A Co Down based journalist has uncovered new information about a famous robbery that saw $180,000 stolen from Led Zeppelin in New York.
James Cook from Newcastle runs the website LedZepNews which is dedicated to covering news and rumours about the rock icons and their legacy.
He has recently uncovered New York Police Department files regarding an unsolved robbery that the band were a victim of on July 29, 1973 at the Drake Hotel in city where around $180,000 were stolen from a safe deposit box.
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Using a FOIL request, the New York State version of a freedom of information request, James has managed to obtain an NYPD case file into the robbery that was once believed to have been lost or destroyed. He has also tracked down Florida property records connected to the case that had been requested by the FBI and the NYPD, but never received by them."
These files have revealed that Led Zeppelin's tour manager, Richard Cole switched safe deposit boxes hours before the money vanished, moving the band’s cash out of the box it had been stored in for days.
James also found that the NYPD investigation had focused on two employees of the Drake Hotel.
He said: "This is one of the biggest mysteries of Led Zeppelin's career with the cash being stolen while the band were set to perform three shows at Madison Square Garden and was eventually mentioned in the iconic concert film “The Song Remains The Same”.
"Over the years there has been a lot of speculation about what happened the money, with investigations primarily focusing on two bellmen at the hotel and there even being suggestions that organised crime and the mafia may have been involved.
"The investigation into the theft was closed after just one year and I understand that there were difficulties at the time with the NYPD and FBI working together with one another and sharing appriopriate files and information which may have hampered the case.
"I have now managed to obtain the original case files into the robbery from the NYPD which reveal some interesting information that has never been shared before, that the band's manager Richard Cole had switched the money into another safety deposit box from the one it had been stored in for a number of days.
"The case files also show interviews that were carried out by NYPD detectives and the notes they took during the investigation with a number of people being shown as potential suspects, which include the band's manager, the last hotel employee to handle the box and a Mr B, a bellman with an arrest record who seemed to acquire a large amount of cash around the time of the theft.
"Analysis of the files from the FBI show that Mr B had sold a property in Florida in 1973 which could explain where his money came from. But his fingerprints were never taken and he was spotted in the room where the safety deposit boxes were kept at the time of the theft. It has also been claimed that Mr B was watched for years by the FBI following this.
"The files don't bring the mystery of the theft to an end, but thankfully have been able to provide more concrete information about one of the most infamous chapters in the bands history."
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