On this day in 1973, Led Zeppelin were robbed of $200,000 in New York

 In the midst of a highly successful US Tour, the band performed three nights at New York’s famous Madison Square Garden stadium. The band’s road manager, Richard Cole checked the group’s safety deposit box in their room at the Drake Hotel at 1:20am and saw nothing out of the usual. But, when he checked again at 7:30pm he discovered only 5 passports remained in the box, with between $203,800 and $220,000 missing.

Detectives attended the hotel immediately and questioned Cole and the rest of the band. They were informed that the band kept these large amounts of cash for expenses. The detectives discovered no indication that the box had been forced open and that two keys were needed to remove the box from the safe, one kept by the desk clerk and another by Cole himself. 

Zeppelin manager Peter Grant held a press conference about the robbery the following day, while the band remained secluded in their suites. Though the $200,000 would have put a dent in the bands earnings, the group still accumulate over $4 million from the rest of the tour. Despite the thorough police investigation, the crime remains unsolved.