Rob Ford's Toronto

[MetroMan]

Do you know why the cops were pulled off the surveillance?

No. Cook wouldn't know that either. My police sources have stopped talking and one is a friend who I don't want to pressure over this story so I won't be getting any more leaks from the TPS side of things. But I can speculate. How did the police know it wasn't a gun transaction after all? They weren't in the car. Did Cook wear a wire? Did the cops bug the car? However they found out, they knew that a gun wasn't being sold with so much certainty that they were confident enough to abandon the surveillance.

I'm going to reiterate that the police are not protecting Ford. 9 out of 10 cops think Ford is an idiot and those on the board of the TPS and the top brass would be happy to have this hot potato off their hands. My impression is that Giroux might already have enough evidence to bust Ford for crimes related to purchase and possession of illegal substances and obstruction of justice, but that the detective is using Ford's messy bumbling behaviour to follow his tracks to the big fish in this city and pull of a police bust like nothing ever seen in this country with tentacles reaching in to the drug trade, politics and high society. I don't think the Fords are at the top but they're big enough to be allowed to swim around as bait to attract the sharks Giroux is hoping to catch.

 

[Dubster]

Not that I would doubt him, but that Cook image doesn't show up in any recognition searches. Wow. Good stuff. Not that my insider knowledge means anything but I have a friend who works at city hall for a liberal councillor, and apparently almost everyone knows the video exists and has been seen by many non-criminal/journalist types aka lawyers, so I never doubted the police viewed it.

 

[PinkLucy]

I really wonder about all these people who are purported to have seen the video, because the more people have had access to it, the more likely it is to have been leaked, and the fact that it hasn't been leaked and gone viral (at least Toronto viral) is what makes me wonder. I totally believe it exists, but I doubt that very many people have actually seen it.

As for 9 out of 10 cops thinking Ford is an idiot, my friend the cop is #10 who thinks Ford is great. (he's also my only friend who thinks that) I gotta go find new cop friends

Oh, and do a google image search for John Cook -- images of Ford come up

 

[blackballed]

"7:12 p.m.: Another man, dressed in a beige coat, comes to the house from the nearby set of Dixon Rd. highrises."

Does that seem like a big of a vague description, considering that this is "an official Toronto Police Services document"? That report was from April 11. In Toronto, the sun sets at 7:56 on April 11th. I find it hard to believe that the only recognizable characteristics of this individual were a) that he was a man, and b) that he was wearing a beige coat.

Reminds me of this crack police work:

"This is Papa Bear. Put out an APB for a male suspect, driving a... car of some sort, heading in the direction of... you know, that place that sells chili. Suspect is hatless. Repeat, hatless."

 

[Gavin]

No. Cook wouldn't know that either. My police sources have stopped talking and one is a friend who I don't want to pressure over this story so I won't be getting any more leaks from the TPS side of things. But I can speculate. How did the police know it wasn't a gun transaction after all? They weren't in the car. Did Cook wear a wire? Did the cops bug the car? However they found out, they knew that a gun wasn't being sold with so much certainty that they were confident enough to abandon the surveillance.

From Gawker:

Before our meeting, the tipster who brought me to meet Siad called him from his cell phone. Siad briefly came to the car, but left to go charge the phone's battery. During his absence, the tipster called him from his cell phone again. It seems likely that the cops were listening in on those calls, and heard Siad and the tipster discussing a phone.

So we know that Siad's phone was one of those wiretapped, although it seems weird that cops would hear "cellphone" and trust that there were no guns involved.

 

[Franks2000inchTV]

I'm going to reiterate that the police are not protecting Ford. 9 out of 10 cops think Ford is an idiot and those on the board of the TPS and the top brass would be happy to have this hot potato off their hands.

One thought I've had is that Tavener was in charge of Project Traveller. Do you think he wanted to protect his friend and maybe ordered officers in his division to ignore the mayor?

I think it's pretty obvious that the investigators have been trying to conceal their activities from some elements of the police force (Brazen/Brazen 2) so I think most of the TPS is playing to win, but I can easily see Tavener thinking that the mayor "wasn't part of the investigation" so they could ignore him/sweep things under the rug before the whole thing blew up.

 

[soimelk]

I hope you are correct. I do believe that those '1 out of 10' police who look out for Ford are well placed and influential to some degree.

 

[MetroMan]

From Gawker:



So we know that Siad's phone was one of those wiretapped, although it seems weird that cops would hear "cellphone" and trust that there were no guns involved.

Exactly: Hey dude. Meet me at the McDonalds parking lot and and I'll drive you to my guy who will sell you the (air quotes) cell phone (air quotes) tee hee.

The police had to have absolute certainty that a gun wasn't being sold, otherwise they wouldn't have bailed. They had to have ears inside that car.

 

[blackballed]

MetroMan,

When you started this forum, did you know (or have an inkling) about the Ford's illegal dealings? Did you have even the slightest idea that we'd end up anywhere even remotely close to where we find ourselves today?

 

[MetroMan]

One thought I've had is that Tavener was in charge of Project Traveller. Do you think he wanted to protect his friend and maybe ordered officers in his division to ignore the mayor?

I think it's pretty obvious that the investigators have been trying to conceal their activities from some elements of the police force (Brazen/Brazen 2) so I think most of the TPS is playing to win, but I can easily see Tavener thinking that the mayor "wasn't part of the investigation" so they could ignore him/sweep things under the rug before the whole thing blew up.

He's not. Giroux is reporting directly to Blair.

 

[soimelk]

One thought I've had is that Tavener was in charge of Project Traveller. Do you think he wanted to protect his friend and maybe ordered officers in his division to ignore the mayor?

I think it's pretty obvious that the investigators have been trying to conceal their activities from some elements of the police force (Brazen/Brazen 2) so I think most of the TPS is playing to win, but I can easily see Tavener thinking that the mayor "wasn't part of the investigation" so they could ignore him/sweep things under the rug before the whole thing blew up.

I'm inclined to wonder if this is the case, at least in the beginning. Whether someone directly ordered officers to ignore Ford, or if they merely softpedalled the investigation when the public had no knowledge of the scandal is an interesting question. I agree that Project Brazen 2 seemed to be designed to avoid prying eyes within the TPS, given it was lead by homicide investigators based out of downtown, and they opted to use aerial surveillance in tracking their subjects.

 

[soimelk]

He's not. Giroux is reporting directly to Blair.

Giroux isn't the lead on Project Traveller though, is he? I thought he was looped in specifically for Project Brazen 2
.

 

[Franks2000inchTV]

Giroux isn't the lead on Project Traveller though, is he? I thought he was looped in specifically for Project Brazen 2
.

Exactly. I think Taverner screwed the pooch trying to go easy on his pal, and then when Blair found out, he took over and put his best man on the case to try and bring the thing home.

It could explain why Sandro Lisi was arrested in Taverner's 23rd division, but was processed in 22nd division.

 

[MetroMan]

MetroMan,

When you started this forum, did you know (or have an inkling) about the Ford's illegal dealings? Did you have even the slightest idea that we'd end up anywhere even remotely close to where we find ourselves today?

Not in the least. I started on Urban Toronto back in 2001 because I was interested in Toronto's TO2008 Olympic bid and stayed for the discussion on Metropolis (Toronto Life Square/10 Dundas East) and our booming city. I eventually got involved with the city through the CNE where I became friends with several city councillors (one of them a current Ford ally). While some of those councillors (and the Mayor of the day) are now gone, their staff are still at City Hall and through them, information fell unsolicited on my lap. One day, one of them told me that one Ford staffer said that something big was about to drop regarding the Mayor, that the police were investigating him, that the Mayor and his people were desperately trying to get ahead of a scandal. I didn't know it was a video of Rob Ford smoking crack.

I reported here -- I think 2 weeks before the story hit -- that something was going to blow up. Indeed it did. And so I continued to get information from that source until they resigned from Ford's staff. I thought that was the end of it but I had become known as the guy to feed info you wanted to get out about Ford. Through my work (for the record, I don't work for the City, the police or the press), I meet a lot of new people every week and sometimes they're well connected -- some astonishingly close to Ford -- and they are generally in a relaxed environment conducive to talking (sometimes too much) and so I've been in a position to connect the dots coming from both worlds.

Trust me, I didn't ask for this and sometimes I could use without the aggravation, but I fought hard to return to Toronto after being a decade away and so I don't take it for granted and I love this city. When I see somebody like Ford getting away with destroying it and setting us behind on our amazing progress, I'm happy to do my little part to pull off his mask so everybody can see who he really is and maybe just maybe we'll get somebody in his place who really cares for Toronto as much as I do and has the vision, ambition and talent to make it the city we all want it to be.

 

[NormEron]

Exactly: Hey dude. Meet me at the McDonalds parking lot and and I'll drive you to my guy who will sell you the (air quotes) cell phone (air quotes) tee hee.

The police had to have absolute certainty that a gun wasn't being sold, otherwise they wouldn't have bailed. They had to have ears inside that car.

If the police had a warrant to wire-tap Siad they had ears in the car and likely heard the entire conversation. They don't have to report on the non-illegal business going on which is why that report wouldn't contain it.

Here's an article from 2006 describing a warrant issued to the FBI to remotely upload bug software to a cellphone to bust an organized crime family.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2006/12/can_you_hear_me/

Even with the phone apparently off, the phone was broadcasting all conversations had within earshot. Note, that was in 2006 before phones had cameras let alone apps. In order to ensure that no one could listen to what's said near a phone, you'd need to remove the battery... how easy is it to remove the battery from an iphone?