Report: FBI Alerted About Simpson "Sting"

Fri., Nov. 2, 2007 5:43 PM PDT by Natalie Finn

Was Big Brother onto O.J. Simpson?

Los Angeles-based FBI agents were told three weeks beforehand that Simpson and a sports memorabilia dealer were planning what Simpson termed a "sting operation" to reclaim mementos he believed were pilfered from him, according to bureau reports obtained by the Associated Press.

Las Vegas police said Friday that they were not aware of Simpson's plan, but that the FBI shared its info with them after the Naked Gun star was arrested.

Per reports dated Aug. 21 and Sept. 19, Thomas Riccio, the man who arranged the Sept. 13 meeting in Las Vegas that has since resulted in armed robbery, kidnapping and assault charges for Simpson and several others, told the FBI on Aug. 21 that he knew of a collector—a "fanatic," he said—who had stolen Simpson memorabilia.

Riccio, who made audio recordings of both the hotel meeting and phone calls leading up to the encounter and has not been charged in connection with the alleged shakedown, reportedly told the feds that Simpson wanted to videotape the confrontation.

"Riccio and Simpson want to do a television broadcast confronting Beardsley regarding the items that were stolen," read one report. "Simpson wanted Riccio's assistance in setting up the operation and helping obtain interviews for Simpson through various media outlets after the fact."

Simpson, who obviously has never lost his taste for the spotlight, has maintained that he went to meet with collectors Bruce Fromong and Alfred Beardsley in September solely to take back what he thought was his.

His legal camp has also said that guns were not involved, although now three of his alleged accomplices are willing to testify that Simpson asked them to bring firearms along.

Mike McClinton, Charles Cashmore and Walter Alexander are all pleading guilty to lesser charges and will turn state's evidence against Simpson. Alexander, the second of the trio to flip, said in an interview with Vegas detectives that his (probably former) golfing buddy said, 'We won't have to use 'em, but…just to look tough, you know, so that these people know that, you know, we're here for business,' " according to a police transcript released last month.

For his part, Riccio has said that he was surprised by what purportedly went down on Sept. 13—the guns, the screaming, etc. Per the FBI reports, the info he supplied to the bureau focused solely on allegedly stolen goods.

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

Riccio told the AP on Friday that neither Los Angeles police, whom he also called, nor the Feds seemed "all that interested" in what he had to say at the time.

The FBI has not responded to requests for comment on the interview. According to the report, agent Laura Kline wrote that Riccio was advised beforehand to hire an attorney because merely alerting the FBI to a possible crime would not absolve him of culpability.