Unsealed records show informant told federal officials about O.J. Simpson case, New York Times reports

As of 1:50 p.m. ET, Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026

Court records unsealed at the request of The New York Times show that a federal informant told law enforcement about the 1994 killings of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, including the supposed location of the murder weapon, the Times reported Sunday. The Times is the only source for these findings; GROKsiNEWS.com has not reviewed the unsealed records.

The informant, Joseph "Joey" Ippolito, was a convicted drug trafficker and mafia associate who escaped from a Florida prison a month before the murders, according to the Times. He was a close friend of Al Cowlings, Simpson's longtime confidant, the newspaper reported.

What prosecutors wrote

After Ippolito was returned to custody about a year later, he cooperated with federal investigators in New York, the Times reported. In a memo asking a federal judge for leniency at his sentencing, prosecutors wrote that they "found Ippolito to be a remarkable source of information," according to the newspaper.

Prosecutors wrote that his relationships with Cowlings and Simpson made him "privy to many facts relevant to the case, including Mr. Simpson's alleged domestic violence, the Simpsons' narcotics usage, Mr. Simpson's attempted flight from justice, and his disposal of the murder weapon," the Times reported. The murder weapon has never been found.

The Times said the information was described in a federal court memo and a sentencing hearing transcript, and that four people, including a federal prosecutor and a former U.S. marshal, independently confirmed Ippolito's cooperation. Federal officials said they shared the information with Los Angeles prosecutors near the end of the murder trial, and Ippolito was never called as a witness, according to the report. He died in 2006.

Brother's account, then a recantation

Earlier this year, Ippolito's brother Sam told the Times that on the night of the killings, Joey came back to the West Hollywood apartment where they were staying with what appeared to be blood on his hands and a bag containing a heavy object, which Sam said he threw into a construction-site dumpster.

Months after that interview, Sam Ippolito asked the Times for compensation. When a reporter declined, he recanted his story and said he "was offered a ton of money" to tell it elsewhere, the newspaper reported.

Investigators skeptical; case still open

Tom Lange, the lead detective on the case, told the Times he recalled Ippolito's name coming up but did not consider him a serious suspect, and he still does not believe Simpson had help. A Los Angeles Police Department spokesman told the newspaper that the "O.J. Simpson case remains an open and ongoing investigation".

Simpson was acquitted of the murders in 1995, was later found liable for the deaths in a civil case, and died in 2024.

Why it matters

The records, as described by the Times, suggest federal officials had information about the missing murder weapon that was never presented at one of the most-watched trials in U.S. history.