This is Suzanne Kenney and you’re listening to the Crime and Canvas Podcast. In episode two, we introduced the incredible artworks that came into my mother Mary’s possession. Pieces I believe are central to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist. But how did we connect those artworks to the alleged perpetrator Frederick R. Koch? The answer lies in seemingly ordinary scraps of paper, but these are handwritten notes containing both Mr. Koch’s and my mother Mary’s handwriting.

As I discuss these notes, if you want some visuals to help follow along, please visit crimeandcanvaspodcast.com, click on the evidence link in the top navigation, and look down the list for the handwritten notes.

In them, he was clearly trying to document where he obtained the artwork, but he also took the time to impart bits of art knowledge, even sketching examples of cubism, which you can see in note three. This duality, recording provenance and offering impromptu art lessons make these notes incredibly telling about his true intentions. The method of selling artwork would be different for Mr. Koch than it would be for a flea market person. Most likely Mr. Koch didn’t realize this. He’s lived a life of luxury. His methods of getting things accomplished are way different than a normal person. He could just call up a place and say, I have this painting to sell and they don’t even need a provenance. They are yes, Mr. Koch. If my mother called them, they would probably hang up on her as they’re laughing. Anyhow.

Today we begin to decode these notes. Imagine yourself back in 91, 92, no Google, no instant search, no way for my mother Mary at her flea market booth in Okeechobee, Florida to verify anything this mysterious man calling himself Ed Koch was telling her. She had no way of knowing about a massive art storage warehouse fire in London. Which we discuss in Episode Six, or any of the complexities of the international art market he spoke of. He simply arrived and insisted she buy his artwork piece after piece for only a couple dollars each.

My mother, Mary, always practical, figured it wasn’t a huge investment. Even if she didn’t quite understand what she was buying, she sold bric-a-brac, everyday collectibles, but she enjoyed his visits. He was polite. He told her stories of a life she could never have imagined. Tales from a world of grand art and a life of luxury and yachts, gold-plated dishes, and of course the lawsuits between him and his brothers he spoke of. Anyhow, things she had never heard of, even like an art storage warehouse. And during these visits, in his clear handwriting, he made notes. Notes about where he supposedly acquired these artworks, notes that Mary also jotted down.

He was trying to tell her where he got some of the artwork. He wrote details about provenance terms like Marlborough House Gallery, 1953 auction catalog, collection of H. Leeds. Methods of selling artwork are vastly different for a billionaire art collector than a flea market vendor. He probably didn’t realize these seemingly innocent notes would eventually expose him.

These notes, now a crucial piece of evidence, connect every single work from the Van Gogh to the Picasso, Manet, Calder, and Jane Peterson to his deceptive scheme.

In total, there are 10 notes, so let’s run down what these notes tell us about the artwork we discussed in Episode Two. For the Vincent van Gogh painting, The Sultan of Morocco, the notes state it’s titled The Moroccan, that it came from Gallery Van Nuys, 13 Rue de Missionaire in Paris, France, from the Madame Corne, the proprietor, that it’s from the Paris period.

These are precise details, names, and addresses. Though, through much research online, I can’t confirm this address or this Madame Corne. Next is the Pablo Picasso pieces. The notes state that they were formerly the collection of H. Leed. And for the Femme Essise style drawing, specifically purchased from the Marlborough House Gallery in London, 1953, catalog. And he lists numbers, number 22, number 28, number 33, and number 41. Again, specific galleries, dates, and even catalog numbers.

The Alexander Calder drawings, the five pen and pencil circus scenes, the notes claim that they’re from the Hokin Gallery in Palm Beach and belong to Mr. Calder’s housekeeper, Mrs. Clifford. The Hokin Gallery did hold, based on my research, exclusive licenses to sell Alexander Calder, so that is a likely place to get a Calder drawing. I can’t confirm the Mrs. Clifford I have found some subtle information on that, but nothing that backs that up. And the Calder Foundation, which I’ve been to twice in New York, You know they don’t want to help-anyhow we go over that in another episode.

And for the Jane Peterson bird paintings, the notes say they originated from the Washington Gallery. They’re on Kodak paper on Washington Avenue in Miami. Ned Matthews and his brother. Ned Matthews and his brother own the Washington Gallery, Washington Art Storage on Washington Avenue in Miami. We talked about the Kodak paper already for the Jane Peterson.

This Washington Art Gallery is a very interesting story. It went on to become the Wolfsonian and a man, Mr. Wolfson, had stored so much of his art collectibles there that he ended up purchasing the building, turning it into his own personal gallery, and then went on to donate it to the University down there. And now they own the Wolfsonian Museum. This guy, there’s interesting stories about how he had a train car that he would travel around America in. There is some connection with how I come upon him and other information that makes me think him and Fred knew each other. And one of my theories as we get into the art heist is one of the ways they could have moved the art was on his train car. The stories on his train car would be how he would love to pull into these little towns and he’d go into the barber shop to get a haircut and he’d ask them to tell him, you know, who has what in town? And then he’d go visit those people and he’d buy whatever they had. He’d convince them to sell them and he’d load them up on his train car. So. He used his train car to move collectibles around.

Anyhow, back to the artwork and the notes. Then there’s a Camille Bombois. This is a small painting of a river scene. The notes state this is from the Naiveté period and it looks like a painting that’s most likely from the Naiveté period, something more early on in his painting before he mastered his style.

Lastly for the keys van Dongen, it’s a drawing of a lady in a hat the notes state that the provenance with the Picasso’s that this also came from the Marlborough House Gallery in London from the 1953 catalog number 22 number 28 number 33 and number 41

I want to state the Marlborough House Gallery is mentioned four times in the notes, twice with the 1953 auction catalog numbers, and twice just the name. Three of the four times it is written, it is in Mr. Koch’s handwriting.

Now it’s important to state that my mom said that this catalog. It was something that was mailed to him. And then he would let the people know how much to bid. He didn’t go to these auctions. He bid it through the phone or whatever. You’ve seen that where they don’t show up and they bid on the phone. And that’s how he bid. I also want to state that we’ve tried really hard to find these Marlborough House auction catalogs and I haven’t been able to find any.

I’ve tried to contact the Marlborough House Gallery in London. I couldn’t get anywhere there either. Now you have to think about this, if Mr. Koch has bought a lot of art from these people, all Mr. Koch has to say is this lady is trying to, whatever he’s gonna say, that’s gonna make them not help me. That’s their goal. They’re the criminal, but they’re also rich and they can convince people to respond however, and the people believe it, but they don’t realize that they’re covering up a crime. They think I’m the wrong person.

And that’s what has to stop. I also wanted to state that I read somewhere in my deep research back in 2010, 2011, that there were articles out how Fred and John would go to these auctions in the 90s and 2000s. And they were buying up all the auction gallery catalogs and they didn’t understand why. Now we know why.

Because if I ever get a hold of these catalogs and I can validate this artwork, I can prove this story. And I don’t want that. That’s pretty obvious. There are even artworks mentioned in the notes that I’ve never seen or photographed, pieces my mother sold before I could document them. A Maurice D. Vlaminck, a Fernand Ledger, and a Joan Miro.

The consistency across all these notes the detailed references to specific galleries or the auction catalog and just the overall total knowledge of art in these notes. This wasn’t, I don’t know, you just have to look at the notes. You have to look at the story and listen to the story and maybe be a part of it. Help me share this story.

So these notes paint a picture of Frederick R. Koch’s deep knowledge of the art world. A knowledge far beyond what any typical criminal would possess. Only someone with extensive, almost encyclopedic art knowledge could share such precise details. And you know like auction houses, specific catalog numbers, addresses, even Wildenstein. He gave us the exact address for Wildenstein. He also told mom that Wildenstein was known for moving black market art. And I don’t know why A. He would tell her that and B. It is true he moved, he’s known to move black market art.

My mom doesn’t know anything about this stuff and when I look up all the stuff she’s telling me and it all aligns, what are you supposed to do? Stand up for it, let others hear it. And that’s what I’m doing.

In the notes was obscure collectors like H. Leed and the Calder’s housekeeper. The level of detail confirms a deep embedding in the high end art world, not the criminal underworld. I can confirm that the handwriting on these notes in the Sun Biz document appeared striking similar to an expert.

I had paid for forensic expert Speckin to perform ink tests on the Alexander Calder drawings. During that meeting, I showed him these very notes in the Sun Biz document. While he was not hired to formally analyze the handwriting, he observed that the handwriting looked very similar, further bolstering that it was Frederick R. Koch visiting with my mother. validating that these sunbiz documents which are very important and they come out in my Miami research and yeah just in that episode we’ll talk more about that very interesting information there.

My journey to understand these notes, to piece together these connections, spans over 20 years. It began back in 2002 when I sold the Picasso’s and Jane Peterson Pelican paintings on eBay. But the real dedication to unlocking these secrets began around 2010. I conducted the ink test in 2012.

That was on the Calder drawings that hinted at a deeper connection. We discussed this in episode five. I even pursued research at the Frick Library in New York when I went up to the Calder Foundation, a place Frederick Koch was on the board of directors, which I find out later. Not when I went to New York. I was not aware of even Fred Koch the first time I went to New York. The second time I had figured out who he was. And yeah, the Kochs. Were ahead of me. They made sure no one listened to me.

In the notes, Mr. Koch tells my mother to write down Picasso Museum in Paris. The notes state there’s a book in the Frick Library in New York. That’s why I went to that Frick Library looking for that book that was in 2002 when I went to New York. Second time I went to New York was, I think 2010. We talk about that in another episode. In these notes, Mr. Koch also directly instructed my mother to contact specific museums that dealt with the artwork he was selling her. He rattled off their addresses from memory. The Colorado State Museum in Denver, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York for Van Gogh, the Museum of Modern Art in New York for Picasso. He even told her to write to the Picasso Museum in Paris.

The blue note, which is the note on Guy Wildenstein. It states photo and dimension, and it even states the word provenance. And it says that the Wildenstein Institute is at 57 Rue de la Boetie, 75008 Paris, France. He effortlessly provided this from memory. And it was his correct address when I looked it up in 2010.

He even boasted that his name is in bronze on the door of the Department of Indian Artifacts at the Denver Museum. Again, this is in the notes. When I called the Denver Museum, they wouldn’t provide any help stating that the department was under construction and the door was gone.

This wasn’t some petty criminal’s knowledge. This was a man deeply embedded in the art world with connections to prestigious institutions who was simply telling my mother where his artwork had been or his knowledge of the art world.

But this connection to Native American affairs runs even deeper and further back in the Koch family. William Koch, Frederick’s own brother. Now remember, William and Frederick stay buddy buddies. It’s Charles and David that there against.

but anyhow. William Koch, Frederick’s own brother, remarkably named his famous America’s Cup winning yacht after an American tribe. This gesture takes on a chilling new meaning when you consider that William himself filed a landmark lawsuit in 1989. Fred shows up in my mother’s life in 91.

Talks about his name being on the Indian in Denver on the door at the museum. And this lawsuit against his brother Charles and David Koch and the Koch Industries explicitly claiming that they had stolen oil from Native American tribes. The significance of the 1989 date is profound. It falls before Frederick’s visits with my mother and his mention of Indian artifacts. This wasn’t a minor dispute. In 1999, a jury found Koch Industries guilty of making tens of thousands of false claims, resulting in millions of dollars in underpaid royalties to the government and tribes. The company eventually settled for $25 million with the U.S. government in May of 2001. William Koch for his role in bringing the suit under the False Claims Act received 7.37 million of that settlement.

Now, another thing I want to quickly note in the 1980s, William and Fred sued David and Charles for their inheritance. The brothers had to pay out a billion dollars then. Fred and William won. And Fred was paid out $400-something million. He’s never worked, never had to work a day in his life. He never worked at the company. And so there was bad blood between these brothers, which is talked about to my mother. He talks about lawsuits and dislike for a twin brother. Who else could we have here, folks? But this exact information, all aligning with the stories he told my mother.

The court case exposed practices where Koch Industries allegedly engaged volume enhancement in fraudulent reporting to cheat producers, including Native American lands. So while Frederick might have boasted of his name and bronze at a museum department dedicated to Indian artifacts, his own brother was exposing the family’s alleged theft. From the Native American communities. It paints a complex, deeply unsettling picture of this family’s history with wealth and cultural artifacts. The notes became the linchpin of my investigation. They provided the first concrete roadmap, revealing Koch’s true identity and the source of his artwork. You can see the actual handwritten notes that changed everything for me on crimeandcanvaspodcast.com under the evidence link in the top navigation.

What’s profoundly disturbing, thinking about all these notes now, is the man behind them. Frederick R. Koch knew his crimes. He knew exactly what he shared with my mother, what he sold her, and what they wrote about together in those seemingly innocent notes. He even left her with this incredible dream of retiring, explicitly telling her to sell the artwork and retire, get out of the flea market, he told her, and promising to help her navigate the complex process of selling the artwork. But when my mother went to Sotheby’s, it immediately triggered them contacting his brothers. And that’s when the spotlight got hot. He realized he couldn’t control the outcome and had to secretly back out, leaving my mother standing there, utterly bewildered. Looking like a fool to the art world and to those she was sharing her amazing story with. And he didn’t just abandon her. He had years to prepare. He meticulously planned for the day she finally pieced it all together and found him. A day he would simply deny everything. How utterly awful is that? He had many years, nearly two decades passed before we truly pieced together this entire story. Not that we were working on it nonstop, but the timeline remained open. In all those years, he had time. Time to prepare for the inevitable moment someone would finally connect the dots. The audacity of it to leave such a detailed trail knowing he had so long to prepare for any repercussions.

These handwritten notes are more than just scribbles on paper. They are a crucial piece of evidence that proves Koch’s guilt.
They expose his detailed knowledge of the art world’s inner workings, a sophistication that directly contradicts any notion of the Gardener heist being a simple mob job. Not that the mob isn’t involved. But we’ll go into that when I go into how I solved it in a future episode.

These notes are undeniable proof that this story isn’t invented. It was handed to us piece by piece by the alleged perpetrator himself. This is the kind of calculated deception we’re talking about. This is the truth that’s been systematically erased, ignored, and gaslit for decades. My resolve isn’t just strong. It’s forged, hardened by their unwavering silence. Until the heywood you blow me. Again, in a future episode. Their outright denials in the crude, desperate attempts to make me disappear.

This is not what our country was founded on. No one should wield the power to silence truth, to dictate whose voice matters and whose doesn’t. We can’t allow ourselves to become an oligarchy where the powerful few control the narrative and suppress inconvenient truths. It’s time we all stand together against such injustice, listening to each other’s truths. And supporting the voices that dare to challenge the status quo. That’s why I’m here talking to you. This podcast is born from that very defiance. I refuse complicity. Mary’s story is about more than just stolen art. It’s about systemic corruption, powerful accountability, in the very foundation of justice.

The notes speak for themselves, it’s time they are seen and analyzed by those with the power to act. I urge you to visit CrimeandCanvasPodcast.com, click on the evidence link in the top navigation to see Koch’s handwritten notes with your own eyes, then use #CrimeandCanvas Podcast to share this episode.

And demand proper forensic analysis of these crucial documents. Your decision to listen, to share, to engage is part of this fight. It’s how we bypass the silence. It’s how we ensure this story is heard in full by the public. We’re building a community for unheard voices. In our next episode, Episode Four, we’ll move beyond the notes and dive into my research and Miami discoveries will explore how I pieced together Koch’s hidden business connections, his ties to international art trading, and how all roads, keep leading to Miami. For documented evidence, visit theartworkstory.com and sign up for my newsletters. To join a wider movement for truth, visit uhv.news. unheard voices where every voice matters. Thank you for joining me on the Crime in Canvas podcast. This is Suzanne Kenney. I’m grateful for your time and your willingness to hear this story. Let’s always remember the truth is still the truth even if no one believes it.