Wiretaps and police intel on Rob Ford suggests the impossible: the Toronto mayor’s spiral from city hall to crack den could be even worse than we thought. The most egregious allegations are listed below. You can browse or download the Toronto police’s entire 474-page “Project Brazen” document here, so we’ll include page references.
Ford Accused of Doing Heroin
In one wiretapped phone call, which lasted just a minute and a half, alleged drug dealers discussing the mayor’s antics claimed he had been “smoking on the dugga,” which the National Post believes to be a mishearing of a Somali phrase for smoking rocks, i.e. crack—but then we already knew that. One of the so-called drug dealers also said he had seen Ford “doing the hezza,” which is far more common street slang, and means: taking heroin. (p.74)
Murder Linked to Crack Video
Toronto police say they were told that there was a link between the murder of Anthony Smith, a known gangster, and the Ford crack video, which was in Smith’s possession and supposedly showed the mayor of Toronto on the pipe.
A journalist, Andrew Lawson, left a message for a detective investigating the homicide pointing out a possible link. “He had been approached by an unknown male a number of months prior and was offered a video recording which depicted Mayor FORD in a “compromising position”. LAWSON believed that this information could be related to the Anthony SMITH homicide,” reads the police document. (p. 88)
The Toronto Star has obtained further police documents, which indicate that David Price, one of the mayor’s staffers, also believed there was a link between Smith having the recording on his phone and his murder.
“Price disclosed that the cell phone containing the recording of interest belonged to the deceased (Anthony Smith) and that it was the motive for his murder,” the police document read. “Price stated that the male (Smith) died because of the phone.”
This allegation was later dismissed by police investigators.
Ford Allegedly Tried to Buy Crack Video
Again we are relying on the intercepted words of suspected drug dealers and gangsters, so this is hardly solid evidence, but two of the alleged criminals were overheard discussing the sale of the crack video.
They discuss the possibility of selling the tape to a Canadian newspaper and a website, but seem to agree it would be safer to sell it to Ford. They are not happy with his alleged offer, though. “He said I’ll give you five thousand and a car. What the f**k is that?” They decide to approach the mayor themselves and ask him for between $100,000 and $150,000. (p. 372)
Gang Members Thought Ford Would Protect Them
Another potentially nasty accusation against Ford is that his association with criminals or drug dealers might offer them impunity or freedom to sell drugs without fearing the law. Alleged dealers, who were being secretly recorded by the cops, speculate that Ford wouldn’t want them to get arrested because they have a picture of him “on the pipe” (p. 23) and in “a lot of f**ked up situations.” (p. 67)
Ford Allegedly Lost His Phone At Crack Den
On April 20, Ford told mayoral staffers that, ooops, he had lost his phone at a clean-up Toronto community event. According to the wiretaps of alleged gang members, he actually left it at a crack house where it may or may not have been stolen.
Intercepted phone calls suggested that the gang members were told that they had better return the phone or Ford would use his power in City Hall to crack down on Dixon, the area where the gang operated. “[It was] threatened that if he did not get the phone back that the Mayor would put heat on Dixon.” (p.24)
Mayor’s Driver Allegedly Bought the Cell Back With Drugs
The mayor did get his phone back. And according to more intercepted calls, it was the mayor’s friend and sometime driver Alexander Lisi went to pick up the phone from the gang. “The interceptions indicate that the named party returned the phone to FORD’s driver/security and received marihuana from the driver for his efforts,” said the police documents. (p.23)
