REMEMBERING THE CHICAGO CONNECTION
O. J. Simpson is getting out. Granted parole for armed robbery in Las Vegas, Simpson is still the prime suspect for the brutal murders of his wife, Nicole, and Ron Goldman.
“Parole was the right thing to do for the crime Simpson was charged with in Las Vegas,” said Chicago’s former top cop Phil Cline, considered one of the city’s finest police superintendents.
“But for the crime of killing his wife, all he has to do is look in the mirror,” Cline told Sneed.
Cline is familiar with the Simpson case, which reared its ugly head in Chicago the morning after Nicole Brown Simpson and Goldman were murdered — which is the day O. J. flew to Chicago and checked into a hotel near O’Hare Airport.
“He didn’t stay long,” said Cline, the former commander of Area Five Detective Division, whose troops searched the weeded area and grounds outside the hotel room where O. J. had fled the morning after his wife was found brutally murdered and nearly decapitated.
“We searched his room for the signs of a knife,” Cline said. “Simpson had a cut hand and claimed he had cut it on a broken glass in his hotel bathroom,” Cline added. “A broken glass was found in his hotel room, but If I remember correctly, someone on the airplane coming from L. A. claimed he spotted a cut on Simpson’s hand.
“Anyway, there were no signs of a knife, and Simpson was lawyered up, and he got right back on the plane and headed back to L. A.
“A close eye will now be kept on him to make sure he doesn’t violate his conditions of parole, but the search for the two people he killed is over,” he added.
“Like I said, all he has to do is look in the mirror. He is the man in the mirror.”
A Simpson question . . .
Simpson once swore he’d spend the rest of his life searching for the murderer of his wife; the woman he terrorized and assaulted; the mother of his children. No matter how long it took. No matter how much money it cost. Sure thing. And I’m the Queen of Romania.
Ka- ching?
But no ring, ring? It’s no secret Obama’s minions are running around trying to line up big bucks from big- wigs to build the Barack Obama Presidential Center while the former first family runs about the world on various yachts.
So how come nobody answers the phone at the Barack Obama Presidential Library?
A Sneed reader trying to inquire about Chicago art donations to the library complains of no response. Sneed called 847- 2525700 at least four times Thursday and got this voicemail response: “Thank you for calling the Barack Obama Presidential Library. We are sorry we missed your call, but please leave us a detailed message and we will return your call as soon as possible. Thank you.”
Translation? Send cash. Forget the rest?
Royal rantings . . .
I know. I know. My diehard royal readers are starving for regal tidbits dusted from England’s royal table. So here’s a few dustbin bunnies. As a faithful reader of Sneed, you must know by now it’s against British protocol to touch the Queen or speak to her royal nibs first. Well, blimey! Canada’s Governor- General David Johnston just made a Michelle Obama move by touching the arm of Queen Elizabeth during a London event celebrating 150 years of Canadian independence while leading her down a staircase.
Citing gallantry as a motivation, Johnston said he took her arm because he was afraid the old girl would slip.
Known for their stiff upper lip, the royal family made no official notice.
But let us breathe a sigh of relief Johnston wasn’t dubbed the “Lizard of Oz,” a title given former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating by the British press after he appeared to put his arm around the queen’s shoulders in 1992.
Sneedlings . . .
I spy: Rapper Ice- T spotted at Gibsons on Rush on Saturday. ... Today’s birthdays: DeAndre Jordan, 29; Diane Guerrero, 31, Romeo Santos, 36. Follow Sneed on Twitter: @ Sneedlings