His father, J. Paul Getty III, was the victim in one of the 20th
century's most sensational kidnappings. While on vacation in 1973, he
was kidnapped by the Italian mafia. When his family balked at paying
the $3.4 million ransom demanded, the gangsters sliced off their
captive's right ear and mailed it to a newspaper. Finally, his father (J. Paul Getty, Jr.) and his grandfather sent the money, and Paul Getty was finally released.