An audio recording of O. J. Simpson apparently orchestrating an armed hold-up in a Las Vegas hotel room was released yesterday.

Police are expected to charge the disgraced former football star tomorrow and, if convicted, he could spend more than 30 years in prison.

On the tape Mr Simpson, 60, can be heard angrily confronting two dealers of sports memorabilia, who claim that he robbed them at gunpoint with a gang of associates. The robbery allegedly took place last Thursday, the night before the release of his book, If I Did It, a “hypothetical confession” to the killing of his wife and her friend.

The tape was recorded by Thomas Riccio, co-owner of the auction house Universal Rarities, and released by the celebrity gossip website TMZ.com. The website said that Mr Riccio had reportedly agreed to join Mr Simpson on a private “sting” operation to see if Alfred Beardsley, one of the memorabilia dealers, was trying to sell goods that belonged to Mr Simpson.

According to the alleged agreement, they would threaten Mr Beardsley with the police only if he did not give any stolen items back. But on the tape, Mr Simpson can be heard bellowing: “Don’t let nobody out this room, motherf*****s. Think you can steal my s*** and sell it?” In an interview with Good Morning America on ABC Bruce Fromong, another dealer, who was also in the room, said: “The door burst open and they came in almost commando style, O. J. Simpson and some of his people, I guess you would call it, with guns drawn. O. J. at that time was saying, ‘I want my stuff. I want my stuff.’ The thing in my mind as soon as I saw him, I’m thinking, ‘O.J., how can you be this dumb? You’re in enough trouble.’”

Mr Fromong added that Mr Simpson later left him a voicemail in which he said that some of Mr Fromong’s belongings “were mixed up” with his, and that he wanted to give them back.

Mr Beardsley said that the case was “like a bad dream” and that Mr Simpson had been set up by Mr Riccio. The other men in the room with Mr Simpson were allegedly fellow guests from a wedding the former football star was planning to attend on Saturday. One of them, Walter Alexander, has been arrested but police are still searching for four other men.

Police said they were unsure who now owned the memorabilia, but that the manner in which it was taken merited investigation.

Mr Simpson was taken into custody in handcuffs on Sunday and denied bail. His arraignment has been set for Wednesday. Yale Galanter, a lawyer for Mr Simpson, said: “Mr Simpson is not guilty of these charges. We believe it is an extremely defensible case based on conflicting witness statements, flip-flopping by witnesses and witnesses making deals with the Government to flip.”

Although he was acquitted of the murders of Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman, Mr Simpson was later found responsible for their deaths in a civil case brought by the victims’ families, who were awarded £33.5 million (£16.5 million) in damages. His attempts to cash in on the scandal with If I Did Itwere thwarted when a bankruptcy judge transferred ownership of the book to the Goldman family, who added the subtitle, Confessions of the Killer. The book is now a bestseller.

Fred Goldman, the father of Ron Goldman, described Mr Simpson’s arrest as “wonderful” but “a lot of years too late”. He added: “I would have much preferred him found guilty of Ron and Nicole’s death and then put either to death or in jail then. But frankly to see him ultimately or potentially go to jail – that’s great.”

Lucrative trade

- A witness in the O. J. Simpson murder trial in 1997 said that the former sports star could expect to make up to $3 million (£1.5 million) a year from autographs, endorsements, memorabilia and other merchandise

- In 1999 Mr Simpson’s Heisman Trophy, below, fetched $230,000 at an auction to raise damages owed to the families of Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman. Bidding for the trophy – awarded each year to the best college player – was fast, rising from $75,000 to $200,000 in under ten seconds -

- Bob Enyart, a talkshow host on Christian radio, bought $16,000 of memorabilia at the auction. He burnt it all outside the court where Mr Simpson was acquitted of murder

- According to his agent, Mr Simpson did approximately one private signing a month in 2000. In each sitting he would sign about 200 footballs and 200 sweatshirts, all of which were sent to memorabilia dealers

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