Ex-crony: I helped O.J. ‘get away with murder’

LOS ANGELES (AP) — 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 saying that a groggy Simpson, high on marijuana, confessed to killing his ex-wife after he was acquitted.

Mike Gilbert also claims 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.

Mr. Gilbert’s Regnery book, “How I Helped O.J. Get Away With Murder: The Shocking Inside Story of Violence, Loyalty, Regret and Remorse” is due in stores tomorrow. It was released to the Associated Press in advance.

He said Simpson had smoked pot, took a sleeping pill and was drinking beer when he confided at his Brentwood home weeks after his trial 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,” Mr. Gilbert writes. “O.J. had confessed to me. There’s no doubt in my mind.”

Mrs. Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman were stabbed to death at the entrance to her condominium. The knife was never found.

Simpson’s current attorney, Yale Galanter, said none of Mr. Gilbert’s claims is true and that Mr. Gilbert is “a delusional drug addict who needs money. He’s fallen on very hard times. He is in trouble with the IRS.”

“I’ve talked to O.J. about it,” said Mr. Galanter, who refused to allow Simpson to comment directly because of his upcoming robbery trial in Las Vegas. “This stuff not only didn’t occur, but it’s not factually supported by the evidence.”

The name-calling and accusations on both sides showed that deep wounds persist.

In a phone interview, Mr. Gilbert called Mr. Galanter “an ambulance chaser and an enabler and denier for O.J. I know. I used to do the same thing. I understand the game.”

He acknowledged he has tax problems, which he says were caused by Simpson, but said, “I could take a drug test and pass it. I highly doubt that O.J. could.”

Mr. Gilbert said he continued to represent Simpson for another decade after the purported 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, which won a $33.5 million wrongful-death judgment against Simpson.

Mr. Gilbert also claims that he counseled the jailed Simpson during his murder trial to stop taking his arthritis medicine so his hands would swell up and not fit the bloody gloves in court. He offers no proof Simpson followed his advice or that he was taking any medicine.

Former Gilbert partner Bruce Fromong, who was involved in the Las Vegas incident, said Mr. Gilbert is known for spinning tall tales.

“Mike makes up a lot of great stories,” Mr. Fromong said. “Mike Gilbert has a ton of skeletons in his closet. He’s as dirty as anyone.”

Mr. Gilbert said he broke with Simpson two years ago because he felt cheated, didn’t approve of his lifestyle and was repulsed by “If I Did It.” He writes that he was guided to do his own book by dreams in which he saw the ghosts of his dead grandmother and of Mrs. Simpson. He writes that he was not alone in helping Simpson beat the murder charges, but “I hope to be the first to finally confess.”