Accused drug trafficker Alexander “Sandro” Lisi was not the target of a massive police investigation that led to the Etobicoke man’s arrest, a court heard Wednesday.

“I don’t think it’s fair to say Mr. Lisi was the target of this investigation,” Superior Court Justice Ian Nordheimer said, shortly before ordering the release of roughly half of a nearly 500-page court document detailing the summer probe by top Toronto police officers. The other half of the document will be the subject of legal arguments to be submitted by Nov. 8.

The actual target of the probe — sources have long told the Star it was Mayor Rob Ford — may be known Thursday morning, when federal Crown attorney Tom Andreopoulos presses “send” on his computer and releases what court heard was an “investigative narrative” that involves at least 70 people, including Lisi, a 35-year-old friend of Ford who has for many years threatened women in Etobicoke. Most recently, he was convicted of threatening to kill a former girlfriend. Lisi is appealing that conviction.

The secretive case of Toronto Police vs. this unnamed target moved a huge step closer to the public domain when veteran judge Nordheimer, known for running an efficient courtroom, steered lawyers for the media, Crown and Lisi through a series of issues that would have prevented a speedy release.

Should some or all of those 70 people receive notice and be allowed to argue against the release? Not necessary, Nordheimer ruled.

When the possibility was earlier raised that some would receive notice and some would not, Toronto Star lawyer Ryder Gilliland remarked: “You can’t have a two-tier justice system, where if you know the right people you get notice and otherwise you don’t.”

Nordheimer agreed with Gilliland.

“Where do you draw the line?” Nordheimer asked the Crown, adding it would be “inappropriate” to provide notice based on position.

In the end, Nordheimer said he sees no “principled basis” to notify anyone. To do so would open up a “Pandora’s box of issues,” he said.

What right should Lisi have to censor information from the document, which has been presented to the court with roughly 50 per cent of it highlighted by the Crown attorney in “red boxes” — meaning information not to be released at this time. Lisi’s lawyer, Seth Weinstein, proposed that he be allowed to move information not in a red box into a red box because he had “an element of concern” over some of the material. Nordheimer said no.

“I am also not satisfied that it is appropriate to provide the accused, Lisi, with an opportunity to argue that some material not redacted by the Crown should have been redacted,” Nordheimer said, adding there was no indication the information at issue would violate “confidential informant privilege or witness safety.”

The hearing was completed by 2:30 p.m. Wednesday. Nordheimer ordered some of the material released “forthwith,” and Crown lawyers began the process of creating a clean document with all of the information in red boxes blacked out, along with names of confidential informants and descriptions of some “investigative techniques” that the three detectives in court did not want released.

As the Crown got to work preparing the document, Ford had a visit at City Hall from his mother, Diane Ford. “I’m with my mom, do you mind?” he told reporters asking questions. Asked the reason for the unusual visit, Ford said nothing.

Not long after that, the Toronto Sun released a Forum Research poll conducted Tuesday that revealed, as the Sun stated in its first paragraph, “Mayor Rob Ford’s approval rating has taken a massive hit.” The poll of 1,093 residents revealed that “around 61 per cent of those surveyed on Tuesday disapprove of the job Ford is doing as mayor,” the Sun reported.

Courtroom watchers, including reporters and editors from the Star and numerous newspapers and television stations, had been puzzled earlier over the size of the search warrant document at issue (nearly 500 pages, complete with glossy photos) relative to the charges laid: possession and trafficking of marijuana, allegedly by Lisi and an Etobicoke drycleaner.

Lisi lawyer Weinstein called it “extraordinary.”

Court has not yet heard the date on the document, which was used to obtain a search warrant for Lisi’s parents’ home, Lisi’s leased Range Rover, and the drycleaner’s store.

Lisi was arrested outside the drycleaner’s store at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 1. A Star reporter and other media stayed in the parking lot until early the next day as plainclothes detectives awaited the arrival of a search warrant. The warrant arrived at 4 a.m., and it is that warrant that’s now at issue in court.

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Armed with the warrant, just before sunup, a team of six detectives did a very public search of the drycleaning shop. Later, they used a drug-sniffing dog from the Toronto Police canine unit to go through Lisi’s house. The car was impounded and searched.

Police have refused to explain how they generated such a massive document, and brought it before a judge, between 7:30 p.m. one day and 4 a.m. the next day. Police have also refused to say whether its investigation was, as Star sources said, a probe of Toronto’s mayor.

Detectives have refused to say when the probe started, though one document obtained by the Star indicates it was rooted in Lisi’s attempt in March to obtain, allegedly with a marijuana trade, a cellphone stolen (according to a source) from Ford. The police document states that the probe was given the name Project Brazen 2.

Police have also not said if any other charges would be laid in connection with Project Brazen 2, or whether they have — or will —attempt to interview Ford.

What is to be the subject of written arguments next week is portions of the document the Crown says are not “essential” to the criminal investigation. That section, the Crown said, identifies what he called “innocent parties” — people who were not arrested as part of the investigation.

Court heard that one person — the name was not mentioned — appears in both the documents that will be released Thursday and those still subject to a sealing order.

Star lawyer Gilliland argued Wednesday that there should be no distinction between what the Crown considers “essential” or not — and that the public deserves to see both.

Gilliland told Nordheimer there is an “overwhelming public interest” in the information contained in the document. The information, Gilliland said, regardless of what the Crown says is “essential,” was used by the police to get a search warrant.

The Wednesday hearing was attended by two top homicide detectives who have led the probe, Det.-Sgt. Gary Giroux and Det. Joyce Shertzer. Toronto police spokesman Mark Pugash has steadfastly said they are on the probe solely because of expertise, not because the case has anything to do with a murder.

With arguments submitted by Nov. 8, a decision could come as early as Tuesday, Nov. 12.

With files from Daniel Dale

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