Here's an interesting possible twist in the O.J. Simpson story-line: After, in the opinion of many observers, getting away with the murder of his ex-wife and her friend, it may finally be Simpson's avarice that allows justice to prevail.

According to media reports, lawyers for the Goldman family are investigating reports that Simpson hid money in offshore bank accounts to prevent the Goldman's from gaining access to his assets with the family's $33.5 million wrongful death suit against the former football player.

In a video released by TMZ.com, Bruce Fromong, one of the two memorabilia collectors Simpson is accused of stealing from, rants in an audiotape recording reportedly made one hour after the incident: "Nobody puts a gun in my face. I stood up for [him] while he was in jail. I stood up for him in the press. I stood up for him... on the stand. I helped him set up his offshore accounts."

The controversial O.J. Simpson tell-all If I Did It has gone onto the presses. Its publisher, Beaufort Books, has ordered a first run of 125,000 copies, and claims to have sold almost the entire run already.

The idea of this book sickens me. I understand that, by court order, the proceeds will be awarded to the family of one of Simpson's victims, Ron Goldman. His family apparently believes that readers will see through the ruse of presenting the work as fiction, and take it as Simpson's confession.

Even if the profits are appropriately distributed, I don't think that justifies buying the work. I'm aghast to think anyone would spend a penny on this book. The mere existence of such a confession rubs our collective noses in the failure of our legal system, and the publicity surrounding its publishing is bound to benefit the author in some way. We all know what he did, and how he did it, and that he hasn't, and won't pay the price for his crime.

The best we can do now is turn our backs on him. Completely. Here's hoping Beaufort Books ends up with 125,000 remainders.

If I Did It, how much would I be worth? That's the question many buyers on eBay and reporters from the Wall Street Journal are asking today. Many listings of If I Did It, OJ Simpson's supposedly hypothetical retelling of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, have already been pulled by eBay, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) at News Corporation (NYSE:NWS)'s HarperCollins unit's request. The bids were reportedly in the thousands before the auctions were ended, although many booksellers interviewed by the WSJ said they would put the price of the book closer to $1000 (although they'd only pay $100, buy low, sell high, anyone?). This auction ended at a whopping $8300.

Some put the book's price between $2000 and $5000, although everyone seemed to agree that such a price wouldn't be sustainable in the long run.

Instead of beating the First Amendment drum, I'll just riff on a capitalist beat: people obviously want to read the darned thing! My objection would likely be more literary snobbishness than righteous horror -- Judith Regan ain't known for her wordcraft. But if people want to read it so badly they'll pay thousands ...

Finally, Fox did something I can applaud. Today Fox's parent News Corporation (NYSE:NWS) announced that it was canceling the OJ Simpson book If I Did It, and corresponding TV interview. The project was so vile, so immoral, that even the media's most whorish member bowed to universal disgust and kaboshed the thing. So much for its Sweeps week zinger.

"I and senior management agree with the American public that this was an ill-considered project," Rupert Murdoch, News Corp. chairman said in an Associated Press report. "We are sorry for any pain that this has caused the families of Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson."

Books have been pulled out of contract or off shelves when there are questions of accuracy, but it's almost unprecedented, thanks to the First Amendment, to pull a book solely due to objectionable content. Certainly this may be the first time such a high-profile book has been pulled this close to publication. The only book that springs to mind that spawned such widespread vitriol from publishing circles was Brett Easton Ellis's "American Psycho" in 1991.

It's not surprising that Fox's affiliates, many of whom bear the mantle of Conservatism proudly, would protest loudly. How many of its Christian-family- values" audience want to see this sort of content on the tube? As for bookstores, Borders Group, Inc. (NYSE:BGP) one of the nation's largest, said it would donate any profits resulting from the book to charity.

Absolutists on the First Amendment might disagree with the decision to pull the project from public consumption, preferring to let the marketplace decide for itself, but in today's world, that's going to happen anyway. The book is now officially a collectible. And eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) is there to make sure there's a market for it.

The Australian media baron Rupert Murdoch gave in to public pressure and his News Corporation (NYSE:NWS) book operation, Harper Collins, will not publish the OJ Simpson book If I Did It. A TV special related to the book was to run on Murdoch's network, Fox.

Australia is a former penal colony and perhaps Mr. Murdoch was worried that his US citizenship would be revoked and he would be returned to his island home.

The US has a long history of banning books. Catcher In The Rye was kept out of schools off and on for years. Ulysses by James Joyce, perhaps the greatest novel of the 20th century, was banned by the US Customs Office for fifteen years. The wonderful thing about banning books or blocking their publication is that, once the process begins, it has no clear end.

Mr. Simpson's book is a hypothetical account of what might have happened if he had killed his former wife and one of her friends. How could it be that Mr. Simpson has no First Amendment rights? OJ may be a jabbering horror of a human being, but he retains the right to write and publish as he see fit.

Murdoch may have wanted to appear the apple polisher to the public, but has done his industry a great disservice.

Douglas McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.