NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Two New York men and one New Jersey man were indicted Tuesday for conspiracy to sell about 100 stolen pages of Don Henley’s handwritten notes and lyrics for the Eagles album "Hotel California," authorities said.
The manuscripts were originally stolen in the 1970s by an author who had been hired to write a biography of the band. Years later, in 2005, the biographer sold the stolen documents to rare book dealer Glenn Horowitz, 66, according to court documents.
After purchasing the manuscripts, valued at over $1 million, Horowitz then sold them to Craig Inciardi, 58, and Edward Kosinski, 59, officials said.
Don Henley eventually found out that Inciardi and Kosinski were trying to sell portions of the manuscripts and filed police reports while also telling the duo that the materials were stolen and demanding they return his property, according to authorities.
Instead of making an effort to look into who owns the manuscripts, the pair began a years-long campaign to stop Henley from recovering them. The two made up a story about where the manuscripts came from and attempted to use the phony origin story to coerce Don Henley into buying back his stolen property between 2012 and 2017.
Inciardi and Kosinski also tried to sell the manuscripts through Christie’s and Sotheby’s auction houses, lying and withholding information about Henley’s claims even requesting that Sotheby’s hide Henley’s claims from potential buyers before offering the manuscripts for sale at public auction in 2016.
A series of search warrants were executed by the District Attorney’s Office inn2016 through which the stolen manuscripts were recovered both from Sotheby’s and Kosinski’s house in New Jersey, including 84 pages to songs from the album "Hotel California." The scheme didn’t end there. Horowitz tried to exploit the recent death of founding Eagles member Glenn Frey in order to prevent criminal prosecution by producing a new, fake statement of provenance claiming that the materials came from the late Frey. In one email, Horowitz said “[Frey] alas, is dead and identifying him as the source would make this go away once and for all.”
“New York is a world-class hub for art and culture, and those who deal with cultural artifacts must scrupulously follow the law. There is no room for those who would seek to ignore the basic expectations of fair dealing and undermine the public’s confidence and trust in our cultural trade for their own ends,” said District Attorney Bragg. “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.”
All three men were charged with conspiracy in the fourth degree. Inciardi and Kosinski were also charged with criminal possession of stolen property while Horowitz was charged with attempted criminal possession of stolen property and two counts of hindering prosecution.
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