NEW YORK, Oct. 7, 2010

John Lennon's Fingerprints Seized by FBI in NYC

Musician's Signed 1976 Fingerprint Card Taken from Memorabilia Shop; Feds Want to Know How Item "Came to Be Up for Auction"

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    Undated photo of John Lennon  (AP Photo, file)

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(CBS/AP)  The FBI has seized a set of John Lennon's fingerprints from a Manhattan memorabilia shop.

U.S. agents removed the item on Wednesday from the store, called Gotta Have It!

The New York Times says the signed fingerprint card was made at a police station on May 8, 1976. It bears the name John Winston Ono Lennon. At the time, Lennon was applying for citizenship.

Spokesman James Margolin said the FBI is investigating how the item "came to be up for auction."

A store owner, Peter Siegel, said Homeland Security also had inquired about the card.

Siegel said an unidentified concert promoter bought it at a Beatles convention about two decades ago.

"I’ve been doing this 20 years and have never had this much government interest in something," Siegel told the newspaper. "Here he is, one of our greatest musicians ever, and they just don’t stop investigating this guy."

Saturday would have been Lennon's 70th birthday.





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