A man who allegedly supplied Toronto mayor Rob Ford with crack cocaine, and who may own the now-infamous videotape of him smoking from a glass pipe, fled to Windsor from Toronto after the story broke, the website Gawker is reporting.
According to Gawker editor John Cook, two “large men” came looking for the alleged drug dealer at the house that has been identified as the location where Ford was photographed with fatal gunshot victim Anthony Smith and two others, a photograph supplied to media to bolster the tape’s legitimacy by people trying to sell it. A resident of the house contacted the man, who said he was in Windsor, Gawker reported.
The men continued to return to the house asking for the alleged drug dealer over the course of several days. On one such visit in late May, they beat the resident and his girlfriend with a steel pipe, Gawker reported.
Cook and two reporters at the Toronto Star have said they watched a video showing Ford inhaling from a glass pipe and making homophobic and racist comments, publishing stories on May 16. The owners of the video were trying to sell the video for a large sum of money, both news organizations reported.
Ford has said he does not use crack cocaine and has denied the existence of the videotape.
The Star has requested an interview with Cook.
More to come.
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