Police documents describe Rob Ford ‘crack video’

Watch the video above: What information is contained in the latest batch of court documents? Jackson Proskow walks us through the latest allegations.

TORONTO – Some of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford’s meetings and communications with his friend Sandro Lisi “have been indicative to that of drug trafficking,” according to court documents released Wednesday – and that’s partly why police said they needed Ford’s phone.

Previously released documents detail dozens of meetings between Ford and Lisi at gas stations, city hall and city parks during their investigation.

“Throughout this investigation it has been established Alexander LISI and Mayor FORD call and meet each other on a regular basis,” the new documents state.

That statement echoes those of Ford’s staffers who said in interviews with police that they believe Lisi “may have involvement in relation to drugs.”

In their justification for requesting access to Ford’s cell phone and his car’s OnStar phone, police also note the apparent temporary loss of Ford’s phone on April 20, 2013 – when police wiretaps suggest he was at 15 Windsor Road and when Lisi is alleged to have made “threatening/extorting” calls to retrieve the phone.

Watch: Mayor Rob Ford refuses to answer questions about the documents

Description of crack video

In a video file police retrieved last fall from a hard drive seized in June, the documents say, the mayor can be seen “holding what appears to be a glass cylinder in one hand and a lighter in the other hand.”

“At one point Mayor FORD holds the glass cylinder to his mouth. Lights the lighter and applies the flame to the tip of the glass cylinder in a circular motion.”

Read More: Rob Ford runs from reporters at city hall

At the end of the video, echoing descriptions of the video made by Gawker and the Toronto Star, Ford looks at the camera, drops the cylinder on the table next to him and “asks if it’s on,” according to the documents.

The documents also indicate there were multiple video files, and one inexplicably missing.

Watch: Media lawyer Peter Jacobsen provides police’s description of what they saw in the crack video

None of the statements made in the documents has been proven in court.

This is the latest document dump from police information to obtain warrants for Project Brazen, an ongoing investigation into Lisi and the mayor, sparked shortly after May, 2013 allegations regarding the crack video.

Police offered to let mayor view crack video

The mayor repeatedly asked publically to see the video (after denying its existence for months). But the documents indicate police gave him an opportunity to see it and, through his lawyer, he refused.

According to the documents Detective Gary Giroux spoke with the mayor’s lawyer Dennis Morris between Oct. 28 and Nov. 7. Giroux offered to let the mayor view the video under two conditions: He couldn’t discuss the video with anyone and could not comment on the video.

(Ford has also refused to be interviewed by police, citing his lawyer’s advice)

These allegations are in stark contrast to comments the mayor made on Nov. 3 when he demanded the chief release the video.

“I want the Police Chief Bill Blair to release this video for every single person in the city to see,” he said at the time. “That is the right thing to do and Chief, I’m asking you to release this video now.”

Beating at 15 Windsor Road

The documents also contain a police report on an assault of Fabio Basso and his girlfriend at the home where the video was recorded just a few days after news broke about the video.

An “unknown male” allegedly knocked on the door of the home at 15 Windsor Road and asked for Fabio. His mother said he wasn’t home but the man pushed past her and found Basso in his bedroom.

“The suspect immediately started beating the two victims over the head and body with a steel pipe,” the documents read. “The suspect did not demand anything from the victims nor did he take anything from them and fled the residence.”

According to the documents, Fabio Basso, owner of the house at Windsor Drive, said his brother worked at Deco Labels – the Ford family business.

A previous set of documents from the same investigation revealed police had been following Lisi and Ford for months and witnessed several meeting between the two where they exchanged packages, met at gas stations and near Scarlett Heights Secondary School.

In Depth: Rob Ford

The mayor has said the latter is untrue and has called the investigation politically motivated and a waste of taxpayer money.

Media lawyers will be in court again March 28 to fight for the release of more documents.

– With files from Patrick Cain and Leslie Young