A criminal informant described by investigators as “extremely reliable” provided information about the missing knife believed to have been used in the 1994 murders of OJ Simpson’s ex-wife, Nicole Brown, and her friend Ronald Goldman. Newly unsealed federal court records also say he offered details about alleged drug use by the former couple.
Simpson was acquitted of the killings in October 1995, but a civil jury found him financially liable for the wrongful deaths of Brown and Goldman 16 months later. The murder weapon was never recovered, prompting speculation that another person may have been involved. Simpson continued to deny responsibility until his death in 2024 at age 76.
The new details come from a 1996 letter written by an assistant US attorney to a federal judge, which was recently unsealed.
Obtained by The Daily Mail, the letter sought a reduced sentence for convicted drug trafficker and prison escapee Joseph “Joey” Ippolito, who was identified as a federal informant. Along with information about organized crime and narcotics, Ippolito reportedly told authorities about “Mr. Simpson’s alleged domestic violence, the Simpsons’ narcotics usage, Mr. Simpson’s attempted flight from justice, and his disposal of the murder weapon.”
According to the letter, Ippolito passed the information to Los Angeles police detectives investigating the double murder. He was never called as a witness during Simpson’s criminal trial.
“While Ippolito ultimately was not called as a witness he was arrested and began to cooperate as that trial drew to a close my conversations with the Los Angeles authorities indicate that Ippolito’s information was, at the very least, very helpful to their case,” the assistant US attorney wrote in the letter, which was unsealed at the request of The New York Times.
Joseph Ippolito Jr was arrested for drug trafficking before the Goldman-Brown murders and, according to federal prosecutors, possessed knowledge about the crime. He died in 2006.
OJ Simpson denied killing his ex-wife Nicole Brown (pictured left) and her friend Ronald Goldman.
Goldman was not believed to have been the intended target, but was killed alongside Brown.
Ippolito died in 2006, but his brother Sam did speak to the Times. The newspaper reported that the brothers were staying in West Hollywood on the night of the murders and that Joey left to help a friend before returning with what appeared to be blood on his hands and a bag holding a heavy object.
However, Sam gave The Daily Mail a different account. He denied making that statement, saying instead that his fugitive brother was “in hiding” and had “not [been] out past 10.” The murders, in Los Angeles’ Brentwood neighborhood, are believed to have taken place after 10 p.m. on June 12, 1994.
The Times also alleged that Sam had sought payment from the newspaper for his account.
According to the Times, the reporter declined, after which Ippolito withdrew his account and said he “was offered a ton of money” to tell the story to another publication. Sam Ippolito was also among the people featured in the upcoming Peacock documentary, as The Daily Mail reported last month.
In a text message to The Daily Mail, Sam denied asking The New York Times for money.
Joey Ippolito owned a restaurant in Santa Monica and was a close associate of Al Cowlings, Simpson’s longtime friend and former teammate. On June 17, 1994, Cowlings drove a white Ford Bronco with Simpson in the back seat during the widely televised low-speed police chase, which ended when Simpson surrendered at his Brentwood home.
Cowlings’ attorney confirmed to the Boston Herald in August 1994 that Ippolito had previously helped Cowlings overcome a freebase cocaine habit. In return, Cowlings asked a federal judge to grant Ippolito bail while he awaited trial on drug charges in 1993.
The letter said Ippolito was “privy to many facts” surrounding the notorious 1994 murders, including “Mr. Simpson’s alleged domestic violence” and “the Simpsons’ narcotics usage.”
After receiving a 10-year prison sentence, Ippolito escaped on May 6, 1994, from a minimum-security prison camp on a military base in Pensacola, Florida, according to a Boston Herald report published at the time. The newly unsealed letter says he became a federal informant after being recaptured.
The letter describes the information Ippolito gave investigators in broad terms but does not provide specific details. It also does not say whether he implicated himself or anyone else in the killings.
The Herald previously reported that the FBI and federal prosecutors had telephone records documenting calls from Ippolito’s Santa Monica restaurant to Simpson’s Brentwood estate.
As for Ippolito’s alleged mafia connections, federal law enforcement officials claimed he was a member of the DeCavalcante crime family of New Jersey with ties to New York’s Lucchese family.
Ippolito was ultimately given credit for time served, as the government agreed not to prosecute him for drug distribution in California for the five years prior to his arrest.
He was released from custody in 1998, according to records reviewed by The Times.
The body of Nicole Brown Simpson is seen where she was found on the bloodstained walkway of her Bundy Drive condominium as seen in this LAPD evidence photo from June of 1994
Lead investigator Tom Lange told the Times that he recalled seeing Ippolito’s name, but never considered him a serious suspect. Lange maintains that Simpson acted alone in the double murder.
The murder investigation was never solved and remains open with the LAPD.
But other investigators do believe Simpson had an accomplice.
A former New York State prosecutor and FBI profiler who went on to write and produce CBS’ Criminal Minds, Jim Clemente supported the theory in a recent podcast interview with media personality Tom Zenner and Kato Kaelin, Simpson’s former tenant and a crucial witness in his murder trial.
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According to Clemente, evidence points to another attacker at the scene.
For starters, he explained that the presence of multiple stabbing victims always increases the likelihood of multiple attackers, simply because it’s difficult for one person to commit both crimes quickly and in the same space.
The bigger clues, Clemente explained, were the defensive wounds left on Goldman’s legs.
‘With the cuts in his jeans, in his pants that he was wearing at the time, the knife wounds could only have been made if both of his legs were elevated and bent and straightened out like he was kicking,’ Clemente said.
‘And the only way that we behaviorally could figure out how that could happen is if somebody has him in a bear hug from behind and he’s being stabbed by somebody in the front.
‘He’s kicking, he’s fighting for his life,’ Clemente continued. ‘It’s a horrible, horrible scene.’
Kato Kaelin (left) sits alongside former FBI profiler Jim Clemente on Tom Zenner’s podcast
Clemente (right) told Zenner (left) that Goldman’s defensive wounds point to an accomplice
Curiously, Clemente explained, Goldman did not have defensive wounds on his arms.
‘If he was punching and kicking, you would see the same kinds of wounds through his clothing on his arms because the person with the knife would have been lashing out,’ Clemente said. ‘He wouldn’t just stab his legs.’
Rather, according to Clemente, Goldman’s ‘arms are being held and his arms were being pinned and that’s why he resorted to his legs only.’
As for why Simpson would bring an accomplice to murder his wife, Clemente suggested the presence of the couple’s two children at her condominium was a good reason.
‘What if the kids aren’t in bed yet?’ Clemente asked, rhetorically. ‘What if the kids wake up and come down?’
Simpson continued to deny any involvement in the Brown-Goldman murders until his death from cancer at age 76 in 2024, but the theory he committed the crimes with an accomplice is nothing new.
Recently, The Daily Mail revealed an upcoming Peacock documentary investigating the theory that Simpson had a mob-linked accomplice in Ippolito.
Peacock spokespeople declined to comment on The Daily Mail’s reporting at the time. The project’s upcoming release has since been confirmed by other outlets.
Speaking with Zenner, Clemente also challenged the notion that the murders were simply a crime of passion.
Rather, he insisted Brown was the intended victim of a carefully planned murder.
Goldman, sadly, was just returning the pair of glasses Brown left at his restaurant when he stumbled upon the crime that was taking place.
‘Whoever committed this crime had an extreme amount of rage and anger in them,’ Clemente told Zenner and Kaelin. ‘And they have been fantasizing about this for a long time. They planned this. This is not a disorganized crime. This is an organized crime. Which means that the offender thought about this, thought it out carefully, thought about every angle, knew when she would be vulnerable.
‘Of course, he thought she would be alone at that moment, but because she left the glasses there at the restaurant, somebody else showed up. That is an unexpected result.’
Asked if he had any clue about the accomplice’s identity, Clemente said he had a ‘pretty good idea’ who was with Simpson but stopped short of revealing a name.
Of course, there is no statute of limitations on murder, so if such an accomplice is still alive, they could theoretically face justice.
Simpson defense attorney Johnnie Cochran also posited an accomplice theory during the murder, saying Brown and Goldman may have been killed by drug dealers looking for her friend, Faye Resnick, who was battling a cocaine problem.
However, at least one member of Brown’s family remains skeptical that Simpson had an accomplice.
‘I’ve heard about the conspiracy theory for years,’ Brown’s sister told the Daily Mail by email. ‘To me it’s a bunch of BS.’
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