48 Hours - O.J. Simpson: The Trial of the Century

Episode Date: April 11, 2024

O.J. Simpson, the acquitted California murder defendant, former football star and actor, died of cancer on April 10th, 2024. In 2021, CBS News Special Correspondent James Brown looked back on the influence and impact of O.J.'s trial that changed America and continues to reverberate throughout the country.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to this podcast ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app today. Even if you love the thrill of true crime stories as much as I do, there are times when you want to mix it up. And that's where Audible comes in, with all the genres you love and new ones to discover. Explore thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. Listening to Audible can lead to positive change in your mood, your habits,

and even your overall well-being. And you can enjoy Audible anytime, while doing household chores, exercising, commuting, you name it. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial and your first audiobook is free. Visit audible.ca. In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California. Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing. The young wife of a Marine had moved to the California desert

to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park. They have to alert the military. And when they do, the NCIS gets involved. From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS. Listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. This is Peter Van Sant from 48 Hours. O.J. Simpson died on April 10th at the age of 76. The former football star gained infamy when he went on trial for the 1994 murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman. He was acquitted in the criminal trial,

but was later found liable for their deaths by a jury in a civil trial. Today, we're going to share an encore episode of 48 Hours, hosted by CBS News special correspondent James Brown, that looks back at the significance of the trial and its impact today. I think O.J. got away with so much that he really actually thought he was a god, that he couldn't be touched. Like Nicole always told everybody, including myself, that whenever something happened, he will O.J. his way out of it, and he did. This is the greatest running back to ever play professional football. Incredibly, incredibly charismatic.

Handsome, million-dollar smile. Simpson is asking to be released on parole after serving nearly nine years for an armed robbery in Las Vegas. I've always thought I've been pretty good with people, and I've basically spent a conflict-free life. We're here to police. What is he doing? Is he threatening you? I'm going nuts. My kids are up there sleeping, and I don't want anything to happen.

I think it's important to represent my sister. We need to look at these relationships not as abusive relationships, but as potential murder cases. If she fell when she was outside, it's because you made her fall, right? No. Because you were hitting her, right? No. You were pounding her.

No. OJ! OJ! He got away with murder, savagely murdering two people. OJ could not have committed these murders. Mr. Simpson is a fugitive of justice right now. Have you been told you're under arrest, O.J.? How often do you get to see, you know, an American icon like this on trial for murder?

We, the jury, in the above entitled action, find the defendant, Orenthal James Simpson, not guilty of the crime of murder. In violation of the crime of murder. People weren't cheering O.J. Simpson per se. They were cheering that once, one time, it seemed that the criminal justice system balanced in favor of a black person. When Rodney King happened in LA, captured on video,

see this is what we've been talking about all of this time. Finally, this is a turning point. And then it wasn't. Everybody was acquitted. Don't touch the police! Don't touch the police! Don't touch the police! We've had more and more of those types of incidents...

Let's hear it for you! Let's hear it for you! ...where cops have been caught on camera killing Black men, women, and children and have walked. Two Baton Rouge police officers will not face federal civil rights charges in the death of Alton Sterling last July 5th. Black folks said, now you understand how we feel. We have not made that much progress. We're still wrestling with the same issues.

Colin Kaepernick, the ex-49er quarterback, began the protests to draw attention to racism and police brutality. OJ's case was about this racial narrative. OJ Simpson is going to be walking out of prison. Too bad. I think it's only a matter of time before he gets himself back in trouble. So this is the O.J. Simpson case.

There's still an open murder case. Do you think the murder of Nicole and Ron Goldman will ever be solved? When O.J. admits that he killed Nicole and Ron Goldman, yeah, it'll be solved. When O.J. admits that he killed Nicole and Ron Goldman, yeah, it'll be solved then. His moves captivated us from the football field to the courtroom. I'm James Brown. In 1968, he won the Heisman. By 1973, he was the MVP of the NFL, a telegenic superstar. Sadly, none of that is what he will be remembered for. Orenthal James Simpson became a lightning rod, not for rushing, but for race.

Simpson's trial for the murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman, was a grim, unexpected marker. It occupied its own peculiar yet powerful place in this country's ongoing racial journey. His not guilty verdict in Los Angeles sparked a simmering, loaded conversation about the police, the justice system, and the minority community. Tonight, as O.J. readies to walk out of prison for the botched Las Vegas robbery he was convicted of, the raging dialogue he ignited resonates louder than ever. For 90 minutes, nearly 100 million people were transfixed by a white Ford Bronco cruising down a Los Angeles freeway. 911, what are you reporting? This is AC. I have OJ in the car.

I watched the whole thing, helicopters, cameras on bridges. Right now, we all be okay, but you gotta tell the police that this is back off. He's still alive, but he's got a gun to his head. OJ Simpson, the football hero suspected of killing his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman, was a fugitive with a death wish. I call, and he picks up. And I said, O.J., this is lame. Everybody loves you. Don't do this.

And so my only concern is to get him to put the gun down. I'm the only one that deserves it. No, you don't deserve that. I'm going to get hurt. You do not deserve to get hurt. Simpson would lead police back to his Rockingham estate and give himself up. And from that moment on, I think America was absolutely transfixed with this story. Prosecutors contend Simpson butchered both his ex-wife and her friend, Ronald Goldman. It was a savage attack.

Nicole Brown Simpson was nearly decapitated. Laying a few feet away was 25-year-old Ron Goldman, a waiter who was returning a pair of sunglasses to Nicole. Ron! How did you find out about the murders? My wife calling out, Fred, Fred. about the murders. My wife calling out, Fred, Fred.

The coroner is calling, and she said your son was murdered. What do you think happened? I think that Ron walked in on a murder in progress and paid the price for trying to help. There was a view of him handcuffed. That was a view that shocked all of my people. Define the comment, my people.

My people are people of African American community in Los Angeles, and O.J. Simpson was an iconic figure. He was Michael Jordan before Michael Jordan. Quickness, agility. He had this wiggle about him, you know, when he carried the ball. Joe Bell grew up with him in the projects in one of the roughest neighborhoods in San Francisco and is writing a book about

their friendship. It was like a cat. You know how you see a cat and he just jumps to the side or he jumps up in the air? That's that kind of quickness. Football was O.J.'s ticket out of the hood and into the limelight during a decade of tumultuous change. It was the 1960s. Black activism was at a fever pitch, and some star track athletes were threatening to boycott the 68 Olympics. What they think is right, I guess they must follow their beliefs. Well, right now I don't want to be involved in it because I'm not in track. I have no comment on the matter. We knew that society as a whole would not accept you if you were a member of the Black Panthers,

if you were this social conscious person always spewing out black issues. And that meant that he was not socially conscious. He wanted to stay in that environment. Being embraced by? Whites. O.J. was straightforward about it. He said, hey, I'm not black, I'm O.J. I want to be judged by the content of my character,

not by the color of my skin. I just want to be O.J. He distanced himself from anything that would put him into a racial box, which made a lot of white people feel comfortable. O.J. would run from racial issues faster than white folks would. Take it from O.J. Simpson, there's only one-

If you go back and look at the Hertz commercials that he did, O.J. was a safe Hertz endorsement personality. You saw elderly white women. Go, O.J., go! But never so much as a black shoeshine boy saying, run, O.J., run. Never. Self-made white guys around his age absolutely pinched themselves

that O.J. Simpson wanted to be friends with them. He was their hero. Sheila Weller wrote the book Raging Heart about Nicole and O.J.'s relationship. They started dating when she was just 18. He was 29 years old and a married father of two. He put her up in an apartment in the nice little area of Beverly Hills. Eventually, O.J. divorced his first wife, Marguerite, and married Nicole.

One-time friend and then LAPD officer Ron Shipp was at their wedding. At that time, I thought they had an ideal marriage. Loving couple? Loving couple. She was a lot of fun. My sister was a hands-on mom. Tanya Brown was Nicole's little sister. Nicole and OJ would have two children together, a daughter, Sydney, and a son, Justin. She would get the kids ready for school. She'd pack their lunch. I mean, I thought my sister had everything. She has a great husband. But behind closed doors, there were secrets.

There was violence through the thread of their marriage, but it was hidden. She hid it. He hid it. But it would all come to light New Year's Day, 1989. That night he had, you know, slapped her around. Shipp, who has written a book about his conversations with OJ and Nicole, knew about domestic violence. He had taught other officers how to recognize the signs of abuse. I'm not believing what I'm hearing. I mean, I believed because she's got these roots, but I'm like, this can't be OJ., Ron Shipp, what are you going through internally? In my brain, I'm like, he's a batterer. Simpson pleaded no contest to misdemeanor battery,

but he served no jail time. His punishment? Two years probation, a fine, and community service. When I look at it, it really wasn't that big of a fight. Three years later, he sat for an interview with ESPN host Roy Firestone to talk about the incident with his wife. I mean, you know, the day after this was over, you know, we looked at each other and said, you know, we had a fight. We were both guilty.

No one was hurt. It was no big deal, and we got on with our lives. Several years after the incident, Nicole divorced Simpson. But the abuse didn't stop. She felt he was going to kill her. And she told people that and she wrote it in diaries, and she said it more than once. Shipp says after Ron and Nicole were murdered, detectives asked O.J. to take a lie detector test. He refused. I said, why would you tell him no, O.J.?

And he goes, well, to be truthful, Shipp, and he chuckled, and he says, I've had dreams of killing her. Were you convinced in your mind then that he did it? I was totally convinced. OJ's dream would become Ron Shipp's nightmare. And soon, the stage was set for a trial everyone would be watching. It was 1989 in Titusville, Florida. Kim Halleck said she and her ex-boyfriend Chip Flynn were kidnapped

and attacked at gunpoint. Kim fled the scene, but Chip didn't make it out alive. Did you kill Chip Flynn? No, ma'am. Crosley Green has lived more than half his life behind bars for a crime he says he didn't commit. I'm Erin Moriarty of 48 Hours, and of all the cases I've covered, this is the one that troubles me most, involving an eyewitness account that doesn't quite make sense. A sister testifying against a brother. They always say lies. You can't remember lies. A lack of physical evidence and questions about whether Crosley Green was accused, arrested, and convicted because he's black. Just because a white female says a black man has committed a crime, we take that as gospel.

Listen to Murder in the Orange Grove, the Trouble Case Against Crosley Green, early and ad-free with a 48-hours-plus subscription on Apple Podcasts. As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch. It was called Candyman. The scary cult classic was set in the Chicago housing project. It was about this supernatural killer who would attack his victims if they said his name five times into a bathroom mirror. Now we all know chanting a name won't make a killer magically appear, but did you know

that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? I was struck by both how spooky it was, but also how outrageous it was. We're going to talk to the people who were there. And we're also going to uncover the larger story. My architect was shocked when he saw how this was created. Literally shocked. And we'll look at what the story tells us about injustice in America. If you really believed in tough on crime, then you wouldn't make it easy to crawl into medicine

cabinets and kill our women. Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, early and ad-free, with a 48-hour plus subscription on Apple Podcasts. What they've done to our client is wrong. You cannot believe these people. You can't trust the message. There has never been a defendant in the history of this state that has had everybody bend over backwards for him the way this one has. It's called the trial of the century. The jury judging OJ would be sequestered for almost nine months. Television cameras rolling on every moment of the legal drama. And can you tell this jury where the defendant was between 9 35 and 11 p p.m., sir? No, I cannot. Starring roles played by two prosecutors and a

team of defense attorneys, some of the brightest and most expensive legal minds in the country known as the Dream Team. There was no dream at all. There was turmoil within the defense camp and thank God Johnny Cochran was very capable of keeping a lid on it. He was born to represent an O.J. Simpson because it brought in issues of police actions. It brought in issues of race. Johnny Cochran knew that most of L.A.'s black community

was still reeling from the horrific images of Rodney King, a black man beaten by white police officers. L.A.'s black community was still reeling from the horrific images of Rodney King, a black man beaten by white police officers. We had had the King beating. We'd had a riot. The acquittal of the officers after the King beating. This notion of a black person in conflict with the police department was so front and center that this clearly fit into that slot, that this was another black man being pursued by the LAPD. And pursued with vigor because the victims were white. I don't believe that if this case had been about the murder of O.J. Simpson's first wife,

who was an African-American woman, that it would have been covered on television. I think O.J. would have been out on bail. I think this would be long ago forgotten. He was accused of killing a white woman. In addition to his celebrity, that dynamic also elevated this trial because here you have what was once the ultimate taboo in this country, a black man with a white woman. At the time, I was a correspondent for Time magazine in Los Angeles. We put O.J. Simpson on the cover,

and the picture that they chose to put was his mugshot. And for artistic quote-unquote reasons, somebody decided to darken O.J. What does that say about the mindset, the subconscious thinking on the part of those who opted to go with a darker image than his natural color. You know, it's a pink elephant, this 800-pound gorilla, if you will, in the room,

always. Race is always there. And it was in the courtroom where Fred Goldman had hoped to get justice for his son. Do you think that there was any chance that what got lost in that setting was the fact that there were two murders. The victims were lost. It was more about race. Goldman wasn't the only one worried. Prosecutors noticed it too. I could play the same game they're playing. Marsha Clark was a fighter. I certainly admired her tenacity. But notably, she wasn't prosecuting O.J. alone. Chris Darden. Chris was a fine lawyer, no doubt, but his first day in the courtroom was once we had a predominantly African-American jury that was seated there. Both sides were keenly aware of how the jury would view the defendant,

O.J. Simpson. At a certain point, the defense team asked that the jury see O.J.'s Rockingham home. This has you all over it. And the defense team did some, we'll say, redecorating before the jury got there. O.J. Simpson, you see, had a grand staircase going from the foyer up into the second floor. And there was a wall of pictures. That previously were? That previously were there of his Caucasian friends and colleagues. If anyone was coming to your house and you were on trial, you want to make sure that there's nothing there that might offend anyone in your case.

Yeah, but Carl, it wouldn't involve changing pictures of my white friends to put up black friends if that's contrary to who he was. O.J. Simpson, if you're on trial for murder and your lawyers want to do everything that they can to help you be found not guilty, I dare say your perspective would change, man. Marsha Clark looked at me and said, Carl, you know damn well he didn't have all those black people on his wall. And I said, Marsha, people on his wall. And I said, Marsha, how dare you accuse us of this? And I dare say, it is something easy for people to look at in hindsight, similar to playing the race card. We played the evidence card, not the race card. It didn't feel that way to one time OJ friend, not the race card. It didn't feel that way to one time OJ friend Ron Shipp, who agreed to testify about their violent marriage after prosecutors showed him gruesome crime scene photos. I would

not have the blood of Nicole on Ron Shipp. Shipp was surprised when he looked at the jury. They looked like they hated me. Many in the black community considered you to be a traitor. How did that hit you? It hit me really bad. I did hear a lot of different things as to why I shouldn't have done it. Such as? One of the things I heard is going back to the slavery days, you know, all the things that we've gone through in this country,

that they felt that this O.J. Simpson thing should be a gift to us. Irrespective. Meaning give him a pass because of all the things we've gone through. O.J.'s blood is all over Bundy, all over Rockingham, what's in the Bronco, and the only other type of blood we discover are the two victims. Former LAPD detective Tom Lang has written a book about all the evidence he says points to OJ's guilt. My belief at the time was this is going to be a slam dunk. There would be more than 100 witnesses, but one would send shockwaves across the nation.

Mark Furman. Detective Furman. Mr. Furman. The LAPD detective who went to OJ's house after the murders and claimed to have found a bloody glove matching one found at the crime scene. I had one objective when I set out with Mark Furman. I had to get him to lie. I knew if I could get him to lie, he was dead in the jury box. And you say on your oath that you have not addressed any black person as a n***a

or spoken about black people as n***a in the past 10 years, Detective Furman. That's what I'm saying, sir. The defense called witnesses who said just the opposite. He said the only good s*** is a dead s***. Officer Furman turned around, looked at me, and told me, I told you we'd get you s***. All right, Detective Furman, would you resume the witness stand, please? And with the LAPD's unsavory history with the black community, it wasn't too far of a leap for the defense to say that Furman,

the racist detective, had planted the bloody glove. When asked, I assert my Fifth Amendment privilege. And that bloody glove, and O.J. trying it on, was the defining moment of the trial. He was not trying to push his hand into it. he was doing this. He never really made an effort to get the glove on, so it was, the whole thing was a fiasco. Would you show that to the jury, Mr. Simpson? The botched demonstration would become the trial's made-for-TV moment, and Johnny Cochran's closing argument would leave the jurors with seven memorable words.

If it doesn't fit, you must acquit. Mr. Simpson, would you please stand and face the jury? It took the jury less than four hours to reach a verdict. We, the jury, in the above entitled action, find the defendant, Orenthal James Simpson, not guilty of the crime of murder. of the crime of murder. Not guilty! Not guilty! What I saw was white people on one side.

No! Black people on the other side. Elation on one side. Anger and frustration and disappointment on the other side. He is horrible! He's guilty of sin! Every television station tuned in and the world watched it all happen live.

Oprah and her audience were watching too. The reaction reflected the nation. I happened to be seated next to Fred Goldman and just the sound of crying still really rings in my ears. I looked at the deputy and I said, can I leave? I just wanted it to be over. People weren't cheering O.J. Simpson per se, but they were cheering that once, one time, it seemed that the criminal justice system balanced in favor of a black person.

Tomorrow will be the same. Yesterday will be like it was. But one time it seemed that the system balanced in favor of a black man. And still, we Americans can't get past that. Even O.J. understood just how important race was in his murder trial. Nine months after the verdict, he spoke to CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker. I've accepted a long time ago that a lot of the feelings that we're getting right now

has nothing to do with Ron, Nicole, or me. It has to do with things that are going on in people's own lives. And their own animosities, their own prejudices have all come to the surface, you know, during this case. But the Goldman and Brown families were determined to make it about Ron and Nicole. OJC! OJ Simpson! OJ Simpson! What's it like to be OJ Simpson today? Is it tough? It's the way it's always been, you know?

I'm playing better golf than I've ever played. I ain't got nothing else to do playing better golf than I've ever played. I ain't got nothing else to do. I know I'll never do commercials and stuff like that. All I'm trying to do is be positive, be good to my friends, and be there for my kids. I'm not guilty of the crime of murder. Eight months after being acquitted of murder, the man once focused on sports and endorsements spoke with 48 Hours correspondent Harold Dowell about his new life.

O.J. Simpson! And a new interest in a subject he previously avoided. People of color have been, in a sense, victimized for years with the legal system. And we were always told that that's the way it is. I do realize a lot of people look at me as some type of symbol now. Here was a guy who wanted nothing to do with race. After he was acquitted, he's walking around in dashikis. And all of a sudden, O.J. is black again. But I think part of that was his need to have the spotlight.

You just get with God, you get ready for your comeback. The fact that he was, brothers, I'm here, I'm with you, and everybody fell for it, I couldn't believe it. However, others in O.J.'s social circle were giving him the cold shoulder. It felt like a guy who built this beautiful life get all kind of withered away. OJ's guilty! OJ's guilty! We should all boycott everything he does. 1-800-OJ-TELLS. The reality was OJ had to make a living

and try to repair his reputation. This is the Rockingham Gate to my home. His ill-conceived solution? Offer up his thoughts on the trial for a price. As I come up my stairs, white carpeting all the way, banister, they checked everything and no blood. That's all I want to do, provide for my family, my kids, and give me the opportunity in a fair shake to say what I need to say. The Goldman and Brown families also wanted their say and filed a civil suit against Simpson, charging that he was responsible for the murders. We had to find some way to get the justice that we felt Ron deserved.

The best part about this civil case is, in many ways, I think I'll get vindicated. The prospect of another trial didn't seem to faze O.J. You're going to see more truths come out in this case. I look forward to it. Are you ready to take the stand this time? Oh, yeah. I can't wait. You can't keep me off that stand. Can we take a break? Yeah, sure. Jesus Christ.

off that stand. Can we take a break? Yeah, sure. Jesus Christ. There were a number of days of depositions with O.J. Simpson. What was hoping to be accomplished? Well, the whole reason for the depositions is getting him to state one thing and then find that the evidence was contradicted him. You never struck her with your hands, correct? I never punched her, yes. Did you ever strike her? No. Did you ever hurt her? Yes. While the civil trial was going on, Simpson fought for and won custody of Sidney and Justin, then 11 and 8 years old.

They had been living with Nicole's family. The kids were taken away from us on Christmas Eve. That was really awful. Any good news for OJ quickly faded when the civil verdict was announced, finding Simpson liable for the deaths. They had a predominantly white jury. I have to believe that the energizer in that verdict was not only race, but the fact that O.J. Simpson had been found not guilty in the criminal case.

Our family is grateful for a verdict of responsibility. When the verdict did come down, what were you thinking then? Finally, Ron got some justice. Ron and Nicole got some justice. Ron and Nicole got some justice. I remember taking a picture with the family, and somehow we were all kind of smiling. Okay, great, there's responsibility, there's a consequence. But it's like, okay, but still, we're a grieving family.

The verdict did come with an award for the Brown and Goldman families. More than $33 million in damages to be paid by Simpson. Did you think that O.J. would ever pay? Never thought twice about it. It was all about getting a court to hold him responsible. Has anything been paid to the Goldman? He never paid one single penny. Anything that we received, we got by taking it away from him. Every time we took something away from him, it was getting a piece of justice. For Simpson, it was back to playing golf, trying to lead a normal life. You know you're illegal to be here, man.

I got him, I got him, I got him. That one, that one, that one. He moved to Florida, but trouble still followed, including an arrest relating to road rage, a charge he would beat. Were you of the belief that O.J. would have laid low? The O.J. Simpson that I came to know would never lay low. He wasn't about to hide. He wasn't afraid. That fearlessness included making a much

ridiculed rap music video. While O.J. was drawing attention for the wrong reasons, the supporting players from the murder trial were basking in the spotlight. The trial was a reality show, the first and the best. And I see the Bronco Chase is like the pilot episode. It's what got everybody hooked.

A lot of them tried to actually parlay this into a reality TV show career. Kato Kaelin, most notably. Kato. That infamous house guest of O.J.'s. Larry King once said that, Kato, you are the first reality star. Little did I know that I'd be discovered and famous in

the wrong way. So when I want a new place to crash, I go to guesthouserent.com. So if the O.J. Simpson case was the daddy of reality TV, it was also the baby daddy. Most obviously the Kardashians. I do not believe that there would be a Kardashian phenomenon

if their dad had not been a member of O.J. Simpson's dream team of lawyers. O.J.'s own entrepreneurial ventures continue to raise eyebrows, especially writing a book titled If I Did It. Why in the world, if you are acquitted of a murder, would you write a book, the title of which, if I had done it, here's the way I would have done it? That makes absolutely no sense. Ultimately, we were awarded the rights to the book. By the court? By the court. So our choice was to publish it ourselves. It read more like a confession than a pretend book. He put himself at the scene. He put himself covered in blood. I think O.J. got away with so much that he really actually thought he was a god,

that he couldn't be touched. He went one step too far. He went to Las Vegas. O.J., what happened? Guilty! In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island. It's a little-known British territory called Pitcairn,

and it harboured a deep, dark scandal. There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reach the age of 10 that would still have heard it. It just happens to all of them. I'm journalist Luke Jones, and for almost two years, I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn. When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it,

people will get away with what they can get away with. In the Pitcairn trials, I'll be uncovering a story of abuse and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific island to the brink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Have you ever wondered who created that bottle of sriracha that's living in your fridge? Or why nearly every house in America has at least one game of Monopoly?

Introducing The Best Idea Yet, a brand new podcast from Wondery and T-Boy about the surprising origin stories of the products you're obsessed with and the bold risk-takers who brought them to life. Like, did you know that Super Mario, the best-selling video game character of all time, only exists because Nintendo couldn't get the rights to Popeye? Or Jack, that the idea for the McDonald's Happy Meal first came from a mom in Guatemala? From Pez dispensers to Levi's 501s to Air Jordans, discover the surprising stories of the most viral products. Plus, we guarantee that after listening, you're going to dominate your next dinner party.

So follow The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Best Idea Yet early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. It's just the best idea yet. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Unless, of course, you're O.J. Simpson. In which case, the world hears about it.

Police say that Simpson, along with a group of armed men, stormed a room and stole sports collectibles. This time around, September 2007, O.J. was dealt a different hand. OJ had heard a dealer was hawking his memorabilia and family photos. Ironically, there was value in an OJ that didn't exist anymore. And he went over there with the five or six guys that he went with. OJ would later say he, quote, just wanted his stuff back.

But soon, things got hot. Hotel cameras caught these images, and one of Simpson's associates recorded a raging OJ that would come back to haunt him. Mother-----! I just killed my father! Mother-----! I just killed my father! Mother-----!

Mother-----! Mother-----! Mother-----! Mother-----! Mother-----! Mother-----! Mother-----! Mother-----!

Mother-----! Mother-----! Mother-----! Mother-----! Mother-----! Mother-----! Mother-----! Mother-----!

So what did you think when you saw the footage of him walking through the casino? It's kind of like, there he goes again. I was like, oh, no. No, OJ, no. I was like, are you stupid? And then the hammers came down. Came down hard. OJ Simpson is in serious trouble again.

In part because some in OJ's crew were packing pistols. For the botched robbery, Simpson was charged with 12 counts from assault with a deadly weapon to kidnapping. He is the person who put these crimes together. Then, 13 years to the day... Orenthal James Simpson not guilty of the crime of murder. Since Simpson was acquitted for the murders of Ron and Nicole, a very different courtroom heard a very different verdict. Count five, first degree kidnapping with use of a deadly weapon.

Guilty of first degree kidnapping with use of a deadly weapon. Judge Jackie Glass sentenced Simpson to the max. I have to tell you now, it was much more than stupidity. Nine to 33 years in prison. 33 years in jail. That echoed the $33.5 million verdict in the civil case. Was it symbolic? It was payback. Payback is a bitch. Judge Glass denies it was payback and says the sentence was appropriate for the seriousness

of the crimes. Top Las Vegas attorney Ozzie Fumo would handle the appeal in Nevada. So what raised the case to the level that it did? Was it because of the presence of a firearm? Mr. Simpson told me he never saw a firearm. But let's be real, JB, if you and I had gone in to collect my things and you were just with me, you and I would have gotten probation. 33 years? I've seen people kill people and not get 33 years. In the isolated high desert of Nevada, number 32 got another number. Inmate 102-7820. By all accounts, OJ was a model prisoner with no infractions.

Yet where some see a stone-cold killer finally paying a price... He's an abuser. He's a murderer. People like that belong in jail. Others see a symbol of inequality. White justice. White justice, meaning? Meaning that white people were going to get him if he ever put himself in a position for them to get back at him, they were going to do it.

While Simpson was kept off the streets for almost a decade... When are we going to save ourselves? America witnessed tensions between police and the black community become painfully raw. Spilling onto the streets again and again. From the sidewalks of New York City to the streets of Cleveland. Tamir Rice shot to death in a city park by a Cleveland cop from St. Paul, Minnesota. Oh, my God! Thank you! And now, don't shoot!

To Ferguson and St. Louis, Missouri. Don't shoot! Don't shoot! Officer Wilson, who killed Mike Brown, did no time. The police officers who were responsible for the death of 12-year-old Tremere Rice, no time, no conviction for murder. Get on your knees. Get on your knees.

It all seemed to validate a distrust of the system. The same distrust that the Simpson jury showed decades ago in Los Angeles. Has there been any substantive progress? An African-American president of the United States, that is huge, huge progress that no one can deny. But there is still this great suspicion and mistrust between the black community and police departments across this country. Any light at the end of the tunnel in your mind? I can barely see the tunnel, let alone the light. It's the feeling of frustration at the heart of the NFL players' protest. Once again, a nation is divided by issues that seem rooted in race.

After almost nine years locked up, a 70-year-old O.J. Simpson was eligible for parole. Trust me, I wish it would have never happened. Even as he pled for his freedom, Simpson could not avoid controversy. I've always thought I've been pretty good with people, and I've basically spent a conflict-free life. Outrageous. He had beaten Nicole up. What about those conflicts? I'm Arnelle Simpson, my dad's oldest child. Then came the most basic of human emotions,

a child pleading for the father she still loves. We just want him to come home. My vote is to grant your parole effective when eligible. Mr. Simpson, I do vote to grant parole when eligible. And that will conclude this hearing. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. O.J., what happened?

O.J., tell us something. No Johnny to save you this time, O.J. Will the man so many still consider a killer slip into the, and live out his days quietly? We know that the national conversation about race and the criminal justice system remains center stage. It is America's endless refrain, a nation's unfinished business. When will race no longer measure and divide us? and divide us. So why is there still a fascination associated with O.J.? Because it reflects where we still are today on matters of race. O.J. Simpson, soon to be a free man, hopes to return to Florida,

where he was living before he was busted in Las Vegas. The house in Florida is gone. They lost that to foreclosure. I'm sure Arnell and the kids are going to want him to be with them, but the parole officer is going to have to authorize that and approve wherever he goes. He's going to have a challenge, and I hope he understands and accepts it. He'll be trying to cash in one way or another. You know, he's got his NFL retirement, so he's not a pauper. He's got money.

Legally, money the Goldman and Brown families can't touch. I think it's only a matter of time before he gets himself back in trouble. Do you hope you're done with all things O.J. Simpson? I would love the thing I've done, but if he thinks he's getting out of jail and he's going to walk free without us chasing him around, he's wrong. All things O.J. seem to go on and on. LAPD detective Barry Tellis is assigned to investigate the officially unsolved murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. This case, the OJ Simpson case, is considered open. If information comes in that we need to investigate, we'll do that.

Oh, I had no idea. I don't want it open again. It's like, I don't want to go through all that crap again. If something new comes up, it's like, let it rest. It's not going to change anything. Nothing is going to bring my sister back. I'm no circumstance, you know, I think he committed that murder. The human tragedy continues. Sidney and Justin were just children when their mother was murdered. The Brown family is still in touch with the kids. You know, they're a sister and a brother, and they'll always have each other. And I'm very, very proud of them.

I'm really proud of them. Because it couldn't have been easy. She's left quite a legacy. Including Tanya Brown's book that put a spotlight on violence against women. But I'd much rather have my sister back than educate on domestic violence. When Simpson walks free, America will once again tune in, feeding on what's become our national diet. Race, money, celebrity.

It's about us as a society and as a people and as a nation. Mr. Goldman, how do you honor your son? I hope I honor my son every day by trying to make sure people remember who he was and trying to live our lives as he would. Those two people are what it was all about. I don't have my sister, but she's very much alive in my home, in my mom's home, in my heart.

And I think, don't bury your loved one. Don't take them off the wall. Don't sell their clothes. Don't put pictures in the drawers. Keep them alive. OJ Simpson was released from prison in 2017. In April 2024, Simpson died after a battle with prostate cancer at the age of 76. survey. Hot shot Australian attorney Nicola Gaba was born into legal royalty. Her specialty? Representing some of the city's most infamous gangland criminals. However, while Nicola held the underworld's darkest secrets, the most dangerous secret was her own. She's going to all the major groups within Melbourne's underworld, and she's informing on them all.

I'm Marsha Clark, host of the new podcast, Informants Lawyer X. In my long career in criminal justice as a prosecutor and defense attorney, I've seen some crazy cases and this one belongs right at the top of the list. She was addicted to the game she had created. She just didn't know how to stop.

Now, through dramatic interviews and access, I'll reveal the truth behind one of the world's most shocking legal scandals. Listen to Informants Lawyer X exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, and listen to more Exhibit C true crime shows early and ad-free right now.