a music career for several years, but he was married only to Houston, who had briefly become a huge star. In 1993, she had just released the film The Bodyguard and was arguably one of the biggest celebrities in America.
Brown, who had a history of drug problems, apparently owed dealers $25,000. He was kidnapped by a gang known as the Preacher Crew because of the debt, and they decided to pay it off by demanding $400,000 Houston complied with the kidnappers' demands and did not report the matter to law enforcement. Instead, she collected the money and handed it over to the kidnappers herself, who stood firm and returned her husband.
8. Two men tried to ransom Charlie Chaplin's body for $600,000.
The only difference between a kidnapping and a theft is that one targets a living being and the other does not. You could hold the Mona Lisa to ransom, but people wouldn't say you stole the painting, they'd say you stole it. And somewhere in between is what happened when criminals tried to get ransom of $600,000 for Charlie Chaplin.
Three months after Charlie Chaplin's death in 1977, someone dug up the man's grave and made off with his remains. That's weird and bizarre enough on its own, but then, to add icing to the weird ice cream, the grave robbers called Chaplin's widow in an attempt to ransom the corpse.
In most kidnappings, the leverage is that you have a living person that the ransom payers want back. You threaten their lives to convince people to pay money. So, in this kidnapping, the key point was immediately missed. No doubt Chaplin's widow would have wanted his remains, but $600,000 is a lot of money. And the kidnappers' threats were aimed at Chaplin's children, who were still alive but also clearly not kidnapped, leaving them somewhat toothless.
Oona Chaplin, Charlie's widow, apparently, although all this it was stupid She had no interest in paying, and the local police were up to the task. They tapped her phone and had someone watch each of the 200 local phone booths for calls from the kidnappers. Two men were arrested, and Chaplin's remains were found.
7. Yakuza kidnapped animal manager
Back in the 1960s, the Animals enjoyed serious fame thanks to songs like " House of the Rising Sun " Sure, they didn't become as popular as the Beatles, but who did? The band also had some incredible career highs and lows, though perhaps few were as notable as the time their manager was kidnapped by members of the Japanese Yakuza and then released before the band fled the country.
It turns out that when the band booked a tour of Japan in the 1960s, an event that would eventually lead to the band's breakup, no one at the time realized that they were booked by promoters working in an organized crime .
The manager wrote the criminals a promissory note $25,000 and a note that it was written under duress, hoping they couldn't read English to find out what he had done. He released them, and the manager took the band and fled the country so quickly that they left their instruments behind.
6. Three men kidnapped a busload of children to get $5 million
Chowchilla, California, is home to just under less than 20,000 man, which was significantly less in 1976, when three men kidnapped 26 children and a school bus driver and held them for $5 million ransom.
The plan was to use the money to pay off debts , and then live lavishly for a time, and perhaps they would have done so if the kidnappers had not completely bungled their job. After boarding a bus, the three men loaded the children into vans and drove them 100 miles, then hid them in a trailer that they buried in a quarry.
The men were unable to call and demand the ransom because the kidnapping had disabled the phone lines. So, for reasons that may never make complete sense, they decided to take a nap and try again later. The problem was, they slept so long that they woke up to find out on the news that all the kids had escaped from the trailer. All three were eventually captured and sentenced to life in prison.
5. Norwegian hijacks plane and demands beer
Airport security around the world has been tight for years, and the idea of a plane being hijacked is an absolute nightmare. The fear on the ground is palpable, and we can only imagine how terrifying it would be for anyone trapped on a plane, knowing what would likely happen to them.
In 1985, a Norwegian hijacked a plane with more than 100 passengers on board, intending to talk to Prime Minister . Right off the bat, this sounds like a complete lunatic and a situation destined to end badly. Holding so many lives in the balance is a risky proposition for any negotiators on the ground, and trying to work with the hijacker to come up with a safe solution is definitely not for the faint of heart.
The hijacker was24 year old male , who managed to bring a gun on board, possibly due to the lack of security in the 80s. Luckily for the passengers on board, they only had to endure a four-hour process, as negotiators were able to get the man to hand over control of the plane and let everyone go in exchange for his demands for beer. They gave him beer throughout the hijacking, and he eventually gave in after all the passengers had been released and the police refused to give him more beer unless he traded his gun for it.
4. The kidnapper asked his victim for financial advice.
Some people want to be rich and famous just for the sake of being rich and famous, and there is nothing else in it. This may be the case with a person who kidnapped Li Ka-shing's son and held it for HK$1 billion.
Ka-shing is one of the richest people in Asia, with a fortune of about 35 billion US dollars . His eldest son was kidnapped in 1996. His kidnapper demanded 2 billion Hong Kong dollars and showed up with a bomb to take them. Ka-shing only had $1 billion in cash, which is about $127 million US dollars, and he handed it over.
Once the deal was done and the son was released, the kidnapper called Ka-shing to ask for financial advice on how to invest his newfound wealth. The billionaire apparently advised him to try to start a new life.
3. Italian travels to Syria to fake his own kidnapping, then gets kidnapped
A fake kidnapping makes for a solid plot for a tense action movie, but perhaps not for real life. As some Italian businessmen learned the hard way, they thought they could swindle their government out of making a quick buck by claiming they had been kidnapped by jihadists in Syria in 2016. The plan might have worked, except they never actually went to Syria and ended up being kidnapped and held for three years.
Three men convinced Alessandro Sandrini that he simply had to get to the border of Syria and Turkey to stage kidnapping . They then housed him in a luxury villa with women and drugs until the Italian government paid his ransom. Hilarious! Except that when they got Sandrini to his destination, they sold him to a real jihadist group, who took him hostage. A second Italian also fell for the same deal, and both were released in 2019.
The three men who carried out the kidnapping were charged, but and Sandrini too .
2. Students stole Jeremy Bentham's head
Generally speaking, there is no such thing as a good kidnapping, but if there was, this would probably be it. The remains of the philosopher Jeremy Bentham can be found at University College London, where, according to the man's last wishes, they are on display in a glass case.
In fact, it's just Bentham's body on display with a fake head, because his real head, which is also there, looks decidedly worse. Besides, one day he stole by students King's College, a rival school. Just like in college movies when one team steals the other's mascot, only this time it was the preserved head.
The students demanded ransom of £100 for the head, which was to be donated to charity. The university reduced the price and gave them £10, which was accepted and the head was returned.
1. Aldi CEO claimed his ransom as a tax deduction.
If you're not familiar with Aldi, the company operates a multinational chain of grocery stores in Europe, Asia, Australia, and the United States (including Trader Joes), and had sales of about $134 billion in 2021. dollars. Okay. In 1971, one of the founders, Theo Albrecht, who was also one of the richest men in Europe, was kidnapped.
The kidnappers, a heavily indebted lawyer and one accomplice, held Albrecht in an office in Düsseldorf. They demanded the ransom directly from Albrecht, who apparently began bargaining with the men. It took17 days , to come to an agreement: They released Albrecht for 7 million German marks, or about 3.5 million US dollars. The money was delivered, and Albrecht was released, while the kidnappers were eventually caught and imprisoned.
As for Albrecht, he demanded a ransom, which he spent on himself, as tax deduction , and apparently he was allowed to do so. Curiously, about half of the ransom was never found.
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