“I decided upon Junior because Frank Sr. was tough, and I had friends whose parents were in show business, and I knew Frank always got his way,” Barry Keenan shared years later. “It wouldn’t be morally wrong to put him through a few hours of grief worrying about his son.” Keenan was reportedly a classmate of Nancy Sinatra’s — Junior’s sister and Frank’s daughter — at UCLA, so he had an up close and personal look at the lavish lifestyle the Sinatra’s enjoyed. Enraptured by jealousy and discontent, he decided that the only way to sufficiently make a statement on behalf of the less fortunate was with a big gesture that would shake the world (per Far Out). 

At the time, Barry Keenan was combating substance abuse and addiction issues, so his faltering state of mind presumably made him more apt to entertain bad (and criminal) ideas. With the help of a small team of cronies, Keenan started following Frank Sinatra Junior around while the singer toured the country. The opportune moment to strike came when Junior was relaxing in his hotel room over a plate of fried chicken near Lake Tahoe, Nevada (via Far Out).