NASHVILLE – The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s Director of Acquisitions along with two other men were arraigned on Tuesday on charges they conspired to illegally possess and sell 100 pages of notes and lyrics from the Eagles album “Hotel California,” including Don Henley’s lyrics to the songs to the famed “Hotel California,” “Life in the Fast Lane” and “New Kid In Town.”
A biographer for the band allegedly stole the handwritten manuscripts in the 1970s and, in 2005, sold them to Glenn Horowitz, a rare books dealer and one of the three men charged.
Horowitz then sold the notes to Craig Inciardi, Director of Acquisitions for the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame and Rock auctioneer, Edward Kosinski, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
Though he remains an employee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame museum in Cleveland, Inciardi works out of the offices of the museum’s parent group, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation in New York.
Following Tuesday’s indictment, the foundation’s CEO and president Joel Peresman sent a letter to the board members stating that Inciardi has been suspended from his role as curator and director of acquisitions.
“At this time, we do not know whether Craig engaged in any wrongdoing,” Peresmen wrote in the letter obtained by Rolling Stone. “He will remain on leave pending the resolution of the third-party internal investigation and the extent of the charges once the indictment is unsealed.”
