More than three decades after O.J. Simpson was acquitted in the killings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman, newly unsealed court records are offering fresh insight into information authorities received about the murder weapon, which was never recovered. The New York Times reviewed the records.
The documents say Joseph Ippolito, a government informant and Simpson associate, provided authorities with information described as “very helpful” regarding the weapon used in the murders.
However, the records do not disclose what Ippolito told investigators about the weapon or how it may have been disposed of.
The newly released document indicates that Ippolito had access to information relevant to the case. That included allegations involving Simpson’s domestic violence, drug use, an attempted escape from authorities and the disposal of the murder weapon.
Ippolito, who died roughly 20 years ago, had connections to organized crime and worked as a drug runner and restaurant manager, according to the report.
His brother, Sam Ippolito, told The New York Times that he remembered Joseph saying he had helped Simpson on the night Nicole Brown Simpson and Goldman were stabbed to death.
Sam Ippolito said he saw his brother with what appeared to be blood on his hands and carrying a bag, according to The Times. He said Joseph placed his own clothes inside the bag and asked him to get rid of it.
But in a later interview with ABC News, Sam Ippolito denied making those comments to The Times and maintained that his brother had no involvement in the killings.
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“I said he could be involved in a lot of things but not that,” he told ABC News.
Prosecutors dismissed the possibility that Simpson had an accomplice.
Simpson later wrote in his controversial book, “If I Did It,” that another person had been present that night. In a subsequent interview with Fox, he also described a hypothetical scenario involving a person he called “Charlie” and a knife. No murder weapon was introduced during Simpson’s criminal trial. Then-Los Angeles County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran testified about the type of knife that could have caused the fatal injuries.
“These wounds are complex; it could be a single-edged knife, and you cannot exclude a double-edged knife,” Sathyavagiswaran testified.
Simpson was acquitted in 1995 in the deaths of Brown Simpson and Goldman. A civil jury later found him liable for their wrongful deaths.
Denise Brown, Nicole Brown Simpson’s sister, said she heard Ippolito’s name and the account involving him about 30 years ago. She said she has no interest in revisiting his possible role in her sister’s death.
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