Aired 3 months ago
27:06
CORRUPTION 5 - The King of Cabbagetown
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When Maryland Morrison, the former mayor of Caliban was fighting a political battle against development, her friend. Nancy Cole got a call. It was from Angelos, but Coppola's who had once been the head of waste management at the city of Toronto. And she said Maryland, there is a excuse me, a fellow that I know that I used to work with years ago. He stoned me and this Spiro Papa Thanatos. Yeah. Yeah. It's a mouthful he wants to meet with you that name Maryland. Couldn't quite get is Spiro Papa Thanasak us. And I said, well he can phone the office. I'll meet with anyone. No. He doesn't wanna meet with you at the office. He wants to meet one on one somewhere. I said, no, I won't do that. I have an office. And that's where all my meetings take place by this point a man associated with organized crime had tried to blackmail. Her husband. He'd been attacked at his home. And a corrupt CRA official had tried to frame her for bribery. It's a wild story, and you can hear it all on her last episode. So when it became clear that the man Spiro wanted to talk about development Morrison's guard went up. They had already told her that it was about getting me to change my mind, if that they offered her money if she could get me to change my mind. So we knew what I mean. I knew what it was. And I said, no I said if he wants to meet with me phone the off it's make an appointment. Come and see me. So we never met. Never meant. But he shirts that you're tried hard Morrison's friend ended up talking to both Angeles Coppola's and Spiro over the phone. He says repeatedly, according to her interview police that he can quote, make this all go away all the problems of the mayor's having and then he likes to get deals done. And that he's quote, not with those people and he's very vague. He will never specified who he's talking about. Exactly. But says he's he's a quote, a friend of the family with a dentist who the family is. And that's Greg MacArthur. So my name's Greg MacArthur, and I'm a member of the global males investigative team the meeting never happened. But we'll Morrison didn't know was that things were happening behind the scenes that man Spiro Papa Thanasak is was getting to know Glen Murray, who's a rising star within the Ontario. Liberal government Spiro was well known in Murray's ward as the founder and executive director of the cabbage town youth center and after Moore. He was elected to the on -tario legislature. He in spirit would often meet up and talk into Cording to the globe and mail at one of those meetings was a senior executive from Seoul, mar development. The firm that Morrison had been publicly feuding with. After Murray became the minister of infrastructure, he instantly took an interest in the politics of Caliban and he summoned Morrison to Queens Park owing to Hector her and according to Morrison privately threaten her. But who was this man Spiro Papa Thanasak is who so desperately wanted to meet with Morrison? Greg MacArthur, the globe in mail reporter? I heard about Spiro in twenty fourteen and this really weird set of circumstances took place that I haven't encountered before two of his colleagues, Karen Howlett and carolina'll funds. Oh, we're we're gonna story about the Toronto district school board at the time the border become completely dysfunctional. But one day the two reporters were talking to a source, and they were told that they were just looking in the wrong direction as cams couldn't sort of asking her surface level questions person who was in a position to know said the person who really want to look at is Spiro Pappa Thanasak is he's the big fish here. And that was his words were big fish, the reporters were confused never heard of them before how can someone who had never heard of. And who's not a public office holder be like the key influence there at the at the biggest school board in the country and around the same time. Greg was working on a completely different. Story about a company owned by the Montreal mafia getting a contract with the city of Toronto. And that same name came up this person indicated that Spiro was involved in that. And he that he was someone who knew a lot of people, and and including peop-, the some of them off ios that ended up being part of that contract. And I was kind of a little bit stunned because I I had never heard of this person. And I was the person who was telling me Greg mentioned this to another colleague Patrick white who'd been researching organized crime with oh prompting this person who was interviewing a source mentioned that Spiro with someone who was connected in that community and knew a lot of people that makes four reporters working on three completely separate stories all coming across the same name Spiro Papa Thanasak us. So at that point that like, we realize okay. There's something going on. It's amazing that we don't know. Who this person is? So they started to look into it. What followed was an investigation that took four years and over a hundred interviews the events span, two decades and involved multiple levels of government, and all of it was dedicated to answering one question who is Spiro Papa Thanasak is. So who is bureau Papa Thanasak us. He's the founder and longtime executive director of youth center. Downtown toronto. He's an advocate for the poor. He's well connected to some of the most powerful people in on terrier. He's someone who brags about his ability to win hundred million dollar contracts for his associates. He's a man who orchestrated the takeover of a hospital who openly brags about his connections to the mafia who was the most powerful person at a school board despite not being employed by it. He's the king of cabbage town and a former owner of one of the oldest soccer teams in Greece. He's an underground lobbyist connector fixer. He's been called a visionary. And a transformative person by Canada's foreign minister, he's a man who had Darius points appears to have wielded control public institutions from behind the scenes, so who is Spiro Papa Thanasak as he may vary. Well, be the key to understanding how things are done in Ontario. I'm Archie man and from Canada land. This is Commons. This episode of comments is brought to you in part by the great courses. Plus, the great courses. 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Whatever the weather if you don't like it, you can return it within one hundred days, no questions asked so head. Over to Indy dot CA and use the promo code Commons to get fifty dollars off any indie mattress, that's indeed dot CA and use the promo code Commons. Twenty years ago. The doctors at Toronto east General Hospital had a problem. There was a clash of of personalities between the doctors, and and the CEO and the doctors organized, and they decided that they they wanna do essentially replace the board of the hospital. The details of why they're angry don't really matter today. What does matter is that the doctors decided to bring in reinforcements they hired a lawyer who noticed that the hospital bylaws had a loophole. Anyone who paid a twenty five dollar fee could become a member of the hospital and vote in elections for the board. If they could get enough people they could get rid of the board in a new board could get rid of the CEO. The doctors were introduced to people who could put this plan into action. The first was Tom Jackovic along time. Toronto city councillor and the second was Spiro Papa Thatta sack. Office. The doctors knew who Jackovic was Spiro was a different story on paper. Spear was simply the executive director of a youth center. What could you possibly do for them? So by the time, the hospitals annual general meeting came around over a thousand new people had signed up to the members it rolled around and sure enough busloads of people newly minted members of Tronto. He's General Hospital showed up many of them holding sheet of paper telling them who they respond to vote for. The board had never seen anything like it. So many people showed up that the meeting venue had to be changed. And the strategy was successful. A new board was elected in on that board. We're personal friends of Spiro as well as brother, many of them didn't have the kind of experience associated with running in a central institution like a hospital, but they got their way the old CEO is turfed and Janet Davidson an experienced administrator got the job shortly after that fateful board meeting Spiro was hired to be the hospital's new director of community relations and Jakobsen left city hall to be the hospitals. Vice president of business development a position that hadn't existed before even Davidson, the new CEO found the entire situation to be strange immediately like she's very suspicious of like the political machinations at play here and very suspicious of Jackovic various Business Bureau in terms of. Why do they even have jobs here? And what what value are they bringing to the hospital? She soon got an inkling of what was going on the plan appeared to be for Jackovic to eventually become the hospital CEO so that he could relaunch his political career and the board started to act strange. Well, Davidson was on a work trip to Switzerland. She got a phone call. The board was holding an emergency meeting to try to give themselves a power to approve or disapprove of any personnel changes. It looked like a preemptive attempt to save Jack big and spiritus jobs. So she flies back in advance of this emergency meeting with this is going to be debated and states were case about why this is improper it was a fight. She won in Ontario's. Provincial government started to hear that something was going on at the hospital. They commissioned a report to look into governance at the Toronto east General Hospital. The report didn't name any name. Names. But here's what it found. There was a local political machine behind the there'd been a deliberate effort by people external to the process to manipulate the boards elections in many of the board. Members didn't understand the role or responsibilities. In fact, they weren't even the ones in control. Instead, a staff member in the organization was openly and freely admitting that he controls the board that man was Spiro Papa Thanasak shortly after the report he resigned and the hospital was taken over by the province. The full ordeal was covered heavily by the media. But the name Spiro Papa Thanasak us never once came up. At the same time the drama at Toronto east General Hospital was going on a very different kind of controversy was unfolding Toronto city hall, a company called Elim g media had proposal. They wanted to place garbage bins on street corners around the city, and they would do this for free in exchange for the right to place ads on the bins and retain the revenue from the advertisement. The debate quickly became ideological, but privatizing public space versus cost saving measures in the end it past I as a pilot project, and and then as a full-blown contract, according to the globe in mail while he was working at Toronto east General Hospital Spiro Papa famous Akkas let some people in on a little secret. He was involved in that controversial project, in fact. Spiro had been lobbying city councillors to approve the deal with poem g media. He also said that the real owners of the company where the Montreal mafia. And sure enough in two thousand and three Montreal police officer pulled over a Jeep Grand Cherokee that was registered to own g media. In the driver's seat. Was none other than veto resute? Oh, the leader of candidates is Cillian, mafia and probably the most famous organized crime figure in the country. The resume does of Montreal could have been cast by Hollywood, Vida Zuko is the boss. Let's do. He's the John Gotti of Montreal. He's flashy guy. Proud of his ability resute. Oh, who's now deceased denied any involvement with own g media? He claimed that he had simply borrowed the car from a friend. But the story didn't look good for Toronto or other cities at signed contracts with the company it was years later that the truth would finally emerge because later the police would learn that through wiretap evidence, and eventually the resume would admit for tax purposes that yes, vetoes family members were the shareholders of OMG along with the CEO among the major shareholders of own g media, we're veto resume does wife and his children. Speros connections to the deal went further than just lobbying city councillors, the bureaucrat within the city who was overseeing that contract was a very close friend Speros and his name is Angeles accomplice. That's the same Angelos, but Coppola's who'd go on to try and set up a meeting between the mayor of Caliban and Spiro in two thousand three Toronto city councillor named David Miller announced he was going to run for mayor Miller had a reputation as an anti corruption campaigner. But soon after he announced he would run he got a phone call. It was Angelos Coppola's. And because congratulated him and said like, you know, I look forward to working with you, and you become there and Ellen by the way, if you want to discount on any election ads on MG Benz, let me know make it happen. Miller was shocked obvious that this was that was not kosher behavior for a civil servant. In the Miller's words to be acting as a salesman for a contractor for vendor. End indicate that you could get a discount Miller who went on to become mayor reported the phone call to Coppola's superior at the city in two thousand and five he left his position, but it would be far from the last time that Spiro and would work together. The Toronto district school board is the behemoth people don't realize the school board is kind of an afterthought in the hierarchy of government institutions, but is like in many ways own sovereign state. In fact, the tedious be has a bigger budget that the entire city of Ottawa. There is a lot of money at stake. Into few years ago that massive institution wasn't complete chaos mysterious payments, hidden contracts, and accusations of harassment. This is the drama unfolding tonight. At the Toronto district school board. It's an organization that summer now describing as a snake pit. Let's bring Dave Trafford investigating it. And navigating through this Toronto life magazine called it a nasty bizarro contemptible. Gob smacking Lee screwed up soap opera in once again. At the center of the action was Spiro Papa Thanasak us and again on paper. He should've had nothing to do with it. Spiro had actually once been a school board trustee in the nineteen nineties. It was the only time he'd held elected office. But now, he was exerting his influence, unofficially. First of all a lot of the individuals who we've learned about throat the whole story suddenly end up with jobs at school board. Angels Coppola's the former head of waste management for the city of Toronto. And the man who had tried to set up a meeting between Spiro and the Caliban mayor was hired as the chief facilities officer. It was a job. He told the globe and mail. He got with some help from Spiro. In some of the former members of the Toronto east hospital board also ended up in high level positions. Trustees would sometimes even hold events in a bar Spiro co-owned and some of the people associated with Spiro began to get contracts with the T DSP the cabbage town youth center, which Spiro was still the head of received two point eight million dollars through a program called focus on youth. This could have been a total coincidence. But the man who was running the program had been one of the board members of the hospital that Spiro had helped elect, and he also says that he is a close friend of Speros. Or take the example of the solar panels. The Toronto district school board was planning on making the largest solar procurement ever in Canada. And they wanted to take advantage of the green energy act, and they had this problem that all of the roofs across the board were really rough shape and they needed to replace them. And they didn't have a lot of money. So the plan was to contract a company solar company the become in fix the ruse, and then put solar panels on the roof. They would pay the board by giving them new room. And then they would have the right to sell the energy back to the grid generated by the panels on the team that was awarded the contract Angeles Coppola's decision came down to two companies normally they negotiate with both. But at a meeting Coppola's argued that the board should only negotiate with the smaller company going against the recommendations from a report, the other company ended up being disqualified for a conflict of interest that didn't actually exist. And now the details here get a bit tricky. But with the globe in mail, uncovered is that companies associated with people connected to Spiro through the cabbage town youth center, ended up profiting from the deal. All of these events the hospital takeover, the mob affiliated contract the fighting Caliban and the chaos at the school board. We're heavily covered by the press. But in all of that reporting Speros name never comes. That's despite the fact that Spiro openly talks about the power he holds, I don't know if it's ego or what? But he he's not shy about about letting people know that he's influential in twenty sixteen Spiro to court dispute with a former business partner, and he testified under oath that. He has the ability to influence public sector contracts in Ontario. He stated that he had single-handedly help. People win troubling infrastructure contracts were hundreds of millions of dollars. Now, we tried to contact Spiro Papa Thanasak for this story than -cluded calling three cellphones. We're so the number. You have reached is not in service number. You have called not assigned. We contacted the youth center. She said he doesn't work there anymore pro few years. Oh, yeah. Okay. Bye-bye, and we knocked on a door that had been listed as an address to Speros years ago. But we were unable to reach him. The globe and mail published. Their massive investigation into Spiro Papa Thanasak is in the last few days of the provincial election. The p tried to make a stink about it. But the Progressive Conservatives who went onto win didn't comment on it. Despite painting the previous government has corrupt. No, follow ups by other news organizations. There haven't been called for public inquiries or commissions. When I first read the story, I was blown over it made me completely rethink what I thought I knew about politics in a lot of ways it was the inspiration for this whole series on corruption were doing when Canadians think of corruption we often think about Quebec, but I really do wonder terro opened an inquiry into corruption. Quebec did what would we find out? I've also this. I I've never believed for a second that the problem of corruption stops at the on -tario Quebec border. Like that is like, you know, ludicrous for Greg MacArthur. Just getting the facts out there with the story has battered. It was amazing. Even though I've I've been a journalist now for. Fifteen years that you could find out that there are people out there who have no official positions within the government agency that are able to do whatever they want or or appear to be able to do whatever they want. I always took it for granted that the person that you that council that you elected or that person who was appointed as executive director of that institution that they would be the ones in charters like just accept that. They're the ones, but there could be someone else out there who hasn't has no affiliation on paper. And there's no public accountability for that person can actually pull strings I mean that that to me it was remarkable. And that's and that's why we spent the time we did on the peace and went to the length. We did to report it. Today. Spear Papa Thanasak is no longer runs the cabbage down youth center for a while. He was often in Greece where he was the owner of Iraq Lous FC one of the oldest soccer clubs in the country. And he became the owner of the club in twenty four teen. He was asked by Greek reporters what he did for a living in Canada. My mother says she doesn't know what I do. He told them. That's your episode of comments for this week. The story was originally reported in the globe and mail by Greg MacArthur. Karen Howlett and Adrian Moro. It was cold connected and variety a link to that story on our website Hannity, show dot com. And if you wanna get in touch with us, you can tweet us at candle and Commons. That's C. M S Email me are she had Canada-led show dot com. This episode was produced by Kevin Sexton me with additional production by t k mature. And Jordan Cornish are managing editor is Kevin Sexton. Inter music is by Nathan burly few like what we do. Please help us make this show. You can support us and get ad free podcasts going to patriot dot com slash candidate.
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