by Pamela Stewart
There was trouble brewing in the hood. People connected to the rich and powerful were making threats to bring down the heat on the drug dealers and gangs if they didn’t get what they wanted.
Sounds like an episode of Breaking Bad, but this story is straight out of the Toronto Police Services investigation into Mayor Rob Ford and his buddy, Alexander “Sandro” Lisi.
The Toronto Star and other newspapers have spent considerable resources on their investigations. The film rights have been sold for Star reporter Robin Doolittle’s best-seller, Crazy Town: The Rob Ford Story, but the real story is in the hundreds of pages of police documents that the media petitioned the courts to release to the public.
Ford and Lisi are the subject of Toronto Police investigation Project Brazen 2. Toronto Police turned the investigation over to the Ontario Provincial Police after Rob and his brother, City Councillor Doug Ford, accused Chief Bill Blair of “playing politics”. The investigation is now back in the hands of Toronto after the OPP couldn’t find any evidence against Ford. Project Brazen 2 came about because of an investigation into guns, drugs and gangs called Project Traveller.
Police surveillance of Ford and Lisi
On May 18th, 2013, Project Traveller intercepts a call between LISI and SIYAD (Dixon City Bloods gang member) speaking about the widely reported “crack” video. I believe that Lisi is threatening Siyad that the police will be brought down onto Siyad’s neighbourhood if Siyad does not get the video featuring Robert Ford smoking what appears to be a narcotic. During the communication, Lisi tells Siyad that “Yo (unintelligible) you see the heat, bro? You see the heat on Dixon, bro?” He goes on to say it is going to “get worse and worse” and “the whole place is going to get heated up all summer until that f–king phone gets back, the whole place … is going to get lit right up.” He closes by telling Siyad to “put the message out to your people … that the whole place is going to get heated.”
“He’s a good guy. I don’t throw my friends under the bus.” This is Rob Ford describing his relationship with his drug dealer friend after Lisi was arrested and charged with drug trafficking in 2013. Ford wrote a character reference letter for Lisi on City of Toronto stationary.
Lisi is well-known to police. He has a history of arrests and convictions for threats and violence against women. He threatened to have had acid thrown in one woman’s face and he directed a throat cutting motion with his hand at another.
Lisi allegedly used more insidious methods to threaten people who got on his bad side. The Toronto Star interviewed two people who stated that Lisi showed them a container of bedbugs and told them that he would infect someone’s house with the nasty creatures.
Ford claims he has done nothing wrong and he doesn’t seem to understand why he is being investigated by the police. The cops have observed suspicious behavior, such as Lisi placing a package in Ford’s vehicle while the mayor was in a gas station convenience store. You’d think a politician who is running for re-election would stay away from criminals, but Ford isn’t smart enough or straight enough to do so.
Ford and Lisi at Steak Queen
A videotape was released on January 21, 2014 showing Ford in the company of Lisi at the Steak Queen Restaurant on the same day that Ford was filmed speaking Jamaican Patois and talking down the police chief in a drunken and offensive rant.
Ford and gang members
Who hasn’t had a few too many or smoked some weed? Perhaps that’s why Ford Nation is still supporting the admitted crack smoker. Ford tries to come across as a good ol’ boy who just likes to hang out with other average Joes. The problem is that Ford isn’t average. He came from a life of privilege. The people he likes to spend time with don’t reflect the folks who work hard and pay the Toronto taxes he claims to save. Most of those people have never been to a crack house. They aren’t friends with people like Lisi, or Elena Basso, the owner of that infamous house at 15 Windsor Road, Etobicoke. Rob’s “Ford Nation” may overlook his admission of smoking crack because they think he is saving them tax dollars. They accept his excuse that he isn’t perfect, but they aren’t looking at the bigger picture.
I know something about crack. In the ‘80s, my husband and father of my two sons started doing a lot of cocaine. I broke up with him and he spiraled downward, losing his well-paying job in IT. After he could no longer afford coke, he became a crack addict. How do you explain to your young children why their father is panhandling in front of the liquor store?
How do you explain to children today that the man who runs their city did crack while in a drunken stupor? I have no idea if my ex-husband is dead or alive. Over the years, he has been in and out of jail for committing crimes to fuel his addiction. The two go hand in hand and that’s why we can’t excuse Ford for his actions.
Toronto is a vibrant city, but Canadians have always had an inferiority complex when it comes to our relationship with the United States. Some people feel that Rob Ford has put Toronto on the map. I’m sure most Americans wouldn’t be able to name any of Toronto’s previous mayors. Ford is the pet project of Jimmy Kimmel. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton said that Ford has “absolutely destroyed every stereotype about Canadians.” We all like to laugh at his shenanigans because he is a bumbling fool.
The Globe and Mail recently reported that Pilgrim Studios contacted Ford about a reality TV show while he was in town for his appearance on Jimmy Kimmel. The production company already produces shows about other troubled individuals such as Lindsay Lohan and glorifies illegal activities such as street racing in Street Outlaws.
The proliferation of selfies taken with the mayor pop up by the hundreds on Twitter and Instagram. He is still rating fairly high in the polls and his fans seem to ignore Rob’s relationships with criminals like Lisi. Those of us who have some insight into substance abuse or believe that the people they vote for should have some ethics and values don’t get it. There are probably all kinds of other dark truths about Ford that haven’t come out and maybe they never will, and that isn’t funny.
You know that saying, how can you tell when an addict is lying? He’s opening his mouth. That is Rob Ford. He is an embarrassment. He is probably the only politician to go down in history for telling the media that he gets “plenty to eat at home” on live television. He had the nerve to drag his poor wife in front of the cameras to apologize for his disgusting comments. We were all thinking the same thing – we wanted that vision out of our heads.
Rob has made himself vulnerable to blackmail by being in the company of drug addicts and gangbangers. His addled brain doesn’t recognize that these are the same people who film him engaging in illegal activities and spouting homophobic and racist comments.
Unlike Lisi, Rob may not be evil, but he hasn’t grown up. Mr. Tough Guy, Lisi, still lives in his parent’s basement, so you could say the same for him.
Ford doesn’t throw his friends under the bus for one reason. They do his dirty work. On October 31st, 2013, Lisi was arrested and charged with Extortion for attempting to retrieve the “crack” video. There are probably other people on Rob’s payroll who are taking care of the Mayor’s extracurricular activities.
On May 20th, 2013, SIYAD is intercepted by Project Traveller making a phone call to Elena BASSO about SIYAD not having the video with Robert FORD in it. I have listened to this intercepted communication and have reviewed the related intercept summary.
SIYAD tells BASSO that if he had the video he would have brought “it to your house and give it to you directly to give to Rob.”
SIYAD also tells BASSO that he is going to get the video. BASSO states that Robert FORD did it “in my house and now I, never mind, I got, I got Rob’s fucking people and Cops coming here every fucking day.” SIYAD responds with “I know. They’re fucking chasing after me, think I have the video”.
BASSO goes on to say that “G brought down heat on this whole fuckin’ area” and that Robert FORD has “got power” and “it doesn’t matter who’s right or wrong, everybody’s going to go fucking, if we’re going to feel the heat everywhere”. SIYAD ends the conversation by telling BASSO “Yeah just tell Rob I don’t have that shit, man.”
Ford says he isn’t a criminal, but he has admitted to criminal acts. He was arrested by Miami police in 1999 and charged with drunk driving and marijuana possession. He pled guilty to possession and refusing to provide a breath sample and received a fine and community service. Ford was also charged with assault in a hockey fight when he was 18, but the charges were dismissed. In 2008, Ford was charged with uttering a death threat and assault against his wife. The charges were withdrawn.
Ask Rob about his drinking or bad behavior and he points out that he isn’t the only person who has ever misbehaved or been intoxicated. “I’m not perfect” may be true, but it isn’t an excuse. Rob has learned that if you say you are saving taxpayers’ money, even if it is a lie, and you give people something to laugh about, you’ll resonate with a certain demographic – those who have been dumbed down by reality TV, or never really thought about consequences. You don’t have to be intelligent to be a master manipulator. Drug addicts and criminals do it all the time.
Pamela Stewart is a freelance writer and former private investigator. She lives north of Toronto in Jackson’s Point. This lakeside town is the kind of place where people don’t lock their doors. It’s a safe space for Pamela to explore the dark side of life in her fiction and nonfiction. She also writes about more pleasant things when the sun is shining.