Catalog of my linked four-part series about the O.J. Simpson murder case

Inside the LAPD investigation with lead detectives, Tom Lange and Philip Vannatter

To establish my credentials for this MOBOLOGY site on Substack, I have created an archive of my work that details the research behind my books, articles, and investigations, hoping to earn the loyalty, respect, and trust of my subscribers as I present new content.

(Return to The Works of Dan E. Moldea)

Photo taken in February 1997 at a book signing at a Walmart in Valencia, California. . . . Linda Lange (left) and Rita Vannatter are standing behind their husbands.

     In my first published collaboration book, I teamed up with Los Angeles Police Department homicide detectives Tom Lange and Philip Vannatter, the lead investigators in the O.J. Simpson murder case.  Interestingly, the two detectives, who didn't want a shill writing their story, selected me, in part, because of my previous criticism of the LAPD in my 1995 book about the murder of Senator Robert Kennedy. 

     My book with Lange and Vannatter—Evidence Dismissed:  The Inside Story of the Police Investigation of O.J. Simpson—was published in hardback by Pocket Books in January 1997; the paperback edition was released in August 1997.

     Football legend-turned-actor Simpson was charged with the June 12, 1994, murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown, and her friend, Ronald Goldman.  Simpson was acquitted by a jury in his criminal case in October 1995.  However, a second jury in the subsequent wrongful death civil suit filed by the victims' families found Simpson liable for the murders in February 1997, just a few days after the release of our book.

     Featured in Evidence Dismissed was evidence collected by Lange and Vannatter which prosecutors had decided not to present during its losing effort in the criminal case.  This evidence included the detectives' June 13, 1994, interview with Simpson, who made several conflicting statements regarding his whereabouts on the night of the murders and how he had injured his left hand; Lange's dramatic conversation with a suicidal Simpson during the June 17 Bronco chase, as well as a variety of key witnesses who were never called to testify during the prosecution's case.

     By the end of the criminal trial, Simpson's defense team had accused both Lange and Vannatter of participating in a police conspiracy to frame Simpson, along with the racist cop Mark Fuhrman, who later pleaded "no contest" to a perjury charge for lying during his sworn testimony.  The prosecutors in the case, seeing Fuhrman and the LAPD on trial along with Simpson, abandoned Lange and Vannatter and, like the defense legal team, used the detectives as their foil.  Lange and Vannatter were unable to defend themselves publicly, because of an earlier gag order imposed upon them by LAPD Chief Willie Williams.

     Essentially, Evidence Dismissed served as the first real defense of their activities and decisions, as well as a detailed blow-by-blow account of what they knew, when they knew it, and what they did when they found out about it.

     The evidence is clear that Lange and Vannatter worked on this case with great honor, integrity, and skill.

     The book spent five weeks on the New York Times Best-Seller List, as well as the best-seller lists of the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, the Los Angeles Times, and the Washington Post, among others.

     Remarkably, despite its success, the book received only a small handful of reviews.  In one of the few, The New York Times Book Review described Lange and Vannatter as "O.J. Simpson's newly rehabilitated accusers," adding, "They present their investigation, finally without interruption or cross-examination. . . . Detectives Lange and Vannatter do have a passion for documentation--a good thing, in their line of work."  The Akron Beacon Journal stated:  "In his sixth book, Moldea has smashed the ball over the center field fence with his keen analysis of evidence and his clear writing."

     Here is a catalog of the four-part series about my work with Lange and Vannatter, excerpted from the third edition of my memoir, Confessions of a Guerrilla Writer.

Catalog

Chemistry, Part 1 of 4

Working with Lange and Vannatter, Part 2 of 4

Mark Fuhrman's lies and delusions . Part 3 of 4

Back on defense, Part 4 of 4