- John Paul Getty III
Jean Paul Getty III (born
4 November ,1956 ) was the first of four children ofPaul Getty and Gail Harris. He is the grandson of oil billionaire Jean Paul Getty. He is the father of actorBalthazar Getty .Kidnapping
At age 16, after his father had moved to
England , on10 July 1973 inRome , he was kidnapped and a ransom of $17 million was demanded in a note for his safe return. As Paul III was so rebellious, when the first ransom message arrived, some of the family suspected a ploy by the teenager to extract money from his miserly grandfather. A second demand was delayed by an Italian postal strikecite news | url = http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/04/18/db1801.xml&page=4 | title = Sir Paul Getty | work =Daily Telegraph | date =2003-04-17 | accessdate = 2008-03-01 ] .
Jean Paul Getty II asked his father for the money, but was refused. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1386478.stm BBC News | UK | Profile: Sir John Paul Getty II ] ] Finally, in November 1973 an envelope containing a lock of hair and a human ear was delivered to a daily newspaper, with a threat of further mutilation unless $3.2 million was paid over: "This is Paul’s ear. If we don’t get some money within 10 days, then the other ear will arrive. In other words, he will arrive in little bits." At this point Jean Paul Getty agreed to pay a ransom, and Jean Paul Getty Jr repaying the sum at 4% interest.Still reluctant to part with the ransom, Getty senior negotiated a deal and got his grandson back for about $2.8 million. Jean Paul Getty III was found alive in southern
Italy onDecember 15 ,1973 , shortly after the ransom was paid. His kidnappers, supposedly linked with the'Ndrangheta , were never caught.cite news | url = http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/1999/10/01/ihead_275.htm | publisher =Irish Examiner | date =1999-01-10 | title = Billionaire Getty oil dynasty buys Irish | accessdate = 2008-03-01 ]Paul III was permanently affected by the trauma, and became a heavy drug user. Paul was expelled from St. George's English School (now known as
St. George's British International School ) at the beginning of 1971.Later life
While in his teens he married Gisela Zacher. Their son is the actor
Balthazar Getty . In 1981, a prescription drug overdose resulted in astroke which left him permanently paralyzed and nearly blind. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2956897.stm BBC NEWS | UK | Obituary: Sir John Paul Getty II ] ]In 1999, Getty, along with several other members of his family, became citizens of the
Republic of Ireland in return for investments in Ireland of approximately £1 million each, under a law which has since been repealed.References
External links
* [http://www.dagbladet.no/magasinet/2005/01/21/420984.html Photo]
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