Eagle
Three men are on trial in New York accused of conspiracy to possess handwritten lyrics to songs from the 1970s hit album
Thu, February 22, 2024, 5:26 p.m. GMT
Welcome to Hotel California…the new edition of the New York criminal complaint.
The trial of three men accused of a conspiracy to obtain the original handwritten lyrics from the Eagles' hit Hotel California has taken place. The band's longtime manager described a long effort to recapture the work – even longer than the track's epic guitar solos.
Irving Azoff, manager of the American rock band that rose to fame in the 1970s, said in a Manhattan court on Wednesday that the group was trying to recover about 100 pages of allegedly stolen lyrics from the Eagles' album “Hotel California.” -Colleagues had been written. Founders Don Henley and Glenn Frey. They tried to get it back from rock journalist Ed Sanders, who had been commissioned by the band to write a biography of the group more than 40 years ago.
The Eagles score the best-selling album of all time in the US, surpassing Thriller
The court heard that Sanders apparently took the yellow legal pads, which contained handwritten, now-legendary texts such as “You can check out any time, but you can never leave,” from Henley's storage barn in Malibu.
But in a twist as puzzling as elements of the band's best-known song, Sanders isn't on trial.
The three defendants are rare book collector Glenn Horowitz, memorabilia seller Edward Kosinski and former Rock and Roll Hall of Fame curator Craig Inciardi. They are being tried before a New York State Supreme Court judge without jury jurisdiction for knowingly possessing the lyrics and attempting to sell them even though, according to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, they knew “that they had been written and stolen by them.” Founding member of the Eagles, Don Henley.”
The men were arrested for allegedly conspiring to sell the lyrics without the band's consent and are accused of trying to conceal how they obtained the papers.
Prosecutors will try to prove that the texts were stolen, allegedly from Sanders, even though he is not charged, and also outline what the three accused men did with the notebooks that came into their possession.
Sanders' draft of the Eagles' “official biography” was rejected by band members, who called it “highly disappointing,” and was never published, the court heard.
This sparked a long dispute with Sanders over the book, in which the band's management was repeatedly confronted with demands from Sanders for more money above the agreed upon fee of $25,000. In a letter, Sanders wrote to the band that it was unfair that “I live a modest middle-class lifestyle while those I write about have masts firmly anchored in mountains of moolah.”
Azoff estimated that the band ended up paying Sanders $75,000 for his work, but ultimately felt they were being blackmailed when Sanders instead said he would release a report on the Eagles' breakup in the early 1980s. “The decision was made not to be blackmailed by Sanders,” Azoff told the judge on Wednesday.
According to the Recording Industry Association of America, the Eagles albums Their Greatest Hits 1971–1975 and Hotel California were the most successful and third most successful of all time. Photo: AP
The manager's previous account, which includes colorful details such as how he had to rent a separate house in Beverly Hills so Henley and Frey could write because Henley didn't like all the empty beer cans and cigarette butts at Frey's, is a backdrop to this the main statement of the criminal complaint.
Lawyers for three defendants said their clients had no knowledge that the memorabilia could have been acquired through theft. “Sanders is a major, respected literary figure who served as the Eagles' authorized biographer. Of course they willingly provided him with documents,” said Horowitz’s defense attorney, Jonathan Bach.
Kosinski's defense attorney, Matthew Laroche, argued that the case should never have been brought because of a lack of evidence and would ask that it be dismissed once the charges were rested. Inciardi's defense attorney, Stacey Richman, later said in court: “People have accused three innocent men of a crime that never happened.”
If convicted, Horowitz, Inciardi and Kosinski face up to four years in prison. All three have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Henley, who is expected to testify Monday, said he discovered that some lyrics pages were being sold online in 2012, bought them himself for $8,500 and then filed a stolen goods report with the district attorney's office.
The case was filed in New York in 2022 after Kosinski's New Jersey home was searched by district attorney investigators in 2019. His defense team claims they used “trafficking tactics…that are completely inappropriate in the context of this case.”
Further song lyrics from the controversial notepads were offered for private sale at Sotheby's in 2016. The auctioneer agreed to cancel the sale, but did not return the disputed items because he heard their origins were unclear.
Prosecutor Nicholas Penfold claimed in court Thursday that Sanders was coached to say the lyrics may have been left in a concert dressing room or given to him by Frey, who died in 2016.
Penfold said he would present evidence to the court that Sanders, who sold the lyrics to Horowitz, had written a letter to the dealer saying Henley was “possibly upset” about the sales. This, the prosecutor said, casts doubt on whether Sanders believed he owned the texts and that Horowitz “ignored red flags.”
When Bragg brought the case two years ago, he said: “New York is a world-class center for arts and culture, and those who traffic in cultural artifacts must strictly abide by the law.” The statement implied criminal prosecution The song's lyrics have been linked to the Office's broader efforts to return looted antiquities to their countries of origin.
But lawyers for the three men argue that the filing of the lawsuit is “inappropriate” because authorities are bringing the lawsuit six years after they became aware of the allegations and, according to Kosinski's defense, “the allegations concern conduct that occurred almost 50 years ago.” years ago.” ”
The case continues.
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