Newly unsealed federal records reveal that a convicted drug trafficker named Joseph “Joey” Ippolito claimed to have knowledge of O.J. Simpson’s missing murder weapon following the June 12, 1994, killings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman in Los Angeles.
More than three decades after the trial of the century captured international attention, a detailed investigation published by The New York Times has brought fresh scrutiny to the outer circle surrounding O.J. Simpson. At the center of the newly surfaced documents is Joseph “Joey” Ippolito, a member of the DeCavalcante crime family and a convicted drug trafficker who escaped from a Florida prison in May 1994, weeks before Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were stabbed to death.
The unsealed prosecution memoranda and federal court records show that Ippolito became a cooperating federal informant in August 1995 while Simpson’s televised murder trial neared its conclusion. Prosecutors viewed him as a valuable asset. In a December 1996 federal prosecution memorandum unsealed at the newspaper’s request, then-federal prosecutor David Kelley described Ippolito as a valuable source
whose cooperation aided federal authorities investigating drug trafficking.
Federal Files and the Missing Murder Weapon
Beyond his cooperation on narcotics cases, Ippolito provided federal authorities with details regarding Simpson’s activities after the double murder. Federal records indicate that Ippolito had grown privy to facts relevant to the case through close personal relationships with Simpson’s confidant Al Cowlings and others.
According to the unsealed court records, Ippolito possessed information concerning Simpson’s alleged disposal of the murder weapon, which law enforcement never recovered. The documents indicate that Los Angeles prosecutors received this information during the trial, though Ippolito was never called to the witness stand.
Eddie Trotta, a friend of Joey Ippolito, told reporters that Ippolito claimed he informed law enforcement that Al Cowlings had hidden and discarded the weapon.
Brothers, Bloody Hands, and Recanted Accounts
The newspaper’s investigation also examined a separate and more direct allegation regarding Ippolito’s physical whereabouts on the night of the killings. Joey’s brother, Sam Ippolito, claimed in an interview that Joey left their Los Angeles apartment on the evening of June 12, 1994, to help a friend and returned around midnight carrying a heavy bag and what appeared to be blood on his hands.
Sam Ippolito stated that Joey instructed him to dispose of the bag while Joey showered, and that he subsequently tossed it into a dumpster near a construction site along Doheny Drive. Sam also claimed he overheard Joey on the telephone telling Cowlings that he had been helping Simpson that night.
Those allegations faced hurdles. After maintaining his account for months, Sam Ippolito sought financial compensation from the reporting publication. When the request was refused, Sam attempted to retract his statements, saying he could no longer distinguish memory from confusion.
The department has an obligation to continue to pursue justice in this matter. At a point that new evidence is found, detectives will follow those investigatory leads.
Los Angeles Police Department spokesperson, via The Daily Beast
Legal Standing and Open Case Status
Legal figures involved in the original 1995 criminal proceedings expressed skepticism regarding the newly surfaced claims. Former lead prosecutor Marcia Clark told investigators she had no knowledge of Joey Ippolito and maintained that she would have been notified had anyone provided credible evidence linking him to the case. Former federal prosecutor David Kelley similarly stated that he did not believe Joey participated in the murders.
Simpson was acquitted of the murders in October 1995 but was later found liable for the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman in a 1997 civil trial, which resulted in a $33.5 million judgment against him. Simpson died in April 2024 at the age of 76.
The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed that the double-murder case remains an open investigation.
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