Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/654615
BySandyCohenand Andrew Dalton TheAssociatedPress LOS ANGELES FrankSina- tra Jr., who carried on his famous father's legacy with his own music career and whose kidnapping as a young man added a bizarre chapter to his father's leg- endary life, died Wednes- day. He was 72. The younger Sinatra died unexpectedly of cardiac ar- rest while on tour in Day- tona Beach, Florida, the Sinatra family said in a statement to The Associ- ated Press. The statement said the family mourns the un- timely passing of their son, brother, father and uncle. No other details were pro- vided. His real name was Fran- cis Wayne Sinatra — his fa- ther's full name was Fran- cis Albert Sinatra — but he went professionally by Frank Sinatra Jr. Sinatra Jr. was the middle child of Sinatra and Nancy Barbato Sinatra, who was the elder Sinatra's first wife and the mother of all three of his children. Sinatra Jr.'s older sister was Nancy Sina- tra, who had a successful musical career of her own, and his younger sister was TV producer Tina Sinatra. He was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1943, just as his father's career was get- ting started, and he would watch his dad become one of the most famous singers of all time. But he usually watched from a distance, as Sinatra was constantly away on tours and making movies. He did, however, some- times get to see him from the wings of the stage, espe- cially when his father per- formed for long stints in Las Vegas. Sinatra Jr. got to see many other storied performers too, like Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and Count Basie. "I saw all the top stars perform," Sinatra Jr. told the AP in 2002. He said one of his favorite memories of his father was a show in the late 1960s at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. "He was sitting on a little stool, and he sang the Bea- tles song 'Yesterday' and 'By the Time I Get to Phoenix' and 'Didn't We,'" Sinatra Jr. said. "We were all cry- ing and singing." Sinatra Jr. followed his father into music as a teen- ager, eventually working for the senior Sinatra as his musical director and conductor. The elder Sinatra died of a heart attack May 14, 1998, at 82. Sinatra Jr. was able to provide a link to his father's music after his death, per- forming his songs and ar- rangements on tours and especially in Las Vegas. "Since my father's death, a lot of people have made it clear that they're not ready to give up the music," Sina- tra Jr. said in the 2002 AP interview. "For me, it's a big, fat gift. I get to sing with a big orchestra and get to sing orchestrations that will never be old." When Sina- tra Jr. was 19 in 1963, three men kidnapped him at gun- point from a Lake Tahoe ho- tel. He was returned safely after two days when his family paid $240,000 for his release. Barry Keenan, a high school friend of Nancy Sina- tra, was arrested with the other two suspects, Johnny Irwin and Joe Amsler, and convicted of conspiracy and kidnapping. Keenan masterminded the kidnapping, prose- cutors said. He was sen- tenced to life plus 75 years in prison, but was declared legally insane at the time of the crime, had his sen- tence reduced and was pa- roled in 1968 after serving 4 ½ years. Sinatra Jr. had nearly two dozen TV and movie cred- its as an actor, including appearances on "The Love Boat" and "Marcus Welby, M.D." most recently provid- ing his own voice for two episodes of "Family Guy." Last year he performed the national anthem at Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees games in cele- bration of the centennial of his father's birth. He was scheduled to per- form Thursday night in St. Petersburg, Florida, in a show featuring his father's songbook. The venue's website mentioned Sina- tra Jr.'s death in canceling the show. He had other tour dates booked for May, Sep- tember and October in the Midwest and East Coast. Sinatra Jr. was married in 1998, but divorced in 2000. He is survived by a son, Michael. OBITUARY Frank Sinatra Jr. dies of cardiac arrest while on tour APPHOTO—MARKJ.TERRILL Frank Sinatra Jr. sings the national anthem prior to a baseball game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Pittsburgh Pirates in Los Angeles on Sept. 18, 2015. By Julie Pace and Steve Peoples The Associated Press WASHINGTON After yet another round of convinc- ing victories for Donald Trump, Republican lead- ers spent Wednesday wa- vering between grudging acceptance and deep de- nial about the business- man's likely ascent to the GOP presidential nomi- nation. An emboldened Trump warned that if the party tried to block him, "You'd have riots." With at least three more states in his win column, Trump is now the only candidate with a path to clinching the Republican nomination before the par- ty's convention in July. But he still must do better in upcoming contests to get the necessary 1,237 dele- gates, leaving some oppo- nents with a sliver of hope he can still be stopped. "I still think it's a very realistic chance that no- body's going to have a ma- jority of the delegates," said Henry Barbour, a se- nior Republican National Committee member who worked on Marco Rubio's delegate strategy until the Florida senator exited the race Tuesday. Barbour said Trump "doesn't deserve to be presi- dent," but also said he could ultimately support the bil- lionaire if he "can convince me that he's presidential material." Trump cautioned that his supporters would revolt if he falls just short in the delegate count and loses in a rules fight. "If you just disenfran- chise these people, I think you would have problems like you've never seen be- fore," Trump said on CNN's "New Day." Despite the deep con- cerns about Trump within the Republican Party, there was little tangible action Wednesday that indicated a way to stop the real es- tate mogul's march toward the general election. There was no rush among party leaders or do- nors to coalesce around Ted Cruz, the only candi- date in the race with even a long-shot chance of over- taking Trump in the dele- gate count. A small group of conservatives moved for- ward with plans to meet Thursday to discuss the prospect of rallying behind a third-party option, but no candidate had been identi- fied to lead that effort. The three best-financed efforts to stop Trump abruptly ceased advertis- ing after Tuesday's elec- tions. The outside groups American Future Fund, Our Principles and Club for Growth have no Trump attack ads planned for Ar- izona — a crucial winner- take-all contest in six days — or in any states beyond. Former House Speaker John Boehner floated his successor, Paul Ryan, as the nominee in the event of a convention fight. But Ryan quickly took himself out of the mix, saying through a spokeswoman that he would "not accept a nom- ination and believes our nominee should be some- one who ran this year." Meanwhile, Democratic front-runner Hillary Clin- ton set her sights on a No- vember showdown with Trump. Her sweep of Tues- day's five primary contests was a harsh blow to ri- val Bernie Sanders, giving Clinton what her campaign manager described as an "insurmountable lead" in the delegate count. "We are confident that for the first time in our na- tion's history, the Demo- cratic Party will nominate a woman as their presiden- tial nominee," Robby Mook wrote in a memo to sup- porters. Clinton has at least 1,599 delegates to Sanders' 844. It takes 2,383 to win the Dem- ocratic nomination. Trump urged Repub- licans to view the par- ty's nominating contest with the same sense of clarity. During a round of calls to morning television shows, he said some of the same Republican senators who publicly criticize him have called him privately to say they want to "be- come involved" in his cam- paign eventually. He also picked up an endorsement Wednesday from Florida Gov. Rick Scott. PRESIDENTIAL RACE Trump: Time to rally around me — or expect voter riots By Eric Tucker and Alicia A. Caldwell The Associated Press WASHINGTON One of the guns that Mexican officials say was found at the hide- out of drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera is associated with Fast and Furious, a failed "gun-walk- ing" operation, according to the Justice Department. The department said in a letter to members of Con- gress that a .50-caliber rifle that Mexican officials sent for tracing after Guzman's arrest in January has since been connected to Fast and Furious. U.S. officials say the weapon was one of 19 fire- arms that Mexican author- ities said was recovered from the hideout and was the only one determined to be associated with the botched sting operation, in which the Bureau of Alco- hol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives permitted gun- runners to buy weapons in hopes of tracking them and disrupting gun smug- gling rungs. The rifle was bought in July 2010 in a straw pur- chase by someone not known to ATF at the time. The buyer was later identi- fied and "became a subject" of the Fast and Furious in- vestigation but was never indicted. The weapon is not known to be associated with any other crime, the Justice Department said. A former U.S. official said four other firearms con- nected to Fast and Furious were found at a hideout in Culiacan, Mexico, where Guzman narrowly escaped capture in February 2014. He was captured about a week later in the seaside resort of Mazatlan. The official was briefed on the case but not autho- rized to discuss it publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity. As of January, 885 fire- arms purchased by targets of Operation Fast and Furi- ous had been recovered, ac- cording to the Justice De- partment. Several of those have been linked to violent crimes, including a 2010 firefight near the Mexican border during which Bor- der Patrol agent Brian Terry was killed. "ATF and the department deeply regret that firearms associated with Opera- tion Fast and Furious have been used by criminals in the commission of violent crimes, particularly crimes resulting in the deaths of civilians and law enforce- ment officials," Assistant Attorney General Peter Kadzik, head of the Jus- tice Department's legisla- tive affairs office, wrote in a March 15 letter. DRUG LORD US : Ri fl e fo un d at E l Ch ap o hideout tied to Fast and Furious | NEWS | REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 2016 8 A