To understand the Paul Getty kidnapping, you need to know a little bit about Getty family history. Paul, also known as John Paul Getty III, was the grandson of J. Paul Getty, the man who began making money from oil leases in the 1910s and became extremely wealthy. Despite his vast wealth, however, he was a very frugal man. He had all the money in the world but was very particular about how it was distributed among his children and grandchildren.