Rock and Roll Hall of Fame curator Craig Inciardi along with Glenn Horowitz and Edward Kosinski were formerly charged on July 12th for “allegedly possessing a trove of stolen handwritten notes and lyrics by the Eagles' co-founder Don Henley, with New York officials estimating the documents are worth more than $1 million.”
Inciardi and Kosinski were also charged with first degree counts of criminal possession and had previously tried to sell of the lyric manuscripts to such high profile auction houses as Sotheby’s and Christie’s — while attempting to also get Don Henley to buy back his stolen property.
Rolling Stone reported that the trio accused of the conspiracy, featured nearly 100 pages of handwritten notes and lyrics by Henley — including such standards as “Hotel California” and “Life In The Fast Lane.” According to the report, Henley had been trying to recover his papers for years after they were stolen back in the 1970's by a biographer and eventually ended up in at the accuse Glen Horowitz' possession.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with President and CEO Joel Peresman wrote in a letter to Rolling Stone: “At this time we do not know whether Craig engaged in any wrongdoing. 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.”
In a statement provided to Rolling Stone, the Eagles manager Irving Azoff said, “The band was pleased with the indictments and Henley was looking forward to the documents return. This action exposes the truth about music memorabilia sales of highly personal, stolen items hidden behind a facade of legitimacy. No one has the right to sell illegally obtained property or profit from the outright theft of irreplaceable pieces of musical history. These handwritten lyrics are an integral part of the legacy Don Henley has created over the course of his 50-plus-year career.”
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg also issued a statement, which read: “New York is a world-class hub for art and culture, and those who deal cultural artifacts must scrupulously follow the law. These defendants attempted to keep and sell these unique and valuable manuscripts, despite knowing they had no right to do so. They made up stories about the origin of the documents and their right to possess them so they could turn a profit.”
