In May 2013, the American website Gawker and the Toronto Star reported that they had viewed a cellphone video that showed then-Mayor of Toronto Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine and commenting on political issues. Gawker raised money to buy the video, but were unable to acquire it when the seller broke off contact. On October 31, 2013, the Toronto Police Service announced that they were in possession of the video, "and at least one other".[1][2] The video was retrieved in the course of an investigation of drug gangs, entitled "Project Traveller". Ford's associate Alexander "Sandro" Lisi was charged with extortion for attempting to retrieve the video, in exchange for marijuana.
toronto mayor rob ford smoking crack actual video
Ford initially denied both the existence of the video and using crack cocaine. Though several members of Toronto City Council, as well as the editorial boards of the Star, the National Post, and the Toronto Sun, called for him to step down, he refused to do so.[4][5][6] On November 5, 2013, Ford admitted to smoking crack cocaine "probably in one of my drunken stupors"[7] and to hiding his drug abuse from his family, his staff and the people of Toronto, but pledged to continue on as Mayor.[8] In a series of votes later that month, Ford was stripped by the City Council of virtually all of his mayoral powers, and then-Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly became de facto Acting Mayor.[9]
On April 30, 2014, a second video showing Ford smoking crack emerged.[10] Ford took a leave of absence to enter drug rehabilitation from May 1 through June 30, 2014, during which time Kelly officially served as Acting Mayor.[11][12][13][14][15] Ford did not run for re-election in 2014, instead running for, and winning, his former City Council seat; he continued to serve on the City Council until his death from cancer on March 22, 2016. In August 2016, the Toronto Police Service released the original video of Ford smoking crack, and the remaining charges against Lisi were dropped.[16]
An already dramatic story took another dramatic turn Friday when Toronto Mayor Rob Ford's lawyer challenged police to release a video that news outlets have said shows the mayor smoking what appears to have been crack cocaine.
He added that "for someone to approach them asking [for] a large sum of money, would it make more sense to say 'I have a video of the mayor smoking crack cocaine, or have a video of the mayor smoking perhaps tobacco or marijuana.' Which one would you be interested in if you're going to buy a video?"
Rob Ford, Toronto's conservative mayor, is a wild lunatic given to making bizarre racist pronouncements and randomly slapping refrigerator magnets on cars. One reason for this is that he smokes crack cocaine. I know this because I watched him do it, on a videotape. He was fucking hiiiiigh. It's for sale if you've got six figures.
It began like this: We've made fun of Ford before for his bizarre pronouncements and nude pictures. Last week, we got a tip from someone claiming to have a videotape of Ford smoking crack. Would we like to buy it?
So: That was a video of the mayor of Toronto smoking crack. The trouble is, the owner wants money. More money than I am willing to pay. The tipster has already reached out to one other news outlet, a Canadian organization that he refused to name, which offered $40,000. The owner rejected that. He thinks he can get six figures. It's unlikely he's going to get six figures.
So if Gawker can't come up with enough money to ring this owner's bell, perhaps we can find a partner. This isn't just the mayor of Toronto smoking crack cocaine, after all: This is Toronto Confidential. There are a host of important local officials wrapped up in this drug ring. 60 Minutes? No. Dateline NBC? No. Inside Edition? No. National Enquirer? No. CNN? Maybe!
And so here we are. The owner still hasn't found a buyer with pockets deep enough to meet his demands. But word is out around Toronto now that the tape exist, and Ford's circle knows about it courtesy a CNN reporter. So, with permission, I am laying out everything I know about the Rob Ford Crack Tape in the hopes that a) everyone knows that Rob Ford, the mayor of Toronto, smokes crack, and b) this knowledge might hasten the arrival of the Rob Ford Crack Tape on the internet or broadcast television, because really, it is something to behold.
Greetings;I am a lawyer,and have been contacted by Mayor Ford's office in reference to your indicating you will post a photo of Mayor Ford smoking crack cocaine. Mayor Ford denies such took place,and if such posting occurs,it is false and defamatory,and you will be held legally accountable.In reference to the photo,you wish to publish, Mayor Ford has his photo taken daily,sometimes with others.
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford announced he will take a leave of absence to seek help for "a problem with alcohol" as a report surfaced about a second video of the mayor smoking what appears to be crack cocaine.
The Globe and Mail newspaper reported it has viewed a second video of Ford smoking what appears to be crack cocaine in his sister's basement. The national newspaper reported two Globe reporters viewed the video from a self-professed drug dealer showing Ford taking a drag from a pipe early Saturday morning.
Ford, who launched his campaign for re-election earlier this year, acknowledged last year after months of denials that he smoked crack in a "drunken stupor" after police said they obtained a video that appears to show him smoking crack. The video has never been released to the public.
Backers of embattled Toronto Mayor Rob Ford called Friday for police to release a video that appears to show him smoking a crack pipe, as outraged residents of Canada's largest city called for the mayor's resignation.
Ford's time in office has been marred by several scandals. He has grabbed the buttocks of a former mayoral candidate, overspent on his mayoral campaign, violated other spending regulations (for which he has avoided prosecution thanks to the City Council), and garnered a reputation as a debaucherous drunk. These scandals pale compared to Rob Ford's more recent actions. As the Toronto Sun reports, City Councillor Doug Ford, the mayor's brother, stated that Ford wrote reference letters for people facing criminal charges on official city letterhead. Most notably, the Toronto mayor wrote for Alexander Lisi, an occasional driver of his who was charged with marijuana trafficking and extortion, for trying to gain possession of the video of Mayor Ford smoking crack and threatening the video's owners.
Analysts say the decision is unlikely to change the outcome of the mayoral election that Ford had been widely expected to lose after a string of revelations involving crack-smoking, public drunkenness and outrageous behavior.
The international spotlight first fell on Ford in May 2013, when Toronto Star and the U.S. website Gawker reported the existence of a video apparently showing the mayor inhaling from a crack pipe. He denied the existence of the video for months but finally admitted to using crack after police announced they had obtained it.
A publication ban on the infamous video of former Toronto mayor Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine was lifted on Thursday, allowing for the first public airing of the footage that sparked a political scandal and media circus in 2013.
TORONTO -- A complaint against a Toronto Star story that alleged Mayor Rob Ford was videotaped smoking crack cocaine will be the subject of a public hearing next month, the Ontario Press Council announced Monday.
The Globe and Mail newspaper said it has viewed a second video of Ford smoking what appears to be crack cocaine in his sister's basement. The national newspaper said two Globe reporters viewed the video from a self-professed drug dealer showing Ford taking a drag from a pipe early Saturday morning.
One frigid day last winter, I had a long hot cup of coffee with Rob Ford's older brother Doug, who's now trying to finish the job his charismatic, crack-smoking sibling could not. Who the hell is this crazy DoFo? And could be actually win?
In the end, it wasn't the crack video that looked like an episode of A&E's Intervention that put RoFo on the mat. Or the late-night drunken rant at a fast food joint, or the bear tackle of a female councilor at City Hall, or the celebrity style stint in rehab, or even the best comment about cunnilingus since Tony Soprano lamented the unfortunate intersection between psychiatry and eating pussy. After all the larger than life, crazy-ass, catch me if you can shit, it was the cruelly ordinary "abdominal mass" that interrupted the most epic mayoral election in Toronto's history. Last Thursday, after Ford's doctors biopsied his tumor, Ford withdrew from the race and for about 20 minutes, Torontonians played nice again. Most people in the city wished him well, including his harshest critics, until the next day when his big brother Doug took his place on the ballot and the city went into spasms of outrage, again.
Doug Ford has been part of this Daliesque sideshow from the beginning. He ran his brother's 2010 campaign and took over his city council seat when RoFo upgraded to mayor. He stood by his brother through denials, confessions, failed attempts at sobriety and rehab. DoFo is four years older than Rob with a much quieter life. He married young, 23, and was a father to four girls before he was 30. Since hitching his wagon to Rob, he's taken more than a few nut punches from the media. He's been compared to Dick Cheney and the dumb guy in Dumb and Dumber. He has been called Etobicoke's very own Pablo Escobar for allegedly dealing hash in the 80's. Some consider him trailer trash pretending to be a Kennedy; others a Kennedy pretending to be trailer trash. Most recently, a Toronto newspaper columnist compared Doug and Rob to the North Korean Jong family. That really happened. It wasn't clear if the columnist was being deliberately hyperbolic or if she was actually hysterical. 2ff7e9595c
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