Jurors hear O.J. Simpson demanding ‘I just want my private pictures’
Jurors donned headphones at O.J. Simpson’s armed robbery trial Thursday and listened as the Juice said “I just want my private pictures. The rest of it I don’t give a s–t about.”
The lengthy recording, played in full, captured Simpson as he gathered with friends at a Las Vegas pool last year and planned a “sting” operation to recover personal items he claims were stolen by former agent Mike Gilbert.
Simpson did not mention firepower during the poolside chat, but the showdown a few hours later turned ugly, Vegas prosecutors say.
Two of Simpson’s cohorts allegedly brandished guns and threatened memorabilia dealers Bruce Fromong and Alfred Beardsley.
Simpson, who has pleaded not guilty, denies he ever saw a gun.
Thomas Riccio, who took the stand Thursday under an immunity deal, made the pool recording on the sly. He recorded the alleged robbery and sold the tape to the celeb website TMZ.com for more than $100,000.
Earlier in the day, Simpson’s defense lawyer accused Las Vegas cops of waging a witch hunt against Simpson.
“They didn’t get him in California, we’re going to get him now,” a Las Vegas detective allegedly said in one of Riccio’s recordings, according to Simpson lawyer Yale Galanter.
The prosecution released 202 pages of transcripts that were prepared to assist jurors.
In one revealing exchange allegedly recorded in Simpson’s hotel room before the memorabilia showdown, the ex-football star told Riccio he once foiled a plot to secretly record an unauthorized O.J. Simpson sex tape.
According to the transcript, Simpson recounted meeting a “beautiful” woman at a Chinese restaurant in Miami and going back to her hotel room for sex.
He said he was nervous because sportscaster Frank Gifford had recently been caught romping on tape.
“So she goes to the bathroom. I’m in this room. There’s a tree and I get up and move it,” he said, according to the transcript.
“There’s a picture, I take it and do something …I don’t realize, I moved four cameras.”
“They never got a porn video,” he said. “I moved every camera. But I didn’t know I was doin’ it.”
Simpson said he later learned one of his lawyers set up the rendezvous for a tabloid.
“Ah man I had all this money for you. I knew you would never do it, but I know your family needs the money,” Simpson quoted his lawyer as saying, according to the transcript.
WENN
