Jimi Hendrix Was Once Kidnapped by Mafia Wannabes
Rock legend Jimi Hendrix was beloved for his music and his guitar-playing prowess. Toward the end of his life, he fell deeper into a hole of addiction that got him into some tough situations — including being kidnapped by the mafia.
Jimi Hendrix’s addiction worsened later in life
The 2011 book American Desperado chronicles Jon Roberts’ wild years as a drug trafficker. In one chapter, he recounts how he became involved in Jimi Hendrix‘s kidnapping.
“When you run a nightclub, you will always get heat from the cops,” he said. The liquor license gives them an automatic reason to come into your place and snoop. Within a year of getting into the business, Andy and I started to draw real heat – not from the New York cops, who could always be bought, but from the FBI.”
“Two incidents made them nosy about us. The first was the kidnapping of Jim Hendrix,” he explained. “Jimi and I were never great friends. He was so far gone, I don’t think he was truly friends with anybody. Jimi was a bad junkie. Jimi had people around him all the time, too. He was suffocating from these hangers-on.”
Jimi Hendrix was kidnapped by mafia wannabes and didn’t know it
Roberts went on to explain just how Hendrix, who had fallen deeper into his addiction, got kidnapped.
“I got involved in Jimi’s so-called kidnapping after he was grabbed by some guys out of Salvation. Later on some people accused me of being involved in kidnapping him. They said I was involved with kidnappers who tied Jimi to a chair and forced him to shoot heroin. Please. Nobody would have had to force Jimi to shoot anything. Just give him the heroin and he’d inject it himself. It was Jimi going out searching for drugs that got him into trouble,” Roberts said.
“Jimi had people who would usually buy dope for him. But sometimes he’d get so sick, he’d come into our clubs looking for drugs on his own,” he continued. “One night two Italian kids at our club – not Mafia but wiseguy wannabes – saw Jimi in there looking for dope and decided, ‘Hey, that’s Jimi Hendrix. Let’s grab him and see what we can get.'”
“These guys were morons,” Roberts admitted. “They promised Jimi some dope and took him to a house out of the city. I don’t know if they wanted money or a piece of his record contract, but they called Jimi’s manager demanding something. Next thing I knew the club manager called me and said Jimi had been taken from our club by some Italians.”
“It took me and Andy two or three phone calls to get the names of the kids who were holding Jimi,” he said. “We reached out to these kids and made it clear, ‘You let Jimi go, or you are dead. Do not harm a hair of his Afro.'”
He was likely on drugs when he was kidnapped
Finally, Roberts was able to get Hendrix freed, even if Hendrix himself might not have even realized he had been kidnapped.
“They let Jimi go. The whole thing lasted maybe two days. Jimi was so stoned, he probably didn’t even know he was ever kidnapped,” Roberts said, adding, “Andy and I waited a week or so and went after these kids. We gave them a beating they would never forget.”
Eventually, the FBI would be on his trail for another murder. “That one good deed for Jimi Hendrix was resulted in me having to flee New York for Miami,” he said. “Who knows? If it hadn’t been for me saving Jimi Hendrix, I might never have hooked up with the Medellín Cartel and Pablo Escobar in Miami and started in the cocaine smuggling business. Wherever you are Jimi, thank you.”
How to get help: In the U.S., contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration helpline at 1-800-662-4357.
