The killing of a 21-year-old man on a downtown street in late March occurred as police were investigating members of a violent Toronto gang as part of a year-long sting.
At a news conference Friday, Toronto police confirmed a link between an operation known as Project Traveller and first-degree murder charges against two men in the shooting death of Anthony Smith.
Smith was killed and his friend was wounded in a targeted shooting on a King Street West sidewalk.
Police Supt. Jim Ramer told reporters that the murder and attempted murder charges in that incident were laid as police investigated a gang, known as the Dixon City Bloods or Dixon Goonies, that was terrorizing a Dixon Road community.
Smith's killing has gained more attention in recent weeks because of his connection to Mayor Rob Ford.
Smith played for a high school football team that Ford previously coached, and he is pictured in an alleged photo of the mayor and a group of young men.
The photo was included in reports about an alleged video of the mayor smoking from a glass pipe.
Project Traveller came to light Thursday when hundreds of police officers raided locations in Toronto, Windsor and Alberta, and arrested 28 people.
In all, police have laid more than 300 charges against 43 people who have been arrested since the project began in June 2012, Ramer said Friday.
In addition to murder and attempted, police laid charges of participating in a criminal investigation, firearms trafficking and drug offences.
Police say they have seized dozens of firearms, more than $3 million worth of illicit drugs, and half a million dollars in cash during the operation, which focused on a cluster of apartment buildings on Dixon Road.
Police say they plan to maintain an increased presence in the neighbourhood, as they work with residents to crack down on crime.
One of the apartments, at 320 Dixon Rd., is where the alleged video of Ford was stored, according to reports.
It is the same building where two Toronto Star reporters say they watched the alleged video after they were contacted by people who are – or were – trying to sell it.
The alleged video has not surfaced, and its authenticity has not been substantiated. Ford has denied the existence of the video and he has denied smoking crack cocaine.
Another man in the alleged photo of the mayor, Muhammad Khattak, was arrested in Thursday's raids at a Mercury Road home.
CTV News reported Thursday that police were investigating the existence of the alleged video several weeks before the story first appeared in the Toronto Star.
As part of the investigation leading to Thursday’s raids, officers obtained telephone wiretap evidence.
A highly-placed source confirms to CTV News that on those wiretaps, persons of interest discussed the video in detail, and referred to the mayor's presence in the video.
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