Rob Ford drama takes a surreal
turn in the unit where drug dealers may have
stashed alleged crack video
National Post
Megan O’Toole
30 May 2013
320
Dixon Road
Fresh bullet holes scar the dingy hallway outside apartment 1703
at 320
Dixon Road — the unit where, sources say, Toronto drug dealers may have
stashed an explosive video that allegedly shows Mayor Rob Ford smoking
a crack pipe.
The man who answers the door, in a red T-shirt and with his black
dreadlocks pulled back into a loose ponytail, stares out with
suspicion. Asked about the video, his eyes darken, but the reaction is
fleeting. He invites a National Post reporter and photographer into his
modest unit. He swipes crumbs off the square, scuffed wooden dining
table with a sponge and apologizes for the mess in the sparsely
furnished unit.
The
interior of Unit # 1703
“So what did you want to know?”
Asked again whether the alleged video was ever stored in this apartment
unit, the man — who speaks on condition of anonymity, saying he does
not want to be publicly drawn into the politically charged saga — pulls
out a cellphone and begins dialling. Behind him, afternoon sunlight
pours in through a gap in the sagging white window curtain.
He thrusts the phone toward a Post reporter.
“Here,” he says. “Talk to him.”
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.”
The cellphone abruptly cuts out; the battery is dead.
The
view from Unit # 1703
Unit 1703 has come under intense scrutiny in recent days. An
unverified
report in theToronto Star Thursday says anonymous sources alleged Mayor
Ford pointed to this unit as one of two possible locations where the
alleged video was being stored — although the mayor has said, on
record, that the video does not exist.
Also, earlier this week, a member of the mayor’s staff told the Post
that Ford aide David Price passed a tip to former chief of staff Mark
Towhey, who passed it on to police, about drug dealing in unit 1703.
But another source contradicted that account, telling the Post that the
mayor’s office tipped off police about the address at 320 Dixon Road
after receiving information that the alleged video was stashed there.
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.”
In quick succession, the man issues a number of claims: that, while he
does not know its current whereabouts, he has viewed the alleged video
and believes it to be authentic; that he has seen other more innocuous
footage of Mayor Ford “hanging out” in the neighbourhood; that 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.
“We don’t like Rob Ford getting screwed,” the man in unit 1703 says.
“We wanted to help him… 85% of [young Somalis] are very upset about
these guys with the video.”
It is difficult, in this surreal saga, to know what to believe and what
to dismiss.
While the man in unit 1703 said police never interviewed him about the
alleged video, investigators came to his home for another reason, about
a week ago.
On May 21, just a few days after the video scandal hit newsstands, a
man was shot on the 17th floor of 320 Dixon Road. The same detectives
who were reportedly tipped off by Mayor Ford’s staff about other
illegal activities on the building’s 17th floor were dispatched to
investigate, but police sources have since stated there is no link
between the alleged video and the May 21 shooting. Residents of the
building say a fight actually started on the 18th floor and rolled
downstairs, where shots were fired. Bullet holes, circled and numbered
by police as evidence, remain visible in the walls.
Resident
points at a bullet hole
While the man in unit 1703 said police never interviewed him
about the
alleged video, investigators came to his home for another reason, about
a week ago.
On May 21, just a few days after the video scandal hit newsstands, a
man was shot on the 17th floor of 320 Dixon Road. The same detectives
who were reportedly tipped off by Mayor Ford’s staff about other
illegal activities on the building’s 17th floor were dispatched to
investigate, but police sources have since stated there is no link
between the alleged video and the May 21 shooting. Residents of the
building say a fight actually started on the 18th floor and rolled
downstairs, where shots were fired. Bullet holes, circled and numbered
by police as evidence, remain visible in the walls.
Another
bullet hole on the 17th floor
Soon after the shooting, the man in unit 1703 said he heard from
his
panicked mother: “Somebody had called my mom and told my mom I got
shot,” he recalled. But he was fine; he was not even home at the time.
A
third bullet hole
As to what ultimately became of the alleged crack video, the
man seems certain of one thing.
“That tape,” he said, “will never surface.”
—30—
Note:
The newspapers have reported that the video of Rob Ford may have been
stored in Unit # 1701 or #1703 at 320 Dixon Road.
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