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Real Montreal Mafia extortion attempt caught on tape - how toughs took aim at notaries Caplans
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Revisiting Sherbrooke and Park, Montreal's lost nightclub strip
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Episodes from Montreal's marijuana past
The Courrier du Canada ran an ad in 1874 for Craddock and Company of Philadelphia, which noted that Dr. H. James saw his only son cured for consumption after seeing his own son get healed by Indian hemp.
The ad promised that hemp also cured night sweats, nausea and colds within 24 hours. Those interested were implored to send a note with postage stamps.
La Presse reported in 1931 that Canadian horseback police were on the hunt for a variety of Mexican hemp that can "be smoked in the form of a cigarette, which produces a state of intoxication similar to excessive alcohol abuse." It noted that in the States the substance was banned under the Harrison law amendment of 1929 and that the marijuana cigarettes were known as "muggles, reefers and Mary Warners."
A couple of weeks later three crew members of the S.S. Matawin sailing from South Africa were arrested for the same offence.
Judges proved themselves up to meting out harsh sentences in the 1930s onwards.
So getting caught with marijuana was no joke.
Louis Metcalf and three other star jazz musicians - including Albert King and Sakid Akim - from the celebrated Metcalf Orchestra were caught with marijuana near Dorion on the road to Ottawa in Nov. 1950.
Louis Metcalf and surely the others, simply returned to the states rather than stick around for sentencing. They were facing six months in jail plus a $200 fine.
Louis Metcalf had arrived in Montreal in 1946 and was considered jazz royalty during his four years in Montreal.
The pot-musician bust scenario returned in July 1969 when a couple of members of the Vanilla Fudge band were arrested in their hotel room for hashish after playing a riotous gig at Place des Nations, in which they invited people on stage. Those spectators proceeded to steal the band's equipment.
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A reluctant leaper, cop fratricide, failed tunnel heist and a gas leak mystery - four Montreal stories from 1964
Shirley Deschamps, 20, had been placed in the Foyer Sainte Claire d'Assise to stay with the Franciscans de Marie at 80 Laurier East in early April 1964.
Young Shirley was suddenly hit by some sense of torment one Tuesday afternoon and decided to leap from her window. at the top of the third floor.Police were unable to break into her room and attempted to coax her back inside from neighbouring windows. Firemen raised a ladder and eventually one of them talked her down after about half an hour of meaningless dramatics.
***
Adrien Breton and Arthur Breton, 35, both worked for city of Dorval for many years, Arthur as a carpenter foreman and Adrien as a police officer.
The duo were not just brothers and colleagues, but they were also hunting and fishing buddies.
A trio of bank robbers attempted to access the safe at the National Bank of Canada at the corner of Ste. Catherine East and Dufresne in May 1964 but their aim was off.
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Police descended on the group as they were deep in the tunnel. They tried to escape by digging upwards to freedom and only ended up making a hole in the jewelry store basement floor, well short of their intended target.
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Two adults and a toddler lay dead for a week at 3776 Evelyn, a third-floor apartment in a sixplex in northeastern Verdun in April 1964.
The trio, Michael McAffrey, 37, Sandra Evans, 4, and Mrs. James Arkinson (given name unknown), 41, were apparently killed by natural gas poisoning.
Gas-heated water tanks came with a hose in those days that would let out poisonous gas if disconnected.
A neighbour suspected that the deaths might have been a result of a murder-suicide, as that individual reported hearing the couple arguing intensely prior to their permanent radio silence.
The bodies were not entirely fresh when found.
The Petit Journal newspaper told the story with the classy headline "I washed with bleach but it still smelled."
One day Adrien was called to rush to Lachine to help some workers overcome with gas fumes, as two dozen workers at Smith and Nephew had succumbed to the effects of a leaky pipe.
Adrien was speeding along in his cop cruiser, which doubled as an ambulance but another vehicle failed to see his car, perhaps due to high hedges growing at the intersection of St. Louis and Surrey. Arthur Breton might have failed to hear the siren due to a low-flying plane overhead.
The two vehicles collided and Arthur Breton was killed instantly and his vehicle exploded.
The two vehicles collided and Arthur Breton was killed instantly and his vehicle exploded.
Officer Adrien Breton exited his cop cruiser to the horrific realization that he had killed his own brother Arthur on Tuesday June 9, 1964.
***
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| Morrison the jeweler shows map |
Raymond Beaupré and his brother Jean Paul Beaupré along with Marcel Savard spent 10 days digging a narrow tunnel from a dilapidated apartment building (now demolished) from May 8.
Their aim was to dig a 70-foot tunnel under building that separated the two structures to get to the bank at the corner at 2395 St. Catherine E.
That effort required digging underneath J.H. Morrison Jewelers, which turned out to be a problem for the thieves because Morrison had equipped his business with sophisticated alarms after being robbed three times of between $25,000 and $30,000.
Police descended on the group as they were deep in the tunnel. They tried to escape by digging upwards to freedom and only ended up making a hole in the jewelry store basement floor, well short of their intended target. ***
Two adults and a toddler lay dead for a week at 3776 Evelyn, a third-floor apartment in a sixplex in northeastern Verdun in April 1964.
The trio, Michael McAffrey, 37, Sandra Evans, 4, and Mrs. James Arkinson (given name unknown), 41, were apparently killed by natural gas poisoning.
Gas-heated water tanks came with a hose in those days that would let out poisonous gas if disconnected.
A neighbour suspected that the deaths might have been a result of a murder-suicide, as that individual reported hearing the couple arguing intensely prior to their permanent radio silence.
The bodies were not entirely fresh when found.
The Petit Journal newspaper told the story with the classy headline "I washed with bleach but it still smelled."
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Lou Black's Living Room - a downtown nightclub that endured attack after attack
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| Black outside his bar fire 1964 |
So that tells you something about Lou Black's Living Room, which opened in 1960 with a capacity of 400.
Lou was "a good looking guy," onetime acquaintance Harry Blank, now 92, tells Coolopolis.
But Blank, who lived at 7777 Mountain Sights with his wife Nancy and at least one child, named Terry, attracted considerable hurdles in his attempts to become nightclub king.
King owned a second-floor venue at 1475 Mansfield, a building just up from St. Catherine now long demolished and replaced.
It aimed to be a posh joint and sat upstairs from Cafe Brazil, with the bar on the second floor and offices and dressing rooms on the third floor. Black claimed that he had been in the nightclub business since 1939.
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| Bouchard 1953 |
Black's first big hurdle was in dealing with Conrad Boucher who attempted to intimidate and extort Black until police hauled him in, according to an article from 11 Feb. 1961.
Bouchard was 30 at the time and living at 732 Lacasse in St. Henri. He was close to Pep Cotroni and later became an oft-jailed heroin dealer of some renown.
Another attack followed, this time more vicious as a pair of thugs savagely assaulted Black in his bar on Nov. 17, 1962 and gave him a solid beat-down, leading to a trial that brought considerable media attention. Black was targeted with so much aggression because he had ties with the New York City Mafia, according to one person close to the scene.
Brian Travers and Gerald McGuire were sentenced to three years each for the attack, which saw one guarding the coat check room door while the other beat on Black, in the aim of disfiguring him.
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| Travers 1988 |
Travers, a truck driver, went on to become a chauffeur for Montreal Canadiens General Manager Sam Pollock who feared flying. He was a familiar figure at the Forum and worked closely with players like Chris Nilan and Guy Lafleur.
Gerald McGuire, sometimes known as Mickey McGuire, was the brother of Johnny McGuire, who led a powerful gang of toughs from Rosemount. Gerry later took over co-ownership of PJ's bar on Peel from his brother Johnny, who died at age 55 in 1984.
Lou Black's Living Room carried on in spite of the turbulence, with some describing it as super posh with long lineups. Harry Ship's son Neil sometimes tells of how his rock band got a regular gig at the place.
Neil Sheppard describes it thusly:
The club was quite upscale. There was a large open room with a sunken type living room in the middle. There was lots of red velvet curtains and couches also a lot of gold and brass accents.When I was brought over to Lou, remember I was 13 or 14 years old. I was taken right to the center of the sunken living room he set up there. It was the middle of the day and he was wearing a beautiful tuxHe was a young premature graying good looking man with a kind smile.Up the stairs on one side of the room was the stage and between it and the living room were tables scattered with lamps. Along the other side was the bar. The door exits were all covered as I recall by those red velvet drapes with gold ropes and tassels.
Black's was known for its dancers, with some borrowed connection to Ship's belly-dancing Sahara Club on Sherbrooke Street.But Lou Black's Living Room closed after Feb 29, 1964 when a major explosion rocked the building.
Some might have suspected that the explosion was once again the result of attack.
In fact the explosion was caused by a gas leak. Black claimed to have lost $250,000 in the fire and attempted to sue the gas company for over $800,000.
Another leak occurred a few days later on nearby Mansfield, costing a couple of fine old buildings.
Lou Black then went to New York City where he launched a club, predictably called Lou Black's.
His wife Nancy stayed in Montreal at the time and simply stopped hearing from him on June 8, 1965.
Lou was supposed to be returning to Montreal the next day but simply disappeared according to newspaper reports. His New York City club closed a few days later.
One old timer interviewed by Coolopolis insists that Black was killed in New York but that version is contradicted by the return of Lou Black's Living room at 310 St. Catherine West.
The place made the news again for the wrong reasons, as 15 people, led by a disgruntled fired employee, ransacked the place on Monday 8 July 1968 at 10 p.m., causing $5000 in damages.
Black slid into obscurity after that mention and was not heard from again.
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When Montreal's balloon man was suspected of murdering a child
Jacob Karmensky, aka Jack Karmensky, was a well-known figure in town after he arrived in 1948 after being turfed from China.
Karmensky was a Russian Jew who claimed that he was thriving in business in Shanghai until Communism forced him to flee.
Karmensky was 52 years old on June 8 when the Model Fair set up in an empty field in Montreal North.
The little boy Jones had an idea of going to help blow up balloons at the fair.
The boy's mom said no to his plan but his dad gave him the green light to go and blow the balloons, so the nine-year-old Robert Jones left his home at 11370 Lamoureux and was never seen alive again.
Someone smashed the boy in the head with a rock and left his body in the bushes.
It wasn't clear whether he had been sexually assaulted but his belt was found some distance away.
All 65 employees were immediately interviewed and fingerprinted and the Mayor Lucien Brodeur of Montreal North shut the fair down.
Karmensky came to the police on his own and insisted he had nothing to do with the boy's murder. He said he had.never met the boy.His alibi checked out.
Police arrested a juvenile delinquent from Drummondville who had been around that evening but he too had a credible alibi and was released.
Karmensky continued to lounge around downtown Montreal exercising his lungs and being a general oddball deviant selling his balloons, often getting in trouble with the law for peddling without license.
One time he was busted at Place Bonaventure selling his balloons and the Montreal Star newspaper gave the court proceedings serious coverage.
Feature writer Don Bell wrote an amusing magazine profile on the balloon man in 1968, but with a slightly altered spelling of Jacob Kaminsky. The article, which ended up in the award-winning Saturday Night at the Bagel Factory, was a lighthearted romp about the balloon man's bragging and issues with police in selling balloons without a license.
The balloon man might have been delighted because the article transformed his reputation into being a lovable oddball rather than a suspected child killer.
Bell's postscript noted that Karmensky had threatened to sue Bell after the article appeared, adding that when he ran into Karmensky on the street, the balloon expressed appreciation for the article and admitted that the threatened lawsuit was just a money grab.
The Jones murder was apparently never solved.
***
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| Gerald Arkinson, 16, busted |
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Michèle Duclos: Montreal TV host helped try to blow up the Statue of Liberty
She had, as Oscar Wilde might say, the only two things that matter: youth and beauty.
But she also had brains and ambition and a solid family, with a father who fought bravely for Canada in Dieppe.
She had no trouble finding work in some of the most competitive fields of electronic broadcasting.
She was, however, infected with a reckless dream of helping separate Quebec from Canada at any cost, a notion encouraged - like so many others of that period - by the Algerian revolution.
The notion would propel Duclos to become a central player in a bizarre plot to blow up the Statue of Liberty, Washington Monument and Liberty Bell in 1965.
***
Duclos had a friend Michele Saulnier, 27, who taught psychology at the Ecole Normale near Lafontaine Park. She was from France but had recently become a Canadian citizen, living at 5566 Decelles Apt. 1.
Saulnier, 27, visited Cuba with students in 1964 and crossed paths with Robert "Bob" Collier, 28, who had moved from Boston to York City and was involved in the black rights movement.
Fidel Castro had paid for the trips of a few dozen students to visit Cuba and Collier was one of those who accepted as he was a member of the Fair Play for Cuba movement.
Saulnier and Collier met and immediately shared a passion for revolutionary political movements, as well as for each other. They hit it off as lovers.
She visited him at his place in New York a couple of times after the Cuba time ended.
Collier was inspired by what Saulnier had told him about Quebec's terrorist-separatist FLQ, which had already conducted a murderous bombing raid in 1963, so he formed the Black Liberation Front.
At an early reception for the group Collier met recruit Raymond Wood and spent hours telling him about his dreams of black revolution and his dream of a "large-scale guerrilla-warfare attack within the U.S."
"If anyone is killed or injured, they would have to be sacrificed for the cause. They would have to go to Canada to learn how to use explosive from the people up there who put the bombs in the mailboxes," Collier told Wood.
***
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| Wood, Collier, Duclos and Saulnier meet outside of 5566 Decelles in this photo re-enactment |
They discussed bombing the Statue of Liberty, which Collier described as "that damned old bitch."
Sayyed thought it wiser just to conduct holdups in Harlem but Wood weighed in on the side of bombing the statue.
The four of them all separately visited the Statue of Liberty to see how easy it would be to blow up the head.
They concurred that it would only require getting by a door or two, so blowing up the head of the statue would be a cinch.
**
Collier and Wood rented a blue Renault and drove up to Montreal to get explosives, with their cover being that the trip aimed to bring books for students in Cuba through the Montreal consulate.
It was a bad idea. All comings-and-goings at the Cuban embassy were photographed by Canadian government security.
Wood and Collier arrived at Saulnier's Saturday night at 1:30 a.m on Jan. 30, 1965 and undercover police were already watching from the street.
The next morning, a Sunday, Saulnier's friend, the TV presenter Micehle Duclos drove up in her red Simca at 10 a.m
Duclos, 26, lived nearby and was good friends with Saulnier through the separatist RIN party, where she served as Pierre Bourgault's secretary along with many other tasks.
Duclos seemed to have her hands full with TV and radio but also had ambitions to work at the United Nations. She failed one test and then sought press accreditation based on her writings for a separatist publication but then failed to hand in a letter from the publisher.
Duclos and Saulnier agreed that they found it unusual that the black radicals would come to Canada for dynamite while it should have been fairly easy to obtain in the USA.
The two Micheles agreed to accommodate the dynamite request in order to foster a sort of hideout-pact so they could evade attention at each other's place if required.
According to Wood's later testimony, Duclos said she would sometimes have sex with various officials at the United Nations in New York City as a means of coercing them into being favourable to Quebec separation.
She also said that she had an Algerian husband who had fought for the Algerian Revolution.
The two Americans were disappointed to learn that they would not be leaving with the dynamite
Duclos promised to bring the explosives to them in New York around February 15.
***
Three other characters enter the story briefly here, with one coming to a tragic end.
The two Michelles asked fellow RIN staffer Gilles Legault if he knew a guy who could supply the TNT.
Legault contacted Raymond Sabourin and Jean Giroux who had stolen dynamite from a construction site the year prior and stashed it at their cottage north of Montreal. They worried that it would go off, so they were anxious to get rid of it cheap.
Duclos drove to the cabin with the two and returned with the explosives in Montreal at 6 a.m. on Feb 15. Duclos then motored it to the states but was followed by covert law enforcement every step of the way.
When she reached New York she attempted to shake a car tailing her by driving the wrong way down a street. The car followed her and so she knew that cops were onto her. So she parked the car in a lot on West 239th in the Bronx.
Collier and Wood went to pick up the TNT, wrapped in a Montreal newspaper and stuffed into a Moores paint box measuring 6 by 6 by 9 inches, and both were arrested on the spot.
Luckily for Wood, he was an undercover cop who had been dutifully keeping law enforcement abreast of every development.
Police also arrested Duclos and put out a warrant for Saulnier, who they were unable to immediately extradite.
***
Legault was arrested 10 days later for his role in supplying the dynamite. He confessed to everything but was wrought with guilt and hanged himself in prison with a nylon prosthesis he used, as one of his legs was 15 cm longer than the other. He died April 15.
Duclos, in the end, was simply deported and ended up in France. She returned to Quebec in 1973 after spending time in France and Beirut. By now she had a son and could speak Arabic. She renounced revolution but still believed in separation.
The provincial Liberal government of Robert Bourassa Duc Los gave her work in 1976 and Louise Beaudoin of the Parti Quebecois gave her a plum government position dealing with Algeria in 2001.
She's presumably now retired. Saulnier's fate remains a mystery.
The three black revolutionaries spent somewhere around two years in prison, as their lawyer noted that Wood, the undercover cop, encouraged the bombing strategy and therefore influenced the group.
Collier was later acquitted in another radical affair and then moved to Poughkeepsie to become a social worker where he died in 2010.
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| Collier, Bowe, Sayyed, Duclos, Saulnier and Wood |
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NDG future landmark awaits, as big chunk of prime land waits to be redeveloped
A future west end landmark across from the superhospital could be on the horizon, as a 30,000 square foot property can be yours for just $7.5 million.The future building could be commercial or residential and reach up to eight floors if council and residents don't object to switching the zoning to allow it to go over the proscribed three.
The 10 buildings on the west side of Decarie south of Crowley would need to be demolished and whatever residents inside set packing in a river of tears.A small group of residents recently blocked a proposed grocery store nearby at the southwest corner of Claremont and De Maisonneuve. The Coderre administration chose not to overrule the opposition, so it's possible that a project along those lines might find opposition.
The sale revives speculation as to whether a major new hospital brings significant economic growth to a neighbourhood. Many assumed the superhospital would turn its area into a booming hub, while others pointed out that older hospitals weren't magnets for lots of commercial activity.
In this case the property has been on sale for at least a couple of years with no takers, so nobody is looking at the deal with dollar signs in their eyes as of yet.
The large plot of land on sale could be expanded by purchasing the adjacent buildings, which include a couple of warehouses owned by Rosia La Serra-Montesano and Toni Montesano of NDD, whose 550 square metre property is evaluated at $420,000.The land at 990 and 1000 Decarie could be added to the mix if you could strike a deal with owner Stephen Abbott of Kingston Ontario. Or one could go even further and gobble up Francois St. Laurent's two buildings, each evaluated at about $640,000.
The block ends at a Mazda dealership which spans 4,600 square metres and is evaluated at $3.5 million, although it seems a long shot that the thriving business would be willing to shove off and move along.
The future development, if there ever is one, could generate much excitement as NDG has no landmark structures so anything built on this property would best be something eye-catching. Montreal has no buildings with glass elevators, so a building with such a thing could be amazing, as would be one with elevators that go sideways.
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Rita Picard: Montreal's oft-jailed Queen of the Red Light
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| Picard as seen in 1980 doc Plusieurs tombent en amour* |
Picard was born in 1928 and first saw the inside of a paddy wagon at the age of 19 but eventually graduated from prostitute to madam.
Here's a partial list of her problems with the law as gleaned from local newspapers:
30 June 1966 Picard, 42, was sentenced to 15 months in Tanguay prison after trying to bribe cops with $450 in cash. Cops Ostiguy, Therrien and Vaillancourt dropped into her place of prostitution at 2025 Jean Talon Apt. 3 on March 17 and told her that she had to appear in court for prostitution charges. She handed them $460 in cash and asked for $10 back, promising that they'd never see her again in Montreal if they discreetly overlooked her charges.
Nov 7 1969 Picard fought cop confiscation of $1465 from a house of prostitution she was running on St. Famille Street. She was found guilty but apparently got to keep the money because police couldn't prove that it came off the backs of prostitutes.
April 22 1970 Picard went into business with a young runaway named Madeleine Taylor but the two squabbled about the division of cash and Picard ended up accused of extortion. She was released without charges.
10 and 11 Nov 1972 After a year without a single whorehouse bust, a new police morality squad run by Gerald Cholette and Richard Auby busted 42 women, including Picard at 1444 Mackay apt. 4.
May 2 1973 -Judge Paul Hurteau sentenced Picard to 18 months for living on the avails of prostitution, operating four young women out of a whorehouse on downtown Metcalfe Street. She was already serving a term of 23 months at the time.
Jan 14 1981 Picard was released following an 18-month sentence in June 1980 and within one month had an operation on Concorde Blvd in Laval. Three girls made $50 per client, while Picard's apartment acted as the welcoming centre of the house of prostitution that lasted from July to October and made an estimated $3,500 in that time. Picard noted that she was alone with no husband, children or other family and had no other source of income. Picard had appeared in a documentary about prostitution one year earlier. "will you keep doing this?": asked Judge Allard? "All I want it so be left alone. Cops should look elsewhere for prostitutes as there are many others in Montreal other than mine." By this time the Queen of the Red Light had spent at least 14 years behind bars all told. The judge sentenced her to one year in prison.
Jan 28, 1992 Picard, 64, was arrested for the 49th time after being charged with running a house of prostitution at 9294 Clark with Sarah Kitchin, 19 from Calgary. Picard was sentenced to three years in prison for the same thing in 1989 but only served one year. She defended herself in an interview. "I never did anything other than act as an intermediary between girls and clients, at least I'm not living on welfare." She faced two years in prison.
*Coolopolis believes that the woman in this photo is Picard but cannot confirm without actually seeing the film. Please help if you have seen the movie.
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When hustlers made money renting chairs on Sherbrooke Street
Small-scale cut-throat capitalism coloured the biggest annual event in Montreal each year as locals jostled to make a buck renting chairs to spectators of the St. Jean Baptiste parade.These Conrad Poirier photos from 1945-1947 confirm that the custom was real and widespread.
But behind the scenes of this money-making scheme was a merciless competition to claim space that often ended up with thugs muscling out people who invested in renting the chairs to offer to parade-goers at a profit.
One newspaper report from 1954 demonstrated the anarchy that accompanied the street-level capitalism.
The Petit Journal of June 27 reported that a Mr. Gagne struck a deal with a property owner to lay out chairs in front of 447 Sherbrooke E.
Gagne had rented 500 chairs from a supplier at 25 cents each and paid Asselin $75 for his sidewalk real estate.
Gagne planned to offer parade spectators a chance to sit on the seats for $1 each. He'd make a $300 profit on his $200 investment.
But his chair-rental scheme didn't sit right (Ah, I see what you did there, are you trying extra hard tonight? - Chimples ) as a group from St. Timothee Street simply moved the chairs, as they claimed that they had been coming to the same spot for a dozen years.
Gagne was helpless to stop it and all he could do was complain about it to newspaper reporter Arthur Prevost.
Charles Nadon of 1136 Sherbrooke E. had a similar experience that year. He placed seats in front of his place in hopes of renting them but "People came at 2 a.m. and knocked down our chairs and put their own."
Property owners on Sherbrooke still managed to rent out spots on their balconies and verandas back at a time when attending the St. Jean Baptiste Parade was an essential Montreal ritual.
One estimate was the small-scale capitalists managed to rent out 7,000 seats in total.
The more successful czars of parade chair rentals included Bebe "Lisette" Vendetti, and Ti Pit Sutton, whose full time job was as a waiter at the Cafe Mexico.
An estimated 7,000 seats got rented out each your along the Sherbrooke Street route.
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Benaiah Mcdonald RIP
One narrative has it that he was forced to wait for a long time before receiving emergency hospital treatment, which might have altered his outcome. Coolopolis has not researched the veracity of this claim.
Mcdonald attracted media focus after an incident which saw police respond to a noise complaint at his home in 2010 when he was a 15-year-old babysitting his siblings.
The police visit escalated and Benaiah was forced to sit with police in a cruiser for several hours overnight before being released without charges.
His subsequent complaint to Quebec's Human Rights Tribunal was dismissed five years later, with victim's advocate Fo Niemi complaining that the decision took too long and that the complaint had arbitrarily been re-categorized into a more difficult-to-prove racial profiling a affair rather than just a case of discrimination.
Nonetheless Benaiah, who had attended Westmount High School, carried on and put smiles on a lot of faces, with one friend recalling that a memory of expressing sadness over not having a nice dinner, so Benaiah rapidly organized a barbecue in his honour.His friend Antony Carle has saluted Benaiah, noting "You have changed a lot of people and the way they see themselves, including myself."
Carle has undertaken to raise $10,000 for a funeral that would respect the young man's desire for such an event to be a celebration. Coolopolis is neither advising for or against donations but this is the link for those inclined to donate.
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One last drink: the man who blew himself up in a Park Extension tavern
A heavy-drinking construction worker from England known as Mr. Majors started coming to the Pam Pam Tavern at 491 Jean Talon West in October 1976 and spent much of his paycheque on the suds.
The man, who stood over six feet tall and weighed over 230 lbs, didn't drink any less after his wife left him during this time.
The 49-year-old father of at least one son, named Chris, walked in and sat alone at a table a few feet from the door at about 8 p.m. on the evening of Dec. 28, 1976.
His friend Bridgman came to sit with him but Majors told him he'd prefer to sit alone.
There were anywhere from eight to 15 people inside.
A drug dealer who sold dime bags of hashish from a table in the tavern went outside to confer with his supplier, as well as the barman who also got a cut of sales.
At that moment the construction worker finished his draft beer, and took out a small six volt battery and connected it to two wires stuck on his jacket.
The explosion was large.
"It just blew. The table flew out like missile. He was everywhere, in pieces, brains, blood you name it," a witness tells Coolopolis.
All patrons fled, leaving police with few to interview.
The bar reopened two weeks later and is still running under the same name Pam Pam Bar, one of the oldest bars in the Park Extension area.
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Generous Montreal celebrity socialite Stratton Stevens dies at 85
Stevens, who was friends with the well-heeled and powerful, died this week after his health took a downturn in recent years following a stroke or two.
Stevens long fashioned himself a jet-setting, world-traveling ladies-man whose girlfriends included Ivana Trump and whose houseguests included Hillary Clinton.Clinton stayed at his place on Redpath Crescent upon a visit to Montreal in the early 1990s, sharing a bed with another woman she came up with.
Stevens was close friends with Pierre Trudeau and knew the family well-enough to see the kids grow up.
He often expressed regret that his heavy socializing schedule, which included many skiing trips to Switzerland, distracted him from having a family of his own and he rued not having his own kids.
He remained a lifelong bachelor to the end, in later years sharing his home on Redpath Crescent with a servant or two and a small dog that he doted on.
Stevens at one point had 1,000 employees at his many restaurants, the first of which was the Rieno milk bar on Sherbrooke Street in the east end, which he allowed employees to name.
His best-known restaurant was The Tramway near Peel and St. Catherine, indeed he owned the building and was often seen there.His other properties included a strip mall in St. Laurent and a motel which he built and opened in time for Expo '67, which has since been repurposed into a home for misfits at 6177 St. James.
Some noted that Stevens wasn't too strict with employees, some of whom ended up taking liberties with his generosity.
Stevens portrayed himself as coming from a wealthy family of Greek immigrants who arrived in Montreal in the 1890s. It is believed that he made his own fortune by buying and selling Greek ships after World War II.Stevens was thoughtful about the life he lived. "If I had to do it all over again, I'd just work a regular nine-to-five," Stevens said a few years ago. "All those years getting calls at two in the morning, it took a toll. I could never relax."
Stevens sold his properties except his home a few years ago and vowed to donate his estate to good causes such as local hospitals.
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Montreal's all-time top 10 toughest bars
9- J.J. Bar 3270 Jean Talon E. A shooter killed four one night at this place in St. Michel on 29 June 1985, including a girl one her first night on the job. Her father, the janitor, had begged owner Beaudry to hire her. The killer's girlfriend later turned him in after he threatened her and their child. The owner's son Renald Beaudry had previously been badly beaten and robbed while leaving with the take, an injury so severe that it forced him to wear a brace.
7 Peg's Motel 1980 Westmore "Fistfights broke out over a single ill-spoken phrase or even an innocent glance," wrote one description. A gunman, likely John Slawvey, shot at cops parked outside in 1976 and was later shot dead by police. The bar is long gone but the adjacent motel is still around under a less-interesting name.
If you like this sort of content, then you must run, not walk, to buy Montreal 375 Tales at Indigo, Paragraphe, Coles (Angrignon, Cavendish or Dorval), Vieux Bouc or Amazon right now, as you cannot afford to live in ignorance for one more day.The 350-page beast offers the most comprehensive round-up of iconic bars, restaurants Montreal hotels ever compiled and is a number #1 bestseller in at least three categories on Amazon. It has been attracting 5 star ratings and reviews such as this:
"This book is a luscious mulligatawny of the proud and profane, the naked and the nearly naked, the weird and wonderful that have made Montreal a city to love and remember. Kudos to Mr. Gravenor for his adroit selection and presentation of this fascinating collection of morsels from Montreal's long and vibrant history. Highly readable and highly recommended.:
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The must-read Montreal: 375 Tales of Eating, Drinking, Living and Loving Order your paper copy here now or buy it at Indigo or Paragraphe or Coles.
***
The must-read Montreal: 375 Tales of Eating, Drinking, Living and Loving Order your paper copy here now or buy it at Indigo or Paragraphe or Coles.
***
5 Country Palace 400 Sherbrooke W. West End Gang toughs threatened the owner after they were enraged with a demand that they pay for their drinks. The owner called cops who shot a pair of the drinkers, killing one of them in Oct. 1967.
3-Olympic Tavern aka The Bucket of Bloodoriginally sat at 1821 Wellington (now a vacant lot) moved in about 1958 to 1885 Wellington (NE corner St. Madeleine) taking over a tailor shop, in a building that has also now since been replaced. James Kitts, 65, had his skull fractured in a beating there in 1940 as did a man named Mitchell in 1957, and the violence continued unabated until the 1970s as gangsters and tough guys congregated among cocaine-hungry football players. Pakistani immigrants had a tough time after purchasing it and were intimidated into selling it to local thugs, one of whom was carried out in a body bag in its final days.
2- Joe Beef's Canteen Charles McKiernan's waterfront bar on Common Street was a magnet for hotheaded sailors, Fenians, strikers and drunks.
- The nearby police station was considered the most dangerous in town. (La Presse 20 March 1915).
- A large Newfoundland dog bit a court employee on the leg, leaving him seriously injured during McKiernan's dog-and-bear show. The police inspector, who was also present inspecting, was not amused and suggested such shows should cease. (19 march 1881 Courier du Canada).
- Louis Taillefer, sitting at the bar, was hit by a rock tossed from behind. His ear was amputated after McKiernan brought him to General Hospital . The assailant was named Paddy Lucy. (La Presse 21 Aug. 1885.)
- Two men staying upstairs watched in horror as a fearless man dressed in black walked into the river to commit suicide by drowning in the frigid waters. (La Presse 16 Dec. 1885)
- Two men named Rafferty and Roddy went at each other with knives outside on a Saturday afternoon, leaving Roddy badly cut and disfigured. (La Presse 1 Feb 1886)
- Brothers James and Patrick Cannavan fought each other in a battle that grew as people leaped in to stop the action. Edward Connors from Newcastle on Tyne ended up shooting three people. (Nov 15, 1887 La Presse) leaving John Clark with an amputated leg. (18 Nov 1887 La Presse)
Others: Plexi, Adult-E, Bar Ivoire, Checkers, Astro bar, Gargantua.
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The friendliest in-law you never had: Montreal's scurrilous charmer Ludger Harel
Ludger Harel was an affable charmer who spent a lifetime pretending to be the in-law that you hadn't yet met.
Harel, born in 1882, first saw the inside of a jail cell in 1905 as the audacious fraudster made himself whoever you wanted him to be and then pretended that he had lost his wallet with the cash he needed to get back home.
He would then proceed to borrow a little cash from his new contact, never to be seen again.
Harel, posing as an elegant Frenchman, tore his way through the upper crust of insurance industry types in Westmount in 1911.
In one encounter he visited Charles Hagar of Dominion Guarantee at his home at 342 Elm and ended up leaving with $20.
He also dropped in on others who also contributed to his eternal effort to return home: George Simpson, $10, John Bucknell $10, J.H. Hudson $5, William Kirkpatrick $5 and so forth.
Harel would do a little research and then approach strangers with irresistible charm, "Hello my dear Uncle Jean-Baptiste!"he'd cry out while giving a hug to a man he had absolutely no real connection to.
He'd then deliver a believable yarn about how he was a distant relative and then hang around the home, helping carry wood or other chores for a little while. He'd then ask to borrow $5 or so and then leave without returning.
He was nailed in 1923 and sentenced to two years for the stunt.
As Harel aged he only got better at his craft.
He'd follow the social page to find out who was getting married and then determine the addresses of those involved. He'd then drop by the parents of the married couple claiming to be related to their son or daughter's new spouse.
The family would invite him in, offer him a cigar and a meal and he'd wrap up the evening with the sudden panic of a man who had just lost his wallet and was unable to return to his home in the countryside.
He would then borrow $20 that he would never return as he never saw the people before.
He was aged 68 in 1950 when he was sentenced to four years in prison for the fraudulent friendships.
All told, Ludger Harel provided temporary friendship to such dupes hundreds of times over the years.
He spent over 20 years behind bars for his efforts.
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Leaving Quebec? Here's how to explain why you moved away
So you want to leave Quebec?The latest local news contrivance is shows that a lot of young English-speaking Montrealers have thought about moving away, which a suddenly-caring French newspaper has confounded with wanting to leave.
No other place inspires as many tortured narratives of departing disappointment as Montreal
Quitters consider it mandatory practice to enumerate their bad feelings about Montreal.
This index of personal disappointments makes for awkward listening, no, we're not your boyfriend or girlfriend or psychiatrist. We didn't sign on to hear you moan.
French Quebecers are even more vitriolic in their denunciations of their former province on sites such as quitterlequebec, which runs withering Quebec-bashing attacks penned by those who left and found bliss elsewhere.
Most know that misery comes with the luggage. You can't run away from it.
Life in that other place will invariably be riddled with the usual assorted disappointments. You'll still be stuck with yourself, minus a few friends and family that you made here.
So the problem might not have been Quebec but unreaslistically high expectations concerning your life outcomes. (I thought you said you weren't their psychiatrist- Chimples)
Some depart with grace, the best example being Leonard Cohen, who mused fondly about Montreal after he relocated to Los Angeles while also hinting that he'd eventually return.
The most epic of all renouncing Quebec moments came from Janet Torge who was 28 when she arrived in 1975 after growing up in Ohio.
She raised three kids here but unlike most anglos, she voted for the PQ and voted yes in the referendum, which would make many English-speaking bretheren welcome her departure but she figured it made her a model immigrant for many French-speakers. So her departure renunciation was meant to be a big deal.
She penned a leaving letter in La Presse on 30 April 1991.
I'm exhausted. I'm sick of paying for the crimes of other anglos who left long ago for Toronto. I'm sick of feeling responsible for Coffee Crisp bars in corner stores. (What's that about?- Chimples) I've heard enough talk about cocktails and fur coats on the West Island. That's nothing to do with who I am.
There are plenty of bilingual anglos who haven't got any plans to leave. To keep them they must be brought in and not pointed to due to their mother tongue. Some small gesture to show that all Quebecers can be partners
As for myself, I'm leaving with some bitterness and I've given in to the temptation to do it symbolically. I've rented a U-Haul for June 23 and will leave St. Jean Baptise Day. Je me souviens, from a distance.Torge returned to Ohio, then on to Ottawa to become a flak for the NDP and moved back to Montreal in 1997. She presumably doesn't have her La Presse column stuck to her fridge door.
Others who couldn't resist parting shots while leaving Montreal include
- Jay Baruchel who said something or other about politics before leaving for Toronto that we didn't read.
- Crazy Suzanne Verdal, immortalized in Lenny's Suzanne, left in bitterness, although there was also that $5,000 Hydro Quebec bill she couldn't pay.
- Pudgy CBC personality Wayne Grigsby once wrote that he would never leave his hometown. Within weeks he was moving to Toronto.
- Expos Manager Buck Rodgers said when leaving in 1991 that Montreal would be a ghost town in 10 years.
- One of Paul Theroux's characters in his trans Siberian express book makes everybody miserable with him complaining about how bad things are in Quebec.
There might be money in such see-ya-later-Quebec missives. So Coolopolis is developing a leaving-Quebec app. Here's a trial note from the beta version.
When I arrived in Quebec I saved orphans from fires, ate only poutine and shook everybody's hand while singing "gens du pays."
I paid millions in taxes, employed hundreds of unemployable people and was planning to hire thousands more at my used Garou CD store.
I always smoked a corncob pipe and wore a shaggy tuque in honour of the local culture and served des fromage grille to my friends at the Quebec Solidaire rallies.
But once while helping elderly from the metro I was asked "T'es pas frette sans coat?"
My life transformed at that moment.
All the unspoken subtexts,all those glares behind my back,all that shoveling, all those frustrated job searches and lines at Tims suddenly crystallized into the inescapable conclusion that I must move to Peru where harmony exists between all people.
Farewell Quebec, c'est a ton tour.
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Montreal murder 1991: a sad stumble down bad memory lane
Montreal 1991: one of the worst years in recent local history, with a rising crack epidemic, a recession, political uncertainty, gays living in fear and tensions between minorities police, plus of course, there was still no internet to speak of. Here's a list of all the incidents which led to the greatest possible tragedy.
1 Jan. 11.Wayne Riopel-Forster, 19, demanded landlord Chau Vo Vinh Thanh, 28, make various repairs to his small apartment where he'd been living for two months at 1890 Darcy McGee in Cote St. Paul. The young man didn't wish to pay the $290 he owed and smashed the landlord in the head and stabbed him. The landlord's mother Chaud Van Be called police when he failed to return. The killer tried to kill himself in a motel on St. James. Riopel-Forster, on probation at the time for assaulting his girlfriend, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on October 21 and was sentenced to life imprisonment.
2Jan. 18 Viateur Pelletier, 69, a retired Hydro-Quebec employee, was shot in the head in his apartment at 8395 Aurele Allard near Papineau and Cremazie. Police speculated that he stumbled on an apartment robbery and paid for it with his life.
3Jan. 21 Steven Hamilton, 32, of St. Henri, gunned down on the balcony of an apartment on Ste. Clothilde . Andre Martin, 29, was sentenced May 1 to life imprisonment without parole for 10 years after pleading guilty to a second degree murder.
4. Jan. 22 Luc Morais, 29, originally from Chicoutimi, was shot dead while backing a car out of a laneway near St. Denis and Laurier after leaving his place at 5145 Drolet. The killer used a .32 calibre with a silencer and left the weapon there.
5Feb. 1 Cornelio Medeiros, 48, had been running the corner store at 4800 Clark, corner Villeneuve, for two years after moving to Canada from the Acores Portugal. A thief, described as about 20-years-old, English speaking and black, shot him dead in a robbery in front of his horrified daughter at about 9:50 p.m. on a Friday evening. Medeiros came to Canada in 1970 and fathered seven daughters and three sons, aged between 7 and 25. (A few days later a thief tried to rob a Portugeuse-run jewelry store nearby, taking Paulo Gomez, 31, hostage. A police officer shot Michel Doiron, 42, as he held a gun to the man's head)
6Feb. 5 Construction worker Roger Roy, 34, was shot three times in the head outside of 7300 Henri Bourassa East as he sat in a car outside a restaurant. Roy was separated from his wife and living with two teenage children and his mother on 41st Ave. in St. Michel. He worked in snow clearance and had a previous record for breaking and entry from 1980.
7Feb. 18. Two men in masks shot Jacques Gauthier, 39, dead on a sidewalk.
8March 1. The unidentified body of a man beaten to death was found in a north end dump.
9 March 10. Taxi driver Michel Labbe, 45, strangled at a taxi drivers' communal space at 4200 Denis Paquin apt 2. His body was found a few hours later minus the $2,000 he had from a Haitian lottery called borlotte. Police suspected that the Master B street gang. (In Dec. 1988 another taxi driver, Marc Anglade Lornestoire, 51, was shot dead after being robbed with a similar lottery take at 8530 Viau apt. 3).
10 March 15. Stephane Perreault, 21, of Pointe aux Trembles, was shot and killed with two shotgun blasts on the ice of the St. Lawrence River at the bottom of Bellerive near 84th on the eastern tip of the islandl. Marc Deraiche, 20, and Serge Gauthier, 21, were found guilty Dec. 18 and sentenced to life imprisonment. The three had dealt drugs together since the age of 15. A person walking a dog witnessed the scene and alerted a police officer neighbour.
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| Riopel-Forster |
2Jan. 18 Viateur Pelletier, 69, a retired Hydro-Quebec employee, was shot in the head in his apartment at 8395 Aurele Allard near Papineau and Cremazie. Police speculated that he stumbled on an apartment robbery and paid for it with his life.
4. Jan. 22 Luc Morais, 29, originally from Chicoutimi, was shot dead while backing a car out of a laneway near St. Denis and Laurier after leaving his place at 5145 Drolet. The killer used a .32 calibre with a silencer and left the weapon there.
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| Zella Medeiros, 16, screams after dad killed |
6Feb. 5 Construction worker Roger Roy, 34, was shot three times in the head outside of 7300 Henri Bourassa East as he sat in a car outside a restaurant. Roy was separated from his wife and living with two teenage children and his mother on 41st Ave. in St. Michel. He worked in snow clearance and had a previous record for breaking and entry from 1980.
7Feb. 18. Two men in masks shot Jacques Gauthier, 39, dead on a sidewalk.
8March 1. The unidentified body of a man beaten to death was found in a north end dump.
9 March 10. Taxi driver Michel Labbe, 45, strangled at a taxi drivers' communal space at 4200 Denis Paquin apt 2. His body was found a few hours later minus the $2,000 he had from a Haitian lottery called borlotte. Police suspected that the Master B street gang. (In Dec. 1988 another taxi driver, Marc Anglade Lornestoire, 51, was shot dead after being robbed with a similar lottery take at 8530 Viau apt. 3).
10 March 15. Stephane Perreault, 21, of Pointe aux Trembles, was shot and killed with two shotgun blasts on the ice of the St. Lawrence River at the bottom of Bellerive near 84th on the eastern tip of the islandl. Marc Deraiche, 20, and Serge Gauthier, 21, were found guilty Dec. 18 and sentenced to life imprisonment. The three had dealt drugs together since the age of 15. A person walking a dog witnessed the scene and alerted a police officer neighbour.
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| Sylvain Sauriol |
11March 18. Richard (Ricky) McGurnaghan, 42, was shot dead in the Olympic Tavern. Gerald Gallant, considered the second-most prolific hit man in the history of Quebec, confessed to the killing many years later.
12March 21. Suzanne Lecours, 28, shot outside a brasserie at 8401 Metropolitan in Anjou. She had just exited her car and was walking to the bar at about 10 p.m. She had three kids and her ex-husband, 38, was with her. The killer wore a mask.
13.March 31. Sylvain Sauriol, 30, was killed with a hammer in a friend's apartment on Davidson. Sauriol was from the Laurentians.
14 April 2. Salesman Gaetan Ethier, 46, was found dead at his friend's place at 4335 St. Andre apt 3. He was a divorced salesman from Laval who frequented gay nightclubs.
15April 2. Antoine Breidi, 46, was shot twice in the head in the bedroom of his home at 9172A 13th Ave. in St. Michel. Breidi was a Lebanese who came to Montreal 20 years earlier. His wife and two young children were out at the time for a religious occasion. He had been working at a Toyota body shop on Lacordaire for the last 10 months.
16April 7. Robert Assaly, 59, a gay, retired Montreal high school teacher, was stabbed in his Nuns' Island apartment at 201 Corot apt 917. Serial killer Michael McGray later confessed.
17April 10. Claude Dugas, 28, was shot dead outside a Rosemont depanneur at 3148 Dandurand that he and another man robbed. Shop owner Francois Guerin, 35, was charged with criminal negligence causing death. Guerin had been repeatedly robbed. Police arrested the other thief.
18April 18. Maurice Kubik, 19, stabbed Rene Otto Alvarez, 19, to death in a fight after Alvarez and pals allegedly disrespected his girlfriend at a bus shelter at Pie IX and Jarry. Three young Latinos were flirting with the girls in front of their boyfriends, which led to the altercation between the five men. The three Latinos had just exited a bar on Metropolitain Blvd. The altercation occurred Friday night at 11:30 p.m. and the victim died in hospital six hours later.
19 April 27 Janitor Giuseppe Fioramore, 45, was stabbed and beaten by a drifter Maurice Bourbeau, 28, in an east-end Viau St. apartment building. Bourbeau was sentenced to life in prison.
20April 30. Daniel Deveault, 27, was shot twice in the head in his apartment on Wellington in Verdun. George Harris, 38, was arrested and charged in April.
21 May 3. Jean-Guy Sauve, 53, killed neighbour Sylvain Hamelin, 20, during an argument. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
22May 8. Montreal salesman Normand Gareau, 45, of Sherbrooke St. E., who had been missing for a month, was found in woods at L'Assomption.
23 May 13. Criminal lawyer Sidney Leithman, 54, was gunned down in his Saab as he drove to work from his Town of Mount Royal
24 May 20 Retired realtor Rene Dagenais, 71, was beaten to death in his home at 240 Somerville in Ahuntsic. His son, lawyer Louis Dagenais, 34, found his body. It is believed that he surprised thieves in his place after he returned from the Laurentians.
25 May 26 Karate expert Yves Duguay, 37, was shot dead by two men, one wielding a machine gun and another a pistol after leaving his girlfriend's place at 569 Davidson to walk her doberman. He was going to buy smokes but was shot dead by two killers who waited three hours in a nearby lane. He managed to run 10 metres before collapsing on Nicolet near St. Catherine. Duguay was close friends with Mercier Remy who threatened to kill the next police officer who killed a black person.
26June 1 Emilienne Desilets, 75, died after she and her sister Germaine Desilets, 80, spent five days left bound and gagged by robbers who ransacked their place at 5799 Jean Talon St. E. apt 17. The victim suffered from MS and was in a wheelchair when she succumbed. The four thieves entered by pretending to work for Hydro Quebec who did not say a single word while stealing their items and leaving.
27June 6 Car dealer Hagop Kalousdian, 41, of Laval, was shot dead in a car in a lane behind a St. Denis St. grocery store. It is believed to have been related to a drug deal.
28 June 10 Ada Burns, 82, was stabbed in the throat and chest in her bed in a Verdun seniors' residence on Galt in Verdun.
29 June 14 Normand Groleau, 50, of Pierrefonds, was kidnapped and killed by three hooded attackers.
30June 20 Constable Yves Phaneuf, 25, of Montreal Urban Community
32 July 2 Building superintendent Lucette Mageau-Casey, 40, was hacked to death at 2 a.m. in a small office at 80 Pine Ave. W. Lebanese-Canadian artist Zouhair Hedi Kammoun, 29, was arrested in a bar in St. Hyachinte. The killer dumped the murder weapon in bushes a weapon near Jeanne Darc Hospital at St. Urbain. The killer was about to be evicted from the apartment.
34July 14 Guylaine "Fanny" Gent, 20, was stabbed and dumped in a wooded area of Riviere des Prairies. Andre St. Jean, 32, of Laval pleaded guilty Nov. 1 to second degree murder and was sentenced to life. St. Jean had been paroled seven months earlier. Gent lay in a puddle of blood for a dozen hours after being stabbed in the stomach. She was found dead at Armand Chaput and Rolland Jeannot. Witnesses reported seeing a Hyundai Pony in the area and police traced the vehicle to a restaurant on Cartier in Laval at 3 a.m that same night.
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35July 20 Pietro Omobono, 46, co-owner of Club Social Prestige at 7016 St. Lawrence was shot dead at 7 a.m. by a robber in the offic of his bar, an illegal after-hours bar. Andre Lemarbre, 32, took off with $25 after shooting Omobono in the abdomen. Sylvain Rodrigue was also arrested. The victim was an associate of Hagop Kaloussdian, killed June 6.
37 July 22 Dean McKay, 22, was shot in a field near a bicycle path
off 6450 Notre Dame W. Police believe the killing was linked to the death of Pitre. .
38-39 July 22 Paul Shaker strangled two men with an electrical cord at 2915 St. Joseph apt. 5, one Sunday at 11 a.m and the second Monday at 4 a.m. The first victim was Jean-Pierre Masse, 37, the killer's landlord. The second was a drug dealer named Mike Mansfield, 24. Shaker lured his landlord to come by with the story of somebody trying to break in. He stole $20 from his landlord before killing him. Shaker got about $1,000 from Mansfield. Shaker, who had a previous record for sexual assault, was arrested with Paul Bedard a few days later after taking three people hostage in a cottage in Asbestos Quebec.
40 July 28 Mario Labarre, 28, was stabbed during an argument with Mario Giroux, 28, who was arrested and charged with second-degree murder.
12March 21. Suzanne Lecours, 28, shot outside a brasserie at 8401 Metropolitan in Anjou. She had just exited her car and was walking to the bar at about 10 p.m. She had three kids and her ex-husband, 38, was with her. The killer wore a mask.
13.March 31. Sylvain Sauriol, 30, was killed with a hammer in a friend's apartment on Davidson. Sauriol was from the Laurentians.
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| Ethier |
14 April 2. Salesman Gaetan Ethier, 46, was found dead at his friend's place at 4335 St. Andre apt 3. He was a divorced salesman from Laval who frequented gay nightclubs.
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| Breidi |
16April 7. Robert Assaly, 59, a gay, retired Montreal high school teacher, was stabbed in his Nuns' Island apartment at 201 Corot apt 917. Serial killer Michael McGray later confessed.
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| Guerin |
18April 18. Maurice Kubik, 19, stabbed Rene Otto Alvarez, 19, to death in a fight after Alvarez and pals allegedly disrespected his girlfriend at a bus shelter at Pie IX and Jarry. Three young Latinos were flirting with the girls in front of their boyfriends, which led to the altercation between the five men. The three Latinos had just exited a bar on Metropolitain Blvd. The altercation occurred Friday night at 11:30 p.m. and the victim died in hospital six hours later.
19 April 27 Janitor Giuseppe Fioramore, 45, was stabbed and beaten by a drifter Maurice Bourbeau, 28, in an east-end Viau St. apartment building. Bourbeau was sentenced to life in prison.
20April 30. Daniel Deveault, 27, was shot twice in the head in his apartment on Wellington in Verdun. George Harris, 38, was arrested and charged in April.
21 May 3. Jean-Guy Sauve, 53, killed neighbour Sylvain Hamelin, 20, during an argument. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
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| Duguay |
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| Sauve |
22May 8. Montreal salesman Normand Gareau, 45, of Sherbrooke St. E., who had been missing for a month, was found in woods at L'Assomption.
23 May 13. Criminal lawyer Sidney Leithman, 54, was gunned down in his Saab as he drove to work from his Town of Mount Royal
24 May 20 Retired realtor Rene Dagenais, 71, was beaten to death in his home at 240 Somerville in Ahuntsic. His son, lawyer Louis Dagenais, 34, found his body. It is believed that he surprised thieves in his place after he returned from the Laurentians.
25 May 26 Karate expert Yves Duguay, 37, was shot dead by two men, one wielding a machine gun and another a pistol after leaving his girlfriend's place at 569 Davidson to walk her doberman. He was going to buy smokes but was shot dead by two killers who waited three hours in a nearby lane. He managed to run 10 metres before collapsing on Nicolet near St. Catherine. Duguay was close friends with Mercier Remy who threatened to kill the next police officer who killed a black person.
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| Desilets |
27June 6 Car dealer Hagop Kalousdian, 41, of Laval, was shot dead in a car in a lane behind a St. Denis St. grocery store. It is believed to have been related to a drug deal.
28 June 10 Ada Burns, 82, was stabbed in the throat and chest in her bed in a Verdun seniors' residence on Galt in Verdun.
29 June 14 Normand Groleau, 50, of Pierrefonds, was kidnapped and killed by three hooded attackers.
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| Vachon |
police, was disarmed and shot by cyclist Daniel Vachon, 33, near the aqueduct in Verdun. Vachon had been staying at a halfway house at 630 4th Ave in Verdun. Vachon was only apprehended after missing a parole meeting. A bag he was carrying contained a mask, plastic handcuffs knife and the same gun that killed Phaneuf.
31 June 24 Lionel Laliberte, 69, was killed during an argument by son, Jean Laliberte, 37, who was sentenced to seven years. to seven years' imprisonment.
31 June 24 Lionel Laliberte, 69, was killed during an argument by son, Jean Laliberte, 37, who was sentenced to seven years. to seven years' imprisonment.
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| Kammoun |
33July 11 George Roberts, 25, was stabbed to death defending a woman from he rboyfriend. Sylvain Gendreau, 20, got seven years for manslaughter.34July 14 Guylaine "Fanny" Gent, 20, was stabbed and dumped in a wooded area of Riviere des Prairies. Andre St. Jean, 32, of Laval pleaded guilty Nov. 1 to second degree murder and was sentenced to life. St. Jean had been paroled seven months earlier. Gent lay in a puddle of blood for a dozen hours after being stabbed in the stomach. She was found dead at Armand Chaput and Rolland Jeannot. Witnesses reported seeing a Hyundai Pony in the area and police traced the vehicle to a restaurant on Cartier in Laval at 3 a.m that same night.
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| St. Jean |
35July 20 Pietro Omobono, 46, co-owner of Club Social Prestige at 7016 St. Lawrence was shot dead at 7 a.m. by a robber in the offic of his bar, an illegal after-hours bar. Andre Lemarbre, 32, took off with $25 after shooting Omobono in the abdomen. Sylvain Rodrigue was also arrested. The victim was an associate of Hagop Kaloussdian, killed June 6.36 July 21 Josee Pitre, 20, was shot by a stray bullet in the crossfire of gunfight between two groups after a dance at the Black Community Council's headquarters at 2121 Old Orchardbullet went thru her body from one shoulder to another. The victim had many black friends, including her Jamaican boyfriend and could speak English, French and Creol. She was not married and had no kids. About 100 people were standing on the sidewalk at 3:30 a.m. after the dance.
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| Pitre |
off 6450 Notre Dame W. Police believe the killing was linked to the death of Pitre. .
38-39 July 22 Paul Shaker strangled two men with an electrical cord at 2915 St. Joseph apt. 5, one Sunday at 11 a.m and the second Monday at 4 a.m. The first victim was Jean-Pierre Masse, 37, the killer's landlord. The second was a drug dealer named Mike Mansfield, 24. Shaker lured his landlord to come by with the story of somebody trying to break in. He stole $20 from his landlord before killing him. Shaker got about $1,000 from Mansfield. Shaker, who had a previous record for sexual assault, was arrested with Paul Bedard a few days later after taking three people hostage in a cottage in Asbestos Quebec.
40 July 28 Mario Labarre, 28, was stabbed during an argument with Mario Giroux, 28, who was arrested and charged with second-degree murder.
41 July 31 Yves Gagnon, 28, was shot dead in a laneway off Leger Blvd.
42Aug. 2 Realtor Pasquale Carluccio, 59, had his throat cut in his St. Leonard triplex at 9062 Jamay during an argument over a debt. Pasquale Iantosca, 26, was charged with second-degree murder after being rounded up a few hours later..
43 Aug. 24 Abel Anes Lopez, 40, was stabbed to death in a Duluth St. E. apartment..
44Sept. 1 Crack dealer Kirt Haywood, 28, who was awaiting charges of attempted murder, was found dead at 6:20 a.m. near a warehouse in Point Claire.
See also: The epic tale of Montreal's Dirty Harry and his one-man war on crack cocaine
45 Sept. 2 Michael Abraham McKenzie, 21, shot dead at a crackhouse at 2860 Linton apt. 2 A man descrbed as black shot him at 10:05 on a Monday night. .
46 Sept. 9 Figuerdo Roncatti, 26, was stabbed to death at 5225 Clark apt 19. Police believed it to be a cocaine-dealing-related killing after finding cocaine equipment. Roncatti had gone awol after applying for refugee status after arriving from Chile.
47 Sept. 10 Lawyer Paul Beaudry, 34, was gunned down in his office in Old Montreal. He was lawyer for Kirt Haywood.
48 Sept. 11 Steven Clarke, 31, killed his mother Joan Williams, 56, at 2230 Grand in NDG.
49 Sept. 12 Bernard Berthiaume, 41, shot five times in the head and body at about 1 a.m. in the Via Rail parking lot near the Bonaventure Hotel. No arrests.
50 Sept. 12 Daniel Bouchard, 36, stabbed to death at about 7:30 a.m. in east-end Valois Park. Pascal Lebreux, 26, is behind bars awaiting preliminary hearing Jan. 25 on a second-degree murder charge.
51Sept. 12 Giuseppe Ciancio, 36, died in hospital a week after he was shot in a Gaspe Ave. house. No arrests. shot in the head - still got downstairs to ask neibghbour to call 911
shot in the forehead he was having coffee with 2 acquaintances around 1 pm when one took otu a gun and shot im. victim known to the police as a drug dealer
52 Sept. 15 Roger Lalancette, 45, shot twice in the face by an intruder while watching television in his St. Leonard home. No arrests.
53 Sept. 16 Edison Swan, 31, gunned down at 10 p.m. in front of his children in the laundry room of the family's Little Burgundy home at 1835 Elgin Terrace. Swan, from Trinidad, had minor previous drug offences and his death was thought to be part of a drug war between rival gangs.
54 Sept. 20 Marc Bellerive, 33, an accountant for a company in Laval, was stabbed to death while cycling in Maisonneuve Park.
55 Sept. 25 Eva Berthelot-Paradis, 67, was bludgeoned to death at her apartment at 3248 Lacordaire. She was found dead in the basement. There was no sign of a break-in. Her husband was away on a camping trip.
56-57Sept. 25 Rene Arsenault, 36, and Bruno Jourdain, 35, were both knifed to death in a drug-shooting gallery at 1022 Ontario near Amherst at 8:45 a.m. The apartment belonged to Rene Arsenault. Jourdain was an unemployed welder from the Gaspe.
58 Sept. 25 Lebanese drug dealer Sadek Sadek, 22, was charged with strangling Johannie Aprahamian, 22, in the basement of his Zena fruit store 365 Mout Royal E. Police stumbled onto the site after seeing a broken window. Sadek started his store as a legit enterprise but eventually switched over to full time cocaine. He was known as a big swinger in the cocaine industry, as was his brother.
59 Oct. 7 Chien-Chin Wong, 49, was stabbed to death at 59 Franklin in Town of Mount Royal Her son, Raymond Wong, 24, was charged. The victim was married to Dr. Kwan Wong of the St. Michel Hospital. The killer had been treated for schizophrenia.
60 Oct. 8 Christopher Johnson, 24, from Kingston Jamaican, was handcuffed and shot in the head at 6022 Park apt 3. He was on bail awaiting drug charges and was still alive when police arrived. He lived at 6014 Park. The suspect was apprehended after burning two red lights in a white Subaru. Three Afro-Canadians were apprehended at Bernard and Wiseman.
62 Oct. 14. Antonio Damico, 58, shot in the after intruders broke into his place at 333 Belanger East. He had been separated for a year and had no criminal history.
63 Oct. 19 Lottery buff Samuel-Jean Doyon, 46, shot through the door of his Sherbrooke St. E. apartment, apparently by someone who thought he had won big. No arrests.
64Oct. 21 Urbano Coelho, 35, argued and shot dead the Romanian Stephane Ionita, 29, dead behind the Montebello Bar at 1336 Jean Talon at 2:45 a.m. Coelho was apprehended shortly after at his friend's place at 10725 Clark.
65Oct. 21 Bar employee Alain Cazes, 23, was stabbed to death in the chest in a robbery at the Sheena Cafe at 6310 Jean Talon. The place was owned by Paul Cotroni.. No arrests.
66Nov. 2 Ginette Dufresne, 34, a drug addict and former nurse, was found beaten and strangled at a shooting-gallery at 2010 Fullum. Janitor found the body after looking into the apartment for a water leak.
67 Nov. 6 Andrew Smith, 18, was shot outside a drug-shooting gallery near 5795 Louisbourg in Cartierville. Aaron "Prince" Green, 19, was charged with first-degree murder charge. The killers chased Smith a big distance around Grenet and Louisbourg, firing a dozen shots until one hit him in the head at 11:30 p.m. on a Wednesday. Smith came to Canada from the Caribbean the year before and was facing drug charges.
68 Nov. 12 Salvatore Luca, 48, shot and killed his wife, seamstress Caterina Luca, 41, with a 12-gauge shotgun in their laundry room at 9 a.m. at 3419 Emile Journault. The killer rushed to seek protection from the Peacekeepers of Kahnawake. They turned him over to police. Luca was found not criminally responsible due to insanity the next year.
69 Nov. 18 Pierre Clement, 31, stabbed wife Line Labonte, 29, to death in her Cuvillier St. home in the east end. They had a six-year-old daughter. She was the sister-in-law of boxer Mario Cusson.
70 Nov. 22 Brebeuf student Marie-Claude Cote, 17, was found in the St. Lawrence River after she went missing from the Barina Lounge at 2015 de l'Eglise on Oct 13. She had been with her friend Karine Archambault, 19, until 2:15 a.m. and simply disappeared. She is believed to have been kidnapped, possibly by a motorist from whom she asked directions earlier in the evening. A $25,000 reward did nothing to solve the mystery.
71Nov. 30 Garfield Walker, 30, stabbed in the back and beaten to death at 4080 Henri Julien. Walker was gay and last seen with a stranger in the gay village
72Dec. 5 Michel Beaulieu, 46, was shot twice in the head at 5623 9th Ave. in Rosemont. Police suspect his death was linked to drug trafficking.
73 Dec. 6 Louise Gagnon, 29, stabbed in a ground-floor apartment of a Berri St. triplex. Andre Parent, 45, charged with murder.
74 Dec. 6 Isabelle Rollin, 23, beaten and left to die in a snowy driveway in St. Michel.
75 Dec. 7 Depanneur clerk Mohammed Beydoun, 46, beaten and strangled during a robbery of the Pierrefonds store at 4934 Sources. Wesley Kurt Schroepher, 37, who lived near the store, was charged with murder. Shroeder, a German, was found at his home at 12110 Pierrefond Blvd with a safe from the store. The victim was a father of two kids, Khaled and Ghiwa aged 17 and 9. His wife hadn't yet arrived from Lebanon and was expected to arrive the same week. Beydoun's body was tossed in the beer fridge and the killer removed the videotape from the VHS before leaving.
76Dec. 28. Guy Chasse, 29, of Pierrefonds, shot after accusing a neighbor in his apartment building of making a pass at his girlfriend at a Christmas Eve party. Andre Aumais, 29, was charged with murder.
77 Dec. 31 Gabriel Vachon, 64, was beaten to death after an argument in his Notre Dame St. W. apartment. His 19-year- old son, Martin Robert Vachon, was charged with second-degree murder.
42Aug. 2 Realtor Pasquale Carluccio, 59, had his throat cut in his St. Leonard triplex at 9062 Jamay during an argument over a debt. Pasquale Iantosca, 26, was charged with second-degree murder after being rounded up a few hours later..
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| Haywood |
43 Aug. 24 Abel Anes Lopez, 40, was stabbed to death in a Duluth St. E. apartment..
44Sept. 1 Crack dealer Kirt Haywood, 28, who was awaiting charges of attempted murder, was found dead at 6:20 a.m. near a warehouse in Point Claire.
See also: The epic tale of Montreal's Dirty Harry and his one-man war on crack cocaine
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| Abraham McKenzie |
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| Roncatti |
47 Sept. 10 Lawyer Paul Beaudry, 34, was gunned down in his office in Old Montreal. He was lawyer for Kirt Haywood.
48 Sept. 11 Steven Clarke, 31, killed his mother Joan Williams, 56, at 2230 Grand in NDG.
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| Berthiaume |
51Sept. 12 Giuseppe Ciancio, 36, died in hospital a week after he was shot in a Gaspe Ave. house. No arrests. shot in the head - still got downstairs to ask neibghbour to call 911
shot in the forehead he was having coffee with 2 acquaintances around 1 pm when one took otu a gun and shot im. victim known to the police as a drug dealer
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| Lalancette |
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| Swan |
53 Sept. 16 Edison Swan, 31, gunned down at 10 p.m. in front of his children in the laundry room of the family's Little Burgundy home at 1835 Elgin Terrace. Swan, from Trinidad, had minor previous drug offences and his death was thought to be part of a drug war between rival gangs.
54 Sept. 20 Marc Bellerive, 33, an accountant for a company in Laval, was stabbed to death while cycling in Maisonneuve Park.
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| Bellerive |
56-57Sept. 25 Rene Arsenault, 36, and Bruno Jourdain, 35, were both knifed to death in a drug-shooting gallery at 1022 Ontario near Amherst at 8:45 a.m. The apartment belonged to Rene Arsenault. Jourdain was an unemployed welder from the Gaspe.
58 Sept. 25 Lebanese drug dealer Sadek Sadek, 22, was charged with strangling Johannie Aprahamian, 22, in the basement of his Zena fruit store 365 Mout Royal E. Police stumbled onto the site after seeing a broken window. Sadek started his store as a legit enterprise but eventually switched over to full time cocaine. He was known as a big swinger in the cocaine industry, as was his brother.
59 Oct. 7 Chien-Chin Wong, 49, was stabbed to death at 59 Franklin in Town of Mount Royal Her son, Raymond Wong, 24, was charged. The victim was married to Dr. Kwan Wong of the St. Michel Hospital. The killer had been treated for schizophrenia.
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| Johnson |
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| Page |
61Oct. 10 Pierre-Yvan Croft, 48, stabbed at least 15 times in Jarry Park. He was the eighth gay male killed in a short time since 1989. He lived in a small apartment at 5649 St. Hubert and was an adult student.
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| Croft |
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| Ionita |
64Oct. 21 Urbano Coelho, 35, argued and shot dead the Romanian Stephane Ionita, 29, dead behind the Montebello Bar at 1336 Jean Talon at 2:45 a.m. Coelho was apprehended shortly after at his friend's place at 10725 Clark.
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| Coehlo |
65Oct. 21 Bar employee Alain Cazes, 23, was stabbed to death in the chest in a robbery at the Sheena Cafe at 6310 Jean Talon. The place was owned by Paul Cotroni.. No arrests.
 |
| Cazes |
66Nov. 2 Ginette Dufresne, 34, a drug addict and former nurse, was found beaten and strangled at a shooting-gallery at 2010 Fullum. Janitor found the body after looking into the apartment for a water leak.
67 Nov. 6 Andrew Smith, 18, was shot outside a drug-shooting gallery near 5795 Louisbourg in Cartierville. Aaron "Prince" Green, 19, was charged with first-degree murder charge. The killers chased Smith a big distance around Grenet and Louisbourg, firing a dozen shots until one hit him in the head at 11:30 p.m. on a Wednesday. Smith came to Canada from the Caribbean the year before and was facing drug charges.
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| Smith |
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| Labonte |
69 Nov. 18 Pierre Clement, 31, stabbed wife Line Labonte, 29, to death in her Cuvillier St. home in the east end. They had a six-year-old daughter. She was the sister-in-law of boxer Mario Cusson.
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| Cote and the Barina Bar |
71Nov. 30 Garfield Walker, 30, stabbed in the back and beaten to death at 4080 Henri Julien. Walker was gay and last seen with a stranger in the gay village
72Dec. 5 Michel Beaulieu, 46, was shot twice in the head at 5623 9th Ave. in Rosemont. Police suspect his death was linked to drug trafficking.
73 Dec. 6 Louise Gagnon, 29, stabbed in a ground-floor apartment of a Berri St. triplex. Andre Parent, 45, charged with murder.
74 Dec. 6 Isabelle Rollin, 23, beaten and left to die in a snowy driveway in St. Michel.
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| Beydoun |
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| Wesley |
76Dec. 28. Guy Chasse, 29, of Pierrefonds, shot after accusing a neighbor in his apartment building of making a pass at his girlfriend at a Christmas Eve party. Andre Aumais, 29, was charged with murder.
77 Dec. 31 Gabriel Vachon, 64, was beaten to death after an argument in his Notre Dame St. W. apartment. His 19-year- old son, Martin Robert Vachon, was charged with second-degree murder.
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When almost 2,000 Canadians left Montreal to live in the Soviet Union
Soviets typically described Canada as a place where citizens commit suicide and work as powerless wage slaves.
Local clergy and professional classes were further enraged when the message hit home, as almost two thousand left Canada from the Montreal port to return to live in the Soviet Union.
The episodes of 1947-48 form perhaps the most dramatic tale of return migration from Canada, an oft-overlooked phenomenon. Most assume that immigrants come to countries like Canada to stay forever, many actually seek to return to their homeland.
To this day many immigrants quietly return to their home countries, but the totals remain vague.
However it's known that 1,869 Croatian Canadians boarded the Radnik from Montreal to return to live in what was then known as Southern Yugoslavia.
Those departing came from all across Canada, including Montreal, where one report has 71 local Croatians on the ship that left May 20, 1947.
Tickets for the ship were a bargain $130, those aged between 7 and 14 paid only $65 and those under seven traveled for free.
Yugoslavian community groups teamed up with embassy officials to promote favour for the return-to-Yugoslavia movement and as a result the Radnik carried 450 returners on 13 August 1947, 320 on 28 October 1947 and 354 on 26 June 1948.
Husbands usually made the decision on behalf of their entire families. Wives were often reluctant but had to go along.
Not only the less-well-off were attracted to return, as interviews demonstrated that many were doing well in Canada.
Others cited their desire to leave physically-challenging resource industry jobs in often remote areas and felt that younger workers might displace them in their jobs.
Some felt a patriotic pang to return to their homeland, as Yugoslavia was slammed by the war, losing 10 percent of its entire population, with 1.7 million casualties. The patriotic reconstruction effort beckoned as volunteers were needed to build railways and other infrastructure.
For a while the return initiative became a sacred cow among the Croatian-Canadian demographic, and when one Vancouver hotelier returned with less-than-glowing description of his trip back home, he was viciously denounced as a traitor.
Le Devoir newspaper when he spoke negatively about Canada in an interview published in The Montreal Herald.
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| from Mracevich |
The assistant-ambassador Vukelic married Kirkland Lake's Mary Segina and had two children with her, Slobodan and Miran.
Vukelic was recalled to Moscow in 1948 after criticizing the Soviet Union and was sentenced to five years in prison in Moscow.
He was then given work as a metallurgist and his wife and kids patiently waited for eight years for his return. Finally in 1956 his wife Mary simply moved to Moscow with her kids to be with her husband. The family presumably became Soviet citizens.
The return-to-Yugoslavia movement ended suddenly when a dispute with Yugoslavian leader Tito led the Soviet to expel Yugoslavia from the Cominform in June 1948.
Suddenly the same Croatian council that had encouraged the return to Yugoslavia had cooled on the entire concept and now warned of "terror and arrests" under Tito.
The Radnik would ship off again from Montreal to Yugoslavia but only 22 Canadians boarded on 12 November 1948.
The Canadian Croatian leaders expressed regret over the plan as they felt they lost the best and brightest of the Canadian Croatians, and considered the entire initiative a monumental mistake.
Little is known of the fate and state of mind of the 1,869 Canadians who moved to Soviet Yugoslavia but at least one Montreal newspaper recounted a young man who returned to Montreal disappointed in 1951. "We got out of hell. We lost all we had and all we want now is to live like humans.*
Sources:
- Milovan Mracevich The motives of the Croatian-Canadeian pro-Communist returnees of 1947-48 B.A. Hons The University of British Colombia 1986.
- La Liberte de religion en Yougoslavie Le Soleil 5 April 1951
- *Yougoslaves revenus au Canada desillusionnes La Presse 2 April 1951
- Various other articles from La Presse and Le Devoir found on the BANQ site.
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Best Montreal books, Montreal's hottest neighbourhoods, and what Coolopolis has planned next -- a video update
If you have not yet dropped into Indigo, Paragraph, or Coles (Dorval, Angrignon and Cavendish) or Au Vieux Bouc (two locations in east end) you surely have purchased your copy of the must-own, must-read, must-study and must-memorize book Montreal 375 Tales on Amazon.
It is a must-have for anybody interested in Montreal and is bound to become a collectors item as well to be pulled down and perused with great regularity.
A French book publisher has made an offer to translate it as it's the "best book about Montreal" in their eyes, so a French version is on the horizon.
See the video above with a bit of reference to the book as well as a slew of other stuff getting discussed.
Montreal 375 Tales has earned five stars on Amazon. Here are some reviews:
If you're a Montrealer you must read this wonderful and bizarre book . guaranteed to amuse and educate.you may even read about a piece of history you were part of.only bad thing is it kinda made me homesick for the coolest city in North America. Keep on telling tales Kristian.
This bookis terrific. Top-class Montreal lore. Combination of encyclopedic knowledge of local history, street by street & through the centuries, decades & years, plus inexhaustible literary ebullience on every page. Al Palmer reincarnated. Every self-respecting Montrealer should buy a copy.
Fantastic book. Short little stories about The history of Montreal. Perfect for short bus rides or for keeping by the toilet.
This book is a luscious mulligatawny of the proud and profane, the naked and the nearly naked, the weird and wonderful that have made Montreal a city to love and remember. Kudos to Mr. Gravenor for his adroit selection and presentation of this fascinating collection of morsels from Montreal's long and vibrant history. Highly readable and highly recommended.
Media coverage
Concordia News Isaac Olson pre-publication love May 31, 2017
La Presse By the excellent Nicolas Berube In its last-ever paper edition Dec. 30, 2017The Montreal Gazette feature by Andy Riga with gorgeous photo by John Mahoney Jan 9. 2018
Radio Canada Le 15-18 show, en francais, Jan 12, 2018
Westmount Independent pg. 7 complete with unflattering photo Jan 16, 2018
Global TV with Andrea Howick Jan. 17, 2018
The Jewel FM with Ted Bird and Tom Whelan Feb. 8, 2018
CTV Montreal with the legendary Mutsumi Takahashi Feb 9, 2018
CJAD morning show with the well-informed Andrew Carter Feb. 19, 2018
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Artist Oscar Cahén's sketches of Montreal nightclubs just one sliver of a Canadian legacy - now honoured in a new book
These outstanding illustrations taken from a 1956 article in Weekend Magazine depict the liveliness of Montreal's 1950s nightclub culture (a subject pain-and-pleasure-stakingly detailed in Montreal 375 Tales)
Oscar Cahén (1916-56) is still celebrated for his massive contributions to Canadian art and his Montreal times come thanks to a connection to Coolopolis, as Colin Gravenor (1910-1993) got Cahén out of a refugee camp and into Montreal by giving him a job in 1942.
Cahén is the subject of a new book by the tireless Jaleen Grove, who spent considerable time and effort researching Cahen's life and work, which includes some dramatic times in Montreal.
She has written an excellent free ebook on the artist and contributed to a new book, which is the exhibition catalogue from Toronto's Beaverbrook exhibit.
Cahén was a European arrival interned in a refugee camp from 1940 to 1942 during World War II. The camp, near Sherbrooke, was known as Camp N and housed about 700 men, mainly Jews, who had fled Hitler's Germany.
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| Cahen and Shapiro |
Grove notes that Cahen managed to show some personality to get his boots back to the city. "Being able to turn on the charm under such stressful and demeaning circumstances was key to survival, for both staying out of fights and cajoling guards—and, for winning the sympathy of a comely young journalist, Beatrice Shapiro, who gained an interview with him one day."
Cahén saw Shapiro as a possible means of getting out of the refugee camp.
"Cahén had bribed the other prisoners to allow him to get to meet Shapiro, since only one man was to be granted the privilege. They had instant chemistry, and taken with his energy and creativity, she went back to Montreal and begged her boss, an entrepreneur named Colin Gravenor, to employ Cahén—because securing a job was the ticket to getting him discharged from the camp. Gravenor, satisfying himself that local publishers such as the Montreal Standard would give Cahén steady illustration jobs to do, generously took him under his wing. He gave him an office and paid for a suit of clothes, and gave him work in his PR business for the hotel that he represented."
Shapiro and Cahen became a passionate couple but eventually went their own separate ways, still remaining friends to the end however.
It was not Colin Gravenor's first effort in helping those who Hitler tried to crush under his boot. Gravenor had previously led an attempt to get Canada to boycott of the 1936 Berlin Olympics (also noted in another recent book) and headed an organization known as the Non-Sectarian Anti-Nazi League. Gravenor, whose humanitarian deeds were noted in the Vancouver Holocaust Museum, sprung out others from the camps, including Tony Oberleitner (a close associate of Wilhelm Reich) and Glay Sperling, who went on to teach photography at Dawson College.
"Oscar Cahén’s abstract painting is by turns vibrant and cheerful, or stormy and violent. He was remembered by his closest friends as being a funny, outgoing guy, but they say he sometimes had this brooding darkness about him too," Grove notes.
These fabulous sketches as well as Cahen's other works were made possible because people like Gravenor and Shapiro put their necks on the line for a stranger. "Without their that initial support, Cahén probably would have returned to England, as those plans were already in the works. Instead, Canada benefited from his talents and drive, and he became one of the most influential illustrators and abstract painters of the 1940s and 1950s in Canada."
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