In the failed murder prosecution of O.J. Simpson in 1995, the government professed that he alone had killed his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.
Among the issues that hampered the case: the lack of a murder weapon, which has never been found. Its absence has long stoked speculation about whether the killer had assistance.
Now, records unsealed after 30 years at the request of The New York Times show that a prized government informant had told law enforcement key information about the killings, including the supposed location of the murder weapon and details about Mr. Simpson’s efforts to evade prosecution. Together, the findings challenge the popular narrative around the case.
This year, the informant’s brother told The Times that his sibling’s role in the case went much deeper. And the brother said he actually helped discard a bag, containing a heavy object, in the hours after the murders.
An ‘extremely reliable’ informant offered information about O.J. Simpson.
Joseph Ippolito, known as Joey, a convicted drug trafficker and mafia associate, escaped from a Florida prison a month before the 1994 murders.
Mr. Ippolito’s brother said the siblings went west after the escape to Los Angeles. Before his incarceration, Mr. Ippolito had operated a popular restaurant there and was a close friend of Al Cowlings, the longtime confidant of Mr. Simpson.
In the wake of the infamous Bronco chase with Mr. Simpson and Mr. Cowlings, investigators found photos in the vehicle of one of Mr. Ippolito’s girlfriends, along with her phone number.
Mr. Ippolito was eventually brought back into custody a year later. Right away, records show, he fed federal investigators in New York information about the mafia and set up meetings with undercover drug agents, with prosecutors saying that they “found Ippolito to be a remarkable source of information.” Mr. Ippolito risked his own safety to help them, prosecutors wrote in a memo lobbying a federal judge for leniency in his sentence.
He also divulged information about Mr. Simpson and the killings.
The informant spoke about the missing murder weapon.
Prosecutors said that Mr. Ippolito’s close relationship with Mr. Cowlings and Mr. Simpson made him “privy to many facts relevant to the case, including Mr. Simpson’s alleged domestic violence, the Simpsons’ narcotics usage, Mr. Simpson’s attempted flight from justice, and his disposal of the murder weapon.”
Details of Mr. Ippolito’s cooperation were outlined in a federal court memo, as well as a sentencing hearing transcript, obtained by The Times. A federal prosecutor, a former U.S. marshal, a former agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration and an official involved in prosecuting the murder case also independently confirmed Mr. Ippolito’s cooperation.
Federal officials said they shared the information with prosecutors in Los Angeles. But the information arrived near the end of the murder trial, which was attracting global attention. Mr. Ippolito was never called as a witness. He died in 2006.
The informant’s brother said his sibling was at the murder scene.
Earlier this year, one of Mr. Ippolito’s brothers, Sam, told The Times that they were staying at a West Hollywood apartment on the night of the murders in 1994. Joey told Sam he was going out for the night to help a friend. Sam said his brother came back hours later with what appeared to be blood on his hands and a bag that contained a heavy object. Joey asked his brother to get rid of the bag, Sam Ippolito recalled. Sam Ippolito said he tossed it into a construction site dumpster nearby.
Sam Ippolito said he was confident his brother had been at the scene of the murders. Months after the Times interview, Sam Ippolito asked for compensation. When a reporter declined, he recanted his story and said he “was offered a ton of money” to tell his story elsewhere, apparently for an upcoming documentary.
Simpson once described a ‘hypothetical’ accomplice.
In 2007, Mr. Simpson went public with a “hypothetical” confession to the murders, published in the book “If I Did It.” In that account, he described a friend who was with him on the night of the murders, who first was a horrified bystander but then agreed to take the murder weapon and Mr. Simpson’s bloody clothes.
Prosecutors and investigators gave little credence to the details of Mr. Simpson’s tale, and they did little to follow up on the idea that someone may have aided in helping Mr. Simpson get rid of the murder weapon.
Investigators remain skeptical. The case remains open.
The Times found that Mr. Ippolito’s name had surfaced early — and repeatedly — in the murder investigation. Police investigators asked about him. The defense team examined him, checking into his mafia ties and exploring whether he could be considered a suspect.
Tom Lange, who was the lead detective in the Simpson case, said he recalled Mr. Ippolito’s name coming up but didn’t consider him a serious suspect. He still does not believe Mr. Simpson had help.
Mr. Simpson was eventually held civilly liable for the deaths. He died in 2024.
The Times learned that last year, investigators with the Los Angeles Police Department’s cold case unit were making calls to collect information about accomplice theories.
A police department spokesman said last week that the “O.J. Simpson case remains an open and ongoing investigation.” Because there was no conviction in the murders, “the department has an obligation to continue to pursue justice in this matter.” The spokesman added, “at a point that new evidence is found, detectives will follow those investigatory leads.”
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