Crazy Town: The Rob Ford Story (43 page)

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Authors: Robyn Doolittle

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pg.  206
One of them, he said, worked in New York:
To this day, I don’t know who Farah was referring to or if this person actually exists. Before the video scandal, Farah did not know Gawker editor John Cook, who works out of New York.

pg.  207
a crack house, he said:
Numerous neighbours have told me and my colleagues at the
Toronto Star
that the brick bungalow at 15 Windsor Road is a drug haven. Internal police documents also describe the home as a “crack house/stash house.” Wiretap conversations connected to Project Traveller capture alleged drug dealers in the area discussing selling crack at the location.

pg.  209
It is explicitly stated in the newspaper’s code of conduct:

Toronto Star
Newsroom Policy and Journalistic Standards Guide.” See
www.thestar.com/opinion/public_editor/2011/12/07/toronto_star
_newsroom_policy_and_journalistic_standards_guide.html
.

pg.  210
“politically kill Rob Ford”:
Doug Ford on
The City
, Newstalk 1010, March 31, 2013.

CHAPTER 12:
ANYTHING ELSE?

pg.  225
“information that is reliable and in the public’s interest”:
Grant v. Torstar Corp., Docket 32932, December 22, 2009. See
http://scc.lexum.org/decisia-scc-csc/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/7837/index.do
.

pg.  227
“Okay,” Nair began:
Reshmi Nair, CBC News, May 17, 2013. Video at
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqyaldTVK5E
.

pg.  228
“Absolutely not true”:
Video by Bernard Weil, “Mayor Rob Ford Crack Cocaine Scandal,” May 17, 2013.

pg.  228
“I have bad news for you, Canada”:
Josh Barro, “The Almost-Good Reasons Toronto Elected Rob Ford,” Bloomberg, May 17, 2013. See
www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-17/the-almost-good-reasonstoronto-elected-rob-ford.html
.

pg.  229
“Unless he was entrapped by the government”:
Will Sommer, “Crack-Smoking Mayors: Not Just for D.C. Anymore,”
Washington City Paper
, May 17, 2013.

pg.  229
“Anyways, like I said this morning”:
Daniel Dale and David Rider, “Rob Ford Crack Scandal: Toronto Mayor Refuses to Discuss Specifics of Video,”
Toronto Star
, May 17, 2013.

pg.  229
“monitoring the situation closely”:
Rachel Mendleson and Amy Dempsey, “Mayor Rob Ford: Police Monitoring Situation Surrounding Video,”
Toronto Star
, May 17, 2013.

pg.  231
“Reporters have asked him directly”:
Christie Blatchford, “If the Rob Ford Video Is a Fake, Why Hasn’t He Said So?,”
National Post
, May 21, 2013.

pg.  232
“It seems like a form of extortion”:
Joe Warmington, “Ford to Make Statement About Alleged Crack Video Tuesday,”
Toronto Sun
, May 20, 2013.

pg.  232
“I’m not speaking for the mayor”:
“Doug Ford Calls Allegations Against Toronto Mayor Rob Ford Untrue,” Global News, May 22, 2013. See
http://globalnews.ca/news/581833/doug-ford-calls-allegations-againsttoronto-mayor-rob-ford-untrue
.

pg.  234
“I’d like to take this opportunity”:
Video at “Rob Ford Crack Scandal: ‘I Do Not Use Crack Cocaine,’ Mayor Says,”
Toronto Star,
May 24, 2013.

pg.  236
“Have you done any illegal drugs”:
Video at “Rob Ford Crack Video Scandal: More Staff Quit Mayor’s Office,”
Toronto Star,
May 30, 2013.

CHAPTER 13:
VIDEO, SCHMIDEO

pg.  238
On June 1, Ipsos Reid released a poll:
This poll surveyed 530 Toronto residents through an online panel between May 29 and 31. It was done on behalf of CTV News and CP24 and is considered accurate within plus or minus 5 percentage points.

pg.  239
“When did the accepted standard for reporters’ verification”:
Ivor Shapiro, “Video, Shmideo: Reporting Is About Telling What You See and Hear,” J-Source.ca, May 25, 2013.

pg.  240
“People have more sources of information”:
Interview with Tom Rosenstiel, executive director of the American Press Institute, September 26, 2013.

pg.  243
“There was a growing sense in that period”:
Interview with Carroll Doherty, associate director of Pew Research, September 20, 2013.

pg.  244
“We are awash in American coverage”:
Interview with politics professor Nelson Wiseman, University of Toronto, September 21, 2013.

pg.  246
“I’m not a journalist”:
Interview with Newstalk 1010 radio host Jerry Agar, October 2012.

pg.  247
“I would be curious to know just how far”:
Complaint letter from Darylle Donley to the Ontario Press Council, 2013. See
http://ontpress.com/files/2013/10/Toronto-Star-Donley-complaint.pdf
.

pg.  248
“appeared to suggest every person living in Germany”:
Carl H. Ladek v. Globe and Mail 2000/2001. See
http://ontpress.com/past-decisions
.

pg.  250
“The
Toronto Star
is glad to be sitting in front of you today”:
Michael Cooke’s speech to the Ontario Press Council, September 9, 2013. Video at
www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/09/09/rob_ford_offered_14_chances
_to_comment_on_crack_story_toronto_star_tells_press_council.html
.

pg.  251
“Council does not agree”:
Marco Chown Oved, “Press Council: Ford ‘Crack Video’ Story Passed Three-Part Test for ‘Responsible’ Reporting,”
Toronto Star
, October 16, 2013.

pg.  251
“Who is the press council?”:
Steve Ladurantaye, “Press Council Dismisses Complaints Against the
Globe
’s Doug Ford Investigation: He Dismisses the Findings,”
The Globe and Mail
, October 16, 2013.

CHAPTER 14:
PROJECT TRAVELLER

pg.  252
Thirteen-year-old Connor Stevenson:
Lisa LaFlamme, “The Inside Story: How a Trip to the Toronto Eaton Centre Turned into Horror,”
W5
, CTV, February 1, 2013. See
www.ctvnews.ca/w5/the-inside-storyhow-a-trip-to-the-toronto-eaton-centre-turned-into-horror-1.1139769
.

pg.  254
a 133 percent increase in gun violence:
Curtis Rush, “Toronto Shootings up in 2012, but Deaths Are Down,”
Toronto Star
, May 28, 2012.

pg.  254
a statement declaring “war on these violent gangs”:
Statement posted to Mayor Rob Ford’s Facebook page, “It’s Time for Us to Work Together to Keep Our City Safe,” July 17, 2012. See
https://www.facebook.com/notes/rob-ford/its-time-for-us-to-work-together-to-keepour-city-safe/438048056218258
.

pg.  254
“I want something to be done”:
Daniel Dale, “Toronto Shooting: Mayor Rob Ford Says Gang Members Should Leave the City,”
Toronto Star
, July 18, 2012.

pg.  256
There it was … Or at least, there it might be, Tim Alamenciak thought:
Interview with Tim Alamenciak, September 23, 2013.

pg.  260
A woman answered who identified herself as Zen:
Interview with Zen Khattak, May 27, 2013.

pg.  260
Smith and Khattak had been friends:
Interview with Khattak’s mother, Zen Khattak, at her Etobicoke home, May 27, 2013.

pg.  261
Poisson, along with reporter David Bruser, had recently finished an investigative series:
Jayme Poisson and David Bruser, “The Gun Pipeline” series,
Toronto Star
, April–May, 2013. See
www.thestar.com/news/investigations/guns.html
.

pg.  262
“Our confidence that we can consummate this transaction”:
“Rob Ford Crackstarter” campaign created by John Cook, May 2013. See
www.indiegogo.com/projects/rob-ford-crackstarter
.

pg.  267
Poisson, Donovan, and I published our story about the house on June 5:
Kevin Donovan, Robyn Doolittle, and Jayme Poisson, “Rob Ford Crack Video Scandal: Here’s the House Where the Photo Was Taken,”
Toronto Star
, June 5, 2013.

pg.  267
we were able to shed more light:
Jayme Poisson and Robyn Doolittle, “Rob Ford Crack Video Scandal: Resident of Home in Photo Trafficked Cocaine,”
Toronto Star
, June 7, 2013.

pg.  267
Elena Basso Johnson … her brother Fabio:
Details about both the Bassos’ criminal history were obtained through court documents.

pg.  268
Most damningly, the
Star
’s Queen’s Park bureau chief:
Robert Benzie and Kevin Donovan, “Rob Ford Video Scandal: Mayor Ford Said He Knew Where Video Was, Sources Say,”
Toronto Star
, May 30, 2013.

pg.  268
“I’m embarrassed, but actually”:
Interview with Jaye Robinson, August 12, 2013.

pg.  271
“ground zero for the alleged Rob Ford crack cociane”:
“Massive Police Raid,” live blog,
Toronto Star
, June 13, 2013. See
http://livenews.thestar.com/Event/Live_Massive_police_raid_in_Toronto?Page=0
.

pg.  271
“highly placed source”:
“Toronto Police Probing Alleged Crack Video Linked to Ford Weeks Before Story Broke,” CTV News, June 13, 2013. See
www.ctvnews.ca/canada/toronto-police-probing-allegedcrack-video-linked-to-ford-weeks-before-story-broke-1.1323657
.

pg.  271

272
“This gang has been networking”:
Deputy Chief Mark Saunders and
“I think we’ve cut off that pipeline … all of the evidence”:
Chief Bill Blair, Toronto police news release, “Project Pinpoints Gang with Video,” June 13, 2013. Video at
www.torontopolice.on.ca/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=6878
.

pg.  272
“I’m not in a position to disclose that’’:
Rosie DiManno, “What Blair Didn’t Say Speaks Loudest,”
Toronto Star
, June 14, 2013.

pg.  272
“Given the intense speculation since Crackgate exploded”:
Rosie DiManno, “What Blair Didn’t Say Speaks Loudest,”
Toronto Star
, June 14, 2013.

pg.  272
“I understand there were some raids”:
Don Peat, “‘I Have Nothing to Hide’: Mayor Rob Ford,”
Toronto Sun
, June 13, 2013. Also, video at “Ford Brushes off Journalists with ‘Thick Skulls,’”
Toronto Star
, June 13, 2013.

CHAPTER 15:
OUTRIGHT WAR

pg.  274
When Alexander “Sandro” Lisi left his Etobicoke home:
Information relating to police surveillance of Lisi and Rob Ford was sourced from Project Brazen 2’s “Information to Obtain Search Warrant” court documents.

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