Former O.J. Simpson Attorney, Friend Back Accomplice Theory

A drug trafficker with alleged mob connections and links to O.J. Simpson reportedly became a secret jailhouse informant, claiming he knew about attempts to dispose of evidence—including a possible murder weapon that has never been found.

Alan Dershowitz, a former member of Simpson’s “Dream Team” defense, said the killings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman remain an “open case” and that the allegations warrant further examination.

“It seems plausible and perhaps credible,” Dershowitz said Monday on Fox News’ “America Reports.”

Dershowitz said he believes the case contains “unresolved” issues that should be revisited.

The questions stem from a New York Times report published Sunday about Joseph Ippolito, a former cigarette boat racer, drug trafficker and restaurateur who knew Simpson and developed a close relationship with Al Cowlings. Cowlings was the former NFL player who drove the white Ford Bronco during the pursuit that preceded Simpson’s arrest in Los Angeles.

Ippolito told federal prosecutors that he had information about the murder weapon, which has never been recovered.

His brother, Sam, told The Times that Ippolito came home the night of the killings carrying a heavy bag and apparently had blood on his hands. According to Sam, Ippolito said he discarded the bag in a dumpster on Los Angeles’ Doheny Drive without asking what was inside. He later sought payment for the account and then recanted, the report said.

Dershowitz said the allegations nevertheless deserve scrutiny.

“I think we ought to start from scratch and look at this evidence anew and see if there is credible evidence of a second person,” he told Fox News. “I’ve often, right from the beginning, thought that this was very difficult for one person to have brought off and not only killed two people, but then disposed of the evidence and done all the things that we know occurred in this case.”

Charlie Ehrlich, who had been friends with Ippolito since 1971 and later became close to Simpson, also said he believed another person may have been involved. He strongly denied online speculation that he himself was that person.

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“In my mind, there is a secondary guy,” Ehrlich told News Outlet Monday. “Who? I have no clue. But I believe, in my mind, there is.”

Ehrlich was charged in connection with Simpson’s 2007 Las Vegas memorabilia robbery case. He has said he did not meet Simpson until the former NFL star moved to Florida after his trial, but the two eventually became very close.

“Do I think he did it? I don’t know,” Ehrlich said. “If he did it, or if he did not do it, I never saw him get angry — and I was with him a lot the last 10-12 years here of his life here in Florida. We were together every weekend.”

Ehrlich has not been charged in the Brown Simpson and Goldman killings. Neither Ippolito nor any of Simpson’s other associates has been charged in the case.

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Dershowitz also pointed out that many central figures connected to the case have died. Simpson died in 2024, while Ippolito died in 2006.

“This should be looked at,” Dershowitz said. “This is not a closed case.”

Dr. Michael Baden, a Fox News contributor and renowned forensic pathologist who had been hired by Simpson’s defense alongside Dr. Henry Lee, had been tasked with evaluating the autopsy findings, including that the same weapon was used on Brown Simpson and Goldman.

While he said he was not involved with looking into whether someone could have assisted with the slayings after the fact, he told News Outlet that there was “no scene, autopsy [or] scientific evidence of more than one attacker.”

Cowlings did not immediately respond to a request for comment.