Toronto mayor denies offering to buy crack video

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford denied allegations in newly released court documents that he offered USD 5,000 and a car to suspected drug dealers in exchange for a video that appears to show him smoking crack.
The mayor addressed the issue during an appearance today on a Washington-based sports talk show to make NFL picks on WJFK-FM.
"Number one that's an outright lie and number two you can talk to my lawyers about it, but I'm here to talk about football guys," Ford said.
The mayor of Canada's largest city has been enveloped in scandal since news reports of the video first emerged in May.

Ford at first denied the existence of the video. When Toronto police announced in October they had obtained a copy, Ford admitted he had smoked crack in a "drunken stupor" probably a year ago.
The court documents released yesterday detail police wiretaps of alleged gang members who spoke about delivering drugs to the mayor and having pictures of him using drugs. One suspect is heard telling another that he rejected the offer for the video and planned to meet the mayor and ask for "150," meaning USD 150,000.

The wiretaps are evidence in the case against Ford's friend Alexander Lisi, who faces trial on drug and extortion charges. The mayor has not been charged.

Ford has refused to resign, despite mounting pressure after a string of incidents that have embarrassed Canadians, from public drunkenness to appearing in another video that showed him threatening "murder" in an incoherent rant.
Toronto's city council has stripped him of most of his powers.
Toronto Deputy Mayor Norm Kelly, who has assumed many of Ford's powers, said he is "numb" to the new allegations in the court documents. Kelly repeated that Ford should seek help and take a leave of absence. Given that Ford has lost many of his powers, the latest allegations should have no impact on the running of the city, he said.

On one wiretap on April 20, an alleged gang member is heard saying, "Rob Ford was smoking his rocks today" and that he would post a picture on Instagram. On another wiretap, one man says he has many pictures of Ford "doing the hezza," which police say is known to be slang for heroin. Another man suggests those pictures would be worth a lot, the document says.