I distinctly remember reading in one of the monthly rock mags of the time (Circus, Hit Parader, Rolling Stone...) Plant stating that "if we make a big deal about this pleople will complain that we're spoiled and only care about money, and if we don't complain it's because we're so rich it doesn't bother us. We can't win either way."
@@Nicholas-dreamlove Some very famous people, JK Rowland etc signed their books at Waterstones London. Jimmy page stamped his. That should tell you all you need to know about how tight he is.
There were rumors that no one stole the money, that this story was made up to cheat the IRS… whatever the truth, it added to the band’s legendary aura, that aura that made people’s imaginations boil. To quote a famous line from an old movie, “When the legend becomes bigger than the truth, publish the legend.”
IMHO, the "old blues men" got the royalties they earned from the music they published when they published it. Hardly anyone bought it. Supply and demand.
@@raysearch-iu3fr No one bought it at the time but a lot of those people had a second career after the British Invasion. My tongue in cheek remark refers to not given credit when credit was due. I guess some of it was eventually made good through lawsuits or settled out of court. Cheers.
If that $200 grand is $1.4 million today, as stated in the video, that $6.50 is $45 now. Still not bad considering the insanity of today's concert prices.
I've always thought it was Cole. On the band's first American tour he was making more money than Plant or Bonham. That changed real quick when they went from playing clubs to stadiums. He's shown a willingness to say whatever he has to in order to get a payday. His bio of the band is highly suspect.
I doubt it. How would the hotel management know exactly what was put in that safe deposit box without a full formal, witnessed accounting of the contents and a receipt given? For all the hotel staff knows, nothing was put inside that deposit box but an empty container.
@JoeBlow-fp5ng Yeah. That's a good point. How do banks guarantee the safety of their private boxes? I don't know how that works. But if there's a 2 key system, and someone on staff around the clock, one would think there might be some recourse. Today an upper class hotel would probably prefer to settle to avoid negative publicity. Back then this story probably enhanced the groove of the place. Just don't leave any stuff there.
Well if the box wasn't tampered with tells you that who ever it was had a second set of key's( exact copy's) and wore glove's was inside job had helpers as look outs.
wonder if anyone's lifestyle suddenly changed after the 'incident'... still feel like it was an inside job, whether that be hotel staff or band management/no real thieves... really like the idea it was a publicity stunt for the movie.
How secure could that really be? Did they change locks for each patron? Would there be someone who had access to a duplicate key? Were valuables not insured? A lot of questions here.
@MickeyWattsDeadHead it kind of ruined it for me but the soundtrack is still awesome! You know they are planning to blow your sox off when they transition from rock and roll to celebration day!
How would they be able to put that much money in that small space? I'm not sure but what was the denomination of the money, was it 200 one thousand dollars bills? I'm not sure we are given the truth about all this. You should have a list of the money on each bill. You just can't say that it is 203 thousand dollars. That's all.
@@RJSIdiomas $180,000 in hundred dollar bills would fill a shoe box. The same amount in twenty dollar bills would be 9000 individual bills. Divided by 50 bills per banded stack would make 180 stacks. That many stacks would not fit in a briefcase, but would make for one very heavy suitcase. When Frank Sinatra was questioned at the Kefauver hearings if he had once been handed a briefcase with $2,000,000 in it he said, "I'd like like to see the briefcase that could hold two million bucks."
@@johnhuber1974 One thousand $20 bills ($20,000, or about 1/10 of the money in question) would have a height of about 2.15 inches and a weight of about 2.2 pounds.
The US Treasury stopped printing denominations > $100 in 1969, but there were still larger ones in circulation. I remember once as a kid my father got a $500 bill before we went on a vacation and we all marveled at it! If the cash in the briefcase was as collected, it would have been mainly $10 or $20 bills, but if they exchanged their box office for easier handling then it would probably have been $500 bills.
In the clip where they were playing "The Ocean," The drummer does NOT look like it's Bonzo.........Oh Man, I think I might have just solved this caper. You're Welcome!
The hotel manager had a key to the safe. Unless he kept that key on his body at all times, then some other hotel employee had the ability to take the money and get away with it.
A lot of you are pointing the finger at Cole. But think about this. He would never ever have been able to spend it. The band and Grant knew exactly what Cole earned, cuz they're the ones paying his salary. So they'd also have known what he could afford to spend and to buy. To me this says even more than the lie detector test.
I remember back in the 80s Ted Nugent said the mob robbed in the stadium money it was probably more common then what people think in the 90s my band was playing in Ybor City Tampa and our manager said he was robbed in the play Ali behind the bar it was only $500 but that was what we lived on these days put on the other hand he lived the shady life just like most managers🤨
Absolutely Not ! That’s why American ExPats Denounce American Citizenship They make a living Overseas & pay taxes Overseas IRS wants their share of money being made by Americans anywhere As long as you’re a American citizen. Trump wants your money (Taxes).
Depends which country you are from. If you are a UK citizen monies earned out of the UK is not taxable by UK HM Revenue and Customs That is why so many UK bands lived outside of the UK as tax exiles back in the day. However, a UK band that earned money on U.S. soil had a tax obligation to the IRS. On the other hand, U.S. citizens are taxed on worldwide income. One of a very few countries with such a policy.
The question of could that much money fit in the saftey deposit box? Well, in 1969, my grandfather asked me if I wanted to count $10,000. I was amazed when he handed me 10 1,000$ bills. Seemed a bit anticlimatic to a 13 year old at the time. Yeah, that much would fit if they were big bills.
Yes it would take two keys to open, one help by the bank/hotel, & one by the box holder. You have to wonder too, did the hotel also have a master key, & if so where was it kept? Likely it was Cole who took it, & never actually put it in the box, just made it seem as though he did.
It’s still less than the money they stole from the people that actually wrote the songs everyone considers a “led zeppelin” song today. From Stairway to heaven, to immigrant song to black mountain side, they stole them all and claimed them as their own. World’s most successful cover band.
I distinctly remember reading in one of the monthly rock mags of the time (Circus, Hit Parader, Rolling Stone...) Plant stating that "if we make a big deal about this pleople will complain that we're spoiled and only care about money, and if we don't complain it's because we're so rich it doesn't bother us. We can't win either way."
Yes, I remember the band saying that too. I believe I read that in Ritchie Yorke's Led Zeppelin Biography. Best just to Rock on!
Yep. They couldn't win with the press. Plant was getting most of the criticism but Bonham seemed to take it the worst.
Peter Grant, decided to make a tax free sweep and asked Cole to some dirty work. Life goes on !
All these years, I've always thought the same thing!
For the record, I was nowhere near The Drake Hotel on July 29, 1973.
Me neither. Although it would have been more than worth the interrogation just to see them on stage that night!
A PR stunt that neted them tax free $$$. Sounds legit!
I don't think the money was ever in the safety deposit box.
Now you're getting it.
My suspect Peter Grant with the help of his faithful henchman Richard Cole
I've thought the same all along! Grant was supposed to be all about his client, BUT he was trusted and also greedy. 2+2=4
This robbery was just a publicity stunt, imo a robbery never took place.
the arrogance of led zeppelin
Yes publicity for the film
I always thought Page might have taken it.
@@ImYourOverlord : Why, he didn't need the money.
@@Nicholas-dreamlove Some very famous people, JK Rowland etc signed their books at Waterstones London. Jimmy page stamped his. That should tell you all you need to know about how tight he is.
One of 2 options:
1) Totally fake publicity stunt for the film
2) Peter Grant stole it
Don’t forget the Mafia ruled supreme in New York at that time.
If that were the case we would have ten washed up nobody's from that world taking credit for it.
😂😂😂 yes your right, I didn’t think of that.
Still do.
Seems like the hotel would be at least partially responsible for the missing funds.
Corruption in NYC is still rampant and crimes like this are an everyday occurrence.
There were rumors that no one stole the money, that this story was made up to cheat the IRS… whatever the truth, it added to the band’s legendary aura, that aura that made people’s imaginations boil. To quote a famous line from an old movie, “When the legend becomes bigger than the truth, publish the legend.”
Cole looks guilty in that one pic. Lol
very thank.s
Why didn't they require payments by check?
Maybe all the old blues men conspired to get their money back.
I love LZ, but that would be some bad karma they earned.
Bat tat
IMHO, the "old blues men" got the royalties they earned from the music they published when they published it. Hardly anyone bought it. Supply and demand.
@@raysearch-iu3fr No one bought it at the time but a lot of those people had a second career after the British Invasion. My tongue in cheek remark refers to not given credit when credit was due. I guess some of it was eventually made good through lawsuits or settled out of court. Cheers.
😅😂
They accidentally issued the wrong key & box to us and when we opened it , we decided to take the money and run -- Steve Miller ...
@@larrocovarry9027 and all they did with the money was sit around the house get high and watch the tube
Was Rudy a hotel employee before becoming mayor.
No, Rudy was a DA at the time, and then he became the greatest mayor NYC ever had.
@@tomcarl8021 OUCH! Somebody got Butthurt!
$6.50 to see the biggest band in the world.
Quite a bargain.
If that $200 grand is $1.4 million today, as stated in the video, that $6.50 is $45 now. Still not bad considering the insanity of today's concert prices.
@@JamesThompson-zk1ht in 77 when I went it was 10 bucks…we thought it was expensive!!
I've always thought it was Cole. On the band's first American tour he was making more money than Plant or Bonham. That changed real quick when they went from playing clubs to stadiums. He's shown a willingness to say whatever he has to in order to get a payday. His bio of the band is highly suspect.
It was a publicity stunt for the film.
The band wasn't told about the theft until after the last show on the night it happened.
Wouldn't The Drake be liable for anything in their strong box?
You would think so.
I doubt it. How would the hotel management know exactly what was put in that safe deposit box without a full formal, witnessed accounting of the contents and a receipt given? For all the hotel staff knows, nothing was put inside that deposit box but an empty container.
@JoeBlow-fp5ng Yeah. That's a good point. How do banks guarantee the safety of their private boxes? I don't know how that works. But if there's a 2 key system, and someone on staff around the clock, one would think there might be some recourse. Today an upper class hotel would probably prefer to settle to avoid negative publicity. Back then this story probably enhanced the groove of the place. Just don't leave any stuff there.
There’s no guaranteed safety inside a bank “safety deposit box “. I’d store my monopoly currency there
Well if the box wasn't tampered with tells you that who ever it was had a second set of key's( exact copy's) and wore glove's was inside job had helpers as look outs.
Kind of ridiculous amount of cash to hold in any hotels safety deposit box even today..Money should of been taken to proper bank!!
🌬🔑🔑💵💵💵👈
It was possible one of the five families..
Exactly when did Robert plant transform into the cowardly lion from OZ
Time is cruel. Even rock gods start to look like Ethel Merman after a while.
Years of smoking and hard core partying doesn’t discriminate
I was there. All I got was a free bar of soap.
wonder if anyone's lifestyle suddenly changed after the 'incident'... still feel like it was an inside job, whether that be hotel staff or band management/no real thieves... really like the idea it was a publicity stunt for the movie.
I took the money, with the janitor. We actually used it to pay for hotdog stands in NYC and are now millionaires.
No it was me with colonel custard, in the kitchen with the spanner
How secure could that really be? Did they change locks for each patron? Would there be someone who had access to a duplicate key? Were valuables not insured? A lot of questions here.
Too bad the "live" segments were filmed on a soundstage in a studio.
I only learned that recently. So disappointed.
@MickeyWattsDeadHead it kind of ruined it for me but the soundtrack is still awesome! You know they are planning to blow your sox off when they transition from rock and roll to celebration day!
Incredible to imagine how the song does remain the same, even after you've had $180,000 of your money ripped off from you.
How would they be able to put that much money in that small space? I'm not sure but what was the denomination of the money, was it 200 one thousand dollars bills? I'm not sure we are given the truth about all this. You should have a list of the money on each bill.
You just can't say that it is 203 thousand dollars. That's all.
Excellent point. At the time they said 180 thousand, but even so, that's a lot of five and ten dollar bills. All in one small briefcase?
@@RJSIdiomas $180,000 in hundred dollar bills would fill a shoe box. The same amount in twenty dollar bills would be 9000 individual bills. Divided by 50 bills per banded stack would make 180 stacks. That many stacks would not fit in a briefcase, but would make for one very heavy suitcase. When Frank Sinatra was questioned at the Kefauver hearings if he had once been handed a briefcase with $2,000,000 in it he said, "I'd like like to see the briefcase that could hold two million bucks."
@@johnhuber1974 One thousand $20 bills ($20,000, or about 1/10 of the money in question) would have a height of about 2.15 inches and a weight of about 2.2 pounds.
The US Treasury stopped printing denominations > $100 in 1969, but there were still larger ones in circulation. I remember once as a kid my father got a $500 bill before we went on a vacation and we all marveled at it! If the cash in the briefcase was as collected, it would have been mainly $10 or $20 bills, but if they exchanged their box office for easier handling then it would probably have been $500 bills.
Some say it was Karma for charging 8.50 when the going rate was 4.50 a concert
Well, that said, prices reflecting supply and demand in a free market is the best system ever created.
In the clip where they were playing "The Ocean," The drummer does NOT look like it's Bonzo.........Oh Man, I think I might have just solved this caper. You're Welcome!
The hotel manager had a key to the safe. Unless he kept that key on his body at all times, then some other hotel employee had the ability to take the money and get away with it.
A lot of you are pointing the finger at Cole. But think about this. He would never ever have been able to spend it. The band and Grant knew exactly what Cole earned, cuz they're the ones paying his salary. So they'd also have known what he could afford to spend and to buy. To me this says even more than the lie detector test.
The Mob ???
was grant and cole i say
@@roywatson8133 Probably free publicity for the film
Frenchy from Goodfellas
I remember back in the 80s Ted Nugent said the mob robbed in the stadium money it was probably more common then what people think in the 90s my band was playing in Ybor City Tampa and our manager said he was robbed in the play Ali behind the bar it was only $500 but that was what we lived on these days put on the other hand he lived the shady life just like most managers🤨
They stole their own money to pay for the drugs, case closed.
I think they stole it themselves to beat the "tax man" out of his share.
I think there’s a connection to the Jimmy Hoffa disappearance
Why do you think that?
@ just joking….
Stunt
There were no witnesses, probably no money. it's all hearsay. When cash was king.
Cash is still king, and always will be . . .
$ 1,421,139.64 worth in today's money
It’s only that much if you go by the fraudulent mainstream inflation numbers. If you calculate by real inflation numbers it’s substantially more
I remember this, I suspect they have a good idea who did this.
Money earned abroad is tax free, isnt it
Absolutely Not !
That’s why American ExPats Denounce American Citizenship
They make a living Overseas & pay taxes Overseas
IRS wants their share of money being made by Americans anywhere
As long as you’re a American citizen. Trump wants your money (Taxes).
@@danmadgett1513 true indeed.
Depends which country you are from. If you are a UK citizen monies earned out of the UK is not taxable by UK HM Revenue and Customs That is why so many UK bands lived outside of the UK as tax exiles back in the day. However, a UK band that earned money on U.S. soil had a tax obligation to the IRS.
On the other hand, U.S. citizens are taxed on worldwide income. One of a very few countries with such a policy.
@ yeah - Uncle Sam has to get his! 😝
I bet that he wanted to take a M2 Browning to them like Bronson?
I think it was a couple of hoods connected to the Ronzoni crime family.
probably the goodfella guys
Zep good
The question of could that much money fit in the saftey deposit box? Well, in 1969, my grandfather asked me if I wanted to count $10,000. I was amazed when he handed me 10 1,000$ bills. Seemed a bit anticlimatic to a 13 year old at the time. Yeah, that much would fit if they were big bills.
Back in the day there also use to be $10,000 bills in circulation. The highest U.S. denomination issued to the public.
The movie was terrible
Agree, but the soundtrack was great.
@@lewisaveryfiler7087 I will say the version of stairway they do is really excellent….
Yes it would take two keys to open, one help by the bank/hotel, & one by the box holder. You have to wonder too, did the hotel also have a master key, & if so where was it kept? Likely it was Cole who took it, & never actually put it in the box, just made it seem as though he did.
It’s still less than the money they stole from the people that actually wrote the songs everyone considers a “led zeppelin” song today. From Stairway to heaven, to immigrant song to black mountain side, they stole them all and claimed them as their own. World’s most successful cover band.