Latest / DISGRACELAND / O.J. Simpson: Stolen Memorabilia, Armed Robbery, and Fake Gangsters
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: This episode contains content that may be disturbing to some listeners.
- 0:03Speaker 1: Please check the show notes for more information.
- 0:06Speaker 2: Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis. This is a
- 0:21Speaker 2: story about OJ Simpson, but it's likely not the O. J.
- 0:25Speaker 2: Simpson story you know. This OJ Simpson's story takes place
- 0:30Speaker 2: after he was acquitted for the grisly murder of his
- 0:33Speaker 2: ex wife, Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman.
- 0:38Speaker 2: This is a story about O. J. Simpson in an
- 0:41Speaker 2: armed heist that sounds like something out of a Cohen
- 0:44Speaker 2: Brothers movie. It's a story about a group of bungling
- 0:47Speaker 2: burglars the CD underbelly of Las Vegas in a raid
- 0:51Speaker 2: by federal agents. Before this story, though, there was a
- 0:56Speaker 2: time when OJ Simpson gracefully danced through nf fell backfields
- 1:01Speaker 2: to the sounds of record breaking music. Figurative music, but
- 1:05Speaker 2: great music, no doubt, Unlike that music I played for
- 1:09Speaker 2: you at the top of the show. That wasn't great music.
- 1:14Speaker 2: That was a preset loop from my mellotron called Boss
- 1:17Speaker 2: Fight MK.
- 1:19Speaker 1: Two.
- 1:20Speaker 2: I played you that loop because I can't afford the
- 1:23Speaker 2: rights to Big Girls Don't Cry by Fergie, And why
- 1:28Speaker 2: would I play you that specific slice of not actually
- 1:31Speaker 2: Frankie Valley Cheese.
- 1:33Speaker 1: Could I afford it?
- 1:35Speaker 2: Because that was the number one song in America on
- 1:39Speaker 2: September thirteenth, two thousand and seven, And that was the
- 1:43Speaker 2: day OJ Simpson led a ragtag group of bumbling criminals
- 1:47Speaker 2: into a tiny room at the Palms in Las Vegas
- 1:50Speaker 2: to steal valuable sports.
- 1:52Speaker 1: Memorabilia at gunpoint.
- 1:55Speaker 2: On this episode Bungling Burglars, the Underbelly of Las Vegas
- 2:00Speaker 2: and the squeezing of the juice himself. Oh J Simpson,
- 2:05Speaker 2: I'm Jake Brennan, and this is Disgraceland. Walter Alexander knew
- 2:40Speaker 2: that it was feudile to resist the siren call of
- 2:43Speaker 2: a blackjack table. And why would he resist him? He
- 2:46Speaker 2: was in the one place in the world where the
- 2:48Speaker 2: answer to every question was yes, deal me in, Yes,
- 2:53Speaker 2: hit me, Yes, another G and T Yes, slot machine handled?
- 2:57Speaker 2: Why the fuck not?
- 2:57Speaker 1: Craps table Let's rock.
- 3:00Speaker 2: His nickname sounded lucky whenever someone said it. No one
- 3:03Speaker 2: called him Walter. They all called him Goldie. With a
- 3:06Speaker 2: nickname like Goldie, how could he loopse the sound of
- 3:10Speaker 2: the dice bouncing on the felt and the epileptic tension
- 3:12Speaker 2: of flashing lights, the smell of mid shelf cologne, unfiltered camels,
- 3:17Speaker 2: and lysol vegas. Baby Goldie could see it, smell it,
- 3:21Speaker 2: taste it. September thirteenth, two thousand and seven, when Goldie
- 3:26Speaker 2: first stepped off the plane and onto the tarmac at
- 3:28Speaker 2: McCarran Airport, the desert wind slapped him in the face.
- 3:32Speaker 2: It was hot and gritty, and the sun was relentless.
- 3:36Speaker 2: It burned, it beat down. Its heat is a dry heat,
- 3:39Speaker 2: he thought to himself. Then why the fuck am I
- 3:41Speaker 2: soaking in sweat? He found shelter and the string of
- 3:44Speaker 2: climate controlled casinos along the strip. Inside, the sound of
- 3:48Speaker 2: cards shuffling through dealer's fingers played like a loop in
- 3:51Speaker 2: his head. Goldie was in town for a wedding, more
- 3:55Speaker 2: like a four day bacchana. With a wedding is the
- 3:57Speaker 2: cherry on top. If the promise verbal agenda stuck and
- 4:00Speaker 2: there'd be parties, booze, table games, luck would be a lady.
- 4:03Speaker 2: If he was lucky, it was going to be an
- 4:05Speaker 2: epic weekend. It was going to be a weekend of yes.
- 4:10Speaker 2: And so when Goldie cell rang out of the blue
- 4:13Speaker 2: and he answered it and heard the voice of his
- 4:15Speaker 2: golfing buddy OJ Simpson on the other line, and OJ
- 4:18Speaker 2: had this thing that needed to get done. Is no
- 4:21Speaker 2: way Goldie was going to say no. He remembered that
- 4:23Speaker 2: OJ was in Vegas for the same wedding. But OJ
- 4:26Speaker 2: wasn't calling to talk about the impending nuptials. He had
- 4:30Speaker 2: some more pressing business to discuss.
- 4:32Speaker 1: Goldie, you got to.
- 4:33Speaker 2: Combine my room at the Palms and bring Spence with you.
- 4:36Speaker 2: Spence was Spencer aka Michael McClinton, another mutual friend whose
- 4:41Speaker 2: checkered passed included bus for illegal firearms, drug possession and pimping.
- 4:46Speaker 2: OJ sounded impatient. Time was wasting Goldie and Spence needed
- 4:50Speaker 2: to powwow with impronto. Goldie told OJ to hang tight,
- 4:55Speaker 2: he tracked down Spence and they'd be over later that day.
- 4:58Speaker 2: In his room at the Palms, OJ laid it down
- 5:01Speaker 2: straight for Goldie and Spence. His friend Tom Ricchio, co
- 5:05Speaker 2: owner of an auction house called Universal Rarities, had just
- 5:09Speaker 2: delivered some fresh intel, and the intel was troubling. Two
- 5:13Speaker 2: memorabilia dealers known to Riggio, Al Beardsley and Bruce Ramone
- 5:17Speaker 2: were shacked up in Room twelve oh three at the
- 5:20Speaker 2: Palace Station, a hotel and casino a few minutes up
- 5:23Speaker 2: the road from the Palms, and they were sitting on
- 5:26Speaker 2: a bunch of sod after stuff, OJ's stuff.
- 5:29Speaker 1: Highly sowd after highly valuable OJ.
- 5:32Speaker 2: Simpson sports memorabilia, and that stuff was stolen. It didn't
- 5:36Speaker 2: belong to them, It didn't belong to anyone but OJ,
- 5:38Speaker 2: or so OJ thought, like the football he was carrying
- 5:41Speaker 2: in nineteen seventy three when he rushed for over two
- 5:44Speaker 2: thousand yards and beat Jim Brown's ten year record, and
- 5:47Speaker 2: like the ring that had belonged to his late ex wife,
- 5:49Speaker 2: Nicole Brown Simpson, like the signed photo of Jeggar Hoover
- 5:53Speaker 2: that had been a personal gift from the former FBI director.
- 5:56Speaker 2: Missing stuff wasn't exactly new to OJ. Most of his
- 6:00Speaker 2: personal belongings flew the coup ten years before, in nineteen
- 6:04Speaker 2: ninety seven, after he lost a wrongful death civil suit
- 6:07Speaker 2: brought on by the families of his ex wife Nicole
- 6:10Speaker 2: and her friend Ron Goldman. OJ, of course, had been
- 6:13Speaker 2: infamously acquitted of their murders only a year before that
- 6:16Speaker 2: in nineteen ninety six, and would have been dubbed the
- 6:19Speaker 2: Trial of the century, and though he came out on
- 6:21Speaker 2: top on that murder trial, he wasn't so lucky with
- 6:24Speaker 2: the civil suit. He lost that, which meant that he
- 6:27Speaker 2: owned thirty three point five million dollars in damages. He
- 6:31Speaker 2: didn't have the money, so he defaulted on his mortgage.
- 6:35Speaker 2: He was evicted from his Brentwooden mansion, and the Goldmans
- 6:38Speaker 2: then went after his assets. His nineteen sixty eight Heisman
- 6:42Speaker 2: trophy gone, his Pro Football Hall of Fame certificate gone,
- 6:46Speaker 2: his beloved golf clubs adios, a gold Rolex watch.
- 6:50Speaker 1: Scott Douche OJ.
- 6:51Speaker 2: Wondered if some of those items were among the batch
- 6:53Speaker 2: of memorabilia that Al Beardsley and Bruce Fromome were sitting on.
- 6:58Speaker 2: Fuck him if he couldn't find out, because he was
- 7:00Speaker 2: going to ruin twelve oh three at the Palace Station
- 7:02Speaker 2: and he was gonna get his stuff back. He had
- 7:05Speaker 2: already reached out to the LA branch of the FBI
- 7:08Speaker 2: to find out if they wanted in on the operation.
- 7:10Speaker 2: An undercover sting he mentioned as a sign j Edgar
- 7:13Speaker 2: Hoover photo. Thought maybe it lended some street credit. Hoover
- 7:17Speaker 2: had practically deputized OJ on the spot when he gave
- 7:20Speaker 2: it to him.
- 7:20Speaker 1: At least that's what OJ told him.
- 7:22Speaker 2: The FBI boked no, so OJ sweetened the pot. They
- 7:27Speaker 2: could stream the sting live on TV. Ratings would be bananas.
- 7:31Speaker 2: The Fence told OJ that what he was proposing wasn't
- 7:33Speaker 2: a sting and that they wouldn't be involved. OJ knew
- 7:37Speaker 2: he couldn't trust the FBI. The FBI didn't have his back.
- 7:40Speaker 2: Couldn't he trust Goldie and Spence? Would they help him?
- 7:43Speaker 2: Did they have his back? Goldie had OJ's back, no problem,
- 7:47Speaker 2: no questions necessary. Goldie had known OJ for about ten years.
- 7:51Speaker 2: They met on a golf course. When they weren't golfing,
- 7:54Speaker 2: they were a partying. Goldie valued his friendship with Oj
- 7:57Speaker 2: because it opened doors for him. He used his French
- 8:00Speaker 2: as leverage when he interviewed for jobs as a real
- 8:02Speaker 2: estate agent and wanted to impress a potential firm. Goldie
- 8:06Speaker 2: had OJ's back no matter what. Even in two thousand
- 8:09Speaker 2: and two, when OJ was caught tuling his power boat
- 8:11Speaker 2: through the manity protected waters of Biscayne Bay, Florida, Goldie
- 8:15Speaker 2: stood by his friend, even when OJ refused to pay
- 8:17Speaker 2: the sixty five dollars fine and move on.
- 8:19Speaker 1: With his life.
- 8:20Speaker 2: OJ maintained his innocence and Goldie maintained his loyalty. I've
- 8:24Speaker 2: always got your back, Juice, Goldie told me. But what
- 8:26Speaker 2: about heat? OJ asked, can you guys get some heat?
- 8:29Speaker 2: And Goldie looked at Spence. It was an unexpected development.
- 8:32Speaker 2: You won't need to use them at all, which he
- 8:34Speaker 2: had it. Just keep him tucking your belt under your
- 8:36Speaker 2: jacket in case we need to flash him and let
- 8:38Speaker 2: everyone know we mean business. Spence pulled his concealed weapons
- 8:42Speaker 2: permit from his wallet. Yeah, don't you worry about that,
- 8:45Speaker 2: he responded, I can bring plenty of heat. June seventeenth,
- 8:51Speaker 2: nineteen ninety four, the four h five Freeway, Los Angeles.
- 8:55Speaker 2: The Heat sat next to OJ on the back seat,
- 8:58Speaker 2: a three point fifty seven Mac loaded. Next to the
- 9:01Speaker 2: gun was his passport, a change of clothes, fake go te.
- 9:06Speaker 2: He told Al Callings to keep driving. Al Callings, former
- 9:10Speaker 2: linebacker who finished his professional football career in nineteen seventy
- 9:14Speaker 2: nine with the forty nine Ers the same year and
- 9:17Speaker 2: same team, as OJ.
- 9:18Speaker 1: Tried to stay calm.
- 9:20Speaker 2: Collins and OJ were running again, but this time it
- 9:24Speaker 2: wasn't on the gridiron. This time it was in a
- 9:26Speaker 2: white Ford Bronco going north on the four h five
- 9:30Speaker 2: reel slow, a phalanx of five o's pulling up the rear.
- 9:34Speaker 2: OJ was supposed to turn himself into the LAPD. Instead,
- 9:39Speaker 2: he bolted and the LAPD gave chase and the entire
- 9:43Speaker 2: country watched. The two hours sixty mile chase remains a
- 9:47Speaker 2: monumental media event that captured the nation's collective attention. Cars
- 9:51Speaker 2: pulled over on the side of the freeway to watch
- 9:53Speaker 2: the Bronco drive by. Crowds appeared on bridge overpasses, homemade
- 9:58Speaker 2: cardboard signs in hand, encouraging the Jews to keep on running.
- 10:01Speaker 2: OJ's buddy Bob Costas, cut into NBC's coverage a Game
- 10:05Speaker 2: five on the NBA Finals to give a play by play.
- 10:08Speaker 2: It was seen live on television coast to coast by
- 10:11Speaker 2: around ninety five million people. But this was no game.
- 10:16Speaker 2: There was a warrant out for OJ's arrests. He'd been
- 10:18Speaker 2: declared a fugitive wanted for the brutal murders of Nicole
- 10:22Speaker 2: Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.
- 10:24Speaker 1: Their bodies have.
- 10:24Speaker 2: Been found shredded outside Nicole's Brentwood condo. Just days earlier,
- 10:29Speaker 2: OJ sat in shock in the Broncos backseat. His mind raced.
- 10:33Speaker 2: He didn't know what the fuck he was doing. He
- 10:35Speaker 2: told Al to keep driving. He looked out through the
- 10:37Speaker 2: windshield at the four oh five and the freeway lay
- 10:40Speaker 2: ahead of them, a concrete turf with no end zone
- 10:44Speaker 2: in sight. OJ Simpson came from out of nowhere. Clarence
- 11:12Speaker 2: Stewart was pulling into a parking spot outside the Palms
- 11:15Speaker 2: in Las Vegas when OJ, his friend, jumped in front
- 11:19Speaker 2: of his car. Clarence slammed on the brakes. It was
- 11:22Speaker 2: around dinner time. OJ needed a lift. He was headed
- 11:25Speaker 2: to the Palace Station, just a few minutes down the
- 11:28Speaker 2: road wouldn't take long.
- 11:30Speaker 1: OJ was running late.
- 11:31Speaker 2: For a meeting. Well, who was more of a setup
- 11:33Speaker 2: than a meeting. OJ told Clarence about the two memorabilia dealers,
- 11:37Speaker 2: Al Beardsley and Bruce Vermone, who were sitting on a
- 11:40Speaker 2: bunch of his personal belongings in a room at the
- 11:42Speaker 2: Palace Station, and that OJ's dealer friend Tom Ricchio had
- 11:46Speaker 2: set up this quote unquote meeting with these other dealers
- 11:48Speaker 2: under false pretenses. The dealers with the goods had no
- 11:52Speaker 2: idea that OJ was involved or would be attending the meeting.
- 11:55Speaker 2: Another of OJ's friends, Charlie Erlick, was posing as a
- 11:58Speaker 2: prospective buyer, but of course Charlie wasn't a real buyer.
- 12:03Speaker 2: OJ was running a sting, plain and simple. The dealers
- 12:07Speaker 2: had OJ's stuff, footballs and pictures and other memorabilia. OJ
- 12:12Speaker 2: was going to take back what was rightfully his. Clarence
- 12:15Speaker 2: was confused. He and OJ had been lounging at the
- 12:18Speaker 2: Palm's pool earlier in the day. Place was party town central.
- 12:22Speaker 2: OJ sitting there in a cabana, random strangers asking if
- 12:25Speaker 2: it was really him, the juice and the flesh girls
- 12:28Speaker 2: sitting on his lap for photos. Nothing like being acquitted
- 12:31Speaker 2: for a double murder to lock down that celebrity game.
- 12:34Speaker 2: The pool was all fun in games, so OJ didn't
- 12:36Speaker 2: say a damn thing about a stak. Furthermore, it sounded
- 12:40Speaker 2: a lot more like a steal than a stak. Clarence
- 12:43Speaker 2: thought about that time a few years ago. In two
- 12:45Speaker 2: thousand and five, when OJ was busted for stealing satellite TV.
- 12:49Speaker 2: The FEDS raided his Miami home and found bootmotors, illegal
- 12:53Speaker 2: devices specifically used to pirate cable Direct TV. Had him
- 12:57Speaker 2: over a barrel twenty five large in fines. Not that
- 13:01Speaker 2: Clarence was a goodie two shoes. Clarence knew about fucking
- 13:04Speaker 2: up on an OJ sized scale.
- 13:07Speaker 1: Back in eighty seven.
- 13:08Speaker 2: Clarence tried to sell cop to an undercover officer in Louisiana.
- 13:12Speaker 2: He copped a guilty plea for possession. In these days,
- 13:15Speaker 2: he worked as a mortgage broker in Vegas and tried
- 13:18Speaker 2: to fly a little strainer.
- 13:20Speaker 1: But for OJ, sure he'd fly crooked for a hot minute.
- 13:23Speaker 2: And so Clarence drove OJ over to the Palace Station
- 13:27Speaker 2: along with Charlie, the guy who was posing as the buyer.
- 13:30Speaker 2: Clarence brought his own friend, Charles Cashmore along for the ride,
- 13:34Speaker 2: and as the four walked into the Palace Station's lobby,
- 13:37Speaker 2: OJ said that Tom Ricchio would meet them inside. OJ
- 13:40Speaker 2: failed to mention that there were two other guys waiting
- 13:43Speaker 2: for them inside as well. So it came as a
- 13:46Speaker 2: shock to Clarence that not only were there two more
- 13:48Speaker 2: characters in this burgeoning posse, but that they were packing
- 13:51Speaker 2: heat as well. And those two guys were Goldie in Spence.
- 13:57Speaker 2: Goldie and Spence weren't dressed casually like everyone else. They
- 14:00Speaker 2: looked like crocketted tubs from Miami Vice, slick suits, one
- 14:04Speaker 2: purple one black bulges at their sides, and told everyone
- 14:07Speaker 2: they were packing. Spence had lent Goldie as twenty two
- 14:10Speaker 2: Bretta Goldie had it stuffed at his waistband. Spence concealed
- 14:13Speaker 2: the forty five caliber Ruger semi automatic. Whatever confidence Clarence
- 14:18Speaker 2: had been feeling earlier suddenly slipped away. He didn't know
- 14:21Speaker 2: what was going on anymore. It wasn't expecting guns, but OJ,
- 14:25Speaker 2: assessing his makeshift six man offensive line, was feeling confident.
- 14:30Speaker 1: He was ready.
- 14:31Speaker 2: He was ready to reclaim what was rightfully his. He
- 14:34Speaker 2: was going in jumbo stacked. OJ's team made their way
- 14:38Speaker 2: to room twelve oh three. Al Beardsley and Bruce Ramon
- 14:41Speaker 2: and the dealers inside the room had no idea what
- 14:44Speaker 2: was about to go down. It was seven point thirty
- 14:46Speaker 2: eight pm, fourth in goal.
- 14:49Speaker 1: In the hallway. OJ began to get upset.
- 14:52Speaker 2: And the closer they got to the hotel room door,
- 14:54Speaker 2: the more pissed off he became. Took a deep breath
- 14:57Speaker 2: so they wouldn't fly into a rage, and then OJ
- 15:01Speaker 2: called an audible. He signaled to Spence, flash your heat
- 15:04Speaker 2: and he get in the room, look menacing. Spence took
- 15:07Speaker 2: the cue. No fucking around. It was time to rush.
- 15:10Speaker 2: The knock on the door and the door opened. Tom
- 15:13Speaker 2: Ricchio entered the room, first with Charlie as a supposed
- 15:16Speaker 2: sports collector, and then Goldie, and then Spence, Clarence, then
- 15:20Speaker 2: Cash Moll and then a beat.
- 15:22Speaker 1: And then Oj walked in. Last in the air went
- 15:26Speaker 1: out of the room.
- 15:27Speaker 2: Bruce Ramon was in the middle of a phone call.
- 15:30Speaker 2: He dropped the receiver and it dangled on its cord.
- 15:32Speaker 2: Albeard's the unmissible at six foot six and three hundred pounds,
- 15:35Speaker 2: couldn't believe he was face to face with his hero,
- 15:38Speaker 2: Oj Simpson. Spence had the ruger in his hand. He
- 15:42Speaker 2: pointed it around the room Goldie first, stal Oj looked
- 15:45Speaker 2: at all the goods laid out on the bed. He
- 15:47Speaker 2: wanted to find his. He saw footballs, some were signed
- 15:50Speaker 2: with the details of the records he'd broken while carrying
- 15:53Speaker 2: them in a game. He saw an All American team ball.
- 15:56Speaker 2: He was pretty sure that was his, too. He saw
- 15:58Speaker 2: that one Ja Agger Hoover photo. He saw a ziploc
- 16:01Speaker 2: bag of his ties, fucking.
- 16:02Speaker 1: Neckties, assholes.
- 16:04Speaker 2: He saw a shit that wasn't even his signed Pete
- 16:06Speaker 2: Rose baseballs and Joe Montana lithographs. Don't let nobody out
- 16:10Speaker 2: of this room, he said to no one in particular,
- 16:12Speaker 2: eyes still scanning the tens of thousands of dollars of
- 16:15Speaker 2: merchandise on the bed, And the room itself was small,
- 16:18Speaker 2: nothing fancy, thirty five bucks a night, and now there
- 16:21Speaker 2: were nine men stuffed inside it. Some like Goldie and
- 16:25Speaker 2: Spence were relishing the role of armed muscle. Others like
- 16:28Speaker 2: Clarence and Cashmore didn't know what they were supposed to
- 16:30Speaker 2: be doing. Albeardsley and Bruce Vermon. Meanwhile, we're freaking the
- 16:34Speaker 2: fuck out. Spence held his arm out and pointed the
- 16:37Speaker 2: rugor of Bruce. Bruce's face drained of blood. Spence thought
- 16:40Speaker 2: about OJ's raged up advice. Look menacing, You guys are lucky.
- 16:44Speaker 2: We're not in la he said, the forty five tight
- 16:46Speaker 2: in his hand. If we were, you'd all be on
- 16:49Speaker 2: the floor, on the floor, why, Clarence thought, watching the
- 16:53Speaker 2: scene play out in disbelieve, on the floor because this
- 16:56Speaker 2: is a stick up, or on the floor, because they'd
- 16:58Speaker 2: all be dead. Al beards Lee, the unlucky sports memorabilia collector,
- 17:03Speaker 2: made a move towards the bed. His hand went down
- 17:06Speaker 2: where the shitty mattress meant the shittier frame. Clarence panicked
- 17:09Speaker 2: the dealer was going for his own gat. Clarence was
- 17:11Speaker 2: sure of it. Clarence sprang into action. Within seconds had
- 17:14Speaker 2: al up against the wall. OJ had turned his detention
- 17:17Speaker 2: from the swag laid out of the bed to the
- 17:19Speaker 2: commotion Spence with the forty five drawn, Clarence pinning the dealer.
- 17:23Speaker 1: Shit was getting out of hand, chill.
- 17:25Speaker 2: OJ said, thinking to himself about how best to tone
- 17:27Speaker 2: down the excitement in the room. And maybe Spence should
- 17:30Speaker 2: put the gun away, Maybe they should back up and leave.
- 17:32Speaker 2: It was supposed to have been so simple, so easy
- 17:35Speaker 2: in and out, but shit went south faster than a
- 17:38Speaker 2: white Bronco going north. OJ told the guys to back
- 17:41Speaker 2: up whatever they could. They needed to split. If they
- 17:44Speaker 2: hung around much longer, the police would get involved, and
- 17:47Speaker 2: police were the last thing Oj Simpson needed. Brentwood, January first,
- 17:54Speaker 2: nineteen eighty nine, three point fifty eight am. All was
- 17:58Speaker 2: not quiet on New Year's Day At three sixty North
- 18:01Speaker 2: Rockingham Avenue. Nicole Brown Simpson was screaming bloody murder into
- 18:05Speaker 2: her telephone. When the LAPD arrived, they found her hiding
- 18:10Speaker 2: in the bushes outside her Brentwood mansion.
- 18:12Speaker 1: She was in her bra and sweatpants. She was covered
- 18:15Speaker 1: in mud.
- 18:16Speaker 2: Her face was beaten, her lips split, swollen cheek, blackened eye,
- 18:20Speaker 2: large handprint on her neck. She kept repeating the same
- 18:24Speaker 2: line over and over.
- 18:25Speaker 1: He's going to kill me.
- 18:27Speaker 2: He's going to kill me, He's going to kill me.
- 18:30Speaker 2: It was the same exact line Nicole had spoken on
- 18:33Speaker 2: the nine to one one call that brought the police
- 18:35Speaker 2: to her house in the first place. The LAPD was
- 18:38Speaker 2: intimately familiar with.
- 18:40Speaker 1: Three sixty rocking hand.
- 18:42Speaker 2: This was the ninth time the cops had been to
- 18:44Speaker 2: that address for a domestic disturbance call. Sometimes there was
- 18:48Speaker 2: shouting and other times, like in nineteen eighty five, there
- 18:51Speaker 2: was a car smashed in with a baseball bat. When
- 18:54Speaker 2: the police arrived that time, they found oj still clenching
- 18:58Speaker 2: the bat, still pulsing with rage. So naturally, Nicole found
- 19:02Speaker 2: it insulting when, on this the ninth time, the cops
- 19:05Speaker 2: had to ask her just exactly who was going to
- 19:08Speaker 2: kill her. She awkwardly covered up her exposed body with
- 19:11Speaker 2: her arms, and she knew. The cops knew Oj. She
- 19:14Speaker 2: told him that her husband had kicked her, slapped her,
- 19:16Speaker 2: he had tried to kill her, and every time she
- 19:18Speaker 2: made a call like this to the la fucking pe
- 19:20Speaker 2: they didn't do anything about it. They came out to
- 19:22Speaker 2: the house, did this little song and dance, said what's
- 19:25Speaker 2: up to Oj? And then everyone went back to whatever
- 19:27Speaker 2: it was they were doing. This time, he needed to
- 19:29Speaker 2: be different. This time, she demanded the arrest him. OJ
- 19:33Speaker 2: appeared at the gate near the entrance to the house,
- 19:35Speaker 2: half dressed. He waved to the cops. He told him
- 19:38Speaker 2: not to worry. It was a family matter, no need
- 19:41Speaker 2: to make a big deal out of it. He and
- 19:42Speaker 2: Nicole could resolve and on her own, and the cops
- 19:45Speaker 2: pushed back. They were placing OJ Simpson under arrest for
- 19:48Speaker 2: beating his wife. He needed to get dressed and go
- 19:51Speaker 2: with them. OJ backed away from the gate, but within
- 19:54Speaker 2: seconds the cops had lost sight of him. He's going
- 19:57Speaker 2: to kill me, Nicole repeated. A cop dre the blanket
- 20:00Speaker 2: over her shoulders. Behind the house, a car engine started.
- 20:04Speaker 2: It idled for a moment, and then the sound of
- 20:07Speaker 2: hasty acceleration. Before the cops could put OJ in cuffs.
- 20:11Speaker 1: He was gone.
- 20:12Speaker 2: The real lights of his blue Bentley faded down the
- 20:15Speaker 2: back streets of Brentwood, destination unknown.
- 20:23Speaker 1: We'll be right back after this. We're, We're, We're.
- 20:33Speaker 2: Bruce Ramone ran as fast as he could to the
- 20:35Speaker 2: lobby of the Palace Station. He needed a phone, He
- 20:38Speaker 2: needed the police, and he needed to call the police
- 20:40Speaker 2: from the hotel lobby because his cell phone had been
- 20:43Speaker 2: stolen by OJ fucking Simpson, who had it along with
- 20:48Speaker 2: the All American Team football, the three game balls signed
- 20:51Speaker 2: with significant dates, the j Edgar Hoover photo, the neckties,
- 20:54Speaker 2: the baseball signed by Pete Rose, and the Joe Montana lithographs.
- 20:59Speaker 1: OJ at olive.
- 21:01Speaker 2: OJ's crew had busted in his Bruce Fromong's hotel room
- 21:05Speaker 2: and hastily thrown all that stuff into boxes and pillowcases.
- 21:09Speaker 2: And then before they left, not even ten minutes after
- 21:11Speaker 2: they burst into the room, one of the guys with
- 21:13Speaker 2: one of the guns, the one they called Goldie, yanked
- 21:16Speaker 2: the hotel room's phone cord out of the wall. OJ
- 21:19Speaker 2: looked at Bruce and said, give me your cell phone.
- 21:22Speaker 2: Bruce knew OJ was just buying time to get the
- 21:24Speaker 2: fuck back to wherever it was he was staying in Vegas,
- 21:27Speaker 2: probably a nicer room than Bruce would ever see in
- 21:29Speaker 2: his life. But now standing in the lobby of the
- 21:32Speaker 2: Palace station waiting for police dispatch to answer his call,
- 21:36Speaker 2: Bruce was livid. Did that just happen? Had he been
- 21:39Speaker 2: robbed at gunpoint by OJ Simpson? OJ walked out of
- 21:43Speaker 2: the hotel room with something like eighty grand and merchandise that,
- 21:47Speaker 2: as far as Bruce was concerned, no fucking way that
- 21:50Speaker 2: ship belonged to OJ. Bruce had legally acquired that merchandise.
- 21:55Speaker 2: When officers finally showed up, Bruce told them what happened.
- 21:58Speaker 2: He had just been robbed by OJ's Simpson. One cop
- 22:01Speaker 2: looked at the other chuckle looked back at Bruce to
- 22:04Speaker 2: determine if he was jerking their chains. OJ Simpson. The
- 22:07Speaker 2: cop said, who else was here? Al Collings? The other
- 22:10Speaker 2: cop laughed, Yeah, Should we put out an EPB for
- 22:12Speaker 2: a white Ford Bronco. Back at the Palms, O. J.
- 22:15Speaker 2: Simpson was drunk and he was trying to calm down
- 22:18Speaker 2: his makeshift high screw. The severity of what had just
- 22:21Speaker 2: happened back in room twelve oh three was starting to
- 22:23Speaker 2: hit them, even if OJ was trying to brush the
- 22:26Speaker 2: whole thing off his shoulder. Charlie wondered if they'd all
- 22:29Speaker 2: go to jail. Spence was trying to remember what crazy
- 22:32Speaker 2: shit he shouted in the heat of the moment. Goldie
- 22:34Speaker 2: regretted carrying a gun into the room. Clarence wanted to
- 22:37Speaker 2: fly straight again.
- 22:38Speaker 1: Don't worry, OJ was telling them.
- 22:40Speaker 2: We got nothing to worry about. Just say there were
- 22:42Speaker 2: no guns. As long as there were no guns, were cool.
- 22:46Speaker 2: I didn't see any guns. Did you guys see any guns?
- 22:48Speaker 2: And the other guys couldn't believe what they were hearing.
- 22:50Speaker 2: Did OJ think this was a joke? Of course there
- 22:53Speaker 2: were guns. Of course. Al Beardsley and Bruce Fromong were
- 22:56Speaker 2: on the phone to the cops right now, and it
- 22:58Speaker 2: was only a matter of moments before the cop started
- 23:00Speaker 2: picking them off one at a time. OJ reminded them
- 23:03Speaker 2: all that no matter what the shit they took belonged
- 23:06Speaker 2: to him. Well, okay, not to Pete rose Balls with
- 23:08Speaker 2: the Joe Montana photos and Bruce froming cell phone, but shit,
- 23:12Speaker 2: most of it belonged to him. Now, man, this isn't funny.
- 23:15Speaker 2: The crew was telling OJ, this is armed robbery. We're
- 23:18Speaker 2: all going to get arrested. We're all going to jail.
- 23:21Speaker 2: Oj sat silent for a moment. Music faintly played over
- 23:25Speaker 2: the pa and the Palms lounge where they all sat together.
- 23:28Speaker 2: He began to tune out the noises in the casino,
- 23:30Speaker 2: the ringing bells, the tumbling dice, the cascading coins, and focused.
- 23:35Speaker 1: On the music, just the music.
- 23:38Speaker 2: He looked around the table, He looked into the eyes
- 23:41Speaker 2: of the six guys who were trying to get him
- 23:43Speaker 2: to see the light, to face the music. It was
- 23:45Speaker 2: in that moment that Oj conceded silently to himself that
- 23:49Speaker 2: perhaps he had done something.
- 23:51Speaker 1: Truly horrible, you know.
- 23:54Speaker 2: June twelfth, nineteen ninety four, eleven forty five pm, eight
- 23:59Speaker 2: seventy five South Bundy Drive, Brentwood, Sakru Bostep could hear
- 24:04Speaker 2: music drifting from his neighbor's condo, real faint. He guessed
- 24:08Speaker 2: that a window or a door had been left open.
- 24:11Speaker 2: He couldn't hear anything else. He stood on the sidewalk
- 24:15Speaker 2: on South Bundy, his wife at his side. He held
- 24:18Speaker 2: an Akita on a leash. The dog wasn't his, and
- 24:21Speaker 2: he wasn't so much walking the dog as the dog
- 24:24Speaker 2: was walking him. It led him here and it stopped
- 24:27Speaker 2: near a palm tree. A breeze blew through the thick
- 24:30Speaker 2: palm leaves and quivered the security system warning sign that
- 24:34Speaker 2: was planted in the front lawn. The dog had been
- 24:37Speaker 2: found by Sukru's neighbor earlier in the evening. Its paws
- 24:41Speaker 2: and legs were stained with blood. The dog appeared unharmed,
- 24:45Speaker 2: though Sakru offered to watch the akita overnight. It was
- 24:49Speaker 2: late and they'd looked for the owner in the morning,
- 24:52Speaker 2: but the dog was restless. The dog wanted to walk,
- 24:56Speaker 2: so Sakru and his wife took the akita for a
- 24:58Speaker 2: late night's stroll up the street and had stopped here
- 25:02Speaker 2: eight seventy five South Bundy. The dog panted as it
- 25:06Speaker 2: stood still. It tilted its head and pricked up its ear.
- 25:10Speaker 2: Sukru had gone inside the house, he would have found
- 25:13Speaker 2: lit candles glowing in the master bedroom, a drawn tub
- 25:17Speaker 2: TV on, a melting pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream,
- 25:21Speaker 2: two kids sleeping soundly upstairs. Sakaru looked to see if
- 25:25Speaker 2: he could tell where the music was coming from. That's
- 25:28Speaker 2: when he saw the blood. It was splattered on the
- 25:32Speaker 2: stone walkway, obscured by the darkness. It slashed a path
- 25:36Speaker 2: all the way to the front door of the condo,
- 25:38Speaker 2: and that's where the body was. A woman's body slumped
- 25:41Speaker 2: at the bottom of the stairs leading out of the condo.
- 25:44Speaker 2: She was blonde and wore a short black dress. But
- 25:47Speaker 2: Sukaru wasn't focusing on the blonde or the black. It
- 25:50Speaker 2: was the red that caught his eye. He could see
- 25:52Speaker 2: the blood glistening in the moonlight. It looked like someone
- 25:55Speaker 2: had dumped a bucket of blood at the base of
- 25:57Speaker 2: the woman's head. It had seeped into the gap between
- 26:00Speaker 2: each stone and the walkway. It seemed to be creeping
- 26:03Speaker 2: up on the sidewalk, crawling its way into the light.
- 26:06Speaker 2: The woman's body was tainted with blood splatter, her entire
- 26:09Speaker 2: face smothered in deep crimson. The knife wounds were everywhere.
- 26:13Speaker 2: She had been stabbed in her throat, stuck deep in
- 26:16Speaker 2: the jugular. There was a hole in her spine. Her
- 26:18Speaker 2: head was hacked up, her throat was carved up. Her
- 26:21Speaker 2: neck had been sliced so deeply, almost from ear to ear,
- 26:25Speaker 2: that her head was practically detached from her body. Sakar's
- 26:29Speaker 2: stomach jumped to his throat. He squeezed one of his
- 26:31Speaker 2: hands on the dog leash and the other onto his
- 26:33Speaker 2: wife's hand, and that's when Sakru noticed another body, a man's,
- 26:38Speaker 2: just a few feet away from the woman's. The body
- 26:40Speaker 2: was dumped on the ground. One leg of his blue
- 26:43Speaker 2: jeans was soaked in deep crimson red. His blue jeans
- 26:46Speaker 2: weren't even blue anymore, and there was a gaping hole
- 26:49Speaker 2: in his neck. He'd been stabbed in the chest and
- 26:51Speaker 2: in the abdomen. He bled from his head and his face.
- 26:54Speaker 2: He bled from his stomach and his legs. His blood
- 26:57Speaker 2: oozed into the ferns and dirt, and the Akita, at
- 27:00Speaker 2: the end of the least, just stood there panting. It
- 27:03Speaker 2: didn't bark or wine. Sakru too, was silent. He was
- 27:07Speaker 2: a resident of Los Angeles, which meant that he knew
- 27:10Speaker 2: all about the evil things that happened in the middle
- 27:13Speaker 2: of the night and the evil people capable of it,
- 27:16Speaker 2: Charles Manson, the Hillside Strangler, the Freeway.
- 27:20Speaker 1: Killers, Richard Ramirez. Just like the Akita.
- 27:23Speaker 2: Couldn't bark, Sucu couldn't describe what he was looking at,
- 27:28Speaker 2: nor did he want to. All he knew was that
- 27:31Speaker 2: it was the work of something undeniably evil, and that
- 27:34Speaker 2: it would.
- 27:35Speaker 3: Haunt him forever.
- 28:00Speaker 2: Everyone knew OJ Simpson was guilty. The evidence was overwhelming,
- 28:05Speaker 2: the testimony from his former friends was damning. His defense
- 28:10Speaker 2: was laughably transparent. No matter where he tried to place
- 28:13Speaker 2: himself on that faithful night in question, or who he
- 28:16Speaker 2: tried to lay blame on for the actions that were
- 28:18Speaker 2: so obviously his, OJ came up short in the eyes
- 28:22Speaker 2: of the men and women selected to decide his faith
- 28:25Speaker 2: and so, on October third, with the entire world watching,
- 28:29Speaker 2: a jury of his peers found O. J. Simpson guilty
- 28:33Speaker 2: of all charges October third, two thousand and eight.
- 28:37Speaker 1: That is not October.
- 28:39Speaker 2: Third, nineteen ninety five, when OJ was originally on trial
- 28:43Speaker 2: for the murders of his ex wife, Nicole Brown Simpson
- 28:46Speaker 2: and her friend Ron Goldman.
- 28:48Speaker 1: No.
- 28:48Speaker 2: OJ was found guilty for his role in the two
- 28:51Speaker 2: thousand and seven robbery at the Palace Station in Las Vegas,
- 28:54Speaker 2: in which he stole memorabilia that he thought rightfully belonged
- 28:58Speaker 2: to him.
- 28:59Speaker 1: For that was guilty guilty of.
- 29:02Speaker 2: Conspiracy to commit a crime, guilty of burglary with a
- 29:05Speaker 2: deadly weapon, guilty of first degree kidnapping with the deadly weapon.
- 29:09Speaker 2: In all, there were twelve counts in this time. OJ
- 29:12Speaker 2: Simpson was found guilty of every.
- 29:15Speaker 3: Single one of them.
- 29:17Speaker 2: The Las Vegas judge called OJ arrogant and ignorant. She
- 29:20Speaker 2: sentenced him, along with Clarence Stewart, the only friend in
- 29:23Speaker 2: the heist gang that didn't flip on OJ at the trial,
- 29:26Speaker 2: to at least fifteen years in prison. She also made
- 29:30Speaker 2: it clear that her ruling had absolutely nothing to do
- 29:32Speaker 2: with the ruling that OJ had received thirteen years ago
- 29:36Speaker 2: to the day.
- 29:37Speaker 1: That would be the ruling.
- 29:39Speaker 2: Of October third, nineteen ninety five. On that day, the
- 29:43Speaker 2: phone rang at the West Los Angeles Bureau of the LAPD.
- 29:46Speaker 2: The police were needed immediately. There was a developing situation.
- 29:51Speaker 2: It was escalating. Someone might get hurt, so the police
- 29:54Speaker 2: were sent out three sixty North Rockingham.
- 29:57Speaker 1: Avenue, Brentwood.
- 29:58Speaker 2: The cops knew that adre all too well, But this time,
- 30:02Speaker 2: unlike the other nine times it had been called to O. J.
- 30:05Speaker 2: Simpson's home, the cops weren't called to refere a domestic disturbance.
- 30:09Speaker 2: There was a party going on at three sixty North
- 30:11Speaker 2: Rockingham and the cops were needed to provide protection. They
- 30:15Speaker 2: were needed to provide protection for Oj Simpson. Earlier that day,
- 30:20Speaker 2: OJ had been acquitted for the murder of his ex
- 30:22Speaker 2: wife Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman. The vertic split
- 30:26Speaker 2: the country in half. The trial had lasted over a year.
- 30:29Speaker 2: It was both a monumental turning point in American media
- 30:32Speaker 2: and also.
- 30:32Speaker 1: A total shit show.
- 30:34Speaker 2: OJ dominated the news, from nightly newscast to interview shows
- 30:38Speaker 2: and tabloids to pillars of upstanding journalism. Attorneys, judges, and
- 30:42Speaker 2: witnesses were transformed into celebrities. The entire trial felt more
- 30:46Speaker 2: like a scripted soap opera than real life. Over the
- 30:49Speaker 2: course of the year, the trial became less about the
- 30:51Speaker 2: murderer more about race in America, and specifically race in
- 30:55Speaker 2: Los Angeles, where the televised beating of Rodney King by
- 30:59Speaker 2: lapdas officers and the subsequent riots in nineteen ninety two
- 31:03Speaker 2: were still a fresh wound. Following the not guilty verdict
- 31:07Speaker 2: on October third, nineteen ninety five, Oj rode in a
- 31:10Speaker 2: van back to his place on Rockingham Up in Brentwood,
- 31:13Speaker 2: and the LAPD worked crowd control as more vehicles began
- 31:17Speaker 2: to arrive rolls, royces, limousines, tinted windows, vans loaded with
- 31:22Speaker 2: crates of champagne. The fancy cars snaked their way past
- 31:25Speaker 2: hedgerows and wrought iron gates. The party went on into
- 31:29Speaker 2: the night, but it didn't last for long. Despite OJ's acquittal,
- 31:34Speaker 2: more than half of the country thought he'd done it.
- 31:36Speaker 2: A deal OJ had struck to be interviewed live on
- 31:39Speaker 2: pay per view TV collapsed, and so did the twenty
- 31:41Speaker 2: million dollars pay day that came along with it. He
- 31:44Speaker 2: was dropped by his agent in the talent company that
- 31:46Speaker 2: had represented him for two decades, and the exclusive Riviera
- 31:50Speaker 2: Country Club didn't renew his membership. Brentwood neighbors put up
- 31:53Speaker 2: makeshift signs leading to OJ's mansion. One sign read welcome
- 31:57Speaker 2: to the neighborhood home of a Brentwood Butcher. Then the
- 32:01Speaker 2: Goldman family took OJ to court for the civil suit
- 32:04Speaker 2: the following year, and that's when he lost it all,
- 32:07Speaker 2: the mansion, the money, the memorabilia. As the New Century
- 32:11Speaker 2: dawned and the years dragged on, OJ, a free but
- 32:15Speaker 2: financially ruined man, found he still had some friends out
- 32:19Speaker 2: on the golf course.
- 32:20Speaker 1: Friends.
- 32:20Speaker 2: It would play up his involvement at the center of
- 32:22Speaker 2: the trial of the Century has nothing more than a joke. Friends,
- 32:25Speaker 2: It would laugh each time he'd accidentally drop his golf
- 32:28Speaker 2: glove on the green and say, oops, Oj, you did
- 32:32Speaker 2: it again. His friends like OJ had fallen from what
- 32:35Speaker 2: they thought was grace. X cons Guys with records for
- 32:39Speaker 2: controlled substances and illegal firearms. Guys busted for prostitution and
- 32:44Speaker 2: for schemes to defraud investors. Guys who weren't strangers to felony,
- 32:48Speaker 2: thefter slinging dope guys didn't believe the bullshit that the
- 32:51Speaker 2: house always wins, whether that proverbial house was the lapd
- 32:54Speaker 2: or a jury of one's peer shit.
- 32:56Speaker 1: They all said, just look at OJ.
- 32:58Speaker 2: And so if OJ came to the con golfing buddies
- 33:01Speaker 2: with a shoddy smash and grab plan to get his
- 33:03Speaker 2: stuff back, and the proverbial house was a Vegas casino,
- 33:06Speaker 2: they needn't be worried, They'd say, yes, Vegas was the
- 33:10Speaker 2: place for yes. And there was no luck like OJ's luck.
- 33:14Speaker 2: OJ could defy the odds of a casino, he could
- 33:17Speaker 2: be their rabbits foot, but in Vegas there was no luck.
- 33:22Speaker 2: There was only Disgrace. I'm Jake Brennan and this this Disgraceland.
- 33:43Speaker 2: Disgraceland was created by Yours Truly and is produced in
- 33:46Speaker 2: partnership with Double Elvis. Credits for this episode can be
- 33:49Speaker 2: found on the show notes page at disgracelamppod dot com.
- 33:53Speaker 2: If you're listening as a Disgraceland All Access member, thank
- 33:56Speaker 2: you for supporting the show. We really appreciate it. And
- 33:59Speaker 2: if not, you can become a member right now by
- 34:01Speaker 2: going to disgracelampod dot com slash Membership. Members can listen
- 34:06Speaker 2: to every episode of disgracelan ad free, Plus you'll get
- 34:10Speaker 2: one brand new exclusive episode every month, weekly unscripted bonus episodes,
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- 34:19Speaker 2: Visit disgraceslampod dot com slash membership for details, rate and
- 34:24Speaker 2: review the show, and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter
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- 34:33Speaker 1: Rock a Roller, He's the man.