Rob Ford Knew Anthony Smith, Says Staffer

Anthony Smith, one of the men in the infamous photo of Rob Ford in front of 15 Windsor Road, the alleged crack house, was shot and killed on March 28, 2013.

Today Rob Ford claimed he only met him the once and didn't know who he was.

Also today, a new version of the Sandro Lisi Information To Obtain a warrant document was released, showing previously redacted portions.  Here are the relevant portions of the document as it relates to Anthony Smith.









So it was suggested that the original Ford crack video was taken with Smith's phone.  That would certainly make it seem like Ford had met him before and in fact had been partying with him that night.  Let's continue.

This is from a police interview with George Christopoulos, Ford's former press secretary.  Seems Ford DID tell him he knew Smith, directly contradicting what he said today.

That's from a June 19, 2013 interview with David Price, senior aide to Rob Ford.  So Ford was telling different staff members different things, apparently.

This is from the police keeping track of how often Ford spoke with Sandro Lisi on the phone between March 18 and June 24, 2013.  It obviously could just be a coincidence, but the seven times they spoke on the day Smith was killed are the most times they spoke on the phone with eachother between the March 18 commencement of the production order for Lisi's phone number and May 12, nearly two months.

And that's it.  Other than the descriptions of the Smith murder known to most people already, that's what's in there.  The operative part is obviously that of Christopoulos saying that Ford told him he knew Smith.  One staffer says he was told Ford did.  Another staffer says he was told by Ford he didn't.  Very hard to parse the truth out of that.  It's certainly possible that Ford told another major lie today.  We'll have to wait for further investigation or revelations for more information.  Meantime, the Toronto Star's Robyn Doolittle did tweet something interesting:

On May 19, police say they are not doing anymore interviews with people about the possibility that the crack video was on Smith's phone...
— robyndoolittle (@robyndoolittle) November 13, 2013

... and that it was stolen at the time of his murder. I got a phone call about the crack video just a few days after Smith's death.
— robyndoolittle (@robyndoolittle) November 13, 2013

So what does that mean?  Did Smith take the video and then get killed by people who wanted to use it to blackmail Ford?  Did the other people already have the phone?  If Ford DID know Smith more than he's been claiming, what's his involvement, if any?  SO MANY QUESTIONS, so few answers.  In fact, even more questions raised now.  GAHHH!

UPDATE: As a commenter pointed out, back in May James Armstrong of Global wrote this story about Rob Ford being fired as Don Bosco's football coach.  It included the following sentence:

Smith was a former player on the team Ford coached.

At first I thought it must have been an error, but I couldn't find a retraction.  So much of Ford's story has been tied up in that picture of him with Smith being just a coincidence, and that he never knew Smith.  Even today he claimed he'd only met him the one time, and had no idea who he was.  How could that have been missed if this was a story being reported six months ago?  So I asked Armstrong if it had been a mistake.  He says no, it's the truth:

@QueenBathurst1 no. We were always told he was a former player. I believe (may be wrong) the mayor made comment about it on his radio show.
— James Armstrong (@jamesarmstrong7) November 14, 2013

I'm really not sure what to believe anymore.  I've asked Armstrong for more clarification.  I'm not sure what "we were always told" means or even who "we" is.  In the meantime though it sure seems like Ford lied his ass off today about knowing Smith.

UPDATE 2: I have also been shown this story, which includes the following quote from Smith's mother:

“He never attended Don Bosco, never played football. He was a basketball player and he wanted to be the next Damon Stoudamire.”

And there's also this story about Kwado Mensah, who did play for Ford at Don Boscoe and was shot and killed in April.  Ford also did mention Mensah on his radio show.  So did Armstrong simply conflate the two by mistake?  I've asked him, and he says he will look into it:

@QueenBathurst1 it may has been a mistake. I'll look into it. Thanks for this.
— James Armstrong (@jamesarmstrong7) November 14, 2013

Will update when I hear more.

UPDATE 3: And yes, it turns out it was a mistake on Global's part:

@QueenBathurst1 hey. It's a mistake. Thanks for catching this
— James Armstrong (@jamesarmstrong7) November 14, 2013

@jamesarmstrong7 Thank my readers and some of the people on the UrbanToronto.ca forum. Cheers!
— Queen Bathurst (@QueenBathurst1) November 14, 2013

So there you have it.  No closer to an answer on whether Ford definitely knew Smith.  But at least we can rule out one confusing story.