Three men, including a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame curator, face conspiracy charges for allegedly attempting to sell stolen Eagles lyrics handwritten by Don Henley. The men were charged on Tuesday in New York for trying to peddle the documents valued at over $1 million.
The story goes back to the 1970s when over 100 pages of Henley’s handwritten lyrics from Hotel California were stolen by an unnamed biographer writing an ultimately unfinished biography of the Eagles. In 2005, that author sold the lyrics to rare book dealer Glenn Horowitz, who sold them to Edward Kosinski and Hall of Fame curator Craig Inciardi, the three men charged on Tuesday.
According to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the three men conspired to sell the documents they knew were stolen to auction houses such as Sotheby’s and Christie’s. They were even brazen enough to try to forge proof of authenticity and sell the lyrics back to Henley himself, at which point the Eagles co-founder contacted police claiming the documents were stolen.
Shortly before Glenn Frey‘s death in 2016, Horowitz devised a plan to credit ownership of the lyrics to Frey in an attempt to squash the investigation. He wrote in an email to the other co-conspirators that “identifying [Frey] as the source would make this go away once and for all.”
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All three men are charged with conspiracy in the fourth degree, which carries a maximum sentence of four years in prison. Horowitz also faces charges of first-degree attempted criminal possession of stolen property and two counts of hindering prosecution. Inciardi and Kosinski are also charged with first-degree counts of criminal possession.
Inciardi has been suspended from his role at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, President and CEO Joel Peresman informed the board members and public shortly before the charges were announced.
“At this time we do not know whether Craig engaged in any wrongdoing,” he wrote in a letter obtained by Rolling Stone. “He will remain on leave pending the resolution of the third party internal investigation and the extent of the charges once the indictment is unsealed.”
Henley’s manager, Irving Azoff, celebrated news of the indictments saying that Don was looking forward to the documents’ long-awaited return.
“This action exposes the truth about music memorabilia sales of highly personal, stolen items hidden behind a façade of legitimacy. No one has the right to sell illegally obtained property or profit from the outright theft of irreplaceable pieces of musical history,” Azoff told TMZ. “These handwritten lyrics are an integral part of the legacy Don Henley has created over the course of his 50-plus-year career. We look forward to the return of Don’s property, for him and his family to enjoy and preserve for posterity.”