Top5, Toronto rapper accused of murder, releases new music video from prison
The Ontario Solicitor General is trying to figure out how a man was able to record part of a video clip in his prison cell while awaiting trial for first-degree murder.
In a clip posted to Instagram this week, Toronto rapper Top5 appears in an orange jumpsuit in a cinderblock room.
“I was 18 when I bought a gun, 22 when I shot your son,” he says, looking into the camera.
The artist, whose real name is Hassan Ali, is behind bars and charged with the death by shooting in January 2021 of Hashim Omar Hashi, a student who police said had no ties to the criminal world.
According to documents unsealed at a 2021 US extradition hearing, Ali is a member of the “Go Getem Gang”, a criminal group that organized the failed hit to attack his brother’s killer, which he screams several times in the music video.
Hashi was mistaken for the person the gunmen believed to be the killer of Ali’s brother, Said Ali, known as “Foolish,” in 2017, the court said.
In a statement to CTV News Toronto, Hunter Kell, a spokesperson for the Solicitor General, writes:
“The Department is aware of an unacceptable incident involving a video posted online that appears to contain images of secure areas of the Maplehurst Correctional Complex. Unauthorized photography of any kind is strictly prohibited in county correctional facilities.
“The Ministry has launched a full investigation into this incident and appropriate action will be taken.”
Mark Mendelson, a former Toronto homicide detective, says cell phone contraband is not uncommon behind bars, but the behavior on display here is extraordinary.
“I can’t think of a specific time when someone in custody really went out of their way to film a video and then had the guts to publish it,” Mendelson says.
He explains that Ali being held in a provincial jail offers possible avenues for a phone to slip through checks.
“In the county jails, dozens of inmates go in and out every day. They get bail, or they go to court and they come back to the facility, so there’s a lot of inmate transportation,” Mendelson says. .
He adds that contraband can also be smuggled in by visitors, lawyers and staff, and even dropped over a fence by drone.
This isn’t the first time Ali’s online activity has gotten him into trouble.
He was initially charged with complicity in murder in Hashi’s death. When his attack was upgraded, Ali reportedly cut off his GPS tracking bracelet and headed for California.
The Los Angeles Police Department says they were able to track him down based on social media posts.
The year before, he was charged with mischief for allegedly stopping traffic on Highway 401 to shoot a music video.
With files from Jon Woodward
