Rob Ford investigation in purgatory? What comes next for Toronto’s controversial mayor?

An ongoing criminal investigation involving Toronto Mayor Rob Ford that has been hanging over the city for months is set taking a back seat to other events reports suggest that the case is either being dropped or at least set aside for the time being.

Reports suggested on Thursday that Ontario Provincial Police officers providing oversight to Toronto police’s Project Brazen 2 investigation had decided there was nothing for them to do at this time and had taken a step back from the process.

"I just knew all along, I didn't miss a day of work, I just kept coming in because I know I did nothing wrong," Ford told reporters at city hall. "I knew the day was going to come that I would be cleared and I guess today's the day."

While Ford has taken the news as evidence that he has been "cleared" in the investigation, Toronto police have said the probe is ongoing. Still, the revelation seems to have ended one chapter and started another, leaving sever significant questions unanswered.

Has Ford actually been cleared?

Rob Ford has not technically been cleared in the investigation, which is either ongoing or sitting on the shelf growing stale. Regardless of any difference in opinion between police agencies, no one except Ford has actually said he is off the hook. The parlance used by some investigators is similar that of a cold case investigation. All current avenues of investigation have been probed and there's nothing more to do. That doesn't mean new ones won't present themselves. Though it certainly doesn't mean that they will.

This whole issue relates to the possibility of criminal charges. There is a separate question of whether Ford has done anything wrong, a question Ford says has now been put to rest. He is still an admitted crack smoker, an admitted purchaser of illegal drugs, and more.

As the National Post's Christie Blatchford notes:

What did the latest court documents reveal?

Another batch of police documents were released by an Ontario court on Thursday, this time providing details from a wiretap connected to an investigation into the Etobicoke drug scene. Among those information were some of the earliest references to the existence of a video of the mayor smoking from a crack pipe. According to those telephone conversations, there was a great deal of fear about what Ford would do about the video.

Elena Basso, a Ford friend whose house the crack tape was allegedly shot, is recording telling another person that Ford was bringing pressure down on the neighbourhood. "I got Rob's (expletive) people and cops coming here every (expletive) day," she says, via the Canadian Press.

What was said in a key 40-second phone call?

Among the court documents released this week were details into Lisi's phone records, specifically calls made and received after news broke on U.S. gossip site Gawker about the existence of a video of Ford smoking from a crack pipe. According to court documents, Lisi and Ford spoke on the phone at 8:18 p.m. on May 16, 2013.

Neither were the subject of a wiretap, so the contents of that phone call were not recorded. During the following days, Lisi did speak to several suspected members of an Etobicoke gang who were being surveilled, and those conversations allegedly involved threats and intimidation attempts, inluding Lisi telling one person that "everyone on your block is dead." According to documents obtained by the Toronto Star, he told another "the whole place is going to get lit up." What prompted the flurry of calls? And did it have anything to do with the conversation between Lisi and Ford.

What is next for Ford?

The OPP investigators who had provided oversight for the investigation have apparently stepped back, pending further evidence. But that doesn't mean the investigation is over. More to the point, it doesn't suggest Ford's troubles are over at all. CBC News reported that Ford may be subpoenaed to testify as a witness in Lisi's case, perhaps as soon as at a winter court hearing. If that is the case, he would be asked under oath to provide information not outlined in the police documents.

No, really. What is next for Ford?

Ford will return his focus to his ongoing re-election campaign, which is expected to host a massive kickoff event later this month. The Star also notes that Ford will host his first major fundraising event early next month - a fancy dinner on May 8, to be held at a convention centre in Vaughan, Ont. Though perhaps not bizarrely. The newspaper notes that one-third of Ford's 2010 campaign donations came from outside of the city. The Globe and Mail also reports that Ford has been approached to be focus of a reality television show.

The U.S. company behind American Chopper and Dirty Jobs is said to be interested in making Ford its next project. And perhaps further noting Ford's inevitable reality show fame, Survivor host Jeff Probst said on Friday that Ford would probably do well on the show, mostly because other competitors would keep him around as an easy mark.

Probst has it right on that front. If there is one thing Ford can do, it is survive.