O.J. Dogged by Feds
Federal agents and their drug-sniffing dogs descened upon the Juice's suburban Miami digs early Tuesday morning as part of a drug probe.
FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration officials searched Simpson's home as part of Operation X, a two-year investigation into an Ecstasy drug and money-laundering ring and the sale of pirated satellite TV decoder equipment.
Local media cameras picked out Simpson in his bathrobe walking around his backyard as the agents rummaged through his home at about 6 a.m. About two hours later he left the house in--yes--a sports-utility vehicle.
Simpson was not named in the indictment and has not been arrested, an FBI spokeswoman says. No further details were immediately disclosed.
Yale Galanter, an attorney for Simpson, arrived at the house and spoke to the investigating agents, but left without addressing reporters. The U.S. Attorney's Office also had no comment.
The Simpson search comes only six weeks after he was acquitted in his latest scrape with the law. Simpson was found not guilty of auto burglary and battery in a road-rage squabble with a driver from his neighborhood. Simpson moved to Kendall, a suburb southwest of Miami, reportedly as an attempt to escape the L.A. media spotlight following his much-hyped trials. He was acquitted of murder charges in the 1994 slayings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman. But, he was found liable in the subsequent civil case and ordered to pay $33 million.
Ecstasy pills cost about $5 wholesale, but sell for $20 on the street. One of two suspects snared by Operation X in Chicago was carrying $75,000, while another detained in Miami was allegedly offering to sell an undercover agent 8,000 of the illegal party drugs. The FBI also says the ring laundered around $800,000.
So far the FBI and DEA probe has indicted 11 suspects in Chicago and Miami for allegedly importing the Ecstasy from Holland for sale and distribution in south Florida clubs. Nine people have been arrested while two others are at large in Florida and Brazil. Simpson's home was one of at least eight other places in Miami being searched in connection to the case.





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