The Eagles will be bringing their alibis to court this week, when three men stand trial for a crime involving handwritten lyrics to “Hotel California” and additional Eagles’ songs. A non-jury criminal trial in Manhattan centers on over 80 pages of the band’s lyrics, some of which ended up at auction after a writer sold them to a rare-books dealer. When the first manuscripts were put up for sale in 2012, singer Don Henley claimed they had been stolen, leading the Manhattan district attorney’s office to get involved. (It’s not the first time Henley has taken legal action over “Hotel California.”) Now, more than a decade later, a group of men have been charged with conspiring to own and sell allegedly stolen lyrics and Henley is slated to testify against them. Here’s what to know.
What happened?
It began more than four decades ago, when Ed Sanders, a writer who founded the rock band the Fugs, was working on a biography of the Eagles. The band had reportedly allowed Sanders to access their archives, which included notepads of lyrics for the 1976 album Hotel California. Sanders never published the memoir, but apparently he kept the notepads. He sold them to Glenn Horowitz, a rare-books dealer, for $50,000 in 2005. Horowitz then sold the lyrics to Craig Inciardi, a former curator for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame museum (he was suspended over the charges) and Edward Kosinski, owner of the memorabilia company Gotta Have Rock and Roll.
After the men attempted to sell some of those lyrics through Kosinski’s company, Henley caught wind of the scheme and bought them himself for $8,500. He soon got the Manhattan district attorney’s office involved, filing a stolen-goods report. Inciardi and Kosinski continued to try to sell the manuscripts, even listing the “Hotel California” lyrics at Sotheby’s in 2016, per the Associated Press. (The auction house later withdrew them.) Police raided the men’s homes in 2019, taking 84 pages of lyrics along with 1,300 pages of paperwork and multiple electronic devices. The Manhattan district attorney’s office charged the men in 2022.
What are the charges?
Horowitz, Inciardi, and Kosinski are each charged with conspiracy in the fourth degree, stemming from the attempts to sell the allegedly stolen lyrics. That charge carries a sentence of up to four years in prison. Horowitz, who first bought the manuscripts, is also charged with attempted criminal possession of stolen property and two counts of hindering prosecution. Inciardi and Kosinski are each charged with criminal possession of stolen property. “New York is a world-class hub for art and culture, and those who deal cultural artifacts must scrupulously follow the law,” said DA Alvin Bragg when announcing the charges in 2022. “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.” Crucially, none of the men has actually been charged with stealing the lyrics, though the charges are predicated on the lyrics being stolen. Sanders, the writer, has not been charged.
So, how did they get the lyrics?
That is the key question of the case. Henley, per the AP, told a grand jury that he never gave Sanders the lyrics, but the defense disputes this. In the indictment, Horowitz said Sanders told him that he was given his choice of Henley’s materials to use for the book. But once attorneys for Henley got involved after they attempted to sell the lyrics, Sanders offered different stories. He variously claimed he took the papers from a dressing room or stagehand as part of his research. In 2017, he said he’d gotten the manuscripts from the Eagles’ Glenn Frey, who died in 2016. Horowitz reportedly said crediting the late Frey “would make this go away once and for all.”
The defense argued the lyrics were not stolen in a 2022 motion to dismiss the case, according to Rolling Stone, claiming Sanders merely obtained them while shadowing the band. The motion was denied.
Why is this a criminal case?
The defense wants to know as well. Many disagreements over memorabilia are settled, including a previous one involving Horowitz and Gone With the Wind author Margaret Mitchell’s papers. The defense in this case claims that Henley took advantage of prosecutors who are also fans of the Eagles, leading to criminal charges rather than a civil case or settlement. Kosinski’s lawyer even said one investigator with the DA’s office asked for backstage Eagles passes, according to the AP, before a prosecutor chided them. Prosecutors called this claim “a conspiracy theory rather than a legal defense.”
When is the trial (and when is Henley testifying)?
The trial begins February 21 in Manhattan and is expected to last at least ten days. Henley, who plans to testify, heads back on tour with the Eagles from March 1 to 16, so expect him to take the stand before then.
