Gang try to sell video of ‘mayor smoking crack’

Evidence ... Toronto Mayor Rob Ford with Anthony Smith, left, who was killed in a gangland shooting
By TOM EDWARDS
Published: 7 hrs ago
4

A CITY Mayor has been secretly filmed smoking on his CRACK PIPE by villains trying to sell the footage for a six-figure fee.
The Toronto Star newspaper reports that they were approached by a group of Somali men involved in the Canadian drug trade, who claimed to have footage of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, 43.
Reporters were allowed to view the clip three times and say it shows Mayor Ford sitting in a chair mumbling incoherently and inhaling what appears to be crack cocaine.
He also appears to call someone a “fag” and mutter “I’m f***ing right-wing”.

Friends in high places ... Mayor Rob Ford with Donald Trump
WireImage
Two people from the paper have separately concluded that it is indeed Mayor Ford in the video, although it is impossible to determine for sure what is in the pipe he smokes from.
As further evidence the gang provided a picture of the mayor with 21-year-old Anthony Smith - a student who was killed in a gangland shooting and lived in the same neighbourhood as the crack dealers.
The Toronto Star refused to pay the fee and, although the gang are thought to have offered it to other sources, the footage has not appeared anywhere online.
Ford has previously been caught up in a string of high-profile controversies.
In 2006, while visibly intoxicated, he was thrown out of an ice hockey game for insulting a couple sitting behind him.
Later in the same year he argued AGAINST donating money towards AIDS research, saying: “If you are not doing needles and you are not gay, you wouldn’t get AIDS probably.”
He has also fallen foul of anti-racism campaigners when he said in 2008 that “Those Oriental people work like dogs. They sleep beside their machines. That’s why they’re successful in life. I’m telling you, the Oriental people, they’re slowly taking over.”
And in 2013 he was accused of inappropriately touching another mayoralty candidate, Sarah Thomson.
He also has a conviction for Driving Under the Influence and marijuana possession from 1999 — before he became mayor.


Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/new...l#ixzz2TZjaU1yl

gawker have started a fundraiser to buy the tape off of the somali drug dealers for $200,000. So far they have $58,000.
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/rob-ford-crackstarter

gawker have raised the $200,000 but have not been able to get back in touch with the people that possess the tape, however this has not taken this story out of the limelight. At least half dozen of his staff has quit, apparently he made them aware that he knew where the tape was even after publically denying its existence. And from this article he apparently has strong support from the somalian drug dealing community.

Rob Ford drama takes a surreal turn in the unit where drug dealers may have stashed alleged crack video

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Megan O'Toole
Thursday, May 30, 2013

Fresh bullet holes scar the dingy hallway outside apartment 1703 at 320 Dixon Road — the unit where, sources say, Toronto drug dealers may have stashed an explosive video that allegedly shows Mayor Rob Ford smoking a crack pipe.

The man who answers the door, in a red T-shirt and with his black dreadlocks pulled back into a loose ponytail, stares out with suspicion. Asked about the video, his eyes darken, but the reaction is fleeting. He invites a National Post reporter and photographer into his modest unit. He swipes crumbs off the square, scuffed wooden dining table with a sponge and apologizes for the mess in the sparsely furnished unit.

“So what did you want to know?”

Asked again whether the alleged video was ever stored in this apartment unit, the man — who speaks on condition of anonymity, saying he does not want to be publicly drawn into the politically charged saga — pulls out a cellphone and begins dialling. Behind him, afternoon sunlight pours in through a gap in the sagging white window curtain.

He thrusts the phone toward a Post reporter.

“Here,” he says. “Talk to him.”

The man on the other end of the phone sounds relaxed, friendly. He says his name is Jon, and he is a friend of this tenant. He believes the video may have been stashed inside unit 1703 at some point by a group of young Somali men who “have keys.”

“Characters have been around there,” Jon says. “If [the video] is hidden in the house, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

The cellphone abruptly cuts out; the battery is dead.

Unit 1703 has come under intense scrutiny in recent days. An unverified report in the Toronto Star Thursday says anonymous sources alleged Mayor Ford pointed to this unit as one of two possible locations where the alleged video was being stored — although the mayor has said, on record, that the video does not exist.

Also, earlier this week, a member of the mayor’s staff told the Post that Ford aide David Price passed a tip to former chief of staff Mark Towhey, who passed it on to police, about drug dealing in unit 1703. But another source contradicted that account, telling the Post that the mayor’s office tipped off police about the address at 320 Dixon Road after receiving information that the alleged video was stashed there.

Back inside unit 1703, the man who answered the door on Wednesday afternoon speaks guardedly. He says he moved in several months ago, noting the unit was previously occupied by a local drug dealer. Asked why a number of young Somali men have keys, as his friend indicated, he responds with surprising nonchalance: “I think somebody may have duplicated my key,” he says casually. “That’s why I’m changing my locks.”

In quick succession, the man issues a number of claims: that, while he does not know its current whereabouts, he has viewed the alleged video and believes it to be authentic; that he has seen other more innocuous footage of Mayor Ford “hanging out” in the neighbourhood; that Somali gang members who support the mayor are angry at the video’s sellers; and that he and his friends briefly considered making a fraudulent crack video starring an acquaintance and Rob Ford lookalike nicknamed “Slurpy,” in an attempt to discredit the real thing. Slurpy, who was not available to be interviewed by the Post, apparently opted out of the phoney video plan, ultimately deciding he did not want to become embroiled in the simmering controversy.

“We don’t like Rob Ford getting screwed,” the man in unit 1703 says. “We wanted to help him… 85% of [young Somalis] are very upset about these guys with the video.”

It is difficult, in this surreal saga, to know what to believe and what to dismiss.

The man in unit 1703 — who says he is Jamaican, appears to be in his early 40s and admits to having served jail time for drug offences — claims he viewed footage of Mayor Ford smoking a substance that may have been crack cocaine before New York gossip site Gawker broke the story two weeks ago. The National Post has not seen the video and cannot verify its authenticity.

The man offers few details of what he saw in the alleged video, but says it is just one of a number of clips of Mayor Ford he has viewed. In another, he says the mayor appears to be in the back of a limousine with his arms outstretched, possibly smoking a cigarette. He says he will try to arrange for the Post to view some of these clips, which are not in his possession. By press time, he has produced none, and is not answering his phone.

Reached Thursday by telephone, his friend, Jon, says the man “packed a bag” and left unit 1703, at least temporarily, amid the intense public focus on that address. While he maintains his friend has no direct involvement in the production or safekeeping of the alleged crack video, Jon says: “It’s becoming his problem.”

While the man in unit 1703 said police never interviewed him about the alleged video, investigators came to his home for another reason, about a week ago.

On May 21, just a few days after the video scandal hit newsstands, a man was shot on the 17th floor of 320 Dixon Road. The same detectives who were reportedly tipped off by Mayor Ford’s staff about other illegal activities on the building’s 17th floor were dispatched to investigate, but police sources have since stated there is no link between the alleged video and the May 21 shooting. Residents of the building say a fight actually started on the 18th floor and rolled downstairs, where shots were fired. Bullet holes, circled and numbered by police as evidence, remain visible in the walls.

Soon after the shooting, the man in unit 1703 said he heard from his panicked mother: “Somebody had called my mom and told my mom I got shot,” he recalled. But he was fine; he was not even home at the time.

As to what ultimately became of the alleged crack video, the man seems certain of one thing.

“That tape,” he said, “will never surface.”

Dixon Road raids turn up glare on Rob Ford's helter-skelter life: DiManno
Project Traveller was never about Mayor Rob Ford, but it has put his actions under the microscope.
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By: Rosie DiManno Columnist, Published on Fri Jun 14 2013

One mayor, one murder victim, one reputed crack house, one highly sought video, one possible tape-stashing apartment unit: Connect the dots.
Project Traveller — which was never about Rob Ford but tripped over him in its year-long investigative odyssey towards massive pre-dawn drug and gun raids Thursday — has turned up the glare on some very dark corners of the mayor’s helter-skelter life.
A mayor who insists he is not a crack addict — and there’s no indication of habitual use, nor much likelihood that drug traces could be obtained from hair samples, given the buzz cut that Ford suddenly adopted a few weeks ago, after Crackgate exploded in the media.

Dixon Road raids net guns and cash, leaves gang ‘significantly downgraded,’ Toronto police say
Dixon Road raids: Guns-and-gangs bail hearings proceeding smoothly
Councillors call for answers as Ford, Blair, Wynne remain tight-lipped
Here’s how the raids went down
A mayor who was photographed in the jolly company of a trio of men — Anthony Smith, slain in March; Muhammad Khattak, wounded in the same shooting and arrested in Thursday’s raids; Monir Kassam, also arrested in that operation.
A mayor who posed for that picture outside a Windsor Rd. home — Ford has never denied it, merely noted that he has his photo taken with loads of folks — that has been the subject of numerous complaints about drug activity from neighbours. What in the world was Ford doing there? He’s never said.
That Windsor Rd. address, the Star has learned, was included on search warrants sworn out by police before the multi-jurisdiction raids were launched in Toronto, Windsor (the city) and Edmonton. Police never went to the house on Thursday, but that doesn’t mean they hadn’t served the warrant earlier. At least one other address listed in the warrants was visited by police last Sunday — they simply knocked on the door rather than kicked in the door.
A mayor who, as the Star had earlier been told by sources, blurted out to some members of his inner circle staff that he knew where the videotape — of Ford seeming to be sucking on a crack pipe — could be located, the same videotape which Ford publicly claims does not exist. According to an individual privy to that discussion, Ford gave a specific address: 320 Dixon Rd, either unit 1703 or 1701.
The 320 Dixon Rd. address, unit 1703, was included on the police search warrants. Its front door is not damaged and residents on that floor say they saw no police activity on Thursday.
On Friday, the mayor had nothing to say about it, studiously ignoring questions flung in his direction by reporters after he spoke at a Toronto Real Estate Board luncheon. Understandable, actually, the mum-game. Not talking, except in the controlled environment of his Sunday afternoon radio show with ‘bro Doug, has been working for the mayor so far, at least by his apparent reckoning.
Chief Bill Blair did a lot of talking at his press conference, Thursday, though what he didn’t say left a pungent odour. While the media session was called to publicize successful culmination of the year-long Project Traveller operation — disrupting a sophisticated criminal enterprise that included robberies, murder and attempted murder, drug and gun trafficking — reporters hounded the chief with questions about where, how and if the investigation had transected with the crack video scandal, a tape that has been seen only by two Star reporters and the editor of U.S.-based website Gawker.
Blair did not pluck the mayor out of the muck, refusing to reveal whether police had scooped up the tape in their investigation or any other evidence linking Ford with drug dealers. But several media organizations, including the Star, have discovered that investigators became aware of the tape’s existence at some point before the news was broken by the Star and Gawker.
In the National Post Friday, columnist Christie Blatchford reported that when Ford’s name first surfaced in wiretapped conversations, Blair told senior commanders he would not lie about it. This comment has been independently confirmed by the Star.
Blair hasn’t lied. He steadfastly asserts any information collected by police will come out in court during the trials of those charged in Project Traveller. There has been no objection from the chief’s office over inferences drawn by the media in coverage of the press conference.
Ford was not briefed on the raids either before or after they occurred. Blair made it clear he reports to the police board, not the mayor. And the board has taken a hands-off approach to the Ford controversy because the mayor certainly doesn’t answer to them.
Board chair Alok Mukherjee told the Star Friday that Blair has yet to brief them about Project Traveller, nor could the board direct the chief to be more forthcoming about evidence obtained.
“Under the Police Services Act, the board is prevented from any involvement in what is called operational matters, including directing the chief or any member of the police service regarding any day-to-day investigation. By law, the board is prevented from directing the chief and the chief is prevented from seeking directions from the board. It’s a very water-tight separation.”
However, the chief has been summoned to meet with the police services board next week.
“I have asked him to provide the board with a briefing on Project Traveller as well as the comments he made during his press conference. I assume the chief will comply with that,” Mukherjee says.
Only after the operation has concluded can the board disclose any information that the chief has provided. But Blair has made it clear that Project Traveller is still ongoing with no wrap-up date in sight.
Mukherjee points to the accounting the board demanded of former police chief Julian Fantino (and, later, Blair) about an investigation of corruption against members of the Central Field Command’s drug squad. “After the fact, the board did ask pretty detailed questions. There was a fair bit that the board made public.”
Would the board be similarly divulgent if it learns that Ford was implicated — however peripherally — in Project Traveller?
“That would be the type of advice the board would seek from its legal counsel,” says Mukherjee.
What the board can’t do is call Ford to address the allegations. “No, we absolutely do not have that authority.”
Mukherjee adds: “As a resident of this city, I very much hope that these matters can be resolved soon because I do understand the public concern that’s been expressed.”
At their Friday follow-up Project Traveller press conference — 43 individuals arrested in the operation, more than 300 charges laid — police displayed a trove of nasty firearms that had been seized: military-style rifles, semi-automatics, handguns.
No cellphones.

By the numbers

Number of tactical teams involved: 42

Number of warrants executed: 39

Number of people arrested Thursday – 19 in Toronto, 9 in Windsor: 28

Number of people arrested in investigation to date – and police say more are expected: 43

Number of firearms seized during the investigation: 40

Value of narcotics seized, including cocaine, heroin, and marijuana: $3-million

Amount of cash seized: $572,000

The suspects



The Dixon City Bloods


The massive police bust targeted a loosely organized gang whose turf encompasses a one-kilometre stretch of Dixon Road in North Etobicoke.

The area, known locally as Little Mogadishu for the prevalence of recent Somali immigrants, is largely the domain of the Dixon City Bloods, who go by so many names and tags that many people along the Dixon corridor regard them as disorganized and relatively harmless group of friends.

But in an afternoon press conference on Thursday, Toronto Police singled out the group as a violent drug-running organization that has been the target of an intense one-year investigation.

By Thursday afternoon, Project Traveller had resulted in the arrests of 43 people affiliated with a group known around the Dixon residential towers as “the DCs.” Nineteen of those arrests took place on Wednesday in Toronto with another nine taking place in Windsor.

“This gang has been networking with associates from Windsor and Edmonton since 2006, where members have been responsible and involved in shootings, robberies, possession and trafficking of drugs and firearms,” said Deputy Chief Mark Saunders.

By late Thursday, self-identifying Dixon Bloods were taking to Twitter under the hashtag #freethehood.

This Mayor Ford is probably the reason why so many active criminal groups can operate in Toronto. Toronto has had alot of corruption. I cant wait to see if there is an actual video,,

The tape is most likely real considering that some of his former staff seemed to acknowledge its existence. Rob Ford told them he knew where it was. Also he still hasnt explained the picture of himself and two young men one of whom was killed in a gang shooting and another who has been arrested as part of the operation i posted above.

Rob Ford Scandal Prompts Court Fight Over Drug, Gun Warrants
CBC | Posted: 07/02/2013 5:43 am EDT | Updated: 07/02/2013 7:46 am EDT

FOLLOW: Rob Ford, Rob Ford Crack Scandal, Rob Ford Scandal, Toronto Mayor, Rob Ford Drug Scandal, Rob Ford Gang Members, Rob Ford Search Warrants, Rob Ford Warrants, Search Warrants Rob Ford, Toronto, Warrants Rob Ford, Canada Politics News

A group of Canadian news organizations is asking a judge to unseal police search warrants that they believe could shed light on whether Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has a connection to alleged members of a criminal organization. CP


A group of Canadian news organizations is asking a judge to unseal police search warrants that they believe could shed light on whether Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has a connection to alleged members of a criminal organization.

Police in Toronto and Windsor arrested 43 people in mid-June in what investigators dubbed "Project Traveller." They allege the suspects were part of the "Dixon City Bloods" gang, which police claim was trafficking in cocaine, crystal meth and illegal guns smuggled into Canada from the U.S.

The raids came weeks after reports emerged that Ford had been allegedly caught on video smoking a crack pipe. The mayor has denied the allegations and said the video does not exist.

- The agony of Rob Ford: view our interactive

An online fundraising campaign by the U.S. gossip website Gawker raised $200,000, but failed in a bid to buy the alleged video. It’s never been made public and CBC News has not seen it and cannot verify whether it even exists.

"First of all we have an absolute right to this material, subject to the Crown raising good reasons why not," said Peter Jacobsen, a lawyer hired by CBC News, the Globe and Mail, Sun Media and a number of other news outlets.

"But more importantly this is all connected with the Ford video — or the alleged Ford video — and it also relates directly to the kind of governance we are getting in the city."

Media want evidence unsealed

"Project Traveller" targeted a number of individuals and addresses that became associated with the recent Ford controversy.

Two of the men arrested in June, Muhammad Khattak and Monir Kassimm, were pictured in a now infamous photograph posing with Ford.

A third man in the photo, Anthony Smith, who police say was also a member of the Dixon City Bloods, was shot and killed in March.

"This is of great public interest as it may relate to allegations that the Mayor of Toronto has been associated with members of a criminal organization and was videotaped by them using crack cocaine," states a formal court application filed by media groups which asks a judge to unseal police "informations" filed by investigators to obtain search warrants for the June raids.

The media application goes on to argue that "the addresses at which the search warrants … were executed are reportedly associated with an alleged video depicting Mayor Ford. There are reports that the residential complex along Dixon Road at the heart of the raids includes a location where the alleged video depicting Mayor Ford may have been kept and that the police were aware of the alleged video before its existence became public."

Jacobsen notes there is no certainty that the warrants contain any evidence implicating the mayor in any wrongdoing; but he insists seeing the warrants may be the only way to clear the air.

"The Ford photo appears to have been taken in the same area. There are many, many connections, none of them 100 per cent solid. But there's enough of them to make us think that it's in the public interest that we find out more about this investigation," Jacobsen said Monday.

Crown seeks 6-month delay
The Crown is asking the court to delay the media request by six months, but has taken the unusual step of requesting secrecy from lawyers hired by the media.

Jacobsen says the Crown involved in the "Project Traveller" prosecution has provided a detailed reply to the media organization’s lawyers, but has asked that they not tell their own clients why the Crown feels the warrants should remain sealed from public view.

CBC News yesterday emailed Crown prosecutor Paul Renwick, as well as Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General spokesperson Brendan Crawley, requesting an explanation for the secrecy and for the request for a six-month adjournment, but they so far have not replied.
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/07/02/rob-ford-scandal_n_3532208.html

Rob Ford crack scandal: Man who showed Rob Ford crack video caught up in police raids
Mohamed Siad’s alleged involvement in criminal activity raises the question of how he came to be involved with the Rob Ford crack video.


By: Jayme Poisson News reporter, Kevin Donovan Investigations, Published on Fri Aug 02 2013

One of the men who tried to sell the Rob Ford crack video was arrested as part of the Project Traveller raids in north Etobicoke.
Now, Mohamed Siad, 27, an alleged drug and gun dealer, sits in segregation after being stabbed in jail just days following the massive police operation.
Siad faces a slew of charges, including participating in a criminal organization, conspiracy and the trafficking of guns and cocaine.
An ongoing Star investigation reveals that Siad was the man who sat in the back seat of a car on May 3 and showed two Star reporters a cellphone video of the mayor appearing to smoke crack cocaine and making homophobic and racist remarks.
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When police arrested Siad early in the morning of June 13 his home was searched, but the Star does not know if police recovered the video.
Neither the police nor the Crown attorney on the Project Traveller investigation would discuss the Siad case. Siad’s lawyer also said he could not talk about it due to solicitor-client privilege.
Siad’s alleged involvement in criminal activity raises the question of how he came to be involved with the Ford crack video.
The Star’s first encounter with Siad was at about 9:30 p.m. on Friday, May 3. A man who had been trying to broker the sale of the video on Siad’s behalf had driven the Star reporters to a parking lot at the Dixon Rd. complex that later would be the scene of the raids. The Star has promised to protect the identity of the broker out of concern for his safety.
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Sammy Yatim funeral to begin
Sammy Yatim funeral set to begin
The broker, who never identified Siad to the Star, had told reporters that the man with the video might sell it for a “six-figure price” that would allow him to relocate out west in Alberta. The Star reporters (Robyn Doolittle and Kevin Donovan) were told by the broker that the man they were meeting had sold crack to the mayor and videotaped him doing drugs. However, it is unclear if Siad recorded the video, or simply had possession of the cellphone.
That night, in the busy parking lot that serves the condominium towers, the Star reporters were introduced to a man we now know was Mohamed Siad.
Siad, his arms scabbed, hustled into the back seat of the broker’s car and played the video three times for the two reporters. Siad was not technically allowed to be in the parking lot because, in 2009, he had been banned from the complex after a previous unknown incident. When he first got into the car, Siad did not want to play the audio. “Sound is extra,” he said. But Siad relented and the reporters were able to both see and hear the video. The reporters were allowed to freeze-frame the video at certain points while watching.
“I’m f---ing right-wing,” Ford appears to mutter at one point, in answer to goading questions from a male voice off-camera. “Everyone expects me to be right-wing. I’m just supposed to be this great . . . ” and his voice trails off. At another point he is heard referring to Justin Trudeau as a “fag.” Later in the 90-second video he is asked about the football team he coached at the time and he appears to say (though mumbling), “They are just f---ing minorities.” The video ends when a groggy, incoherent Ford reacts to a ringing cellphone and appears to notice a cellphone camera is pointed at him. “That better not be on,” Ford says, and the screen goes dark.
Siad only allowed the reporters to see the video three times, and before he left reminded the Star of what he wanted. “Money is protection,” Siad said.
Then Siad was gone, out of the car, and the Star began a process of investigating people involved in the video. The Star did not pay for or obtain the video.
Siad has no criminal record but had charges pending at the time the Star met him in the car.
Ten days before the Star reporters met Siad he was picked up by Peel Region police in Mississauga, around Dixie Rd. and Dundas St. Police initially approached him while he was in a car on Wednesday, April 24, according to Peel Police spokesman George Tudos. Siad allegedly fled on foot, pushing an officer in the process.
Siad was arrested and charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance and one count of assaulting a peace officer. One possession charge has been dropped. There is currently a bench warrant out for his arrest in Peel Region because he missed a scheduled court date there while in custody.
Previous to that, in 2009, he was arrested for gun possession stemming from an incident where a 9 mm handgun was found in a van. Five other people were inside the van at the time. Siad’s charge was withdrawn in March of 2010, according to court documents.
After the Star and Gawker published stories about the existence of the Ford video, a media storm erupted. Mayor Ford denied the existence of the video and called the reporters “pathological liars.”
Ford, who did not respond to a request to his office for comment, has previously called news of the video “false” and said: “I do not use crack cocaine, nor am I an addict of crack cocaine. As for a video, I cannot comment on a video that I have never seen or does not exist.”
A Star story revealed that the day the story was published, Ford blurted out two 320 Dixon Rd. apartment unit numbers as a location where the video could be found. His logistics man and former football coach, Dave Price, passed this information on to the mayor’s then chief-of-staff Mark Towhey, who alerted Toronto Police because of a concern that someone would be hurt or killed over the video.
Toronto police detectives began an investigation but have refused to discuss it. Chief Bill Blair has been repeatedly asked by the media if Ford is under investigation. He refuses to answer that question.
The Star has not met with Siad since that one meeting in the parking lot. However, reporters Doolittle and Donovan were in court when Siad recently appeared by video link-up from jail. In his brief appearance he complained about being kept in segregation.
Siad is an alleged member of the Dixon City Bloods street gang. He was married recently.
A few days after his June 13 arrest, Siad, who goes by the street name “Soya,” was stabbed multiple times in the Don Jail.
Ministry of Corrections spokesman Brent Ross confirmed an incident took place at the jail on June 15 and that an inmate was injured, but refused to release the victim’s name, citing an ongoing police investigation.
The Star does not know why or by whom Siad was stabbed. Toronto police confirmed Thursday that no one has been charged in the incident.
In asking questions about Siad, the Star has been met with a wall of silence.
“Project Traveller cases are before the courts and it would be entirely inappropriate for us to comment,” said Toronto police spokesman Mark Pugash, when asked earlier this week if police had obtained a copy of the video.
A Crown attorney on the Project Traveller case, Paul Renwick, would not answer questions.
Daniel Brown, Siad’s lawyer, said in an email that ethical and professional obligations prevent him from speaking about anything he may have learned during his time as counsel. “Likewise, my conversations with prosecutors about any of my clients would be protected by the same solicitor-client privilege.”
“Unlike myself, the Toronto Police are not bound by privilege and would be in the best position to answer questions about what evidence is in their possession,” Brown said.
Brown also noted that while he is still the counsel of record for Siad, he is planning to make an application to remove himself from the case, for unspecified reasons.
Of the 56 people arrested in Project Traveller, Siad’s charges are among the most serious.
He is charged with trafficking in firearms, unauthorized possession of a firearm, possession of a firearm obtained by the commission of an offence, four counts of trafficking in cocaine, fourteen counts of conspiracy to commit an indictable offence and three counts of participating in a criminal organization.
While the video was news to the people of Toronto it would not have been news to some of the police working on the Project Traveller case leading up to the June 13 arrests.
Surveillance during the year-long probe had picked up word of the video and the attempts to sell it to the media.
After the crack video story became big news, Siad got cold feet and decided not to sell it. The broker told the Star that the man with the video had gotten rid of the video.
It is unclear why Siad changed his mind and did not sell the video. Sources have told the Star that many people in and around the Dixon Rd. neighbourhood that became the ground zero of the Ford crack scandal were angered by the media firestorm and intense scrutiny that followed the initial stories. As well, that no one wanted to take the $200,000 raised by Gawker because it was too public and there was a belief the money could be traced.
Siad, who has not yet made an application for bail, is due back in court Aug 7. http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/08/...lice_raids.html

Possible Rob Ford connection sought in sealed police warrants
Media seek release of warrants that may reveal mayor's possible ties to gang
By Dave Seglins, CBC News Posted: Sep 12, 2013 7:02 AM ET Last Updated: Sep 12, 2013 11:19 AM ET
Police searched a number of addresses this spring as part of Project Traveller, a crackdown on gangs operating in northwest Toronto. (Steven Bull/CBC)
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Police visited home linked to Rob Ford crack allegations
A court battle resumes this morning in Toronto to make public police search warrants used in Project Traveller, a massive crackdown this spring on what police allege is a violent street gang involved in gun running and pot and cocaine trafficking.

Of interest are warrants that might shed light on whether those arrested have any association with Mayor Rob Ford. CBC News and seven other media organizations in July applied to the court to unseal a police affidavit used to obtain a warrant to search a handful of residences as part of their crackdown on the Dixon City Bloods in the Rexdale area.

Since then, however, media lawyers have learned there were at least 39 separate search warrants granted in Project Traveller, for addresses in both Windsor and Toronto. They will argue today that all should be unsealed. In July, CBC News, the Toronto Star and others appeared in court arguing the information is of great public interest, given the criminal allegations against 40 people arrested.

The media argued the public deserves to know whether the warrants reveal any evidence that Ford may have been consorting with some of the alleged drug dealers. A string of media articles has suggested Ford knew several members of the Dixon City Bloods and, according to the Toronto Star, was even caught on video smoking what appeared to be a crack pipe.

Justice Phillip A. Downes in July ordered the Crown prosecutor in the Project Traveller case to return to court no later than Sept. 12 with proposed redactions, blacking out portions of the police material in order to allow at least a partial release to the public.

The Crown recently provided lawyers for the media (reporters are not yet allowed to see the material, or report it) with an 119-page police document, of which 110 pages are entirely blacked out, according to documents filed with the court.

A group of media organizations that includes the CBC is asking the court to make public the contents of search warrants to probe any potential connection between gang raids carried out this spring and Toronto Mayor Rob Ford. (CBC)
The Crown argues they need to protect information about sensitive police electronic surveillance (believed to be wiretaps that are potentially ongoing) claiming "that particular information relates to police investigative techniques that cannot be disclosed" citing Section 193 of Canada's Criminal Code.

Excessive blackout
According to documents filed with the court, media lawyers plan to argue today that blacking out 100 pages is excessive.

“The Crown’s position is entirely implausible,” argues Toronto Star lawyer Ryder Gilliland, disputing claims that any information about wiretaps can’t be released to the public.

News organizations hope to discover whether police have any information connecting Mayor Ford to any of the Project Traveller suspects.

In particular, the media hope to obtain search warrant materials related to a specific residence: the home of Mohamed Siad. The Toronto Star reported this summer that he was arrested and had his home searched as part of Project Traveller.

The Star also reported that Siad is the individual who showed them, and tried to sell, a video of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, in which the Star said he appeared intoxicated, made racist and homophobic remarks, and was seen smoking what appeared to be a crack pipe.

CBC has never seen such a video and cannot verify its authenticity or whether it exists. Toronto’s Mayor Rob Ford has insisted on various occasions that he is not addicted to crack, and denies any such video exists.

I think there must be some proper infrastructure for all that things because one the main reason of growing the crime is media.And people are breaking rules and laws after seeing these type of videos that encourage them to do any criminal activity.
Property Settlements by mclaughlins

Rob Ford’s ‘good guy’ friend charged with drug trafficking after evidence uncovered during Project Traveller probe
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Natalie Alcoba and Megan O'Toole | 02/10/13 | Last Updated: 03/10/13 8:07 AM ET



After spending the night in custody and the day as the subject of intense media scrutiny, Alexander Lisi emerged from Old City Hall courthouse Wednesday afternoon all alone.

The sometime driver for Mayor Rob Ford, now charged with drug trafficking and at the centre of an investigation led by one of Toronto’s most experienced detectives, looked at times angry, at times bewildered by the swarm of reporters, cameras and questions waiting for him. At one point swinging at a photographer, he led the group on a bizarre, extended chase, walking in circles on busy downtown streets, into a pub and the Eaton Centre, as passersby pulled out cellphones to record the scene.

“You guys are f—–’ hilarious,” he said to reporters upon his release. “Get a f—–’ life.”

But the spotlight is focused intently on the 35-year-old Etobicoke man now, whose name has come up in the weeks that followed explosive allegations that Mayor Ford is captured on a cell phone camera video smoking from a crack pipe. The Toronto Star contends Lisi has made attempts to retrieve the alleged video.


On Wednesday, Lisi was charged with trafficking of marijuana under three kilograms, possession of proceeds of crime, possession of marijuana and conspiracy to commit the indictable offence of trafficking a controlled substance. He was arrested the previous evening along with Jamshid Bahrami, 47, the owner of a small dry-cleaning shop, after police executed a search warrant at 250 Wincott Drive. Mr. Bahrami faces three charges: possession of cocaine, three counts of marijuana trafficking and conspiracy to commit the indictable offence of trafficking.


Community shocked to learn ‘happy-go-lucky’ drug cleaner charged

Ali Bagheri found the door to the Richview Cleaners locked Wednesday, the shop empty of staff and clientele. As he traipsed back to his car, arms still filled with clothes he had hoped to drop off at the west-end dry-cleaners, Mr. Bagheri was shocked to hear of the owner’s arrest.

“Really, what for?” he exclaimed, noting he had always received good service at the shop. “He wasn’t a bad person, always so nice — not to me, to everyone.”

But police allege there is a side of Richview owner Jamshid Bahrami that his customers and neighbours did not see, including his association with Alexander Lisi, a friend of Mayor Rob Ford’s who has been publicly linked to crack-cocaine allegations surrounding the chief magistrate.

Continue reading …
The Post has learned these arrests are part of a larger investigation, led by homicide Det. Sgt. Gary Giroux, into matters that arose during the course of the year-long Project Traveller probe that targeted the Dixon City Bloods gang. The Giroux investigation has nothing to do with the gang, the Post has been told, and has not been focused on the alleged crack video. However, evidence uncovered along the way has led the team of investigators, which includes Det. Joyce Schertzer, to a group of people who are close to the mayor.

Det. Schertzer investigated the murder of Anthony Smith, a man who is pictured in a widely circulated photograph of Mayor Ford with two alleged gang members who were arrested in the Project Traveller raids.

The Star and U.S. website Gawker first published the photo alongside stories describing a video that allegedly depicts the mayor smoking from a crack pipe.

Mr. Ford has denied smoking crack cocaine and refused to comment on a video he says does not exist.

The National Post has not seen the alleged video and can not confirm its existence.


On Wednesday, Mayor Ford said he was “surprised” that his “good guy” friend and occasional driver was arrested.

“I’m surprised, I’m really surprised,” Mr. Ford said at a Esso gas station around the corner from his Etobicoke home. “He’s a friend, he’s a good guy, I don’t throw my friends under the bus. He’s straight and narrow, never once seen the guy drink, never seen him once do drugs, so…I’m surprised, I’m actually shocked.”

Mayor Ford went on to lambaste the media for coming to his house late Wednesday morning, where a throng of reporters waited earlier in the day for a comment on the Lisi matter.


“I don’t go to your front door, don’t go to my front door. I have kids,” an irate Mayor Ford said, calling the media tactic “very low.”

Mayor Ford said he was not aware Lisi had been under surveillance, nor was he concerned that any interactions he may have had with Lisi could emerge through the upcoming legal proceedings.

Det.-Sgt. Giroux is listed as the main investigator on the Lisi drug case. Mark Pugash, a Toronto police spokesman, said that’s because “he is an extremely experienced, an extremely tenacious investigator” and not because it has anything to do with a homicide.


Lisi appeared in an Old City Hall courthouse Wednesday wearing a grey zip up sweater and standing with his hands clasped.

He had a mark under his right eye, which he later seemed to imply happened while in custody, and a scruffy beard. He cast two glances around the courtroom, locking eyes with a contingent of reporters and smirking.

At the request of the defence, the Justice of the Peace imposed a publication ban on the proceedings.


Peter J. Thompson/National PostAlexander Lisi, who occasionally drives the Mayor Rob Ford around, flees members of the media in a taxi at Toronto's Old City Hall Court House after making bail on drug charges, Wednesday October 2, 2013.
The Crown consented to Lisi’s release on $5,000 bail and proposed a number of conditions, which were accepted by the court. Lisi cannot possess weapons or drugs, cannot have any contact with his co-accused unless in the presence of lawyers and must reside at an address approved by his surety, whose name was not disclosed. Lisi is also prohibited from possessing more than one cell phone. Mr. Bahrami was also released on the same conditions. The information on the charges alleges that Lisi and Mr. Bahrami were in possession of $900 in pre-recorded police buy money. Lisi has multiple previous convictions dating back to 2001, including assault and threatening death.

Councillor Doug Ford, leaving a budget committee meeting at City Hall, brushed off reporters’ questions about the arrest of Lisi.

“I have never met this person,” Doug Ford said. He added, “I support the police investigation.”

When a reporter mentioned that Lisi sometimes acts as chauffeur for the mayor, the councillor replied, “That’s what you guys say. He doesn’t have a driver, doesn’t have security.”

Toronto cops were watching when Rob Ford ‘crack video’ was shown
Man peddling video was being watched by Toronto Police when he met with Gawker editor John Cook

Ishmael N. Daro
Published: October 24, 2013, 12:45 pm
Updated: 3 hours ago
A A A
When Gawker editor John Cook flew to Toronto to watch a video allegedly showing Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine, he wasn’t alone. Apparently six Toronto police officers watched the meeting go down as part of an investigation, only days before the crackgate saga exploded into the news.

According to the Toronto Star, the man trying to sell the infamous video, Mohamed Siad, was being watched by Toronto Police as a suspected gun dealer when they followed him to an empty parking lot on May 14. But he was conducting a very different transaction that night. He was trying to sell “a cellular phone, not a gun,” according to a police surveillance report.

The police were ready to swoop in and arrest Siad in the case of a transaction, but there was no sale.

Weeks later, Siad would be swept up as part of Project Traveller, a massive gun and drug bust by Toronto Police. He was charged with participating in a criminal organization, conspiracy and the trafficking of guns and cocaine. He was subsequently identified as the man who showed the alleged crack video to Cook, as well as to two Toronto Star reporters two weeks prior.

Cook says the meeting with Siad had made him uncomfortable, describing it as “a little unnerving to be hanging out with a twitchy crack dealer in the parking lot of a large building devoted to low-income housing.”

“So to learn … that the crack dealer who was showing me the video was the subject of a Toronto Police Department surveillance operation during our meeting is rather comforting in retrospect,” Cook wrote at Gawker.

It was only two days after that meeting that Gawker broke the crack story, followed quickly by the Star. To date, the video has never surfaced and Mayor Ford has never fully addressed the allegations beyond saying he “cannot comment on a video that I have never seen or does not exist.”

If only Cook had bought a gun that evening in May, cops could have swooped in and retrieved the phone. As it stands, it seems very unlikely the footage Cook and the Star reporters watched will get a public airing — if it even exists anymore.

Ford photo taken outside what police call “drug house”
The bungalow where Mayor Rob Ford was photographed with three alleged gang members is described as a “drug house” in an official Toronto Police Services document.


By: Jayme Poisson News reporter, Kevin Donovan Investigations, Published on Thu Oct 24 2013

The bungalow where Mayor Rob Ford was photographed with three alleged gang members is described as a “drug house” in an official Toronto Police Services document.
Detectives from the organized crime enforcement unit, working on the gangs and gun probe Project Traveller, were watching the house on April 9 “for the purpose of intelligence gathering,” according to one of several police surveillance reports that identify the house.
Gawker: The Toronto Police Department Watched Me
While police watched and took multiple photographs of people visiting 15 Windsor Rd., the house was visited by alleged drug dealer Mohamed Siad, the man who tried to sell the Ford “crack video” and who told Star reporters he had previously sold drugs to the mayor, a claim the Star has not been able to confirm.
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The now notorious nighttime photo of Ford with his arms draped around Muhammad Khattak and Monir Kassim, who were arrested in the June Project Traveller raids, and Anthony Smith, who was murdered in March, was taken in front of the Windsor Rd. bungalow’s garage.
The photo, believed to have been taken in 2012, was given to the Star this spring by one of the men trying to peddle a cellphone video of the mayor smoking what appears to be crack cocaine and uttering homophobic and racist remarks.
Ford has previously said he “cannot comment on a video that I have never seen or does not exist.” Neither Ford nor his staff members have responded to detailed requests from the Star for comment on this story.
The bungalow is home to the Basso family, including Ford friend Fabio Basso and his sister, convicted cocaine trafficker Elena Johnson. It is owned by their mother, Lina.
On this spring day in April, the police noted they watched as “several unknown individuals attend and leave the residence.” A search warrant was later authorized for the house but it is unknown if police did the search.
Police teams were watching the house as part of the Project Traveller investigation that in June led to mass arrests and seizure in the Dixon Rd. area and elsewhere of guns, drugs and cash.
No residents of 15 Windsor Rd. were arrested.
Police Chief Bill Blair told the media these activities “have a devastating impact on communities and on families and on those who are victims of violence and crime in our communities.”
During several days of surveillance on the Windsor Rd. address, at least 51 photographs were taken by police. There is no indication in the documents that Ford visited the house on these days.
Neighbourhood sources have told the Star the Basso home was known for drugs. In a nearby set of Dixon Rd. highrises, where some of the people involved with the video lived and which became the epicentre of the Project Traveller raids, Elena Johnson goes by the nickname “Princess”.
Additional police surveillance reports from Project Traveller show that on other days during the month of April police watched as alleged members of the Dixon City Bloods street gang (the target of the year-long probe) visited the Basso house. One visitor was Siad, the man who showed the Star and Gawker the video.
One of Siad’s visits to 15 Windsor Rd. was on April 11 of this year. Police had surveillance on Siad throughout the day. Just after 6 p.m., the 27-year-old and three others arrived at the Basso home in a grey Toyota Camry, with Siad driving. The report describes what happens next:
6:23 p.m.: The foursome walks into the house.
7:12 p.m.: Another man, dressed in a beige coat, comes to the house from the nearby set of Dixon Rd. highrises.
7:33 p.m.: Siad leaves and the now four men leave.
The second visit, which took place the afternoon of April 15, was much quicker. A crew of six undercover officers, driving different vehicles, followed Siad, wearing blue jeans and a black T-shirt, from his apartment on Richgrove Dr. to Windsor Rd.
3:54 p.m.: Siad enters the front door of the Basso home.
3:58 p.m.: Siad leaves, jumps in his car and drives away.
The reports show that Siad was visiting the Basso house around the time he was trying to sell the video to the Star and U.S.-based website Gawker.
The Star’s Robyn Doolittle got the initial tip about the video on April 1st, from a man who was trying to broker its sale on behalf of the video’s owner (a man who would later be identified as Siad).
It took a month of back and forth before Siad hustled into the back seat of a car at the Dixon Rd. highrises and played the 90-second clip three times for Doolittle and reporter Kevin Donovan. Before disappearing he offered a final reminder: “Money is protection.”
On June 13, police busted down Siad’s door as part of the Project Traveller raid and arrested him. He faces a slew of drug and gun trafficking charges and is now locked up at Maplehurst correctional centre. He recently refused a request for a visit by the Star.
As part of an ongoing investigation, the Star has previously reported that the rundown Basso bungalow is the house Ford’s “close friend,” Alexander “Sandro” Lisi, visited in the days after the Star published its story about the video.
“Where are the guys who made the video, Fab?” Lisi asked, according to someone present that day.
A day later, just before midnight, Fabio Basso, his girlfriend and Fabio’s mother were assaulted by an unknown attacker brandishing an expandable baton who broke into their home. No charges have been laid in the attack.
The Star phoned the Basso residence Wednesday and asked to speak with Elena Johnson, or anyone else living at the home, about a story. A woman, who did not identify herself, said: “I definitely know she’s not going to give you any answers so I suggest you don’t call anymore.”

BREAKING: Police confirm damning video of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford 'appearing to smoke crack cocaine' EXISTS following months-long surveillance operation
Allegations that the Canadian mayor had been caught on camera puffing on a crack pipe first surfaced in May, sparking a surveillance investigation
Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair today confirmed forensics had obtained a copy of the video and that it is 'consistent with what has been previously described in various media reports'
In another twist, Ford's friend and former driver, Alexander Lisi, an alleged drug dealer, has been taken into custody and charged with extortion in relation to the video
Documents show Ford and Lisi exchanged 349 phone calls between Aug. 7 and Sept. 19 and repeated meetings, where they would exchange a bag or parcel
Ford yelled at media waiting outside his house today, pushing laundry onto one photographer before storming off
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 16:41, 31 October 2013 | UPDATED: 18:17, 31 October 2013
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Police have confirmed they have obtained a long-reported video that appears to show Toronto Mayor Rob Ford using crack cocaine.
The explosive allegation has been made public following the release of documents that form the basis of a major drug investigation.
Police say they rummaged through the garbage of the major of Canada's largest city and conducted an extensive surveillance operation to monitor him and close friend Alexander Lisi, Ford's sometime driver, who has been charged with marijana trafficking and possession.
Ford first faced allegations in May that he had been caught on video puffing from a glass crack pipe.
While he denies the video exists, two reporters from the Toronto Star said they have seen it.
Both the Star and US website Gawker.com claimed they had been offered to buy the video, which was taken on a cell phone and has not been released publicly.
Police said Ford was put under surveillance after the allegations were made.
Forensics have since the located a 'digital file' of the video after it had been deleted.

Toronto Police Service released documents Thursday morning, Oct. 31, 2013 that show police surveillance photos of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford (left) and Alexander Lisi, Ford's friend and occasional driver

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford yells at reporters and photographers to get off of his property in front of his house in Toronto October 31, 2013. Ford denied allegations earlier this year that he was caught smoking crack cocaine on camera. Police have now confirmed the video exists

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford yells at reporters and photographers to get off of his property in front of his house in Toronto today. Ford denied allegations earlier this year that he was caught smoking crack cocaine on camera. Police have now confirmed the video exists
Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair said the video is 'consistent with what had been previously described in various media reports'.
'I think it’s fair to say the mayor does appear in that video but I’m not going to get into the detail of what activities is depicted in that video,' Chief Blair said in a news conference at a police headquarters.
Chief Blair said he was 'disappointed' after viewing the video.
In another twist, Lisi, already facing drug charges, has been taken into custody today and charged with extortion.
Police said 'the accused made extortive efforts to retrieve a recording'.
The documents also show Ford receiving suspicious packages from Lisi on several occasions, some which were caught on camera and released to the media.

'Lisi approached the driver's side of the Mayor's vehicle with a small white gift bag in hand; he then walked around to the passenger side and got on board,' reads one document dated July 30, 2013.
'After a few minutes LISI exited the Escalade empty handed and walked back to his Range Range Rover.'
Another dated July 28 says Lisi 'constantly used counter surveillance techniques' when he met with Ford that day.
On August 13 documents say Lisi and Ford met and 'made their way into a secluded area of the adjacent woods where they were obscured from surveillance efforts and stayed for approximately one hour'.
Ford recently vouched for Lisi in a separate criminal case, praising his leadership skills in a letter filed with the court.
The letter was part of a report prepared by a probation officer after Lisi was convicted of threatening to kill a woman.

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has not yetresponded to the documents released by police today
Ford angrily yelled at reporters on Thursday to get off his property before he left his house in the morning.
He didn't respond to numerous questions about the allegations.
Ford said previously that he was shocked when Lisi was arrested earlier this month, calling him a 'good guy' and saying he doesn't abandon his friends.
The documents also say that Payman Aboodowleh, a volunteer football coach at Don Bosco Catholic Secondary School, where Ford coached the team, told police that Lisi met Ford through him.
He told police he was 'mad at Lisi because he was fuelling the mayor's drug abuse', the document says.
Ford former staffer, Chris Fickel, told police he didn't know where Ford got marijuana from, but 'has heard that 'Sandro', Lisi's nickname, may be the person who provides the mayor with marijuana and possibly cocaine,' the document alleges.
However, Fickel added, he has never seen Lisi provide the mayor with drugs. The mayor would call Fickle and tell him to tell 'Sandro' that 'I need to see him,' Fickle told police.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...l#ixzz2jKPYZj8s
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i know that not many people respond to this subject but this has got to be most interesting and funny thing than anything going on anywhere else in north america. Im not even a citizen of toronto or canada but if your mayor is taking shout out pics with somali gangsters its not good let alone smoking weed or crack.
How one video dragged Rob Ford into the dangerous world of gangsters
Adrian Humphreys and Joseph Brean | 01/11/13 8:11 PM ET

Court handoutA photo of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford with alleged gang members was included in a police application for a search warrant.
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Last May, 10 minutes before U.S. gossip website Gawker reported Etobicoke crack dealers were shopping a fateful video, Toronto Mayor Rob Ford made a phone call.

CNN had apparently already called his office about the video. The Toronto Star was sitting on the same news. The greatest political crisis to befall Toronto in decades was about to blow open, and as it did, Mr. Ford acted. He called Sandro Lisi, his friend and occasional driver.


The call lasted just 40 seconds, according to police, but is significant primarily for what followed, as a tawdry tale of personal foibles mushroomed into a massive scandal that could bring down a mayor.

Lisi then started making calls of his own, which continued through the night and into the morning, until Mr. Ford called him back the next afternoon. Police records indicate Lisi contacted various people, including Fabio Basso, whose home police allege is a crack house, and Liban Siyad, whom police allege is a victim in this week’s extortion charge laid against Lisi.

That criminal charge followed a remarkable police surveillance operation on Lisi, whom police suspect of drug trafficking, and Mr. Ford, which documented their many phone calls and meetings, some involving sly transactions and often with Lisi trying to shake any suspected tail with evasive driving.

As the mayor’s senior staff variously quit or were fired in the early days of the scandal, Lisi quickly emerged as a central player in the mayor’s personal life. A suspected drug trafficker with underworld ties, who has convictions for threatening death, assault and harassment, Lisi is now free on bail as the city braces for the historic resolution of this episode, first described by the mayor himself as “ridiculous.”

In 44 days, Ford spoke with Lisi 349 times, according to police.

While Mr. Ford maintained close contact with Lisi throughout alleged attempts to resolve the video problem, he severed his ties with some who advocated a different approach. On May 23, Mark Towhey, the mayor’s chief-of-staff was fired and escorted out of city hall. A source said Mr. Towhey lost his job because he suggested to the mayor he seek help for a substance-abuse problem.

Related
Rob Ford's lawyer demands release of video, while allies try to get him to ‘own up to his conduct’
Matt Gurney in defence of Bill Blair: The police chief has a right to say he's disappointed in Ford
Christie Blatchford: Rob Ford appears to have few friends, only stooges, cronies and goons
National Post editorial board: For the good of Toronto, Rob Ford must step down
Lisi had become so tight with the mayor in a short period of time that the 35-year-old Toronto man had the mayor’s staff puzzled, worried and watchful.

One former member of Mr. Ford’s staff, Nico Fidani, described Lisi to police as “the only close friend of the mayor.” Both Mr. Towhey and David Price, currently Mr. Ford’s director of operations and logistics, “have concerns about Lisi,” says a compendium of allegations and interviews gathered by police investigating Lisi and ordered released by the court.

“Towhey had told Price that he was concerned that someone was driving the mayor that did not work for the city. Towhey was also concerned because Lisi was the driver the night of the Garrison Ball,” the document says.


Peter J. Thompson/National PostAlexander "Sandro" Lisi leaves Toronto's Old City Hall Courthouse after being granted bail on charges of extortion.
It was at this year’s iteration of the annual military ball that media reports said Mr. Ford was asked to leave because he appeared intoxicated. Mr. Ford said it was an “outright lie.” That event, however, marked the first serious allegation of substance abuse interfering with Mr. Ford’s role in public office — and it was linked to Lisi.

Mr. Towhey asked Mr. Price to look into Lisi.

A source close to the mayor’s office confirms to the National Post that Mr. Ford’s circle of friends was worrisome.

“Office staff were indeed concerned about some of the company the mayor was keeping and had questions about these relationships,” said the source, who asked not to be named.

As the political scandal and various prosecutions of characters associated with the video develop, it is the figure of Lisi that seems to carry the outrageous headlines into the realm of significant and serious concern.


Lisi’s case lifts Mr. Ford’s spectacle from questions of judgment, personal weakness, perhaps of addiction and a seedy private life and dumps it squarely in the realm of violent criminality, suggesting broader lawlessness, such as obstruction of justice or destruction of evidence, alongside questions over potential vulnerability of the mayor’s office.

The police document seized the public’s attention when it was first released.

It spoke, for instance, of Lisi and the mayor meeting at a Husky gas station and Lisi hopping into Mr. Ford’s Cadillac Escalade carrying “a McDonald’s bag and a small white plastic bag… Shortly after this, Mayor Ford exits the driver’s seat of the Escalade, walks to the treed area where Lisi’s vehicle is parked, urinates and then returns to the driver’s seat of the Escalade,” the police report says.

On another occasion the pair spend time in a wooded area out of police view. Police found discarded empty vodka and juice bottles where they had been.

The pair meets again in a diner where they both look inebriated, the document says. “Mayor Ford appeared disheveled with a large sweat stain circling his stomach, sweating profusely from his forehead, his eyes were squinting as he walked, his suit jacket was wrinkled and he wore it without a tie. He was observed leaving with what appeared to be three Styrofoam food containers in bags.”


Toronto PoliceToronto Police released documents Nov. 1 that showed police surveillance of Mayor Rob Ford (L) and Alexander Lisi, Ford's friend and occasional driver.
The reaction to these revelations were predictable: The giddy joy and thunderous opprobrium from Ford opponents, the tight-lipped, grim look on Mr. Ford’s brother’s face, the clown headlines on the Toronto Sun, assurances of support by stalwarts of Ford Nation.

Mr. Ford became fodder for talk show host Jay Leno, who strained for laughs with the punch line: “Did you hear his excuse? He said it was medical crack for his crackoma.”

If the tacky details are cast as mere indiscretions by a rough-and-tumble guy already known for erratic behavior, the context of the investigation is important: The undercurrent of their interactions was concern that Lisi was selling the mayor marijuana or cocaine.

Lisi’s bail hearing, Friday, for a charge of extortion from alleged efforts to retrieve the video, helps bring the implications into focus.

Police allege Lisi also used threats or violence or menaces to get one of two men — including one identified by the Star as having tried to sell them the video — to hand over a video. Police allege the extortion occurred between May 16 and May 18, which coincides with when the crack video story broke.

It also provides a glimpse of why police might take such an interest in Lisi and his relationship with the mayor; why it might be concerning to have people with apparent ties to the underworld with ready city access, and why a personal story became public.

“There are an abundance of opportunities for a guy like him to compromise someone like the mayor. Eventually, he could be in the guy’s back pocket,” said a former senior law enforcement officer who has led major drug and organized crime probes.

“There are contracts big and small, there are favours of all kinds, if they were able to compromise him. The mere knowledge or witnessing of him using opens up to potential compromise. This guy could do all kinds of damage,” he said.


Ian Greene, is a professor emeritus in York University’s school of public policy and administration after years of work in Alberta’s public service. He has taught on Canadian public law, judicial administration, political ethics and public administration.

“He’s keeping company with criminal elements and that could put the whole city in danger, not only himself,” said Mr. Greene of Mr. Ford. “Criminal elements could think, ‘I’ve got a friend in public office, maybe I can take advantage of that for my personal gain.’”

Mr. Greene said the information unearthed about Mr. Ford’s private life and his relationship with Lisi is clearly in the public interest.

“In order to hold elected office, I think you have to be someone of good character, someone who is honest, somebody that you can trust, somebody who puts the public interest first rather than their personal interest. And you can often judge someone by the company that they keep.

“There’s a danger that if you’re hanging out with people who are involved in criminal activities, then you do risk being drawn into those activities and possibly blackmailed.”

While Mr. Ford said on Thursday he had not reason to resign, he is facing increasing calls for him to reconsider.

Ya man thanks for keeping this thread up to date, ive actually been wondering about this lately. Its amazing to me that this guys still in office, if this happened in america the guy wouldve been forced out right away.

no problem, i think its one of those stories that needs to make to the big screen. I mean you have got a white conservative mayor hanging out with some somalian(probably IMMIGRANT)gang members very very very possibly buying narcotics from them through a dubious friend. I just hope he breaks down and confesses if just for the great story it will produce.

Delacroce "If this happened in America the guy would've been forced out right away."

You're seriously going to hold the American political system up.... Against the Canadian system in terms of scandal?

Im really not sure what thats supposed to mean, i dont really follow canadian politics. All i know is in America when there is a scandal the politician usually resigns in a reasonable amount of time in some hopeless attempt to maintain some dignity, then waits a few years and when they think enough time has gone by, they run for office agin like the whole thing never happened. and im not "holding american politics up" lol, i think the whole system is a bad joke that winds up fucking over everybody in the end.

Well it appeared that you were saying that at least there was accountability in the US system. And I found the comparison, poor.

But as mother used to say, politics at the dinner table!

Back to the game all...

Marion Barry was videotaped by the FBI smoking crack, went to federal prison and came back to get re-elected for a fourth term. Or David Vitter, he was caught red-handed as a customer of a high-class escort service is still a popular sitting Senator.

I've heard that Ford isn't a stranger to the drug world. His older brother was rumored to be a pot/hash wholesaler in the Toronto area in the 1980s and many family acquaintances have links to the business.

Another brother got arrested kidnapping a dealer who owed him money and holding the dealer for ransom to the guy's rich parents. There's some speculation that he worked for his brothers during that time.

The only kind of political scandal in America is sex. Anthony weinner was running for mayor and pictures of his penis was released. And Clinton during his presidency. Some senator was - doing favors - in a bathroom in the airport. Those are the kind of scandals America has.

Toronto mayor says he smoked crack 'probably a year ago'

http://news.msn.com/world/toronto-mayor-says-he-smoked-crack-probably-a-year-ago

Rob Ford admits smoking crack cocaine during 'drunken stupor'

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics...ticle-1.1507140

this guys the best.

basically hes saying that he smoked crack only because hes a massive alcoholic. Im no expert but I'm pretty sure you dont just smoke crack the once. cant wait to see this tape.

Reminds me of a friend who "accidentally" smoked crack while on a binge. How do you do that?

"Oh here's a pipe and I have no clue what's in it, let's puff on it"

This guy is the gift that keeps giving!

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Rob Ford caught in video rant

Mayor Rob Ford has been caught on a new video staggering around an unknown living room ranting gibberish and acting wildly.

By: Kevin Donovan Investigations, David Bruser News Reporter, Jesse McLean Investigative News reporter

Thu Nov 07 2013




Rob Ford, the mayor of Canada’s largest city, has been caught on video in an impaired rant saying he is going to kill someone and “rip his f--king throat out.”

Ford slurs his words as he staggers around an unknown living room, apparently high, ranting gibberish and gesticulating wildly.

“I’m gonna kill that f--king guy. I’m telling you, it’s first-degree murder,” Mayor Rob Ford rages as someone in the room secretly uses a cellular phone to film the chief magistrate’s addled tirade.

Moments after the Star published the video online, Ford emerged from his office and apologized.

“The Toronto Star just released a video that I was very, very inebriated.”

“All I can say is, again, I’ve made mistakes. I just wanted to come out and tell you I saw a video. It’s extremely embarrassing. The whole world’s going to see it. You know what? I don’t have a problem with that.”

“I hope none of you have ever or will ever be in that state. Obviously, I was extremely, extremely inebriated.”

The target of the mayor’s anger in the video is not in the room and is not known to the Star.

“I’ll rip his f--king throat out. I’ll poke his eyes out. . . . I’ll make sure that motherf--ker’s dead,” Ford says, then hitches up his pant legs as if bracing for action.

His ire appears to be directed at someone who has called him, and brothers Doug and Randy, “liars, thieves.”

Wednesday, Ford’s chief of staff Earl Provost said he could not speak to the Star about the video. “I am sorry I cannot talk to you about this,” Provost said.

Also on Wednesday, the Star sent a transcript of the video, a description of the video’s contents and an offer to show it to the following people in the mayor’s circle: Ford, his brother Councillor Doug Ford, Provost, deputy chief of staff Sunny Petrujkic, spokesman Amin Massoudi, and Ford’s lawyer Dennis Morris.

The Star invited all of them to view the video, either at their office or the Star’s office, and provide an explanation for Ford’s behaviour. None of them took the Star up on its offer.

Ford only commented on the video after it appeared on thestar.com.

After apologizing for his behaviour, Ford did not elaborate on his filmed rant.

Last week, Police Chief Bill Blair announced that investigators recovered two video clips relevant to extortion charges laid against the mayor’s “close friend” Alexander “Sandro” Lisi. One of those videos is of the mayor smoking what appears to be crack, which two Star reporters viewed in May.

There is no suggestion that this video is the second video Blair referred to in his press conference.

In this profanity-laden, 77-second video, Ford is seen pacing about the dining room of a house, threatening death to an unnamed enemy. A person off camera, who is encouraging Ford’s behaviour, tells him to wait until “after the byelection,” an apparent reference to the byelection Ford wanted the city to hold to replace departed deputy mayor Doug Holyday.

The reference to the by-election puts the timing of the video sometime in August.

The need to replace deputy mayor Holyday came on August 1 when he became a provincial legislator. City council voted on August 26 to choose his successor by appointment instead of the $250,000 byelection Ford said was the more democratic choice.

Similar to the crack video the Star witnessed in May, Ford’s words switch rapidly from being easily heard to incomprehensible.

“I am a sick motherf--ker, dude,” says Ford, rolling the cuffs of his collared shirt up to his elbow. “Like no one’s gonna f--k around with me.”

At points in the video, Ford is incoherent. He appears to say that unidentified critics call him and his brothers “birds.”

At another point, he angrily mutters what sounds like “This is f--ked, daddy.” However, the outburst also sounds like: “That little prick’s a racist f--k, daddy.”

In the video, Ford frenetically waves his arms and shifts from foot to foot. He stumbles backwards and gently bumps into the dining room table, on which sits a large bottle of alcohol. As he grows more agitated he slaps his stomach hard and appears to be discussing a plan to get “in the ring” with someone. Ford and voices off camera seem to debate how long he will need for the attack. He wants 15 minutes. A man off camera says he will only have five minutes.

The Star purchased the video for $5,000 from a source who filmed the video from someone else’s computer. The person with the computer was there in the room, the Star was told.

Asked why the paper paid $5,000 for the video, Editor Michael Cooke said:

"Because of the huge public interest both in Toronto and worldwide.

"We weren't paying a source for information, we were purchasing a video, something newspapers and TV stations do every day. I've paid more for a book excerpt.

"Publisher John Cruickshank and I talked about the price and quickly decided that the crisis at City Hall made it essential to get all information relevant to Ford’s true character and views in front of Torontonians.

"This was especially crucial as the Mayor insisted he had nothing left to hide and has called us liars and maggots from the beginning when we reported on two of our journalists seeing a video that showed a clearly intoxicated mayor smoking crack cocaine.

"The mayor's pals apparently went to extraordinary lengths to find and suppress the crack video, while all the while he was denying its existence. We feared if we didn’t grab it quick, this revealing video might disappear."

The Star has been assured the money went to “the legal and beneficial use of a family.”

The Star was told that Ford arrived at a supporter’s home and was clearly impaired. The Ford supporter was described to the Star as a businessman. Four people between the age of 20 and 60 were present during Ford’s outbursts. One filmed the video with a phone camera. This man appears to have been sitting on a couch near where the mayor was pacing in front of the dining room table covered with a white tablecloth and surrounded by six chairs. Blinds are drawn and a chandelier lights the room. It is nighttime.

While Ford is clearly angry with someone who has insulted him and his brothers, he uses sporting terms to discuss his plan of attack.

“No holds barred, brother. He dies, or I die, brother,” Ford says at the start of the video.

Again, a voice camera, as if in call-and-response, says, “Mike Tyson,” a reference to the former boxer.

Ford continues: “I’ll fight him. I’ll . . . (gibberish)”

“I need f--king 10 minutes to make sure he's dead. It’ll be over in five minutes, brother,” says Ford, who paces back and forth in short, stilted steps.

Ford, shoes off, struggles to focus his rant, moving around the room and flipping from an aside about his brothers to unintelligible gibberish and back again.

“My brothers are, don't tell me we’re liars, thieves, birds?” he said. “Randy walks with a...(unintelligible)...80-year-old birds…”

The Randy section is largely incomprehensible. Randy Ford is the oldest Ford brother.

Mayor Ford then said, “I have nothing left to hide.”

Kevin Donovan can be reached at kdonovan@thestar.ca or 416-312-3503

The video has two distinct cuts where it appears the person stopped filming then started again or edited together three short clips. It is unknown what, if anything, Ford said in the period of time that was not filmed.

After one cut, Ford’s striped tie is gone and he tugs at his collar.

“Brother, I just need to go f--king by myself in my f--king underwear,” he says, slapping his belly six times.

Near the end of the video, Ford tells his audience, “If I win, I will f--king donate,” before trailing off and leaving the thought unfinished. It is not known what the mayor is referring to.

The video emerges after seven days of revelations. Last Thursday, Chief Bill Blair announced police had found the crack video, the one Star reporters viewed that shows Ford making homophobic and racist comments while smoking a crack pipe. Brother Doug called for Blair to resign. Then the mayor announced he had smoked crack cocaine, once, during a “drunken stupor.”

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/11/07/mayor_rob_ford_caught_in_video_rant.html

hes definatley on crack in that video.

Dixon Bloods, AKA Dixon Goonies: The Gang Behind The Rob Ford Crack Video
The Huffington Post Canada | By Christian Cotroneo
Posted: 11/08/2013 11:50 am EST | Updated: 11/08/2013 12:45 pm EST

FOLLOW: 320 Dixon, Dixon Bloods. Dixon St. Bloods, Dixon Goonies, Dixon Raids, Dixon True Bloods, Goonies Dixon, Canada Politics News
The dawn of one of Toronto's most enthralling police investigations didn't truly begin until, well, dawn.

In the early morning hours of June 13, scores of Toronto police officers swarmed a series of apartment blocks in the city's west end.

Prime target?

A street gang known as the Dixon City Bloods, aka Dixon Goonies, aka Dixon True Bloods.

While centered at the now-infamous 320 Dixon Rd. site, police say the gang's activities "ranged far beyond, and involve serious crimes of violence, gun importation, and drug trafficking across Toronto and surrounding regions, including Windsor and Alberta."

For all the arrests -- 44 in total -- and guns and drugs and cash seized, nothing captured the public imagination like the idea that a long-speculated video showing Toronto Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine may have been snatched up in that operation.

Ever since Gawker first reported on seeing a video of Ford huffing on what appears to be a crack pipe and making homophobic comments along the way, the very existence of the clip had been up for debate.


Gawker, of course, tried to buy it -- only to see see the author disappear.

"The video's owner reached out to the intermediary we have been dealing with," Gawker editor John Cook wrote on June 4. "He told him the video is gone."

But nearly five months later, Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair made a big announcement: A computer file had been recovered from the Project Traveller raid, and "that file contains video images which appear to be those images which were previously reported in the press," Blair told reporters.

And it's got the Goonies written all over it.

The Rap Dictionary, a user-generated "ultimate resource for looking up hip-hop slang" offers a rare cache of information on the gang:

The West Side (W/S) Dixon True Bloods (a.k.a. the "Dixon City Bloods" or "Dixon Goonies") are a mid-sized roaming territorial street gang whose origins can be traced back to a series of high-rise apartments situated on Dixon Rd... Although not proven, it is rumoured that one of the founding members of this set was a former member of a New York-based Bloods gang known as G-Shine who had relocated to the area around early 2000s.
The Dixon Bloods control a cluster of high-rises on Dixon Road, namely 320, 330, 340, 370, 380 and 390 Dixon. The area in which this gang has claimed as their turf has a high concentration of Somalian immigrants which generally make up the same ethnic background of the majority of its members.
Their enemies include the Doomstown Rexdale Crips, Stovetop Rexdale Crips, O-Blocc Rexdale Crips, Tandridge Rexdale Crips, Ghost Town Crips, Willowridge Crew and the All Crips Gang.

Vice magazinealleges -- and brace yourself for a few instances of that word here -- that one or possibly two incriminating Rob Ford videos were uploaded to an online storage site that had the street gang's signature on it.

The magazine alleges the account in question was registered under http://goonies.bugs3.com.

Mohamed Siad, an alleged Goonie, was reportedly in possession of the video -- the same man who was trying to sell it to the various media outlets.

The 27-year-old was arrested during the Dixon raid -- with the Toronto Sun reporting he tried to offer the Rob Ford video to prosecutors in exchange for leniency.

In addition, the house where police say the video was shot, 15 Windsor Rd., is close to the Dixon Road towers and, according to search warrant documents released last week, police allege it “belongs to a couple of crackheads but Dixon guys go there to ‘chop’ crack or just hang out and get drunk.”

Alleged Goonies Anthony Smith, Monir Kassim, Ahmed Dirie and Liban Siyad also frequented the address, according to the Globe and Mail. All of them were arrested in the Project Traveller raid, except for Smith, a previous resident of 340 Dixon Rd., who was shot dead months earlier.

And three of them -- Smith, Kassim and Khattak -- cozy up to Ford in this infamous image.


The game may also be up for the Goonies, or Bloods.

At a press conference shortly after the raids, Toronto Staff Supt. Jim Ramer told reporters the gang had been effectively dismantled.

“We have taken out a great portion of that gang,” Ramer said. “We’re very confident with the arrests that we’ve made to this point in time.”

But the Goonies have already made their mark, transcending the street game and achieving what few gangs have ever managed to do -- roll into the political game.

Heavy.

rob ford documentary on cbc. http://www.cbc.ca/player/Shows/Shows/the+fifth+estate/ID/2416919438/

If he idolizes Chris Farley he's doing a great job.

i thought i would update this considering recent developments.

Rob Ford takes leave as recent drug videos emerge
ROBYN DOOLITTLE AND GREG MCARTHUR
The Globe and Mail
Published Wednesday, Apr. 30 2014, 9:14 PM EDT
Last updated Thursday, May. 01 2014, 2:42 PM EDT
Comments closed

A second video of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford smoking what has been described as crack cocaine by a self-professed drug dealer was secretly filmed in his sister’s basement early Saturday morning.

The clip, which was viewed by two Globe and Mail reporters, shows Mr. Ford taking a drag from a long copper-coloured pipe, exhaling a cloud of smoke and then frantically shaking his right hand. The footage is part of a package of three videos that the drug dealer says he surreptitiously shot around 1:15 a.m., and which he says he is now selling for “at least six figures.”

MORE RELATED TO THIS STORY

Latest on the recent Rob Ford drug videos
EDITOR'S NOTE Why we published the Rob Ford pictures
RELATED Substance-abuse problem pushes Rob Ford to sidelines

VIDEO
Video: An emotional Doug Ford addresses media over latest Rob Ford drug allegations


The footage comes to light weeks after Mr. Ford embarked on a re-election campaign styled on the importance of second chances and forgiving mistakes. Nearly a year ago, the mayor thrust himself into worldwide infamy when another drug dealer, Mohamed Siad, tried to sell another video of the mayor allegedly smoking crack to media outlets in Canada and the United States. At the time, the mayor denied using the drug, only to later admit that he had smoked crack cocaine in a “drunken stupor” and said that he was not an addict.

Since then Mr. Ford has been filmed numerous times in public appearing erratic and acting impaired. In each instance, the mayor has admitted to drinking, but never to using drugs. A few weeks ago when asked directly if he was continuing to use drugs, Mr. Ford said: “You guys ask stupid questions.”

Approached at City Hall Wednesday evening, Mr. Ford declined to respond to questions about the video. Shortly after The Globe confronted Mr. Ford, he issued a statement. "I have decided to take a leave from campaigning and from my duties as Mayor to seek immediate help," he said.

In one of the clips shown to The Globe and Mail Wednesday, the mayor rapidly shifts his weight back and forth on the spot, talking into his cellphone and his right arm swinging at his side. When the camera pans around the room, a man that looks like Alessandro “Sandro” Lisi, the mayor’s former driver who has been charged with drug dealing and extortion, can be seen in the background. Mr. Ford’s sister, Kathy, who has admitted in media interviews to being a drug addict, is sitting in front of her brother. In the last of three clips, Mr. Ford is holding the pipe and speaking to his sister.

A man who answered Mr. Lisi’s cellphone told The Globe not to call back. Mr. Lisi’s lawyer, Seth Weinstein, said: “I think the only thing I can tell you now is that, until such time the video’s contents are authenticated, it would be inappropriate to comment any further.” A reporter attempted to contact Ms. Ford at her home, but there was no answer.

In all three clips, the mayor is wearing a white shirt and a dark-coloured tie with a pattern of thin white marks. This is the same shirt-and-tie combination he was wearing Friday afternoon at a press conference where he was critical of the dismissal of Gene Jones, who was appointed by the mayor to run the Toronto Community Housing Corporation and was removed after a damning ombudsman investigation. The drug dealer who showed The Globe the videos said that the mayor was also ranting about Mr. Jones’s ouster in his sister’s basement. In one of the video clips, the camera pans onto a second cellphone, which is flipped open and shows the time and date.

Unlike the first notorious video that captured the mayor apparently smoking crack cocaine, the mayor is not smoking from a glass pipe, rather a metal one. Scott MacIntyre, the former common-law spouse of Kathy Ford who is now suing the mayor, said in an interview that the mayor’s sister smokes crack from metal pipes that can also be used to smoke marijuana. When shown a photo of the mayor holding the pipe, Mr. MacIntyre said it is similar to the crack pipes that the mayor’s sister has used. “She uses those brass elbows,” he said, referring to plumbing that can be converted into a pipe.

All three clips were shot in a cluttered, dimly lit room with a white tile ceiling. The drug dealer selling the video identified it as the basement of Ms. Ford’s home. When asked what the ceiling of Ms. Ford’s basement looks like, Mr. MacIntyre said it has white perforated tiles.

The drug dealer who approached The Globe said that the audio on the three clips was not available because the speaker on his phone was broken when he recorded the footage. The dealer said he supplied the crack that was smoked that night and that he had decided to sell the footage to “make money.” He supplied an alias to The Globe and urged the paper to publish his nickname because: “I want someone to come to me.” The Globe is not publishing that nickname because of concerns about the drug dealer’s intentions.

The Globe cannot confirm the substance inside the pipe.

Reached late last night, Mr. Ford’s long-time criminal lawyer Dennis Morris questioned the authenticity of the video. “If these guys are drug dealers and there’s money involved, they can say whatever they want to get more money, to extract more money from the people who are paying.”

It’s difficult for anyone to prove what the mayor is smoking in the video, Mr. Morris said. “So say for example it was marijuana,” he said. “Would [you] pay more for a video if I told you it was marijuana or crack cocaine?”

The Globe did not purchase the video but it did buy a series of screen grabs from the three clips.

The Globe reporters met the dealer and one of his associates, who said he was not in Ms. Ford’s basement but also identified himself as a drug dealer, at a strip-mall parking lot west of Toronto. The drug dealer selling the video said that he sold drugs to the mayor several times over the past year.

Since the first crack video emerged, his brother and campaign manager, Councillor Doug Ford, has repeatedly said that voters aren’t concerned with the mayor’s drug use.

“You’re out of touch with what the people care about. People don’t care about that,” he said in January.

Mayor Rob Ford's pals the scariest of the scary, docs show

michele-mandel BY MICHELE MANDEL ,TORONTO SUN
FIRST POSTED: FRIDAY, MAY 09, 2014 09:59 PM EDT | UPDATED: FRIDAY, MAY 09, 2014 10:28 PM EDT
anthony smith monir kasim Mohammad Khattak
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is seen posing with Anthony Smith, left, who was gunned down outside a King St. W. club, in a photo released by Gawker. Mohammad Khattak is seen on the right and Monir Kasim is second from the right.
Article


TORONTO - Judge the mayor by the terrifying company that he kept.

Not just riff raff from the wrong side of the tracks. The Dixon City Bloods, Rob Ford’s alleged go-to guys for drugs, are the scariest of the scary, suspected of ordering murders, running $2,500 pistols and machine-guns and trafficking in large amounts of cocaine.

It’s not that we didn’t already know Ford allegedly bought his drugs from gangsters. But the latest court documents unsealed late Friday reveal the truly frightening nature of this violent Etobicoke gang that funnelled guns and narcotics from Windsor to Toronto — and allegedly counted the mayor of Toronto as a friend and customer.

When Toronto Police launched Project Traveller last year, they had no idea their investigation into the Dixon crew would soon intersect with Ford and the many unsavoury members who were his associates. This latest release of Traveller court documents offers a chilling peak at the men in Ford’s netherworld.

Liban Siyad — the alleged drug dealer called to the Windsor Rd. “crack house” to supply Ford on April 20, 2013? Police allege that on March 28, 2013, he said, “OK halal meat,” which they interpreted as Siyad instructing “Anthony Smith, Mohammad Khattak and Ahmed Dirie to attack ‘Post’ as retaliation. As a result of this attempt of retaliation Anthony Smith was shot and murdered.”

Both photographed a month earlier with a bleary-eyed Ford in that infamous picture, Smith and Khattak were gunned down outside Loki Lounge on King St. W. After news spread that Smith had died, alleged fellow gangbanger Ayanle Omar is intercepted, according to police, saying that he’ll import “five guns from Windsor to Toronto for the purpose of arming members of the Dixon Crew” for a gang war.

On March 31, police contend Omar’s alleged gun runner tried to evade the OPP by crashing through the underground garage at 340 Dixon Rd. and abandoning the car.

According to the police document, Monir Kasim, the third man photographed with the mayor, is wiretapped saying, “Me personally, if I was to shoot somebody, I’d make sure they die.” He also allegedly complains that he’s trying to get his own firearm because “everybody in Toronto and their moms have guns.”

As the police outlined in their request for search warrants: “Members of this criminal organization live a high-risk lifestyle. In fact, during the course of Project Traveller, named party Anthony Smith was violently murdered as a result of being shot in head. This event lead to several interceptions that indicated members of the criminal organization were arming themselves and preparing for retaliation.”

Mohamed Siad, the man who allegedly sold crack to the mayor and filmed him on his iPhone, is accused in these court documents of being a prolific drug dealer and a Windsor-to-Toronto gun smuggler who paid women to be his mules. He’s also one of the two men that Ford’s good friend Alexander “Sandro” Lisi is charged with threatening because, police allege, he believed he “may be in possession of the video recording.”


Project Traveller Documents Named City Hall Lobbyist
CBC | Posted: 05/09/2014 7:56 pm EDT

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rob ford project traveller


The connection between the high-profile police raids last summer known as Project Traveller and city hall were not limited to the video of Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack. CBC News has learned a city hall lobbyist is named in the police warrants.

Documents released by the court on Friday reveal a home in the city's west end belonging to Tim Lambrinos, a lobbyist for the adult entertainment industry in Toronto and a former executive assistant to Coun. Giorgio Mammoliti, caught the attention of investigators last year.

Lambrinos also sits on the board of the Business Improvement Area that Mammoliti started.

The house, owned by Lambrinos and his brother Chris, was raided by police but turned up nothing. Neither men were charged.

Police filed a 76-page document last year detailing the investigation stemming from Project Traveller. Police suspected at the time they would find find four guns in the home that had been smuggled into Canada via Windsor by the Dixon Hill Bloods gang. But the search turned up nothing.

The Project Traveller raid yielded dozens of arrests in what was a lengthy guns and gangs investigation targeting the local Dixon Bloods gang. It also netted a copy of a video of Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack, confirmed by police Chief Bill Blair in the fall.

Windsor resident Allyson Steill was charged with helping arrange gun sales. The documents suggest police used wiretaps and other surveillance.


Lambrinos said he is not in any way connected to Project Traveller. He concedes the police raided his home, but insists it was in error.

"I think we need to support the police in some aspects, but on the other hand, whatever judge pretended that there was some evidence about my home was erroneous," said Lambrinos.