FBI told in Advance of OJ 'sting' plan

by Barry Artiste | November 3, 2007 at 08:45 am | 360 views | add comment

One can assume the FBI didn't take O.J. SImpson's Sting Operation seriously, or perhaps the (FBI) just needed an excuse to jail O.J., feeling Justice was not served a decade ago in the murder of his wife and an acquaintence in LA .

LOS ANGELES -- Federal agents learned three weeks in advance that O.J. Simpson and a memorabilia dealer planned an operation to retrieve personal items Simpson said were stolen from him, according to FBI reports obtained yesterday by The Associated Press.

Dealer Thomas Riccio said he reported to the FBI a collector who claimed to have belongings taken from Simpson.

"The guy flat-out told me he had items stolen from O.J.'s house," Riccio said. "I have a legitimate business."

Riccio told FBI agents Aug. 21 that Simpson wanted to videotape the confrontation with the collector. There was no mention in the report of any plans to use guns.

"I went along with O.J.'s plan," Riccio said yesterday. "It was a self-organized sting operation. Except for the final result, with him bringing people who had guns. I knew nothing about that."

Simpson, 60, and five other men were arrested after they allegedly stormed into a Las Vegas hotel room Sept. 13 to seize items that were believed to include family photos and the suit Simpson wore the day he was acquitted of murdering his ex-wife and her friend.

Las Vegas police said the FBI did not alert them before the confrontation between Simpson and collectors Alfred Beardsley and Bruce Fromong.

Simpson is charged with an assortment of felonies including armed robbery and kidnapping. Three of his co-defendants have said they would testify against him.