A neighbour of Alexander Lisi says Mayor Rob Ford has been a regular visitor to the home the accused drug dealer’s house, as many as four times per week.

Lisi, 35, who has been investigated for his attempts to retrieve a video that appears to show Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine, was arrested Tuesday evening.

He is charged with marijuana trafficking, possession of the proceeds of crime, possession of marijuana and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence. He was granted $5,000 bail Wednesday afternoon in and Old City Hall courtroom, and is scheduled to be back in court on Nov. 12.

He and another man identified by witnesses as the owner of Richview Cleaners, Jamshid Bahrami, 47, were taken into custody during a police raid on the small Etobicoke dry cleaning shop around 8 p.m. Tuesday. Bahrami, also of Toronto, is charged with possession of cocaine, three counts of trafficking in marijuana and conspiracy to commit an indictable offence.

Bahrami was released on $5,000 bail, with his wife as a surety.

Ford’s visits, going back to last winter, stopped after the Star published Lisi’s photo in mid-August, said Carol Peck, who lives two doors down from the Lisi residence.

Peck says she often saw the mayor park his Ford Escalade in front of Lisi’s Madrill St. house. Lisi would come out of the house and lean into the driver’s side window for a few minutes.

“There’s a side door on the Lisi residence and Lisi comes out, walks across, leans in, and back he goes,” Peck told the Star.

She said she mentioned her concerns about this behaviour with a neighbour, who told her that Lisi and Ford were good friends.

“But if you and I were good friends and you were coming to call on me, visit me ... would you not pull in to my driveway, knock on my door?”

Peck said the last time she saw Ford and Lisi together on her street was on Sept. 20, shortly before the mayor made an appearance at his Ford Fest barbecue at Etobicoke’s Centennial Park.

She said Ford was parked in Lisi’s driveway, next to the black Range Rover Lisi is known to drive. Peck, who was walking her dog at the time, says the two men got into their vehicles, drove to a nearby schoolyard, and then got out of their cars and walked around for several minutes.

“The mayor always says, ‘If you have a problem, call me and I’ll be around,’” said Peck, 75.





















“So I said to a neighbour: Is there a problem in this neighbourhood? Because I see Rob here all the time.”

Lisi and Bahrami were identified Wednesday morning in a Toronto police statement released on behalf of homicide squad Det. Sgt. Gary Giroux, who has been leading a police investigation into attempts by Ford associates to get the cocaine video.

Mayor Ford has said he doesn’t smoke cocaine, and denied the video’s existence.

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Ford left his Etobicoke home at 10:25 a.m. Wednesday without responding to waiting reporters’ questions, an hour after a man who appeared to be dropping off dry-cleaning was admitted to a side door of the house.

At a press conference at a gas station near his home later in the day, the mayor expressed surprise that Lisi had been arrested and charged with marijuana trafficking.

“He’s a good guy,” Ford said. “I don’t throw my friends under the bus.”

Ford said he couldn’t say much, since the matter is before the courts.

Following a budget committee meeting at city hall, Councillor Doug Ford, the mayor’s brother, was asked about Lisi’s arrest and his connections to the mayor.

“I have no comment. I’ve never met this person. I don’t know him, never talked to him in my life, so I can’t comment.”

A Star investigation recently revealed that Lisi has told three associates he has supplied drugs to the mayor. The Star has not verified Lisi’s claim and Ford did not respond to requests for comment at the time.

According to two eyewitnesses, unmarked cruisers and other police vehicles swept into the plaza on Tuesday evening and boxed in Lisi, who had just arrived in his black Range Rover. Detectives removed him from the vehicle and handcuffed him, while other officers rushed into the cleaners and brought out Bahrami. Detectives later searched the cleaners.

Lisi’s Range Rover, which the Star revealed is owned by a former drug client who is now clean, was searched and towed away to a police garage. The owner said Tuesday he was concerned he’d have to pay high police impound fees to get it back.

Sam Jung, owner of the Richview convenience store, next door to the dry cleaning shop, spent much of Wednesday morning reviewing his store’s security video from the night before with police.

Jung said Bahrami was suffering health problems and may have smoked marijuana to for pain relief. “He has a lot of pain in his body,” said Jung, who described his business neighbour as a “nice guy.”

Judy Plant, owner of the Potty Planter and Friends Florist in Richview Plaza, described Bahrami as a “quiet” and “pleasant” man who “never caused any trouble.”

Michael Acosta, co-owner of the Richview Foot Care Clinic, three doors down, said Bahrami would often stay at the dry cleaners overnight.

“He definitely had long hours, but we just figured it was part of the business plan,” Acosta said.

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When asked if he had any suspicions about illegal activity at the dry cleaners, Acosta said there were “rumours all the time, but I never listen or abide by that.”

“I had no issues with this fellow,” he said.

A shopkeeper at Rich Jewellers, also next door, said he hadn’t noticed any suspicious behaviour, but said Bahrami was recently divorced and had “lost everything.”

Councillor Gary Crawford, a Ford ally participating in the mayor’s official trip to Texas, said he doesn’t know much about Lisi’s relationship but he said he doesn’t think the arrest will “impact anything at all down in Austin,” and he said Lisi was “just a part-time driver, as I understand.”

Councillor James Pasternak, a centrist, called the news “extremely disturbing.”

“Someone who is walking the corridors of power in the country’s largest city, the chief magistrate's office, should not be facing criminal charges,” Pasternak said.

“We have that burden of office, and we have that responsibility to carry a high level of integrity. And I’m not passing judgment on anyone in this case, but clearly, this person we’re talking about does not meet that threshold,” he said.

Councillor Josh Colle, who earlier this year had proposed that Toronto seek closer ties with Austin, said he fears news of the arrest of Ford’s friend will divert attention from the trip.

“I think it will,” Colle said. “I understand that. It kind of sucks with the timing because I think this trip is a good news initiative. My hope once we’re down there that it doesn’t come up but it’s hard to say.”

Asked about the arrest of Lisi at a press conference about safety in school zones on Wednesday, Councillor Gary Crawford declined to comment.

Crawford, who is part of the delegation that will accompany Ford to Austin said he is “hoping this latest controversy doesn’t follow us down.”

“As far as I’m concerned, I’m focusing on music,” he said.

Lisi was never a member of Ford’s official staff and was never paid by the city.

A recent Star investigation revealed that a special squad of Toronto police was investigating Lisi and Ford associate David Price on allegations they tried to retrieve the crack cocaine video after the Star broke news of its existence.

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Lisi has a lengthy record of interaction with police, including convictions for threatening and assaulting women. He has acted as an occasional driver and security guard for the mayor, showing up the morning the crack video scandal broke and shadowing the mayor as reporters sought comment.

He also drove the mayor to and from the Garrison Ball, an event where Ford was asked to leave because he appeared impaired.

During the Star investigation Lisi was spotted by reporters near the cleaners numerous times.

Lisi’s lawyer, Domenic Basile, previously told the Star he knew his client was under investigation for matters connected to trying to retrieve the video, seen by two Star reporters, that appears to show Ford smoking crack cocaine.

In one attempt to retrieve the video, soon after news of its existence broke on May 16, Lisi paid visits to the Etobicoke house where a group of men from the Dixon Rd. community allegedly involved in the crack cocaine trade were known to hang out. The bungalow is home to Fabio and Elena Basso, both friends of Ford.

“Where are the guys who made the video, Fab?” Lisi said, according to a witness who was present. “You know where they are.”

Fabio Basso, a quiet man, was nervous. “They’re gone. Out of town. Gone to Windsor,” said Basso. The Star does not know what Lisi did with that information.

A day later, just before midnight, Fabio, his girlfriend, and Fabio’s mother were assaulted by an unknown attacker brandishing an expandable baton who broke into their home. No charges have been laid in the attack.

Around the same time that Lisi was asking about the video, Ford’s “logistics director” and former football coach, David Price, was pursuing leads in the Dixon Rd. community of highrises where the Star reporters had viewed the video. Price was making phone calls, seeking the whereabouts of the video.

Ford’s public position on the video was summed up in a quote he gave at a news conference one week after the story broke. “I cannot comment on a video that I have never seen or does not exist,” Ford told reporters.

However, sources have told the Star that at a meeting on the morning that news of the video broke, Ford cited “our contacts” and told close confidants not to worry because he knew where the video was, and provided two apartment addresses in the Dixon Rd. complex.