Mystery solved: here's who stole Brother Andre's heart

   This is the never-before-told story of who stole Brother Andre's heart from its marble pedestal beneath the basilica of the St. Joseph's Oratory on Thursday, March 16, 1973 at about 5 p.m.
  A young man from Point St. Charles named Bobby Addlin picked two locks on an iron gate that surrounded the heart which sat on a pedestal that had no alarms and fled with the unit.
   A West End Gang hangaround named Frank Ward had previously been assumed to have committed the crime. Ward was a serious criminal who committed at least one murder and his son Frank Jr. also went on to due some long-term time before recently being released. But that information proved incorrect.
 Addlin was accompanied by a young Peter Fryer.

@CoolopolisMTL Easy. Bobbie took it he brought me for the ride. pic.twitter.com/RcX965M0k3

— peter fryer (@peterfryer4) June 18, 2015

   Church officials noted that the heart had no market value and initially hoped that it was just a college kids' prank.
   But someone rang up the Journal de Montreal and threatened to destroy the heart unless they were given $50,000. The caller, a francophone, directed them to a car parked at Cremazie and Drolet where a roll of film was found containing photos of the heart.
   Father Marcel Lalonde of the Catholic Holy Cross Fathers rejected the demand.
   The church denied reports that it received a flood of donations aimed at speeding the return of the glass-encased relic of Andre Bessette.
   The story made headlines around the world. Many ascribed the theft of the blood pumping organ to separatist bandits.
   The crime captured the imagination of the city: The Vehicule Gallery on St. Catherine just west of the Main devoted an exhibit to the theft.
   Artist Stephen Lack was one of the contributors to the irreverent exhibit.

 Alan "Bozo" Moyle and Frank Vitale wanted to do an art show celebrating the kidnapping and ransom of the heart. It was an open call and there were amazing and scandalous works, the most memorable being on a table of smaller pieces, a heart of a cow obtained from a butcher shop, wrapped in plastic wrap and positioned in a baseball mitt. Over the two weeks of the show the raw heart birthed maggots.

   Another was a life sized crucifix with a vibrating erection that someone put a ladder against and climbed the ladder to give the crucified a little oral to aid in the dispatch to the other side.

Peter Fryer

   One of my contributions was a large sized black garbage bag tied to the upper railing of the gallery in a way that made it heart shaped, and then spray painted red and topped with gold sprayed styrofoam worms.

  The Oratory learned to do without the heart, as Christmas passed without the familiar item near the crutches discarded nearby by miraculously-healed believers.
   Just days before Christmas 1974 police received a tip from lawyer Frank Shoofey who directed them to a house in southwest Montreal where cops recovered the heart in a basement.
   No arrests were made. The heart was returned to its spot on Saturday December 21, 1974 after 645 days.
Who did it?
  Peter Fryer, who says that he he is writing a book about his criminal past in Montreal, says that he took it with Bobby Addlin.
   Fryer, now 60, was sitting outside the Condi Tavern with Addlin and Bobby Matticks. Those two were about to be sentenced from five to 10 years for robberies. Addlin thought he could reduce their sentence if they had an item to exchange.
   Fryer and Addlin went up together and attempted to steal the heart. He notes that the doors were unlocked except for two small padlocks that proved easy to pick.
   They left with the heart and the lawyer contacted prosecutors, who balked at the notion of offering a lighter sentence in exchange for the return of the religious treasure.

Shoofey

   Addlin and Fryer felt that they had committed a major blunder and worried about getting murdered for their deed. They told two people only, Eddie McPolland and his brother Ronnie McPolland. They suggested that they never mention it to them or anybody else again.
   According to Fryer's story, the police eventually relented and the heart was returned. It's unlikely that any benefit came from the theft.
   Bobby Matticks, one of the famous Matticks Brothers clan, died of cancer in 1981.
   My attempts to reach Fryer to have yet to bear fruit. Fryer was later incarcerated for playing a role in a kidnapping situation engineered by Donald "Brother" McGuire, a currently-incarcerated hood with a particularly vicious reputation.