Editor’s note: This is the eighth part of an ongoing series of stories based on a seven-month WorldNetDaily investigation into the events surrounding the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson. The investigation includes exclusive interviews, conducted in person and by telephone, with key witness Bill Wasz, now serving time in a high-security prison for other crimes.
The man who says he was hired to kill Nicole Brown Simpson has lived a life of crime, but now he wants to change.
Bill Wasz, 35, claims he was hired to kill Nicole by Robert Kardashian, friend and business partner of O.J. Simpson. The evidence to support his claims has been in the hands of prosecutors from the very beginning of the murder investigation, but it was apparently covered up.
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| Bill Wasz |
Wasz is now in prison for armed robbery. He decided to rip off Kardashian, rather than fulfill the contract hit he was allegedly hired to perform. He also claims Kardashian was setting him up to be killed by police in a shoot-out if he had carried out the murder.
There have been many dramatic events and crimes in the short life and career of this man has been called a “one-man gang.” This is not an attempt to detail them all, for they are many. What follows is simply a sample of some of the events which may help shed some light on a man who is at the center of a major cover-up.
Wasz grew up in Manassas, Virginia — just outside Washington, D.C. His childhood is a painful memory that he doesn’t like to discuss. During many exclusive interviews with WorldNetDaily over the last seven months, he would only speak of that time in his life briefly, on one occasion.
The Wasz family was fairly well off financially, and Wasz says his father went to Georgetown University, and may have worked for the CIA or other government agency.
“My father’s friends were Secret Service, CIA, and an assortment of lawyers and judges,” Wasz recalled. It was not a happy home, and his parents divorced when he was 12.
Five of his closest teen-age friends met with separate, untimely, premature deaths. Everywhere he turned, Wasz encountered sadness. He has always wanted to be needed, to be loved, and to be a part of a family — a need that has yet to be fulfilled. Wasz turned to drugs at a young age.
He joined the U.S. Air Force, but his stay was cut short when it was discovered he had a serious heart condition. He was warned at the time that he should not expect to live more than a few years at best. That was more than 15 years ago.
Wasz was not happy and wanted to start a new life in new surroundings. He needed money — lots of it. He wasn’t content to work his construction job and save over time. He wanted a better life immediately. His criminal life began with a dramatic event.
First he stole a truck and a front-end loader, along with some welding equipment. He then drove the front-end loader through the large window of a Safeway supermarket in the dead of night. He scooped up the safe, put it in the back of the truck, and headed for the woods. To this day he cannot understand why all the noise did not attract attention.
It took all night, but Wasz finally cut through the safe with his stolen welder’s torch. The $63,000 cash inside was enough to get him to Las Vegas and finance a new career — in drugs and criminal activity.
That money was spent quickly on gambling, drinking, drugs and women “not necessarily in that order,” said Wasz. It was also the start of the lucrative activity that Wasz soon developed into a productive career — a gangster for hire.
Wasz soon began to associate with organized crime members and was hired for various jobs. His 6′ 6″ size and 190 pounds made him just right for a variety of activities, and he began with truck-jackings in the middle of the desert.
“I became sort of a criminal for lease, since I was not Italian and not privy to their meetings, only the execution of the jobs,” explained Wasz.
He learned quickly from professionals, but those professionals were eventually killed by other organized crime members. Wasz narrowly missed being killed himself, and he moved on to Los Angeles.
Wasz made a sincere effort to stay away from a life of crime. Nearly getting killed served as a wakeup call to him. He went to work as a bookkeeper at a watch company, but that didn’t last very long and it was back to crime and drugs. He would steal high-priced items from department stores and return for refunds.
“I got away with it,” said Wasz, “most of the time.” He soon found himself inside the Orange County Jail. When he got out it wasn’t long before he had a dramatic encounter with the law.
He had gone to a department store and helped himself to a pair of pants so he could apply for a job the next day. When he was challenged by security guards outside the store, he pointed a gun at them and got away.
“Well, as it turned out, some telephone repair girl saw the whole thing and got the plate off the car,” Wasz explained. His apartment was surrounded by police SWAT teams with a helicopter above.
This time Wasz spent nearly two years in a California prison, followed by six months in a Nevada prison for one of his crimes there. Once again he was ready to reform his ways, and he headed home to Virginia.
Perhaps he didn’t try hard enough, or perhaps bad guys just have a way of finding each other. Wasz found himself associating with the wrong people once again.
Everywhere Wasz went he was able to find people who needed to have a job done. He sold cocaine as well. It wasn’t long before he obtained an opportunity to run drugs by truck between Washington, D.C. and Arkansas.
That story is a fascinating one. It involves an admiral and an Arkansas state trooper by the name of Bill Shelton. Shelton is known by many Americans because he appears on the list of people associated with President Bill Clinton who are now dead. Shelton was the boyfriend of Kathy Ferguson, a witness in the Paula Jones case who was to testify that Clinton sexually accosted her. Found with a bullet in her head, her death was ruled a suicide, though many questions still remain unanswered regarding the circumstances. Later, Shelton was found dead at her grave, a bullet in the back of his head. His death, too, was ruled a suicide.
Eventually Wasz made his way back to California. He soon began a business relationship with the late Don Simpson, movie producer. Wasz became an enforcer. He would perform various tasks for Simpson and others who paid his fee, including roughing up various people.
He tells how he once held a man by his ankles over a balcony on the 20th floor to get him to pay a disputed amount. Wasz got $6,000 for his services.
Interviews with Wasz have revealed a crime-packed life, but not murder. He soon evolved into what turned out to be a very lucrative business — providing cocaine to Hollywood elite and celebrities.
“I obtained the coke in North Hollywood for around $500 an ounce and cut it up into grams and half-grams. I had obtained the services of someone who worked in the clubs, which included the Roxbury, the Whiskey, the Viper Room and a few others.
“I’d enlisted the help of either a bartender or bouncer in the sale of the coke. I simply supplied them with a package that contained a various amount of coke.” He would return later to pick up his share of the money collected by his salesman. Each made a handsome profit.
It was Steve, a bouncer at the Roxbury, who first introduced Wasz to Kardashian and O.J. It was a meeting that, Wasz claims, involved the sale of cocaine to them for several months, and then escalated to much more — as reported in other articles in this series.
Shortly after he ripped off Kardashian at the point of a gun, Wasz went on a cocaine-induced crime spree. Each crime he committed he continued a notable characteristic. All victims reported that he was very polite, apologetic and made certain that no one was hurt.
With nearly five continuous years in prison on a 20-year sentence for those crimes, Wasz has realized that to change he must leave his old life behind and begin a new one. He is making a sincere effort to do that.
“In California prisons, especially this one, drugs and moonshine are readily available. An over-abundance of it. I could, right this second, go to my cell door and have just about any drug I want brought to me in a matter of minutes. So, I put the dope down a while back. And it was my choice.”
For the first time in his life, Wasz is also trying to make religion a part of him. He has a Bible, and he has begun to pray.
“I have no doubts now about the presence of the Lord in my life. He’s shot many a cannonball across my bow over the years, but I never paid attention,” says Wasz.
Does he really want to change? Is he dedicated to change now so that when parole comes in four to five years he will be prepared to face the outside world without drugs and without crime?
“More than you would ever know. Change comes from the heart, and I believe it is upon me. I want a life, not this. I don’t want to hurt anyone anymore. It’s not me. I want my own house, a wife, kids, and a prosperous life. I want the Lord in my life and I want to show the world that change is possible — for anyone.”
David M. Bresnahan, a contributing editor for WorldNetDaily.com, is the author of “Cover Up: The Art and Science of Political Deception,” and offers a monthly newsletter “Talk USA Investigative Reports.”
He may be reached through email and also maintains a website.
Wasz welcomes the opportunity to respond to letters from the public. He asks those who write to provide paper, and a self-addressed stamped envelope for reply. Bill Wasz #H-64450, D-2 143, P.O. Box 5002, Calipatria, CA 92233-5002.
IN THIS SERIES:
