‘Okay, do you love me?’
Bizarre details of Danton saga revealed in tapes Former NHLer, agent in strange relationship
The saga of Mike Danton has become even more bizarre with the release of jailhouse tapes of conversations between the former NHL player and agent David Frost, the man he tried to have killed.
According to the tapes, a week after the Brampton native was arrested Frost counselled him to deny the agent was the target and to blame his parents for his emotional problems. Danton is serving a 71⁄ year sentence in a U. S. prison after pleading guilty to trying to arrange Frost’s murder while the agent was staying at his apartment in St. Louis, Mo. A girlfriend who was charged as an accessory was acquitted. The tapes are part of an investigation by CBC News: the fifth estate ( tomorrow, 9 p. m.) that also exposes some of the strange goings-on at Frost’s cottage, where he often hosted his young clients.
It also details a rather unusual relationship between the former St. Louis Blues forward and his agent.
In a phone call to Danton in a California jail in the spring of 2004, taped by the FBI, Frost tells Danton to ‘‘ show emotion” so he can get psychiatric counselling instead of facing a jury. He then instructs him to deny that he owed Frost money ‘‘ so it takes away their motive.”
Frost advises him to blame his emotional problems on his estranged parents. The conversation ends in an unusual exchange between an agent and his client.
‘‘ Hey, Mike. Listen . . . do I have to worry about my safety any more?” says Frost, who still denies he was the target of Danton’s botched contract killing.
‘‘ No, you don’t,” Danton replies. ‘‘ I got to go.”
‘‘ Okay, do you love me?” Frost asks. When Danton says yes, Frost presses him: ‘‘ Say it.”
‘‘ I love you,” Danton says.
‘‘ Do you?”
‘‘ Yeah,” is Danton’s reply.
Fifth estate
reporter Bob McKeown says this case is one of the most bizarre he’s dealt with.
‘‘ The relationship between these two is even stranger than you ever could have imagined,” he says. ‘‘Within days of the would- be murder, Frost is back telling Danton what to do, what to say and how to say it.
‘‘ But all the time, Frost is denying that he was the target.” The CBC show leaves little doubt that Frost was indeed the target. The CBC found a strip club bouncer in East St. Louis, who says Danton offered him $10,000 to have ‘‘something done” to Frost. He even told the bouncer when Frost would be at Danton’s apartment so the hit could be made. When the bouncer declined to return calls, Danton started pleading.
‘‘ It’s a matter of life and death for me,” he says in a taped phone conversation.
Eventually, Danton tried to hire a killer through a girlfriend. Unknown to her, the man she approached was an undercover police officer who turned them in. The girlfriend was charged as an accessory, but was later acquitted. The show delves into the long relationship between Danton and Frost.
It began when Danton, then Mike Jefferson, was only 11. Before becoming his agent, Frost spent several years coaching minor and junior hockey. While he was successful on the ice, his actions resulted in him being barred by several organizations. The show also looks at an incident at Frost’s cottage four years ago. According to Danton’s mother, Sue Jefferson, her then 13- year- old son was invited to join his brother and several other hockey players at Frost’s cottage.
Upset by the boy’s demeanour when he returned, Sue Jefferson confronted him and heard a disturbing tale of physical and psychological abuse. The boy told her he was ordered to wait for his breakfast until the older ones had eaten. When he took some pancakes before the others, he said Frost spit on them and forced him to eat them. The boy also said he was forced up a tree while Frost took potshots at him with a pellet gun and was forced to dance naked for hours in front of the other boys. He was also photographed after being duct- taped naked to a bed.
While the Jeffersons considered reporting it to police, they doubted anyone would believe the story. But a few months later, they came across the pictures.
Frost denied anything improper took place and the other boys backed him up, claiming it was all in good fun. The Jeffersons went to the police, but a crown attorney decided there was no case to pursue.
Shortly after that, Mike Jefferson changed his name to Danton and severed all relationships with his family. The show ends with a combative Frost continuing to deny he was the target.
‘‘ When Mike Danton gets back, Mike Danton will talk and I will talk,” he tells McKeown at a Pembroke arena, where he has ties to the local junior hockey team. When McKeown says he has tapes that prove otherwise, Frost blames the FBI.
‘‘( Danton) cannot expose the government for what really went on until he’s on our soil,” says Frost, who is still listed as an accredited agent on the National Hockey League Players’ Association website. He then accuses the FBI of lying.
‘‘ I know what happened,” he says. ‘‘ And it’s way beyond what any media outlet has even come close to.”