A new piece by Toronto's Globe and Mail outlines how crack-smoking Toronto Mayor Rob Ford's brothers and sister have a long history with the suburban Toronto drug scene, and that his brother, adviser, and current Toronto city councilman Doug Ford was a major drug dealer in the eighties.

Doug spent his teenage years selling hashish to both users and dealers from an Etobicoke parking lot. The Globe and Mail spoke with a former dealer:

There were usually a number of dealers to choose from, some of them supplied by a mainstay at James Gardens – a young man with the hulk-like frame and mop of bright blond hair: Doug Ford. “Most people didn’t approach Doug looking for product. You went to the guys that he supplied. Because if Doug didn’t know you and trust you, he wouldn’t even roll down his window,” Justin said.

The other Ford brother, Randy, beat and kidnapped a drug dealer who couldn't pay up while at the strip mall that acted as a meeting spot for the drug dealing crew. Randy was arrested after trying to ransom the dealer's family:

On a Tuesday night, with the usual throng of young adults outside the Bank of Montreal at the Royal York Plaza, Marco was jumped, beaten and thrown into a car. He was driven more than 30 kilometres to a basement in Bolton, where someone called his parents, demanding they hand over the money. For 10 hours, Mr. Orlando was captive, but his parents didn’t panic. Instead, they called the police. Within three days, all three men allegedly involved in the plot were under arrest. (“The powers-that-be blow things all out of proportion, and I guess technically it is kidnapping, but in our world, he owed us $5,000,” said Tom.)

One of those arrested was Randy Ford, who was 24 at the time.

Ford's older sister, Kathy, has connections to several drug dealers as well as a long-standing association with white supremacist groups. Kathy has also had a series of torrid relationships with shady men, with sometimes fatal consequences.

In 1998, Ms. Ford’s lover was shot by her drug-addicted ex-husband, who later testified that he had to shoot her lover because he was "a martial artist, which forced him to bring along the shotgun as 'an equalizer.'"

As the youngest by five years, it isn't clear how close Rob Ford was to the illicit dealings of his siblings. Still, since taking office, he has surrounded himself with some of his families old friends, many of whom were active in their drug dealing activities.

Plus, Ford smoked crack and hung out with drug dealers very, very recently (even if he doesn't smoke crack anymore), so that's implication enough.

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