Brother of possible OJ Simpson accomplice claims he returned with bloody hands on night of murders: report

A convicted drug trafficker with ties to the mafia may have helped O.J.Simpson cover up the 1994 murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman, according to a bombshell New York Times investigation that uncovered secret federal records and allegations that the man returned from the night of the killings with blood on his hands.Joseph "Joey" Ippolito, a mob-connected associate of Simpson and his longtime friend Al Cowlings, allegedly returned to a Los Angeles apartment around midnight on June 12, 1994, carrying a mysterious bag containing a heavy object, his brother Sam Ippolito told the Times in an account that has raised questions, as well as some doubts.The investigation also uncovered previously sealed federal court records revealing that Ippolito had provided authorities with information about Simpson's alleged disposal of the murder weapon, which was never recovered.MARK FUHRMAN, DETECTIVE AT CENTER OF OJ SIMPSON MURDER TRIAL, DEAD AT 74O.

J.Simpson sits in Superior Court in Los Angeles in 1994 during an open court session.

(POOL/AFP via Getty Images)Sam Ippolito claimed his brother appeared to have blood on his hands after leaving the apartment hours earlier to help a friend.Joey allegedly stuffed his clothes into the bag and instructed Sam to dispose of it while he showered.Sam Ippolito told the newspaper he tossed the bag into a dumpster near a construction site along Doheny Drive in Los Angeles.He also claimed to have overheard Joey telling Cowlings over the phone that he had been "helping" Simpson that night.Joey Ippolito, a convicted drug trafficker who escaped from a Florida prison in May 1994, became a federal informant after his arrest in August 1995, while Simpson's nationally televised murder trial was nearing its conclusion.A December 1996 federal prosecution memorandum, recently unsealed at the newspaper's request, described Ippolito as a valuable source who possessed information about Simpson's alleged efforts to dispose of the murder weap...