The OJ “trial of the century” continues to cast strange shadows. Patti Goldman, Fred’s wife and Ron’s stepmom, made news when it was reported that her former husband, Marvin Glass, a headline-grabbing defendant in his own right, died of AIDS in Chicago May 16.

Glass was dubbed a “one-man crime wave” by lawyer-cum-bestselling novelist Scott Turow, who led the prosecution when Glass was on trial in the mid-’80s on racketeering charges. Once a high-rolling Chicago attorney, Glass was brought to trial on accusations that he was in cahoots with his drug-dealer clients, acting as a middleman for a $100-million marijuana-and-cocaine smuggling ring. Once his “business associates” got busted, Glass racked up huge legal fees defending them. One of the trial’s crowning moments occurred when Turow called a man to the stand who testified that Glass paid him $2,500 to shoot an ex-partner.

Confined to a wheelchair in 1985 after he was struck by a truck on a Florida highway, Glass was accompanied at the lengthy trial every day by the ever-loyal Patti, who divorced him after the trial. The couple had three children.


Herbert José de Souza, 60, died of AIDS August 9 in Rio de Janerio, Brazil. An internationally acclaimed sociologist and longtie advocate for the poor, de Souza and his two brothers, all of whom had hemophilia, believed he got HIV in 1986 from blood transfusions. After testing positive, de Souza broke Brazil’s code of silence about AIDS and founded the Brazilian Interdisciplinary AIDS Association. Though a leading figure among progressives in his native country, de Souza dismissed claims that he was a hero. In 1993, his AIDS organizations were rocked by de Souza’s admission that he had accepted organized-crime donations.

Last year, de Souza was honored by the Imperio Serrano Samba Academy, which featured him on the main float of its annual carnival parade. True to form, he wore a black ribbon to commemorate the victims of floods in Brazil a few days prior to the event.

De Souza is survived by his wife Maria Nakano, and his two sons, Daniel and Henrique.