In latest tell-all, O.J. confesses to murder

LOS ANGELES — A memorabilia dealer who profited from O.J. Simpson for many years is the latest former crony to write a tell-all book, this one alleging that after he was acquitted, a groggy Simpson, high on marijuana, confessed to killing his former wife.

Mike Gilbert, 53, also said he helped his former friend wiggle out of the murder charges by suggesting how to bloat his hands so they wouldn't fit the notorious bloody gloves.

Gilbert's book, "How I Helped O.J. Get Away With Murder: The Shocking Inside Story of Violence, Loyalty, Regret and Remorse" is due in stores Monday.

He said Simpson had smoked pot, took a sleeping pill and was drinking beer when he confided at his Brentwood home weeks after his trial what happened the night of June 12, 1994. Simpson said he went to his ex-wife's condominium, but he did not bring a knife with him. Simpson told him Nicole Brown Simpson had one in her hand when she opened the door.

Simpson told him: "If she hadn't opened that door with a knife in her hand ... she'd still be alive."

"Nothing more needed to be said," Gilbert writes. "O.J. had confessed to me. There's no doubt in my mind."

Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman were stabbed to death at the entrance to her condominium. The knife was never found.

Simpson's current lawyer, Yale Galanter, said none of Gilbert's claims are true, and Gilbert is "a delusional drug addict who needs money."

"I've talked to O.J. about it," added Galanter, who refused to allow Simpson to comment directly because of his upcoming robbery trial in Las Vegas. "This stuff not only didn't occur but it's not factually supported by the evidence."

Gilbert is the second sports-memorabilia dealer to write a Simpson book this year. Thomas Riccio, who arranged a Las Vegas memorabilia sale that led to Simpson's armed-robbery arrest, wrote "Busted" last month.

Simpson participated in the controversial book "If I Did It," which he claimed was not a confession.

It was withdrawn by the publisher and eventually released last year by the Goldman family to help satisfy a $33.5 million wrongful-death judgment.

Gilbert said he counseled the jailed Simpson during his murder trial to stop taking his arthritis medicine so his hands would swell up and not fit the bloody gloves in court. He offers no proof Simpson followed his advice or that he was taking any medicine, but the drama that played out in court when the gloves didn't fit was central to Simpson's defense.

Gilbert said he broke with Simpson two years ago because he felt cheated, didn't approve of his lifestyle and was repulsed by "If I Did It."