O.J. Simpson rides again

Early odds in Vegas: don’t bet on juice futures!

“Canned Juice”. “O.J. In Tight Squeeze Again”. “Getting Away With Murder (But Not Theft) ”. “Fresh Squeezed Juice”. “What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas (Until Now) ”.

The saga (or “trials”) of Orenthal James Simpson is a headline writer’s delight. But before we take too much fun away from his mayhem, consider this:

Former L.A. Policemen say that Nicole Brown Simpson was brutalised, nearly decapitated and killed by “someone on a rage”. O.J. was accused of the murder, went to trial and was acquitted.

Mr Ronald Goldman, a waiter who may have been an innocent bystander, was also killed by the same killer, according to now retired LA Policemen.

The audio tape of O.J. and his posse entering a hotel room and what ensued is damning on several levels. Lawyers can suck “The Juice” out of Orenthal for many things he said; but one sentence stands out. “Don’t let nobody out of this room ... Think you can steal my [expletive] and sell it?” The first part indicates unlawful imprisonment or detention. The second part indicates that O.J. thought he had ownership over the memorabilia.

If anyone owned O.J.’s memorabilia it was the family of Mr Ronald Goldman, who won a civil suit against Mr Simpson. That court order required Mr Simpson to pay $8.5 million in compensatory damages to the Goldman family and to Ron Goldman’s biological mother. No payments were ever made. The rules of the court required Mr Simpson to liquidate assets to meet the obligations of the court. If he thought he still “owned” memorabilia, he was violating the law.

If a gun was used in the hotel room crimes, that further complicates Mr Simpson’s woes.

Finally, tax evasion still looms. O.J. has probably been conducting a huge business in real or illicit memorabilia for years. If evidence proves this to be true, when the court cases clear O.J. will still be hounded by the most feared arm of the Federal Bureaucracy: the Internal Revenue Service or IRS. The most famous criminal in American history, Al Capone, a thug like O.J. who also got away with murder, also scammed the IRS on his income taxes because the income was almost totally illegally obtained. In Capone’s case, his posse had so intimidated witnesses to everything, including murder, that none would admit to seeing a thing. What brought down Capone? The IRS.

So this entire affair is an American tragedy. Two people are dead, the American legal system suffered a severe blow to its credibility when O.J. was found innocent in the murder trial, and a one-time sports hero has been exposed for what he truly is: a thug, a tax evader, a man willing to threaten and use violence to achieve his ends, and a man with no regard for others: even his one-time wife.

O.J. has always hurdled past obstacles, just as he did in a famous rent-a-car commercial.

International readers have asked me, “How is O.J. really famous?”

O.J. is “famous” as a football star (both college and professional), as a movie star, as an advertiser’s dream in the rental car industry, as a man tried and NOT convicted of murder, and now as a protector of sports memorabilia.

But those last two honours, acquitted of murder and charged with unlawful entry and whatever else, do not make you famous. They make you infamous.

The question is, can you toast juice? A Nevada court will answer that.

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The essay above seemed just a little “too cute”, upon further reflection, so I am adding the statement below as a post script.

There is also a horrifying reality to all of this. Mr Simpson has been, by many accounts, a man out of control, for many years. Nicole Brown Simpson had called police before her fatal assault to complain about his brutality. Police even photographed her with severe bruising to her face and arms. Simpson was never charged with assault.

Mr Simpson’s charm, which thousands of people have attested to, and his sporting achievements, which are the stuff of legend (and the National Football League’s “Hall of Fame”) made him the perfect guest for fawning sports memorabilia aficionados and the thugs that participate in a $US2 billion-a-year business. Many police officials and memorabilia experts say the vast majority of the high priced items available for sale are fakes.

This brings us to the NFL itself. We, the paying public, have fallen in love with a game that has brutality at its core. We have made the players, the owners, the coaches and tons of others millionaires. Many of the highly paid members of this fraternity are multi-millionaires.

I’ve been asking clients and friends what they thought about the NFL since the Michael Vick case erupted into the headlines. You know what? There is a growing group of men rejecting the NFL as loosely controlled mayhem.

One intellectual said to me, “The players of the NFL are the modern gladiators. Maybe they are even our society’s version of legal barbarians. Or maybe they are akin to the Roman Empire’s paid warriors or mercenaries.”

To him, accused dog killer Vick was no surprise and no anomaly. “O.J. Simpson has been a rage-filled man for years. Society just didn’t let him get away with it. We rewarded him at every turn. We adored him.”

Vick, many other NFL “Bad Boys” like “Pacman” Jones and O.J. are a sad reflection of American society and culture.