New York Times investigation adds new details to OJ Simpson case and a mob informant

The New York Times has published an extensive investigation into the 1994 murder case involving OJ Simpson, the former American football player and actor. Drawing on previously sealed court records and interviews, the newspaper reports that California prosecutors were unable to fully investigate whether Simpson may have had an accomplice at the crime scene. The account also features a mobster who later became a government informant.

Background to the case

In 1994, Nicole Brown Simpson, his ex-wife, and Ronald Goldman were found stabbed to death outside her home in Los Angeles. Simpson was suspected, and the prosecution drew international attention, becoming known as the “trial of the century”. A jury acquitted him in 1995. His lawyers pointed to the Los Angeles police department's racist policing practices and its handling of key evidence. In a later civil case, a jury held him liable for the deaths. No one has been criminally convicted of the killings.

The informant, Ippolito

According to the Times, Joseph “Joey” Ippolito, a wealthy mobster from New Jersey whose father was linked to the DeCavalcante crime family, began providing information toward the end of the prosecution. A longtime drug trafficker, he moved to California in the late 1980s, managed an Italian restaurant and befriended Al Cowlings, a former football player and close friend of Simpson. In May 1994 he escaped from a Florida prison. After Simpson's arrest, officials found Ippolito's details in Cowlings' wallet, tracked him down and arrested him. He became an informant, but it was too late for prosecutors to use his testimony.

Three versions

The newspaper sets out three accounts. In the first, Ippolito told federal prosecutors he had learned details of the murders from Cowlings, including the supposed location of the missing weapon. In the second, his brother told the Times that Ippolito may have been at the scene and had blood on his hands. In the third, Ippolito was prepared to help Simpson escape during the police chase. The brother later asked the newspaper for money and recanted. Authorities interviewed by the Times expressed doubts about how involved Ippolito was and how valuable his information was.