In a press release Tuesday, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) announced that Glenn Horowitz, 66, Craig Inciardi, 58, and Edward Kosinski, 59, had been charged as part of the scheme. The manuscripts were originally stolen from an author hired to write a biography of the rock band more than 40 years ago, according to court documents. The author reportedly sold the manuscripts to Horowitz in 2005. Horowitz, a rare book dealer, then sold them to Inciardi and Kosinski. After learning about the stolen manuscripts, Henley himself tried to intervene, including filing a police report. The people at the center of the alleged theft engaged in a years-long battle with Henley to prevent him from recovering the material. Horowitz and Inciardi went so far as to fabricate the provenance of the manuscripts. Inciardi and Kosinski used the false statement of provenance to force the frontman to buy back his stolen manuscripts. Individuals also attempted to sell the stolen manuscripts through auction houses Christie’s and Sotheby’s, but all withheld information about Henley’s claims from potential buyers. Authorities executed a series of search warrants and recovered Henley’s stolen manuscripts, including 84 pages of songs from the Eagles’ 1977 album “Hotel California,” which included lyrics from songs such as “Hotel California,” “Life in the Fast Lane” and “New Kid in Town,” the press release said. LeBron James: ‘I wasn’t bashing our beautiful country’ with Griner’s comments Mike Flood vowed to replace former Nebraska Rep. Fortenberry Authorities added that Horowitz tried to prevent himself from being prosecuted by creating a new false statement of provenance that claimed band member Glenn Frey, who died in 2016, was the original owner of the stolen material. “New York is a world-class hub for art and culture, and those dealing with cultural artifacts must follow the law scrupulously. There is no place for those who would seek to ignore basic expectations of fair dealing and undermine public trust and confidence in our cultural commerce for their own ends,” Bragg said in a statement.
“These defendants attempted to keep and sell these unique and valuable manuscripts, even though they knew 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 make a profit,” he added.