Times reveals mobster-informant's ties to OJ Simpson case

Possible accomplice to Simpson never fully investigated

The New York Times has published an investigation reporting that a New Jersey mobster-turned-federal-informant named Joseph Ippolito may have had information about — or involvement in — the 1994 murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, the killings for which OJ Simpson was acquitted in 1995 after a lengthy trial. Based on previously sealed court records and interviews, the Times found that California prosecutors were unable to fully investigate whether Simpson, who was accused but not convicted of his ex-wife’s murder, may have had an accomplice at the crime scene. Ippolito’s information reached authorities only after Simpson’s arrest, too late for prosecutors to incorporate into the trial.

The Times investigation underscores how the official account of the case — built from a documentary record now decades old — may be incomplete, with several of the principal figures dead and the full truth likely beyond recovery. No one has been criminally convicted for the 1994 murders; Simpson was acquitted in 1995 after a lengthy trial deemed the “trial of the century” and was later held liable for the deaths in a civil case.

According to the Times, Ippolito was a longtime drug runner from the New Jersey underworld whose father was a player within the DeCavalcante crime family, a major Italian American criminal organization. After a prison stint for trafficking drugs on the East Coast, Ippolito moved to California in the late 1980s and managed an Italian restaurant, the Times reported. There, he embedded himself in the inner circles of the Los Angeles elite and befriended Al Cowlings, a former football star and close friend of OJ Simpson — all while continuing to sell and traffic drugs.

In 1992, Ippolito was arrested again in a sting operation. Ippolito escaped from his Florida prison in May 1994, eight months after his sentencing, the Times reported. His brother helped him return to Los Angeles, where he remained in hiding as a wanted fugitive as the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Goldman took place later that year.

When authorities attempted to arrest OJ Simpson, he fled with Cowlings, who led the police on a widely publicized chase through Los Angeles. After Simpson’s arrest, officials found Ippolito’s information in Cowlings’ wallet, the Times reported, leading them to urgently search for the fugitive. They eventually found and arrested Ippolito, who decided to flip and become an informant for the U.S. government.

As an informant, Ippolito revealed information about various drug deals throughout the country and helped federal agencies set up sting operations. He also reportedly shared information with the government about the Los Angeles murders, according to the Times.

The Times outlines three separate theories of Ippolito’s involvement in the Simpson case, which he was seemingly willing to share with authorities. In one version, Ippolito told federal prosecutors he had information he learned from Cowlings about the murders, including the supposed location of the missing weapon. In a second version, Ippolito’s brother told a reporter with the Times that Ippolito may have been at the scene of the killings — that Ippolito literally had blood on his hands. In a third version, Ippolito was prepared to help Simpson escape during the police chase through Los Angeles.

“Taken together, the material points in different directions but veers significantly from the official account that has been proffered by the police and prosecutors,” the New York Times reported. “With many of the key players now dead, it’s possible the full truth will never be known.”

Ippolito’s brother, who told the Times he had seen his brother’s hands with blood on them, later asked the publication for money and then recanted his statement, the Times reported. According to the report, the brother said he had been “offered a ton of money” to share his story elsewhere, likely a television program.

The extent of Ippolito’s involvement is not fully known. Authorities interviewed by the Times expressed doubts about how involved Ippolito actually was and about the value of his information in the case. The Los Angeles Police Department, which investigated the case, had a long history of racism, which Simpson’s attorneys pointed to along with the department’s handling of key evidence, helping them secure the acquittal, the Times reported.