Ford Staffer Tells Police About Tip Linking Crack Video to Homicide
According to the Globe and Mail, Toronto police are investigating a tip that reportedly links Toronto Mayor Rob Ford's crack video to a murder in Toronto. Two sources told the Globe and Mail that police interviewed a senior staff member from Ford's office last week about the tip, which the staffer reportedly received shortly after Gawker published its report about the video earlier this month.
Two Toronto police officers interviewed the staffer outside of City Hall last week, according to one of the Globe and Mail's sources, though the staffer could not verify the credibility of the source.
The informant in the mayor’s office purported to know the address and unit number where the video was being held.
They went on to say that the video originally belonged to an individual who may have been killed for its potentially valuable contents, according to a source.
Both Gawker and the Toronto Star ran a photo (featured above) of Mayor Ford standing next to Anthony Smith, a 21-year-old shot to death in Toronto last March, though there's no evidence connecting Smith's death to the video.
The Toronto police department refused to comment to the Globe and Mail, and the mayor's office didn't return their request for comment.
Shortly after the Globe and Mail's story went online, Toronto CP24's Katie Simpson published a report that contradicted some of the Globe and Mail's account. Simpson wrote that, while homicide detectives did interview a member of the mayor's staff last week, the interview was not connected to a homicide.
Staff Insp. Greg McLane, head of the homicide squad, tells CP24 the interview was not in relation to a recent homicide or any homicide. McLane says homicide officers did the interview because the officers have expertise others don't.
McLean went on to add that the interview is in relation to an on-going investigation that is currently in the media, but he declined to identify the nature of the investigation.
The reports come just two days after the Globe and Mail published an extensive exposé detailing the Ford family's longtime involvement with Toronto drug scene.
To contact the author of this post, email taylor@gawker.com