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Rob Ford documents: 8 revelations from wiretap evidence

Information released Wednesday from police wiretaps has Toronto Mayor Rob Ford facing a host of new accusations and revelations, and here are eight of them.

Heroin use, a rift between the Fords and an office 'walk of shame' among allegations in police docs

Rob Ford wiretaps released

11 years ago
Duration 3:44
New allegations are emerging about Toronto's mayor from newly released police wiretap documents

Information released Wednesdayfrompolice wiretapshasToronto Mayor Rob Ford facing a host of new accusations and revelations.

The allegations, from a police investigation called Project Brazen 2, are unproven and have not been tested in court.

Here are some of the allegations in the documents:

Heroin use

Coun. Doug Ford, left, and his brother, Mayor Rob Ford, were not on speaking terms following the first round of allegations that the mayor smoked crack cocaine, former city staffer David Price told police.
When Ford admitted after months of denials to having smoked crack cocaine once likelyduring one of his "drunken stupors," he said he "has nothing left to hide."

Butwiretap interceptionsfrom the Toronto police investigation suggest crack cocaine may not have been the only drug the mayor has used.

During an April 20phone conversation betweenLiban Siyad andAbdullahi Harun, Harun claims he has multiple photographs of Ford "doing the hezza," or heroin.

Brotherly rift

On May 18, Toronto police interviewed thenFord staffer David Price. Price has known the Ford family for 35 years and attended high-school with Coun. Doug Ford, Rob'selder brother. He was hired several weeks before he spoke to police.

Price toldpolice that he believed the Ford brothers "are not on speaking terms right now."

Read the documents

More than 50 pages of police wiretap documents connected toProject Brazen 2 have beenreleased to the public.

Click here to read them.

A day before the Priceinterview, RobFord denied allegationsby the Toronto Star and U.S. websiteGawkerthat he was caught on tape smoking crack cocaine.

The Ford brothers tend to publicly display a united front with the councilloroften defending the mayor, and the duo recently appearedtogether on a U.S. media blitz.

Trap house

Rob Ford vehemently denied that the house at 15 Windsor Rd.,where the mayor was photographed with three suspected gang members, was a crack house.

"That is not a crack house," Ford told Toronto Coun.Michael Thompson when questioned about the residence during a council meeting. "Have you visited the house? Have you walked in the house?No you havent ... So youre listening, youre listening to what the media says?"

David Price, Mayor Rob Ford's former director of operations and logistics, has known the Ford brothers for more than three decades and considers Coun. Doug Ford to be his best friend. (CBC)
Police documents reveal the address is believed to be a so-called trap house where people sell drugs. Wiretap interceptions revealed someone was called to the house on April 20 because the mayor "wants some drugs."

In his second interview with police on June 19, Price discussed the home at length and admitted tovisitingit previously.

Shortly after the first allegations against the mayor, Price visited the home to question one of the residents about the allegations. He said the woman who opened the door appeared to be high.

Anthony Smith death motive

Anthony Smith, who appears in the 15 Windsor Rd. photo with the mayor, was shot and killed in March.

Murder victim Anthony Smith, left, is seen posing with Mayor Rob Ford in a widely-published photo taken in front of a suspected Etobicoke crack house.
Mark Towhey, Ford's former chief of staff, told police he had a conversation about Smith's murder with Price. Towheysaid Price disclosed that Smith owned the cellphone storing the video of the mayor smoking crack cocaine and that it was the motive behind killing him.

However, the motive for Smith's death was discussed during interceptions and may have been in retaliation for a robbery.

On the night of Smith's death, police say members of a rival gang to the Dixon City Bloods the focus of the raids became involved in a fight at a downtown night club with Smith and another man.

Instagramthreat

The infamous crack video is not the only attempt by others to capture Toronto's mayor in a compromised position.

When Ford had his phone stolen on April 20 while at 15 Windsor Rd., his former driver,AlexanderLisi,told the men believed to have had the phone that Mayor Ford would "put heat on Dixon" if they didn't return it. In an intercepted conversation, the men seemed annoyed over the threats because they claimed to have photos of Ford "on a pipe."

Another intercepted conversation from the same day hasHarunclaiming to have multiple photos of Ford using heroin.Siyadencourages him to take those pictures "because of what it would be worth."

On the same day,Siyadsays in another conversation that he will put a photo of the mayor "smoking his rocks" onInstagram.

$5K, car offered for crack video

Police documents suggest Ford made an offer to the men attempting to sell the video toGawker and the Star.

On March 27, Mohamed Siad identified by the Star as having shown two of their reporters the crack video in May recalled a time a man believed to be Ford offered him $5,000 and a car in exchange for the video.

Siad thought the video was worth more. He had asked Gawker for $200,000, and said he would ask Ford for $100,000 or $150,000 instead.

'Walk of shame'

In an interview with police, Ford's former press secretary, George Christopoulos, said the mayor enjoyed making fired individuals do the "walk of shame" when leaving the office for the last time. Christopoulos said it was the mayor's way of slanting the situation to make it appear "like the people leaving had done something wrong."

When he and former staffer Isaac Ransom quit over the phone, Christopoulos says the mayor attempted to rush them into the office so he could force them to take the so-called walk of shame.

Drinking and driving

In addition to heroin and cocaine use, the police documents allege the mayor may have an alcohol abuse problem.

Ford admitted to reporters that he"might have had some drinks and driven."

However, he later changed that statement during an interview with CBC's Peter Mansbridge, saying his behaviour was the same as any social drinker.

"All of us have done this whoever has a [driver's]licence you go out to a dinner party,you go out to a restaurant with your wife, you have a glass of wine," he said."Do you drive? Absolutely, you drive."