Well, maybe not a big break. But perhaps a conceptual break. Or perhaps a new slogan for the 2014 reelection campaign he committed to running yesterday – “Yes I Smoked Crack But No One Got Killed!” Also, young Somali supporters of the Mayor reportedly considered making a faux Ford Crack Video to discredit the real one using a local Ford lookalike named ‘Slurpy’ – but ‘Slurpy’ pulled out.
So far Mayor Rob Ford has seemingly weathered widespread and credible reports that he smokes crack. But things took an even more ominous turn when hints began to emerge that his crack smoking video may have led to the death of 21 year old Anthony Smith. But a new Toronto Star piece knocks down the connection.
There’s nothing definitive in the piece. The Toronto police still seem extremely tight-lipped about the case. But various ‘sources’ in the neighborhood contacted by the Star say Smith’s killing was “street level stuff” and not connected to the purported video of the Mayor smoking crack. Indeed, the piece goes on to suggest that Smith himself may not even have been the specific target of the shooting – more a matter of two rival groups or gangs and he was a convenient member of one of the groups and thus was the one who got shot.
The Star piece also notes the more recent non-fatal shooting near the apartment where everyone seems to believe the Ford Crack Video (FCV) was at one time stored — unit 1703 at 320 Dixon.
In another example of gun violence, one week ago a 27-year-old was shot in the leg on the 17th floor of 320 Dixon. He was shot outside unit 1701 and had apparently been with friends in unit 1703. Sources tell the Star that both of these addresses were identified by the mayor to his staff as areas where the crack video could be found.
People in the community say 1703 is a well known “open house” where groups of young people go to hang out at all hours of the day and night.
Those who live and work in the high rises say the victim was hit by accident, in a case of “friendly fire.” The man has been spotted in the area since with friends.
An ‘open house’ where crack dealers and customers go to ‘hang out’ at all hours sounds sort of like a crack den. But maybe I’m reading too much into that. That be as it may, the National Post has a story about the guy who apparently lives there.
This story, you won’t be surprised, is also kind of weird.
Megan O’Toole, reporter for the Post, meets an unidentified Jamaican man who lives at the mystery apartment that alleged once housed the Ford Crack Video (FCV). The Jamaican guy skittishly invites O’Toole in and after being asked about the video hands O’Toole his cellphone to talk to a guy named ‘Jon’ …
The man on the other end of the phone sounds relaxed, friendly. He says his name is Jon, and he is a friend of this tenant. He believes the video may have been stashed inside unit 1703 at some point by a group of young Somali men who “have keys.”
“Characters have been around there,” Jon says. “If [the video] is hidden in the house, I wouldn’t be surprised.”
…
Back inside unit 1703, the man who answered the door on Wednesday afternoon speaks guardedly. He says he moved in several months ago, noting the unit was previously occupied by a local drug dealer. Asked why a number of young Somali men have keys, as his friend indicated, he responds with surprising nonchalance: “I think somebody may have duplicated my key,” he says casually. “That’s why I’m changing my locks.”
From here it gets more interesting. The Jamaican guy says he’s seen the Ford Crack Video and actually a number of other videos that show Ford hanging out in the neighborhood while not smoking crack. And since the the local Somali gang/drug dealing community supports Ford and is upset about the trouble the video sellers have caused everyone they even came up with a plan to help Ford.
Somali gang members who support the mayor are angry at the video’s sellers; and that he and his friends briefly considered making a fraudulent crack video starring an acquaintance and Rob Ford lookalike nicknamed “Slurpy,” in an attempt to discredit the real thing. Slurpy, who was not available to be interviewed by the Post, apparently opted out of the phoney video plan, ultimately deciding he did not want to become embroiled in the simmering controversy.
The last we hear is that ‘Slurpy’ has gone to ground and the Jamaican guy has now also “packed a bag” and is in the wind. That’s according to “Jon” the guy on the cell phone who tells the Post “that tape will never surface.”
