[URBAN NOTE] "Rob Ford: One wild night in March"

[rfmcdonald]

The Toronto Star's Kevin Donovan reports on the drugged-out and wild activities of Toronto's mayor Rob Ford on the night of the 5th of March. (I don't think I was doing much that day. I'm not jealous.)

Loaded behind the wheel of his Cadillac Escalade, high on his Jimmy Kimmel interview, Mayor Rob Ford is winding through the streets of his city.

It’s two days after Ford’s celebrated appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, two months before rehab.

In the course of this March 5 night, Ford will bring together two of his closest felon friends, beating one and accepting drugs from another; go on a racist tirade; and boast that he often has sex with “girls” in front of his wife, according to an account of the evening. He will suggest one man could have sex with her, a source has told the Star, recalling Ford’s words.

The information for this story comes from interviews and from the Star’s review of audio tape that captures a portion of the evening. The Star did not pay for the tape. Ford could not be reached by the Star for comment, as has been the case since the Star began its investigation more than a year ago. His lawyer Dennis Morris would not comment on the majority of the allegations in this story.

[. . .]

What follows is an account from people present of Ford’s behaviour on a chilly but not freezing night soon after the mayor’s chartered jet returns him from Los Angeles to Toronto:

Ford’s perpetually shiny Escalade is moving through icy streets with Ford at the wheel. Ford is wasted; on what, is unclear. It’s about 8 p.m.

Beside him in the car is Bruno Bellissimo, Ford’s friend from high school. Close by in the neighbourhood is Sandro Lisi. In one of the many fascinating turns of the Ford story, these three men were back where they started a year previous, during the infamous Garrison Ball incident of Feb. 23, 2013. On that night, Ford, Lisi and Bellissimo headed down to the military ball with Ford’s young children in the backseat. His choice of companions then included Lisi, with a record of threatening to kill young women, and Bellissimo, a crack addict, who shortly after the ball beat up his mother and was convicted of assault and threatening death. Ford was ejected from that year’s Garrison Ball for being impaired.

Back to March 5, 2014, two days after Kimmel.

Ford is behind the wheel and hammered. One constituent he calls that night recalls Ford slurring his words.

The Star has heard audio of Ford and Bellissimo talking and both are slurring. (The Star has interviewed people who say it is nothing for Ford to down a 40-ouncer of vodka. The man who recorded the audio of Ford at Sully Gorman’s bar two weeks ago told the Star Ford’s ability to drink shots of tequila is “incredible.”)