• Embattled Toronto mayor will run again despite drug allegations

    Mark Blinch / Reuters

    Toronto Mayor Rob Ford holds a news conference at City Hall in Toronto, May 30, 2013. Toronto Mayor Rob Ford lost two more staff members on Thursday, two weeks after allegations first surfaced that the leader of Canada's largest city was caught smoking crack cocaine on camera, something he has strongly denied.

    By Andrew Rafferty, Staff Writer, NBC News

    Toronto Mayor Rob Ford vowed on Thursday to run for re-election and said "everything is going fine" despite two more members of his staff resigning in the wake of increased scrutiny over the mayor's possible use of crack cocaine.


    Speaking to media, Ford dismissed questions about the existence of a video that allegedly shows him using the illegal drug. 

    "Anything else?" Ford said when a reporter asked if he had ever used illicit narcotics while in office. He similarly dismissed questions about the existence of the video and why five members of his staff had quit or been fired during the fallout from the potentially damning evidence that so far has not been seen publicly.

    The defiant leader of Canada's largest city pledged that he has not plans to leave his post. 

    "I am not stepping aside, I am running in the next election and if the great people of this city want to go in a different direction, that is their prerogative," said Ford. "But I guarantee my name will be on the ballot. I'll be registering the first day I can."

    Earlier on Thursday, Ford's adviser on council relations and his executive assistant both resigned. The move came just days after two of his top press aides quit "on principle." Last week, Ford fired his chief of staff, though he still has not addressed the reason why.

    A report from the Toronto Star cites senior aides who say they were alarmed when the mayor revealed to them that he knew exactly where the supposed video was. Sources told the paper that Ford said "our contacts" gave him the information.

    Two reporters from the Star have said they have viewed the video, as has a writer for the website Gawker. The Toronto newspaper, however, added that they have no way of verifying the authenticity of the video, which appears to show Ford impaired and inhaling from a glass pipe.

    Gawker is asking readers to help raise $200,000 cash to purchase and publish the video.

  • Scandal-plagued Toronto mayor loses two more aides

    Chris Young / The Canadian Press via AP

    Toronto Mayor Rob Ford speaking to reporters Monday, May 27, after the resignations of his two top communications aides.

    By M. Alex Johnson, staff writer, NBC News

    Toronto Mayor Rob Ford's two top press aides resigned "on principle" Monday, four days after Ford fired his chief of staff amid a controversy over a video that may or may not exist purportedly showing the mayor smoking crack cocaine.

    Ford confirmed the resignations of press secretary George Christopoulos and special assistant Isaac Ransom in a brief statement he sent to reporters Monday.

    Ford didn't address reports by The Toronto Star that its reporters had viewed a video of someone who looks like Ford smoking from a glass pipe.

    Watch World News videos on NBCNews.com

    The video, whose very existence Ford has vigorously denied, hasn't been made public. An online campaign by Gawker.com to raise money to buy the video — if it exists — showed Monday that it had reached its $200,000 goal.

    "It's business as usual, and we have our executive committee tomorrow, and we're soldiering on," Ford said later in brief remarks to reporters outside his office, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported.

    Ford also hasn't said why he fired his chief of staff, Mark Towhey, last week. Towhey hasn't said why, either, but Monday on Twitter, he called Christopoulos and Ransom "honest" and "honorable.

    Twitter.com

    Ford, who said Sunday that he will seek re-election next year, has been under siege ever since the Star report a week and a half ago. On his weekly radio show Sunday, Ford called the media "a bunch of maggots."


    His brother Doug, a member of the City Council who co-hosts the show, chimed in that  only "80 percent of them are nasty son of a guns."

    The mayor apologized Monday, saying it had been "a very stressful week for myself and my family."

    Related:

    Toronto mayor denies, finally, use of crack cocaine

  • Toronto mayor denies, finally, use of crack cocaine

    Michelle Siu / AP

    Toronto Mayor Rob Ford denies allegations that he smokes crack cocaine as he speaks to the media at Toronto City Hall on Friday, May 24, 2013.

    By Julie Gordon, Reuters

    Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, under pressure to respond to allegations he was filmed using drugs, said on Friday that he does not smoke crack cocaine and could not comment on a video he had not seen or does not exist.

    "There has been a serious accusation from the Toronto Star that I use crack cocaine. I do not use crack cocaine, nor am I an addict of crack cocaine," he told a news conference.

    The Toronto Star and Internet gossip blog Gawker reported last week they had separately seen a cellphone video that allegedly shows Ford smoking a substance from a crack pipe while in the company of people involved in the drug trade.

    "As for a video, I cannot comment on a video that I have never seen or does not exist," said Ford, who did not take questions from reporters.

    His comments mark his first direct response to the allegations since the Star and Gawker stories were published last Thursday. Shortly afterward, he called the reports "ridiculous," but did not give a full statement or denial.

    Since the allegations surfaced, he has been hounded by news media at every turn, while several city councilors and allies have encouraged him to confront the issue directly.

    The Toronto Sun, a right-leaning newspaper generally considered to be Ford-friendly, published an editorial on Thursday demanding the mayor either strongly deny the allegations or step down from office to seek medical help.

    Earlier on Friday, six members of the mayor's executive committee, including Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday, published an open letter to the mayor urging him to confront the allegations.

    Ford told reporters he had remained quiet on the advice of his solicitor.

    The video, which Reuters cannot independently verify, is allegedly being shopped around by people involved in the drug trade. Gawker launched a "Crackstarter" campaign to raise $200,000 to buy it and publish it online.

    The controversy, meanwhile, has made headlines across Canada and around the world, and drawn ridicule from late-night TV humorists Jimmy Kimmel and John Stewart.

    On Wednesday, Ford lost his much-loved job as a volunteer high school football coach, and on Thursday he fired his chief of staff.

    This is not the first controversy for Ford, who has drawn criticism for skipping city council meetings to coach football and engaging in a confrontation outside his home with a reporter.

    He was briefly ordered out of office in 2012 after being found guilty of a conflict of interest, but won an appeal and was allowed to finish his four-year term.

    Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

  • Toronto mayor denies crack-smoking claim

    Brett Gundlock / Reuters

    Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is swarmed by reporters as he enters his offices at Toronto City Hall on Friday.

    By Julie Gordon, Reuters

    Toronto Mayor Rob Ford denies allegations that he smoked crack cocaine, his lawyer told the Toronto Sun on Friday. 

    Reporters for the Toronto Star, a rival Canadian newspaper, and Gawker Media, a U.S. media outlet, said they had seen a video that appears to show Ford smoking crack. 

    The lawyer, Dennis Morris, told the Toronto Sun that the mayor is denying "any such allegation." 

    The video is allegedly being shopped around for $100,000 by people said to be involved in the drug trade. Reuters could not independently confirm the existence of the video. 

    Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday said he has not spoken with Ford since the allegations surfaced, but he told reporters he stands by the mayor. 

    "Certainly, at this point, we all know that videos can be altered and we certainly know that drug dealers can't be trusted," he said at Toronto City Hall. "So I don't know what we're dealing with here, and until we do, I don't really have much to say." 

    The mayor and Morris did not immediately return Reuters' requests for comment. 

    "We're just trying to see whether or not such a video exists and whether or not any video has been doctored or altered," Morris told the Toronto Sun. 

    Asked if Ford planned legal action, Morris said it is at the "bottom rung of the ladder" now. 

    The Toronto Star said that it stands by its reporting and that the story is just one piece of a broader investigative report about Ford it has been working on for months. 

    "This isn't a story that we're going to report lightly," said Robyn Doolittle, one of two Toronto Star reporters who said they watched the video three times. 

    "This is part of an ongoing investigation that myself and a colleague, Kevin Donovan, have been working on for months," Doolittle said. 

    She added: "The Toronto Star has a high bar that we always make sure we meet before we run something, especially when it comes to this mayor." 

    Ford, who took office more than two years ago with a promise to "stop the gravy train" at city hall, has sparked controversy by skipping council meetings to coach high-school football and engaging in a confrontation outside his home with a reporter, among other things. 

    He was briefly ordered out of office in 2012 after he was found guilty of conflict of interest but won the appeal and was allowed to finish his four-year term. 

    Ford has not been seen in public since the allegations surfaced late on Thursday. 

    Early Friday morning, the following tweet was posted on his official Twitter account: "The long weekend is here! Catch a ferry to

    Toronto Island Park for a scenic picnic. Details here: http://www.toronto.ca/parks/island/ferry-schedule.htm … #LongWknd #Topoli." 

    Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

  • Drug dealers say no to crack in Rio

    Felipe Dana / AP

    A man smokes crack in the Manguinhos slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Aug. 7. Some drug bosses say they have stopped selling crack because it destabilizes their communities, making it harder to control areas long abandoned by the government. City authorities take credit for the change, arguing that drug gangs are trying to create a distraction and make police back off their offensive to take back the slums.

    Business was brisk in the Mandela shantytown on a recent night. In the glow of a weak light bulb, customers pawed through packets of powdered cocaine and marijuana priced at $5, $10, $25. Teenage boys with semiautomatic weapons took in money and made change while flirting with girls in belly-baring tops lounging nearby.

    Next to them, a gaggle of kids jumped on a trampoline, oblivious to the guns and drug-running that are part of everyday life in this and hundreds of other slums, known as favelas, across this metropolitan area of 12 million people. Conspicuously absent from the scene was crack, the most addictive and destructive drug in the triad that fuels Rio's lucrative narcotics trade.

    -- Reported by the Associated Press

    Read the full story.

    Felipe Dana / AP

    Traffickers and users gather at a drug selling point in the Antares slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

    Felipe Dana / AP

    Traffickers sell drugs in the Antares slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

    Felipe Dana / AP

    People gather in an area known as "Crackland" inside the Manguinhos slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

    Felipe Dana / AP

    A trafficker test fires a riffle in the Mandela slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

    Felipe Dana / AP

    Traffickers sell drugs in the Antares slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

    Felipe Dana / AP

    A trafficker stands at a drug selling point that stopped selling crack in the Mandela slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

    Felipe Dana / AP

    A masked and armed trafficker at a drug selling point that no longer sells crack in the Mandela slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

    Felipe Dana / AP

    Crack users gather under a bridge in the Antares slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

    Felipe Dana / AP

    A crack user leaves a crack house near the Manguinhos slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

     

  • Day becomes night in Brazil's 'cracklands'

    Reuters reports from Sao Paulo — When night falls, street crack marketplaces open for business.

    The gritty transactions of the drug trade take over in city neighborhoods that hum with legitimate commerce by day. Throngs of stupefied buyers crowd around dealers before skulking away behind the telltale glow of cigarette lighters.

    These are not the images that Brazil wants to project.

    Ricardo Moraes / Reuters

    A youth consumes crack on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro on March 19, 2012. Many Brazilian cities now have their own "cracklands," areas of the city where swarms of crack users have converted entire neighborhoods into nocturnal encampments doubling as open-air crack markets.

    Paulo Whitaker / Reuters

    A combination picture shows a street in Sao Paulo during the day and at night on March 19, 2012.

    Lunae Parracho / Reuters

    A drug user consumes crack in the old center of Salvador da Bahia on March 19, 2012.

    Reuters photographers recently spent 24 hours in eight of those cities chronicling their "cracklands," as the neighborhoods have come to be known. They went from the decrepit center of Sao Paulo, South America's biggest city, to the waterfront slums of Rio de Janeiro. From the Amazonian capital of Manaus, to the colonial tourist hub of Salvador.

    In each, swarms of crack users have converted entire swaths of central neighborhoods into nocturnal encampments doubling as open-air crack marketplaces.

    The images reflect what sociologists, health experts and law enforcement officials say is a rapidly growing problem that puts Brazil squarely in the center of the international drug trade. Read the full report.

     

    Paulo Whitaker / Reuters

    Crack addicts quarrel on a street in Sao Paulo on March 19, 2012.

    Paulo Whitaker / Reuters

    Crack addicts consume the drug on a street in Sao Paulo on March 20, 2012.

    Ricardo Moraes / Reuters

    Crack consumers gather in the Gloria neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro on March 19, 2012.