More than a decade after OJ Simpson was acquitted of the double murder of his ex-wife and her friend, he decided to commit another crime, one that was related to his infamous case.
Simpson, whose death was announced Thursday following a battle with prostate cancer, was convicted in 2007 after robbing a souvenir dealer at gunpoint. Simpson was sentenced to 33 years behind bars, but was paroled after only nine.
On September 13, 2007, a group of thieves, led by the disgraced football player, entered room 1203 of the Palace Station Hotel in Las Vegas and stole sports memorabilia from Bruce Fromong and other dealers.
Simpson had claimed after the arrest that the items that had been “stolen” from him were being returned. The memorabilia included pieces taken and sold to cover money owed to the Ronald Goldman family after Simpson was found civilly responsible, despite a criminal acquittal, for the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown, and her friend. he, Goldman.
‘[I] called OJ, said Tom Riccio, who was with Simpson that weekend, according to ABC News. ‘OJ said, “Look, Tom, these aren’t souvenirs. These are personal artifacts that were stolen from me. My football that I held in my arm when I ran 2,000 yards, my wife’s ring that died and what I was going to do.” to give it to my daughter.” He went on to talk about a photograph signed by J. Edgar Hoover, where J. Edgar Hoover said that he was a great admirer, an excellent young man.
Simpson was convicted and sent to prison for 33 years in 2007 after robbing a souvenir dealer at gunpoint. He only served nine years and was released on parole. (pictured: Simpson reacting to being convicted of the 2008 robbery)
On September 13, 2007, a group of thieves, led by the disgraced football player, entered a room at the Palace Station Hotel in Las Vegas and stole sports memorabilia from Bruce Fromong and other dealers. (pictured: Room 1203 where the robbery occurred)
In 1995, OJ was the star actor in the “trial of the century” that paralyzed the entire world, as he and his famous defense attorney, Robert Kardashian, fought accusations and evidence that he had committed murder.
After being acquitted, Simpson was found civilly liable for the murders and was later forced to pay $33.5 million in damages to the victims’ families; Some of the money came from items confiscated from Simpson’s home.
At the time of the robbery, Simpson devised a plan to recover the items, namely his Heisman Trophy, his wife Nicole’s wedding ring, and the football from one of his winning games.
Ricco, who knew another dealer who had a trove of Simpson sports memorabilia from his time playing for the Buffalo Bills, told Alfred Beardsley that he had an interested buyer.
Beardsley involved Fromong in the potential deal and the pair moved the items to the hotel room as requested by Ricco.
The day before the robbery, Simpson, still blissfully unaware of his impending arrest and imprisonment, served as best man at his friend Thomas Scotto’s wedding at the Little White Chapel.
After a rehearsal dinner for his friend’s wedding, Simpson and five other burglars entered the room around 7:38 p.m.
There, he confronted Beardsley and Fromong and told them that no one was allowed to leave.
Instead, Simpson showed up at the meeting with other men and they all had guns. In recordings of the subsequent robbery, Simpson was heard shouting: ‘Do you think you can steal my s–t?’
After his arrest in 2007, Simpson admitted stealing items originally taken from him, but denied breaking into Fromong’s hotel room.
While he did so, his accomplices snatched his memorabilia, baseballs autographed by Pete Rose and lithographs of Joe Montana.
Simpson’s accomplices were also captured and Walter Alexander, who brought a gun to the robbery, was sentenced to probation.
Ten years after the robbery, Bruce Fromong said he had long forgiven Simpson for what he did. (pictured: Fromong testifying during Simpson’s preliminary hearing in 2007)
Simpson seen smiling as he enters his parole hearing in 2008
About 13 years after Simpson was acquitted of the double murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman, he was arrested for the robbery in Las Vegas. (photo: OJ and Nicole in New York in 1993)
September 16, 2007: OJ arrested for felony armed robbery
Clarence Stewart, another accomplice, was sentenced to 15 years in prison, but was released after reaching a plea deal.
Ryan Braun and Charles Enrlich were sentenced to probation, while the fifth robber, Michael McClinton, who also brought a gun and recorded the entire robbery, also received probation.
Simpson was convicted of the robbery and received the harshest sentence: 33 years in prison.
Ten years after the robbery, Fromong said he had long forgiven Simpson for what he did.
“It’s a shame we didn’t talk about it,” Fromong, then 63, said following the news that Simpson would be paroled later that year.
“If I had just said in the hotel room, ‘Everyone outside…Bruce and I are going to talk,’ none of this would have happened.”
In accepting his release, parole commissioners cited his lack of prior convictions, the low risk that he might commit another crime, the support of his community and his release plans.
Before the hearing concluded, Fromong said the former football great never pointed a gun at him during the confrontation, adding that it was one of the men accompanying him who did so.
Nicole Brown Smith was found dead alongside Ron Goldman (pictured)
The souvenir dealer said his “friend of almost 27 years” deserved to be freed, adding: “He is a good man.” He made a mistake.’
Fromong suffered a series of heart attacks in the days after the robbery, which caused brain damage, and he has since faced bankruptcy and lost “everything.”
“I could have died that night,” he previously told The Sunday Mirror.
‘They only needed to pull the trigger and I would have been dead. Just two days after the robbery, I suffered a serious heart attack. It was one of four he would endure. I lost strength twice.
Fromong said that when a man pointed a gun directly at him during the robbery, but Simpson told him to “put the gun down.”
Fromong has since forgiven Simpson, calling him a “good man” and “close friend.”
During the parole hearing that lasted more than an hour, Simpson forcefully insisted, as he always has, that he was only trying to recover items that belonged to him and that he never intended to hurt anyone.
He said he never pointed a gun at anyone or made threats during the crime.
‘I have served my sentence. I’ve done it so well and with respect that I think anyone can do it,” said inmate number 1027820.
A collection of images later showed Simpson drinking in nightclubs with his ex-girlfriend and her friend just hours after the crime.
Photographs from the occasion showed ‘The Juice’, as he is affectionately known to his friends, celebrating with champagne in the back of a limousine and holding the bride’s bouquet.
Simpson won the 1968 Heisman Trophy, a souvenir taken from him after the Brown-Goldman murders.
He won four NFL rushing titles, ran for 11,236 career yards, scored 76 touchdowns and played in five Pro Bowls.
OJ Simpson in a mugshot following his arrest in Los Angeles, California, USA, June 17, 1994
Simpson’s death at age 76 was announced Thursday. A post by X shared on his official account by his family read: “On April 10, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer.
“He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren. During this time of transition, his family asks that you respect his wishes for privacy and grace. – The Simpson family.’
Goldman’s father said Simpson’s death only serves as a reminder of the agony his family has endured over the years.
“The only thing I have to say today is that this is one more reminder of the loss of my son Ron,” Fred Goldman told DailyMail.com.
“It is yet another reminder of my son’s murder and the many years we have missed Ron.”
Simpson, a former football running back who played 11 seasons primarily with the Buffalo Bills, reinvented himself as an actor before the Brown and Goldman murders.