3 charged in scheme to sell stolen handwritten ‘Hotel California’ lyrics

New York — A few people were charged Tuesday in an alleged conspiracy involving the handwritten lyrics to the classic rock juggernaut “Hotel California” and other hits by the Eagles.

Prosecutors stated the defendants, despite figuring out the content was stolen, lied to auction houses and consumers about the manuscripts’ origins.

An indictment submitted in state court docket in Manhattan accuses Glenn Horowitz, Craig Inciardi and Edward Kosinski of plotting to possess Don Henley’s notes and lyrics for music that also involved “Life in the Rapid Lane” and “New Child In Town,” altogether valued at extra than $1 million.

The adult men pleaded not responsible by their lawyers at the arraignment. They ended up launched with no bail.

“The DA’s place of work alleges criminality where by none exists and unfairly tarnishes the reputations of properly-revered industry experts,” the lawyers explained in a statement. “We will fight these unjustified costs vigorously. These adult males are harmless.”

In a assertion, the Eagles thanked prosecutors for bringing a circumstance that exposes “the truth of the matter about music memorabilia sales of very private, stolen merchandise concealed guiding a facade of legitimacy.”

It known as the goods “an integral portion of the legacy Don Henley has created in excess of the course of his 50-furthermore-calendar year career” that have to have to be returned “for him and his family to enjoy and preserve for posterity.”

In accordance to court documents, an creator employed to create a biography of the band at first stole the manuscripts in the late 1970s. The papers detail e mail correspondence in between the defendants and a particular person professing he found the material discarded a long time back in a dressing space backstage at an Eagles live performance.

“It was about 35 a long time back and my memory is foggy!” the particular person wrote.

Prosecutors say that concerning 2012 and 2017 the defendants tried using to get Henley to obtain again the stolen manuscripts, when at the exact time searching for to peddle them to other opportunity purchasers by way of Christie’s and Sotheby’s auction properties.

At one position Horowitz experimented with to declare that the resource of the assets was a further founding Eagles member, Glenn Frey, soon after Frey’s death in 2016, prosecutors mentioned. In one email, he wrote that Frey “alas, is lifeless and pinpointing him as the resource would make this go absent as soon as and for all,” they alleged.

Authorities armed with look for warrants eventually retrieved the components from Sotheby’s and from Kosinski’s New Jersey property.

The eponymous “Hotel California” album and its chart-topping title tune both of those gained Grammy Awards. The album has offered far more than 26 million copies considering the fact that its release in 1976, creating it 1 of the bestselling albums in historical past.