LedZepNews has obtained the New York Police Department (NYPD) record of the arrest of Led Zeppelin manager Peter Grant on July 30, 1973 after he got into an altercation with a newspaper photographer in the hours following the discovery of the theft of $180,000 in cash from the band’s safe depost box at the Drake Hotel.

Following a records request made by LedZepNews in January, the NYPD has released its record relating to the scuffle between Grant and New York Daily News photographer Charles Ruppmann.

The NYPD file shows that at 12.20am on July 30, 1973, as Grant and members of Led Zeppelin returned to the Drake Hotel following a party at New York’s Carlyle Hotel, Grant pushed and shoved Ruppmann and prevented him from photographing the band members.

The alteraction resulted in Ruppmann losing his roll of film, the NYPD file shows, potentially after Grant damaged or briefly took his camera.

Ruppmann awaited Led Zeppelin at the Drake Hotel as part of the media frenzy over the theft of $180,000 in money from the band’s safe deposit box.

In January, LedZepNews published a full investigation into the Drake Hotel robbery and revealed the original NYPD files relating to its investigation of the theft.

At 7.45pm on July 29, 1973, the missing money was discovered as the members of Led Zeppelin prepared to travel to Madison Square Garden.

Following the show, the band members attended the Carlyle Hotel party thrown by Atlantic Records before returning to their hotel after midnight. They “brushed past newsmen in the hotel lobby and refused to answer questions about the missing money,” according to an Associated Press report.

Writing in his book “Stairway to Heaven: Led Zeppelin Uncensored” published in 1992, tour manager Richard Cole claimed that “Peter flew into a rage” after encountering Ruppmann. “He grabbed the fellow’s Nikon and flung it across the lobby. The lens cracked. The flash attachment shattered. The photographer stumbled to the ground in a futile effort to rescue his camera,” Cole wrote.

In its July 30, 1973 edition, Ruppmann’s employer the New York Daily News covered the scuffle. It reported that Grant “straight-armed Charles Ruppmann, a photograper for THE NEWS, knocking his glasses askew, as Ruppmann tried to take pictures of the group outside the hotel.”

“Ruppmann told police from the W. 54th St. station that the man continued his attack by pushing him against a wall of the hotel and demanding all of his film. Ruppmann complied,” the newspaper reported.

LedZepNews previously interviewed Ruppmann about the scuffle. The veteran photographer said that “I think that was the first time I was physically challenged.”

He denied that Grant threw him against a wall, however “I wasn’t physically hurt, just scared,” he said.

Following a press conference held at the Drake Hotel regarding the robbery on the morning of July 30, 1973, Grant was arrested by the NYPD over the alteraction with Ruppmann.

Grant was loaded into a squad car and taken to police headquarters on charges of petty larceny and assault that were later reduced to harassment.

A friendly guard at the police headquarters advised Grant to remove his jewellery in the cells. “When you get in there, don’t even talk to anyone,” Grant was told by the guard, according to Cole in his 1992 book.

Grant was “released contemplating dismissal”, according to an article published in Record World on August 11, 1973.

The newly released NYPD file describes Grant as “slightly balding” with a “thin beard”, “dark brown shirt” and an “English accent”.

The full NYPD record of the alteraction and Grant’s arrest is below:

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