If ever more proof was needed that OJ Simpson saw nothing wrong with storming a Las Vegas hotel room to steal a stash of NFL memorabilia at gunpoint, this is it.
In a collection of never-before-seen photographs, the disgraced footballer is seen on September 13, 2007, drinking at night clubs as his ex-girlfriend and her friend hang from his neck and sit on his lap.
They were taken hours after he and a handful of friends stormed a room at the Palace Station hotel in Las Vegas to take memorabilia he believed was rightfully his but that had been ‘stolen’ from him.
The invasion was recorded by memorabilia-dealers inside, prompting Simpson’s arrest for armed robbery on September 16.
On September 15, still blissfully unaware of his looming arrest and incarceration, Simpson served as best man for his friend Thomas Scotto at the Little White Chapel.
Photographs from the occasion show ‘the Juice’, as he is affectionately known by friends’, celebrating with champagne in the back of a limo and holding the bride’s bouquet.
OJ Simpson is pictured with his girlfriend Christie Prody (L) and her friend Sandy (R) on September 13, 2007, hours after the armed robbery which he served nine years in jail for
Simpson was in town for the wedding of Thomas Scotto (seen top right, with white flowers around his neck). It was a four-day extravaganza at which he was the best man. Above, the party on September 13, after the robbery at the Palace Station hotel
Hours earlier: At 7.30pm, Simpson (seen in blue) stormed the Palace Station hotel with Alexander Walter, Clarence Stewart and Michael McClinton
Scotto’s wedding was what had drawn him to Las Vegas for the fateful weekend. Scotto was one of the few friends who stuck by Simpson after he was found liable for the 1995 murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman.
Despite being criminally cleared in the ‘trial of the century’, OJ was found responsible for the killings in a civil lawsuit filed by their families.
By the weekend of September 15, 2007, he had been told to find $33million to give the Goldman and Brown families in damages as part of the suit.
His attorneys claimed he was broke and argued that he would never be able to pay the full amount. To make a living, he wrote a book about the murders titled ‘What If’.
But he was also forced to turn over personal items which would then be sold at auction to raise money.
The included some of what he stole in the hotel room raid at the Palace Station.
Namely, his Heisman Trophy, his wife Nicole’s wedding ring and the football from one of his winning games were all up for sale.
He also told friends in Las Vegas that a signed photograph from former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover was among the haul.
On September 15, 2007, he stood acted as best man for Scotto’s wedding to his Brazilian bride Sabrina
OJ was in high spirits and showed no concern over the armed robbery he committed two days earlier despite fears from others who were involved that they would soon face reprimand
OJ is pictured with Thomas Scotto and fellow best man Orlando Leon (right) at the wedding ceremony. Scotto later said the armed robbery ‘ruined’ his nuptials
Posing with the officiant from the ceremony, he appeared to relish in his celebrity at the 2007 event. It took place 10 years after he was found criminally liable for the deaths of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman
Simpson posed shamelessly with other wedding guests for photographs at the ceremony
With a glass of champagne in one hand and with his shirt unfastened, the Juice relaxed after the ceremony
He joked around with Sabrina and is pictured clutching her bouquet in the backseat of a limo following the ceremony
Simpson and Sabrina joke as he plays around with her plastic bouquet at 11.29pm on September 15 after the ceremony
In the back of the limousine with the happy couple between 11.30pm and midnight on September 15
On the couple’s wedding night, the day before he was arrested, OJ parties with Thomas and Sabrina at a nightclub
Simpson and five other men went to the hotel room to reclaim them.
Beforehand, he told Tom Riccio, one of the men involved: ‘This is not memorabilia. These are personal artifacts that were stolen from me.
‘Everyone thinks nothing bad happens to me. Here I am being robbed. Why don’t we show the world that I have to go by myself to get my stuff back?’
Riccio recounted the conversation in an interview with ABC afterwards.
Memorabilia dealer Bruce Fromong testified during Simpson’s trial that he set up a meeting with one of the infamous star’s friends who he suspected was a legitimate buyer.
Instead, OJ turned up to the meeting with other men and they all had guns. In recordings of the robbery afterwards, Simpson was heard shouting: ‘You think you can steal my s**t?’
Michael McClinton, one of the other men involved, later told how Simpson got drunk in the hours after the robbery and warned the other men never to reveal there were guns involved.
With the bride and groom at Ghost Bar on September 13, the day of the robbery which was committed hours earlier
OJ is seen above on September 13, hours after the robbery which took place at around 7.30pm. Other men involved say he was drunk afterwards and talked boldly about the crime
OJ with Scotto and two other friends who were in town for the wedding party. OJ relaxes with a drink in his hand
Michael McClinton and Walter Alexander were both involved in the robbery. They testified at his trial
This is the room at the Palace Station Hotel where Simpson and his friends committed the robbery
September 16, 2007: OJ is arrested for felony armed robbery
‘He was definitely drunk, and it was all funny to him…. He just kept saying, “no guns. Just say there wasn’t guns.”
‘I knew he was full of s**t and I thought something was going to go down with it.’
Scotto remains one of Simpson’s few friends. He was present at his parole hearing at Lovelock earlier this year and wept as the now 70-year-old was granted freedom after spending nine years behind bars.
A resident of Naples, Florida, Scotto offered his home to the star as a place for him to start rebuilding his life.
He maintains his friend is innocent of the robbery and believes it was a set-up.
On September 17, 2007, he told The New York Post OJ had been framed and bemoaned that the robbery ‘ruined his wedding’.
Scotto said he knew about the meeting in the hotel room but believed and was assured by his friend that it was non-violent and that he was merely going to ‘pick up’ belongings he thought were rightfully his.
‘This guy can’t even jaywalk without getting in trouble,’ he said at the time.
Close then, close now: Scotto, seen above with Simpson on September 13, 2007, is one of the few friends who has stood by him
Scotto wept along with OJ’s daughter Arnelle and his sister Shirley as he was granted parole in June at Lovelock Correctional Center in Nevada
Simpson was granted parole on July 20 this year after spending nine years behind bars to Lovelock Correctional Facility in Nevada
In an interview before his release earlier this month, Scotto said told the Today show: ‘This has humbled him like I’ve never seen.
‘The warden loves him. She calls him into her office all the time. Talks to him about things. They treat him very nice, not because he’s O.J. Simpson — he’s a great inmate.’
‘You know, he’s my best friend. I love him. I lost contracts with my business because I stuck by him. I have to do what’s right and that’s what I felt in my heart,’ he added.
Before he was released last year, Simpson swapped prison snacks for turkey burgers and vegetables in a bid to loose weight.
He succeeded, shedding 100lbs between the end of last year and his departure from Lovelock two weeks ago.
Simpson, now 70, is pictured last week at a Las Vegas country club after being released from prison following nine years