The kidnapping of J. Paul Getty's grandson
Rome, 1973
This case is a work of fiction. The characters, names, places and events in the game do not portray real people. The account below is a factual summary, based on public sources, of the case that served as inspiration.
In the early hours of July 10, 1973, John Paul Getty III, 16, grandson of the oil tycoon J. Paul Getty, was seized in the Piazza Farnese in Rome. The kidnappers demanded 17 million dollars. The grandfather refused to pay: the family suspected the boy had staged it himself to get money out of him, and the billionaire said that paying would expose his other grandchildren to the same risk.
In November, after weeks of delay caused by a postal strike, the Roman newspaper Il Messaggero received an envelope with a lock of hair, one of the boy's ears, and the threat that the other ear would follow. The grandfather agreed to pay about 2.2 million dollars, the maximum that was tax deductible, and lent the rest to his son at 4% interest. Getty III was found alive on December 15, 1973, at a gas station near Lauria, in the province of Potenza.
Sources
In the game
Letter from Naples
Rome, July 1973. Marco Lindqvist, 16, grandson of an oil tycoon, vanished after a night out at the Piazza Navona. No one has seen him for five days.
The kidnappers were linked to the 'Ndrangheta, the Calabrian mafia, where the hostage was held in a cave in the mountains. Nine people were arrested, but only two were eventually convicted, and most of the ransom was never recovered. The game borrows the billionaire's grandson taken in Rome, the grandfather who believed it was a scam and the proof sent by mail; the photographer, the characters and the ending are fiction.
