FBI learned in advance of O.J. Simpson’s plan to get personal items

By The Associated Press - 11/03/2007

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Federal agents learned three weeks in advance that O.J. Simpson and a memorabilia dealer planned an operation to retrieve personal items Simpson said were stolen from him, according to FBI reports obtained Friday by The Associated Press.

Dealer Thomas Riccio said he reported to the FBI on Aug. 21 that a collector claimed to have belongings taken from Simpson, and that Simpson wanted to videotape the confrontation with the person peddling his memorabilia.

Riccio told AP that he raised the subject while talking with the FBI about an unrelated subject: a video of Anna Nicole Smith. But he said agents dismissed his report, telling him ‘‘they didn’t want to be involved in another weird celebrity case.’’

‘‘The guy flat-out told me he had items stolen from O.J.’s house,’’ Riccio told the AP. ‘‘I have a legitimate business.’’

FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said Riccio did not indicate a crime would be committed.

Riccio was advised to contact a lawyer before taking any action and was told that alerting the FBI would not absolve him of any potential crime, agent Linda Kline wrote of the meeting, which occurred in Los Angeles.

He was not clear how the operation would unfold. There was no mention in the report of any plans to use guns.

‘‘I went along with O.J.’s plan,’’ Riccio said. ‘‘It was a self-organized sting operation. Except for the final result, with him bringing people who had guns. I knew nothing about that.’’

Simpson, 60, and five other men were arrested after they allegedly stormed a Las Vegas hotel room with guns drawn Sept. 13 to seize items.