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Simpson Admitted To Killing Ex-Wife, Former Friend Says

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The Associated Press

Published: May 11, 2008

LOS ANGELES - A memorabilia dealer who profited from O.J. Simpson for many years is the latest former crony to write a tell-all book, this one alleging a groggy Simpson, high on marijuana, confessed to killing his ex-wife after he was acquitted.
Mike Gilbert also said he helped his former friend wiggle out of the murder charges by suggesting how to bloat his hands so they wouldn't fit the notorious bloody gloves - by not taking his arthritis medication.

Gilbert's book, "How I Helped O.J. Get Away With Murder: The Shocking Inside Story of Violence, Loyalty, Regret and Remorse," is due in stores Monday. It was released to The Associated Press in advance.

He said Simpson had smoked pot, took a sleeping pill and was drinking beer at his Brentwood home weeks after his trial when he confided what happened the night of June 12, 1994. Simpson said he went to his ex-wife's condominium but did not bring a knife with him. Simpson told him Nicole Brown Simpson had one in her hand when she opened the door.

In a soft mumble, Simpson told him: "If she hadn't opened that door with a knife in her hand ... she'd still be alive."

"Nothing more needed to be said," Gilbert writes. "O.J. had confessed to me. There's no doubt in my mind."

Simpson and Ronald Goldman were stabbed to death at the entrance to her condominium. The knife was not found.

Simpson's current lawyer Yale Galanter said none of Gilbert's claims are true and that Gilbert is "a delusional drug addict who needs money. He's fallen on very hard times. He is in trouble with the IRS."

Gilbert is the second sports memorabilia dealer to write a Simpson book this year. Thomas Riccio, who arranged a Las Vegas memorabilia sale that led to Simpson's armed robbery arrest, penned "Busted" last month.

Simpson himself participated in the controversial book "If I Did It," which he claimed was not a confession. It was withdrawn by the publisher and eventually released last year by the Goldman family to help satisfy a $33.5 million wrongful death judgment.

Gilbert said he continued to represent Simpson for another decade after the alleged confession, hawking items with his autograph, hiding the profits and helping Simpson shield his possessions so they could not be seized by the Goldman family.

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