A convicted drug trafficker with mafia ties may have helped O.J. Simpson cover up the 1994 murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, according to a New York Times investigation involving secret federal records and a disputed account from the man’s brother.
As The New York Post reported [1], Joseph “Joey” Ippolito, an associate of Simpson and Simpson’s longtime friend Al Cowlings, allegedly returned to a Los Angeles apartment around midnight on June 12, 1994.
Blood on his hands and a mysterious bag he wanted gone.
That’s what the brother of a mob-connected drug trafficker claims he witnessed on the night Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were murdered in 1994.
Now, a new investigation is uncovering previously sealed federal records tying Joseph “Joey” Ippolito to information about O.J. Simpson’s alleged efforts to dispose of the murder weapon.
His brother claims Ippolito returned to a Los Angeles apartment around midnight, showered, and instructed him to throw away a bag containing clothes and a heavy object. But the brother later questioned his own account, casting doubt on the explosive allegations.
The investigation also reveals a surprising detail about Ippolito’s role as a federal informant. See what the records show: https://t.co/mrDt2Y5enM
— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 19, 2026 [2]
His brother, Sam Ippolito, claimed Joey arrived carrying a mysterious bag that contained a heavy object.
Sam told the newspaper that Joey appeared to have blood on his hands after leaving the apartment hours earlier to help a friend. According to Sam’s account, Joey placed his clothes inside the bag and instructed him to get rid of it while Joey showered.
Sam said he then threw the bag into a dumpster near a construction site along Doheny Drive in Los Angeles. He also claimed that he overheard Joey speaking to Cowlings by phone and saying he had been “helping” Simpson that night.
The newspaper’s investigation also uncovered previously sealed federal court records concerning information Joey provided to authorities. Those records addressed Simpson’s alleged disposal of the murder weapon, which was never recovered.
Joey was a convicted drug trafficker who escaped from a Florida prison in May 1994. He became a federal informant following his arrest in August 1995, as Simpson’s nationally televised murder trial was approaching its conclusion.
A federal prosecution memorandum from December 1996 described Joey as a valuable source with information about Simpson’s alleged efforts to dispose of the murder weapon. The document also addressed Simpson’s attempted flight from authorities.
David Kelley, who was a federal prosecutor, described Joey in the letter as a “remarkable source of information” whose cooperation had been valuable to investigators. Kelley recently told the newspaper that he did not believe Joey was involved in the killings.
The records show that information supplied by Joey was shared with Los Angeles prosecutors during Simpson’s murder trial, according to the Times. Despite that exchange of information, Joey was never called to testify in the case.
Former prosecutor Marcia Clark told the newspaper she had no knowledge of Joey. She maintained that she would have been informed if he had offered evidence considered credible or relevant.
The allegations from Sam have also faced substantial scrutiny. After standing by his account for months, Sam reportedly sought compensation from the Times and later tried to retract his statements.
Sam claimed during that attempted retraction that he could no longer distinguish what was real from what was not. That reversal added doubts to an account that had already raised significant questions about Joey’s alleged actions on the night of the killings.
Friends and relatives of Joey have also challenged suggestions that he participated in the murders. Joey died in 2006, leaving the newly disclosed records and his brother’s contested recollections at the center of the report.
Cowlings did not respond to the newspaper’s request for comment before its article was published. The source provides no response from him to Sam’s claim about the alleged phone conversation.
Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were stabbed to death outside her Los Angeles home. The newly uncovered material has revived questions about whether Simpson received help on the night they were killed, though the account tying Joey to that night remains disputed.
A bloody pair of hands, a mysterious bag and a claim that could shed new light on the O.J. Simpson murder case more than 30 years later.
Newly unsealed federal records reportedly reveal allegations that mob-connected associate Joseph “Joey” Ippolito helped Simpson dispose of the murder weapon on the night Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman were killed.
Ippolito’s brother claims he returned to a Los Angeles apartment that night with blood on his hands and a bag containing something heavy, which he later tossed into a dumpster.
But there’s a twist: The brother’s credibility is now under scrutiny after he reportedly sought payment and attempted to retract his account.
The murder weapon was never recovered, and the LAPD says the case remains open.
— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 19, 2026 [3]
Simpson was acquitted of the murders in 1995. He was later found liable for the deaths in a civil trial and died in April 2024 at age 76.
The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed to the Times that the double murder case remains an open investigation. The disclosure arrives more than three decades after the killings, combining sealed federal material with allegations that some people close to Joey have rejected.