[imagesource: David Redfern / Getty]

They don’t make rockstars like they used to.

Jim Morrison, Keith Moon, Freddie Mercury, and others are legendary for their music as much as their antics.

These days, we have Liam and Noel Gallagher insulting each other on Twitter.

At least Keith Richards is still ticking along. When the apocalypse hits it will just be Keith and the cockroaches that survive the nuclear fallout.

Right, where was I? Ah yes, Jimi Hendrix and that kidnapping.

The musician battled alcohol and drug addiction prior to his death in 1970 at the age of 27. In the curious case of his New York kidnapping, they definitely helped to soothe his nerves.

Below from Rock Celebrities:

A famous cocaine trafficker and Jimi Hendrix’s friend Jon Roberts [below] published his memoir named ‘American Desperado’ back in 2011. In the book, Roberts tells the detailed story of how he rescued Hendrix from the kidnappers, although everybody accused him of being an accomplice…

Image: Magnolia Pictures

One day, the guitarist was trying to find drugs on his own at the club, and two Italian Mafia wannabes saw him as a prey, tricking him into thinking they were dealers.

After promising Hendrix drugs, the two kidnapped him and took him to a house out of the city. The kidnappers called Hendrix’s manager and demanded some things since they had him hostage in their place.

At the time, Hendrix was in the midst of a serious heroin addiction and had been trying to score at a club ironically named ‘Salvation’.

That manager rang up Salvation and word reached Roberts. He tracked down a number for the kidnappers, called, and threatened to kill them if they didn’t release the guitar ace.

Two days after the Mafia men grabbed him, Hendrix was released unharmed, with Roberts claiming that Hendrix was so high “he didn’t even realise two strangers had abducted him”.

Because of Roberts’ shady dealings his account of the incident was deemed untrustworthy by many. Roberts is credited with helping the Medellin crime cartel rise to prominence in the 1980s, importing as much as $15 billion for them.

However, multiple sources would later confirm the story, including Rolling Stone Magazine and other prominent outlets.

Together with his friend Andy Benfante, who had Mafia affiliations, Roberts tracked the kidnappers down a week later and “gave them a beating they would never forget”.

Given the mob connections, I’d say they got off lightly.

Roberts died in late 2011 and his story also features heavily in the 2006 documentary Cocaine Cowboys.

[source:rockcelebrities]