How OJ Simpson became armed robber 13 years after acquittal for double-murder by stealing sports memorabilia at gunpoint...then serving nine years in prison

More than a decade after OJ Simpson was acquitted of the double murder of his ex-wife and her friend, he decided to commit another crime - one that had a tie back to his infamous case. 

Simpson, whose death was announced on Thursday following a battle with prostate cancer, was found guilty in 2007 after he robbed a memorabilia dealer at gunpoint. Simpson was sentenced to 33 years behind bars, but was released on parole after just nine. 

On September 13, 2007,  a group of robbers, led by the disgraced footballer, entered room 1203 at the Palace Station Hotel in Las Vegas and stole sports memorabilia from Bruce Fromong and other dealers. 

Simpson had claimed after the arrest he was getting back items 'stolen' from him. The memorabilia included pieces taken and sold to cover the money owed to the Ronald Goldman family after Simpson was found civilly liable - despite a criminal acquittal - for the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown, and her friend, Goldman. 

'[I] called O.J., said Tom Riccio, who was with Simpson that weekend, according to ABC News. 'O.J. said, "Look Tom, this is not memorabilia. These are personal artifacts that were stolen from me. My football that I was holding in my arm when I rushed for 2,000 yards, the ring from my wife who died that I was going to give to my daughter." He kept talking about a photo signed by J. Edgar Hoover, where J. Edgar Hoover said he was a big fan, a fine young man.'

Simpson was found guilty and sent to jail for 33 years in 2007 after he robbed a memorabilia dealer at gunpoint. He only served nine years and was released on parole. (pictured: Simpson reacting to being found guilty for the robbery in 2008)

On September 13, 2007, a group of robbers, led by the disgraced footballer, entered a room at the Palace Station Hotel in Las Vegas and stole sports memorabilia from Bruce Fromong and other dealers. (pictured: Room 1203 where the robbery took place) 

In 1995, OJ was the star player in the 'trial of the century' that transfixed the entire world, as he and his famous defense attorney, Robert Kardashian, fought the allegations and evidence that he had committed murderers.

After being acquitted, Simpson went on to be found civilly liable for the murders and was later forced to pay out $33.5million in damages to the victims' families - part of the money came from items seized from Simpson's home. 

At the time of the robbery, Simpson devised a plan to get the items back, namely, his Heisman Trophy, his wife Nicole's wedding ring and the football from one of his winning games. 

Ricco, who knew of another dealer that had a trove of Simpson's sports memorabilia from when he played for the Buffalo Bills, then told Alfred Beardsley that he had an interested buyer. 

Beardsley got Fromong involved in the potential deal and the pair moved the items to the hotel room as requested by Ricco. 

The day before the robbery, Simpson, still blissfully unaware of his looming arrest and incarceration, served as best man for his friend Thomas Scotto at the Little White Chapel. 

After a rehearsal dinner for his friend's wedding, Simpson and five other thieves entered the room around 7.38pm. 

There, he confronted Beardsley and Fromong and told them that nobody was allowed to leave. 

Instead, Simpson turned up to the meeting with other men and they all had guns. In recordings of the robbery afterward, Simpson was heard shouting: 'You think you can steal my s**t?' 

After his 2007 arrest, Simpson admitted that he stole items that were originally taken from him, but denied that he ever broke into Fromong's hotel room. 

As he did so, his accomplices snatched his memorabilia, autographed Pete Rose baseballs and Joe Montana lithographs. 

Simpson's partners in crime were also caught as Walter Alexander, who brought a gun to the heist, was sentenced to probation. 

Ten years after the robbery, Bruce Fromong said he had long ago forgiven Simpson for what he did. (pictured: Fromong testifying during Simpson's preliminary hearing in 2007)

Simpson seen smiling as he enters his parole hearing in 2008 

Around 13 years after Simpson was acquitted for the double-murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman, he was arrested for the Vegas robbery. (picture: OJ and Nicole in New York in 1993)

September 16, 2007: OJ is arrested for felony armed robbery

Clarence Stewart, another accomplice, was sentenced to 15 years in jail, but was released after he took a plea deal. 

Ryan Braun and Charles Enrlich were both sentenced to probation, while the fifth robber, Michael McClinton, who also brought a gun and recorded the entire robbery, was given probation as well. 

Simpson was found guilty of the robbery and received the stiffest sentence - 33 years in prison.  

Ten years after the robbery, Fromong said he had long ago forgiven Simpson for what he did. 

'It's just too bad we didn't talk it out,' Fromong, then 63, said following news that Simpson would be paroled later that year.

'If he just said in the hotel room 'Everyone out... me and Bruce are going to talk' none of this would've happened.' 

In agreeing to release him, parole commissioners cited his lack of a prior conviction, the low risk he might commit another crime, his community support and his release plans. 

Before the hearing concluded, Fromong, said the former football great never pointed a gun at him during the confrontation, adding that it was one of the men with him who did so.

Nicole Brown Smith was found dead alongside Ron Goldman (pictured) 

The memorabilia dealer said his 'friend of almost 27 years' deserved to be released, adding: 'He is a good man. He made a mistake.'

Fromong suffered a series of heart attacks in the days after the robbery, which resulted in brain damage, and since then he's faced bankruptcy and lost 'everything.'   

'I could have died that night,' he previously told The Sunday Mirror. 

'They only needed to pull the trigger and I would have been dead. Just two days after the robbery, I had a severe heart attack. It was one of four I'd endure. I flatlined twice.'

Fromong said that when one man pointed a gun directly at him during the heist, but Simpson told him to 'put the gun down.' 

Fromong has since forgiven Simpson, calling him a 'good man' and a 'close friend.'

During the more than hour-long parole hearing, Simpson forcefully insisted – as he has all along – that he was only trying to retrieve items that belonged to him and never meant to hurt anyone.

He said he never pointed a gun at anyone nor made any threats during the crime.

'I've done my time. I've done it as well and respectfully as I think anybody can,' inmate number 1027820 said.

A collection of images later showed Simpson drinking at night clubs with his ex-girlfriend and her friend just hours after the crime. 

Photographs from the occasion showed 'the Juice', as he is affectionately known by friends', celebrating with champagne in the back of a limo and holding the bride's bouquet.

 Simpson won the 1968 Heisman Trophy, a piece of memorabilia taken from him after the Brown-Goldman murders

He won four NFL rushing titles, rushed for 11,236 yards in his career, scored 76 touchdowns and played in five Pro Bowls

OJ Simpson in a mug shot following his arrest in Los Angeles, California, US, 17th June 1994

Simpson's death at age 76 was announced on Thursday. An X post shared on his official account by his family said: 'On April 10th, our father, Orenthal James Simpson, succumbed to his battle with cancer. 

'He was surrounded by his children and grandchildren. During this time of transition, his family asks that you please respect their wishes for privacy and grace. - The Simpson Family.'

Goldman's father said Simpson's death only serves as a reminder of the agony his family has suffered over the years.

'The only thing that I have to say today is that this is a further reminder of the loss of my son Ron,' Fred Goldman told DailyMail.com.

'It is a further reminder of my son's murder and a reminder about the many years we have missed Ron.'

Simpson, a former football running back who played 11 seasons mostly with the Buffalo Bills, reinvented himself as an actor before Brown and Goldman's murders.