Rob Ford's Toronto

[soimelk]

It's been noted that the TPS hired an airplane for surveillance, and remarked as kind of odd given the force owns their own plane. I wonder if this kind of surveillance is the kind the police are forced to do when their targets are individuals with deep contacts in their own ranks, particularly in Etobicoke. If detectives started following around the Fords et al on land, surely word would filter back quickly to Ford loyalists in the divisions in the area, and any tailing operation could have been blown.

 

[JWBF]

That assumes Ford knew the tape existed before Smith was offed. It's just as likely that Ford wasn't made aware of the tape until after Smith was out of the picture.

Ford may or may not have known by then, however, his handlers probably did, and was hoping to control the situation.

 

[TheTigerMaster]

Nah, it won't work. Trying to obtain the video is not obstruction of judtice, until there is proof that the video is evidence of a crime. Now, if Ford say ordered Lisi to beat up the Bassos, he could certainly be charged with conspiracy or assault. But I can't see Lisi rolling on Ford for that - he's done time for assault before, knows he can handle it.

Maybe the Project Traveller wiretaps on the Bassos or the Dixon crew might have caught Price or Ford uttering threats or describing a conspiracy? That would be something I guess.

Well MetroMan for months has been saying that TPS has been pursuing an obstruction of justice charge. Earlier this morning he reaffirmed that viewpoint.

Now who knows what Ford may have done to make TPS pursue an obstruction of justice charge. Perhaps he told his staff to lie to police. That alone could be a charge of obstruction and conspiracy.

 

[Peepers]

It's been noted that the TPS hired an airplane for surveillance, and remarked as kind of odd given the force owns their own plane. I wonder if this kind of surveillance is the kind the police are forced to do when their targets are individuals with deep contacts in their own ranks, particularly in Etobicoke. If detectives started following around the Fords et al on land, surely word would filter back quickly to Ford loyalists in the divisions in the area, and any tailing operation could have been blown.

It may be that they resorted to aerial surveillance for reasons given however if that is the case it looks like police were betrayed by two very senior people within their ranks:

Doug Ford quoted in the SUN

Not knowing if it was prying media or otherwise, Ford said he called two superintendents he knows who confirmed it was police over the backyard famous for hosting many Ford Fest barbecues.

I wonder if one of the superintendents was Ford family friend Supt Ron Taverner? If so it seems to me this Ford family friend is going to be in some hot water since it is obviously strictly forbidden for a police officer to confirm or deny to a private citizen details of a secret police surveillance operation. I am surprised that not more is being made about this angle to the story. Is Bill Blair investigating these two unnamed superintendents? Are they being suspended pending an internal investigation or will this just be swept under the rug like most embarrassing episodes involving TPS' officers

 

[animatronic]

Is Bill Blair investigating these two unnamed superintendents? Are they being suspended pending an internal investigation or will this just be swept under the rug like most embarrassing episodes involving TPS' officers

They probably removed their nametags before answering Doug's call so now there's no way to track them.

 

[adma]

Not too surprising. It's standard for fundamentalists to be paranoid, and suffer from a persecution complex. When "control" is wavering or disintegrating, and in the Fords case, the feeling of not being part of the "in crowd" anymore, then there has to be always an external reason or scapegoat.

That's how goes things when "reality" comes tumbling down.

And, of course, don't forget the "yeah, well, what about *you*???" defence. (cue references to Jack & Olivia & co-ops, or Teddy Kennedy and Chappaquiddick, etc)

 

[JWBF]

And, of course, don't forget the "yeah, well, what about *you*???" defence. (cue references to Jack & Olivia & co-ops, or Teddy Kennedy and Chappaquiddick, etc)

Yep, the Fords are made for a black and white standard def world, not the high def one most people live.

 

[blackballed]

This is something I've never understood. Why did Team Ford not go looking for the video until AFTER the story broke? At a minimum, they'd been alerted to its existence by the idiot CNN producer.

 

[blackballed]

First time poster, long-time reader. This is the best source for this stuff. I salute all of you.

I know that Ford's schedule is pretty much useless, and any useful information will get redacted before it's released via FOI, but the Globe article from this week showed that Ford had a meeting with David Price on Feb 22nd. Interestingly, that was the day before the Garrison Ball. That's likely unrelated, but I think that this was before Price was actually hired as "logistics director".

I've read a claim that the video was several months old, but the photo was supposedly taken the same night and there's snow in the background. Since Smith was shot in March and there wasn't really snow on the ground until January (if I recall correctly), there's about a 10-week window when this could have happened.

I'm wondering if the Price meeting on Feb 22nd was Ford bringing Price in as his fixer after realizing that a video was taken. However, that still doesn't explain why they didn't go looking for it until after the story broke. Maybe they were looking around quietly in March and April and then got panicked after May 16th, but that's not really their style.

Anyone got any thoughts on this topic?

 

[Peepers]

First time poster, long-time reader. This is the best source for this stuff. I salute all of you.

I know that Ford's schedule is pretty much useless, and any useful information will get redacted before it's released via FOI, but the Globe article from this week showed that Ford had a meeting with David Price on Feb 22nd. Interestingly, that was the day before the Garrison Ball. That's likely unrelated, but I think that this was before Price was actually hired as "logistics director".

I've read a claim that the video was several months old, but the photo was supposedly taken the same night and there's snow in the background. Since Smith was shot in March and there wasn't really snow on the ground until January (if I recall correctly), there's about a 10-week window when this could have happened.

I'm wondering if the Price meeting on Feb 22nd was Ford bringing Price in as his fixer after realizing that a video was taken. However, that still doesn't explain why they didn't go looking for it until after the story broke. Maybe they were looking around quietly in March and April and then got panicked after May 16th, but that's not really their style.

Anyone got any thoughts on this topic?

I think that you could very well be right in your analysis. The picture taken outside was in winter - likely February as you suggest. I suspect that Ford was aware of the video's existence long before the Gawker story (in the video he said "that thing better not be on" when he awoke from his slumber). I could see Price being brought in to secure the video. When the Gawker / Star story broke they went into full panic mode.

 

[christiesplits]

I'm wondering if the Price meeting on Feb 22nd was Ford bringing Price in as his fixer after realizing that a video was taken..

Correction: Taxpayer-funded fixer

 

[JTheElfMan]

Correction: Taxpayer-funded fixer

I don't understand how exactly he got away with that. Well, I don't understand how he's gotten away with any of this shit, but can he actually just make up jobs and give them to his friends?

 

[One Nut Kruk]

P.J. Stock just said to Leafs fans, on Hockey Night In Canada -- and I'm paraphrasing -- "Gabrovski has 5 points this season; put that in your pipe and smoke it". He's just taunting the police. Obviously he's the hockey analyst that was mentioned a few months ago, jk.

 

[pattycakes]

P.J. Stock just said to Leafs fans, on Hockey Night In Canada -- and I'm paraphrasing -- "Gabrovski has 5 points this season; put that in your pipe and smoke it". He's just taunting the police. Obviously he's the hockey analyst that was mentioned a few months ago, jk.

Thanks. I needed that.

 

[TinyTiny]

This is something I've never understood. Why did Team Ford not go looking for the video until AFTER the story broke? At a minimum, they'd been alerted to its existence by the idiot CNN producer.

First time poster but long time follower of this glorious thread.

I think you're asking a very important question that I think not many people have addressed...

It has been my thought all along that dealers who made the video would not have gone to media first. I don't believe that would have been the first play. I believe the video was originally made to extort money out of Rob Ford. Dealing with the media brings a lot of risk - first off they would be dealing with some very sharp journalists and there is also the potential that the media would not have the funds to pay for the video (which is exactly what they found out). Whereas, they would know that Rob Ford is sitting on a family inheritance, that he would be horribly compromised by the existence of the video, and that ultimately he is a buffoonish simpleton.

I would be willing to bet just about anything that their first play was to extort Rob Ford for money in exchange for not releasing the video to the media. How that played out is anyone's guess, but we can speculate... could be he met their demands and paid them off, then they double-crossed him and decided to try to get a second payday out of the video. Or, it could be that they dropped the extortion attempt on Ford, and then tried to get money out of Gawker and the Star. What would make them drop an attempt to squeeze some money out of Ford? Well, 2 dudes in photo were shot (one dead)... We already know that Ford has no qualms about sending out his goon squad to try to retrieve the video, as evidenced by Lisi and Price's actions after the Star/Gawker story broke...

One thing that has bugged me since Project Traveler is the fact that the shooter in the Anthony Smith case was rapidly processed with a highly unusual plea down to manslaughter. At first I thought this smacked of cover-up, but what if the deal was given in exchange for the shooter to turn states-witness? To testify on who called in the hit in the first place?

Ok, that is all wild speculation and to be honest I don't think even Ford would be that despicable.

So maybe it was just a random gangland shooting and the courts just wanted to get this guy through the system as quickly as possible.

Anyway, I'm fascinated to find out what happened between the time that the video was shot and the time its existence was made public via Gawker and the Star. I think ultimately the key to all of the recent activity is going to have something to do with what happened during that timeframe. I'm predicting that there will be a completely unexpected twist to the story that took place during that time.