Toronto mayor Rob Ford crack scandal, Somalis own the evidence

[Showqi]

Kix kix kix..... Some one hacked the owners IPhone and deleted the blackmail Video:D:D

[Safferz]

Rob Ford Video Copies Out There, Toronto Star's Robyn Doolittle Says

 

Gawker may have lost touch with the people who have the alleged Toronto Mayor Rob Ford video, but other copies of the footage exist. At least that's what Robyn Doolittle, The Toronto Star's city hall reporter, said in a radio interview Monday.

 

"My information is that there is another copy of it," Doolittle said on the Dean Blundell Show on 102.1 The Edge.

 

"Actually, there's at least one other copy, there might be two other copies," Doolittle said. "One is out of the city, and one is somewhere else."

 

 

Doolittle is one of three people claiming to have seen the alleged video — along with her Star colleague Kevin Donovan and Gawker's John Cook. The three claim the video, which they said had been shopped around by men seeking "six figures" for it, shows Ford smoking illicit drugs from a glass pipe, which they describe as a "crack pipe." Ford has denied he uses crack or that the video exists.

 

The new information came hours before Gawker reached its $200,000 fundraising goal on its "Crackstarter" to purchase the video.

 

Doolittle added that the paper is "getting calls from people who have seen it as well."

 

"It is circulating," she said.

 

On his weekend radio show, Ford denied the video exists.

 

"Number one: There's no video, so that's all I can say. You can't comment on something that doesn't exist."

[Safferz]

Happy birthday Rob Ford, you fat b*stard you!

[Nin-Yaaban]

So what's the latest on this guy? Is he resigning or what? Shitt looks like it's getting dragged on for little too long. If they have an evidence on him, they should release it to law enforcement, government or whateva it's Canada has. Get it over with it.

[Safferz]

You're right, it's been 11 days now I think. Politicians have resigned over much smaller issues to avoid further embarrassment, but this man is too stubborn to leave. Maybe it's the crack. But the implosion is inevitable, just need to keep waiting it out because new things happen each day (two of his aides resigned yesterday), and I have no doubt the video will surface at some point.

[Nin-Yaaban]

Safferz;956025 wrote:

You're right, it's been 11 days now I think. Politicians have resigned over much smaller issues to avoid further embarrassment, but this man is too stubborn to leave. Maybe it's the crack. But the implosion is inevitable, just need to keep waiting it out because new things happen each day (two of his aides resigned yesterday), and I have no doubt the video will surface at some point.

So lemme ask you this, if he resigns or stays on and fights, what is't to you? Is this going to change ur life one way or the other?

[Safferz]

Nin-Yaaban;956026 wrote:

So lemme ask you this, if he resigns or stays on and fights, what is't to you? Is this going to change ur life one way or the other?

I think he's incompetent and an embarrassment to the city. My mom also works for the city of Toronto so I've seen what his spending cuts have done to city services directly. But most importantly I am frustrated by the class and race dynamics of this story, in the way in which white boys can sell and use drugs but grow up to become elected politicians, while black boys end up in jail or dead.

 

Peace to Kipling and Dixon for keeping the city holding its breath

[Safferz]

So this is a big change from outright denial of the video's existence:

 

Rob Ford video scandal: Deputy mayor says he believes Star reporter

But Holyday questions whether Ford video is authentic, hope it turns up so it can be tested.

 

By: David Rider Urban Affairs Bureau Chief, Published on Tue May 28 2013

 

Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday says that, after speaking to Star reporter Robyn Doolittle, he believes there is a video that appears to show Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine.

 

However, Holyday told reporters at city hall on Tuesday that he is not yet convinced the video actually shows Ford taking drugs.

 

Holyday said he was convinced by Doolittle during a “general conversation,” in the Star’s city hall bureau last week. “She took the time to assure me that she had seen the video and that she believed it . . .

 

“I believe that there’s a tape all right because she told me there was a tape and I believe what she said. It’s whether the tape is authentic or not.

 

“I haven’t seen the tape and I think the only way to know to really know if the tape is authentic, and to satisfy everyone, is for it to be found and analyzed and then we would know exactly what we’re dealing with.”

 

Ford has adamantly declared that there is no cellphone video even though Doolittle and colleague Kevin Donovan both say they were shown it in a car in Etobicoke on May 3. John Cook, editor in chief of U.S. website Gawker, says he was also shown the video and described it in similar terms.

 

On his Sunday afternoon radio show, Ford told a caller: “Number one, there’s no video, so that’s all I can say. You can’t comment on something that doesn’t exist.”

 

Asked if it is a problem that Toronto’s mayor says there is no video and his deputy mayor says there is a video, although it may not be what it appears, Holyday said: “I don’t think so because I don’t think the mayor has talked to anybody at the Star, I’m sure he hasn’t.

 

“From his standpoint he claims that he was not in the video, that he knows nothing of the video and that he believes that the video does not exist. Well, that’s his opinion based on his opinion on what he’s been told and what he believes.

 

“I, on the other hand, have talked to Robyn Doolittle and I believe Robyn Doolittle saw a video, that’s all I’m saying. Whether it’s authentic or not, is another question . . . Nobody will know until we find the video.”

 

Holyday said he believes that the Star should have bought the cellphone video from the drug dealers who were offering it.

 

However, he understands Doolittle’s response that she did not have the authority to do that.

 

Media organizations often pay $500 for a good picture shot by a freelancer. The video owners were asking for “six figures”, an intermediary said.

[Safferz]

Rob Ford crack scandal: Other man pictured with mayor hurt in fatal shooting

 

One of the men in a photo of Mayor Rob Ford and homicide victim Anthony Smith was injured in the same shooting that killed Smith, the Star has learned.

 

 

By: Robyn Doolittle City Hall, Amy Dempsey GTA, Published on Tue May 28 2013

 

One of the men in a controversial photo of Mayor Rob Ford and homicide victim Anthony Smith was injured in the same shooting that claimed Smith’s life, the Star has learned.

 

Muhammad Khattak, a 19-year-old living in north Etobicoke, was hit in the arm and back the same night Smith was killed two months ago outside a King St. nightclub.

 

A photo of Ford arm in arm with three young men was given to the Star by a man who later showed this paper a cellphone video of Ford smoking from what appears to be a crack pipe.

 

Two sources, one with the Toronto police and another involved in politics, tell the Star homicide detectives are now investigating whether that phone originally belonged to 21-year-old Smith. (There is no indication Khattak or the third young man is involved in either the video or the drug trade.)

 

Khattak’s mother, who identified herself as Zen, said she asked Khattak what he was doing in the nighttime photo, in which Ford is casually dressed and Smith is apparently drinking.

 

“He said: ‘Was I drinking? Was I smoking? Did you see anything with me?’ ” she said.

 

Zen said Khattak told her everybody wanted to take photos with the mayor. He would not give her any more details about the night.

 

The Star was contacted about the footage four days after Smith’s death.

 

Khattak’s mother said she has no idea how her son or Smith ended up involved in a shooting.

 

“I’m still shocked. This kid was a very good kid too,” she said, gesturing to Smith’s photo, her eyes puffy and pink.

 

“My son, I know him, he’s a very innocent kid. They’re friends. They’re having fun, whatever they’re doing outside. But I know them — they are nice kids. They are very nice.”

 

She said the duo have been friends since they were as young as 10. They used to play on the same basketball team.

 

“It’s not safe, Toronto,” she said.

 

Khattak recently left his family home to avoid attention generated by the photo’s publication.

 

A Facebook profile under one of his nicknames is peppered with photos of Smith and tributes to the young man.

 

“RIP Big Bro,” reads a caption on one photo, posted April 7, of a man wearing jeans and a dark hooded sweatshirt who appears to be Smith. “Forever In My Heart Mourn Till We Join You General. . . ”

 

Another photo shows a tribute spray-painted at the centre of a community basketball court in Dixon Park. “R.I.P. RONDO,” it reads.

 

Rondo was one of Smith’s nicknames.

 

The two men were shot outside Loki Lounge nightclub on King St. W. near Portland St., sometime after 2:30 a.m. on March 28.

 

Nisar Hashimi, 23, turned himself in April 4 after he was named a suspect. He has been charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder in the death of Smith and shooting of Khattak.

 

During a recent visit to the Toronto jail, a reporter was told by Hashimi he had never heard of or seen Smith until he was charged in his murder.

 

“I’m innocent,” he said. “I don’t know these guys. . . . I don’t know why I’m here.”

 

Hashimi said all he knows about Smith is what he has read in the newspaper since the drug allegations about Ford have surfaced.

 

Two weeks ago, the Star revealed that two reporters had viewed a 90-second cellphone video that appears to show the mayor smoking crack cocaine. A group of Somali-Canadian drug dealers who claim to have sold the drug to Ford on numerous occasions, offered to sell the video to the Star for $100,000. They also approached the American gossip website, Gawker. Its editor, John Cook, also viewed and wrote about the video.

 

Ford dismissed the stories as “ridiculous” the day after both ran, but it took a week before he issued a full denial. On his Sunday radio show, when a female caller asked him to explain the photo, Ford said he takes photos with “everybody.”

 

“That’s very sad, that she’s a racist,” the mayor said afterward, referring to the fact that the three men in the photo are all minorities.

 

Both the Star and Gawker declined to pay for the footage. After the contents of the video were made public, the dealers raised their price to $200,000. Gawker launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise the money. It met its goal just hours ahead of deadline.

 

Neither the Star nor Gawker has been in touch with the men selling the video for a week. A broker who is acting on their behalf is still in touch and says the dealers are “laying low.”

 

Robyn Doolittle can be reached on her cellphone, 647-404-4740, or by email rdoolittle@thestar.ca

[Safferz]

Rob Ford crack scandal: Fears Ford’s aide sought video spark police probe

 

Concerns that one of Mayor Rob Ford’s staffers was trying to obtain the crack video led to a meeting between police and Ford’s former chief of staff, sources say.

 

By: Kevin Donovan Investigations, Robert Benzie Queen's Park Bureau Chief, Published on Tue May 28 2013

 

Concerns that one of Mayor Rob Ford’s staffers was trying to obtain the crack video led to a meeting between police detectives and Ford’s former chief of staff, sources have told the Star.

 

Shortly after news of the video’s existence broke late on the evening of May 16, top aides began discussing the situation. One of those aides was Ford’s logistics man and former high school football coach, David Price.

 

Also present during discussions were then chief of staff Mark Towhey and two other senior officials.

 

Price contacted Towhey late on May 17 and asked “hypothetically” what if someone had told him where the video was. “What would we do?” Towhey was asked.

 

This story is based on interviews with people close to the mayor’s circle and people in the northern Etobicoke community where the drug video was shot.

 

Towhey, a former military man and the most experienced official in Ford’s office, was alarmed at Price’s comments. Price went further and said, “What if a source has told me where the video might be found?”

 

Shocked, Towhey told Price that the only thing he would advise is going to the police. Price also said that the video may have been the reason that Anthony Smith, a person pictured in a photo with Ford, was killed.

 

Towhey’s response, according to sources, was to tell Price that he would be contacting police.

 

Towhey called police, and shortly before he went in to give a sworn statement on May 18, Price contacted him and passed on the apartment numbers and floor (17th) of a building in Rexdale where Price said his “sources” had told him the video might be found. Price did not identify his sources.

 

When Towhey went to the police he did not inform his boss, Mayor Ford. He gave a statement, identifying Price as the originator of this information. Price was later asked to give a statement.

 

The Star has been unable to reach Price but will continue to try and will pose questions to him regarding this matter.

 

Towhey refused to comment when reached by the Star.

 

The force assigned two homicide detectives to interview Towhey and carry out an investigation into his allegations.

 

Police have confirmed to the Star that this interview took place and the probe is continuing.

 

Toronto police have told the Star their investigation in this matter is not a homicide probe, but rather that they used homicide detectives because of their special expertise in conducting interviews.

 

Ford has not responded to written questions about this matter.

 

The discussions among Ford’s aides started as soon as the Star and the Gawker website published accounts detailing the video seen by two Star reporters and the editor of Gawker. The Star reporters have described seeing a video showing an incoherent and rambling Ford smoking what appears to be a crack pipe and making homophobic and racially charged statements. The reporters were shown the video by a man who said he shot it on an iPhone.

 

(The man who approached the Star with the video indicated there is more than one copy. The Star is not able to verify that.)

 

The reporters watched the video three times in a car parked near a Rexdale apartment complex.

 

That set off a chain reaction that has seen three top Ford officials, including Towhey, leave the mayor’s office. Towhey was fired; two communication officials, George Christopoulos and Isaac Ransom, resigned.

 

The incidents that led to Towhey’s firing started the morning after the late-evening reporting of the existence of the video that, to this day, Ford and his brother, Doug, say does not exist.

 

When Toronto woke up to news of the video, the media descended on Ford’s Etobicoke home. Towhey, a former military man, sent Price to Ford’s house to be of assistance. Soon after, Towhey was angered to discover that Price was at the home of Rob and Doug Ford’s mother.

Price told Towhey not to worry.

 

The day proceeded without much official discussion of the video. Mayor Ford called the allegations “ridiculous.” Both Ford brothers told Towhey that no video existed.

 

Later that day, Price sought out Towhey, his boss, and raised the “hypothetical” question: What if he knew where the video was, what would be done?

 

At one point, according to an account of the conversation, the straitlaced Towhey was heard to remark, “We’re not getting the f---ing thing!”

 

His concern was that, if a video existed, someone could be killed for it.

 

On the morning of May 21, there was a shooting on the same 17th floor of the apartment building that had been identified by Price. That non-fatal shooting is not under investigation by the homicide detectives who interviewed Towhey.

 

Towhey was fired last Thursday after urging Ford to seek help for his addiction problem.

 

Ford recently issued a blanket denial, saying on Newstalk 1010 “number one, there’s no video, so that’s all I can say.”

 

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

[Chimera]

Safferz;953329 wrote:

 

The

Crackstarter

campaign is at $105k now, in under four days! Six days to go...

I must be the only one who feels sad for this guy, the man is finished, all those years of career construction up in smoke.

[Safferz]

Chimera;956064 wrote:

I must be the only one who feels sad for this guy

, the man is finished, all those years of career construction up in smoke.

Yes, you are.

 

I feel like I'm watching The Wire.

[SomaliPhilosopher]

The picture of the mayor and the two Somali dudes can be rebranded as 'Rob Ford the proletariat mayor'

[GaraadMon]

SomaliPhilosopher;956082 wrote:

The picture of the mayor and the two Somali dudes can be rebranded as 'Rob Ford the proletariat mayor'

I don't think anyone in that particular picture is Somali. Though, I'm starting to get the feeling that the people behind that shooting might be.

[Safferz]

Blackflash;956084 wrote:

I don't think anyone in that picture is Somali. Though, I'm starting to get the feeling that people behind that shooting might be.

This is my fear too, but I wouldn't put it past Rob Ford and his people either. The last article I posted is quite alarming, and I hope the Somali guys with the video are okay.