OJ Simpson WAS at the scene of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman’s murder and watched as the Gambino gangsters he hired slaughtered the couple, claims witness who says he kept quiet for 30 years because he feared for his life

OJ Simpson stood before the world in the ‘trial of the century’ and convinced a jury that he did not murder his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her lover Ron Goldman.

But now for the first time ever, MailOnline can reveal a key police witness who not only placed OJ Simpson at the scene, but claims the NFL star orchestrated the killing by hiring Gambino mobsters to carry out the hit.

Simpson was on trial for the brutal murders of his ex-wife Nicole, 35, and her lover Ron Goldman, 25, on June 12, 1994. Nicole was stabbed seven times in the neck and scalp. It was such a violent attack that when she was found lying in a pool of blood in the fetal position, she was almost beheaded.

Yet backed by his ‘dream team’ of lawyers, the iconic NFL star emerged triumphant as his grueling trial came to a dramatic close on October 3, 1995 – when almost 150 million people watched the verdict on television.

This week, Simpson died aged 76, surrounded by his family after a battle with cancer. He took his secret to the grave.

Now, in a shocking revelation after 30 years of silence and even going to jail for not answering a grand jury’s questions, a man who knows who killed Brown and Goldman has finally revealed the truth.

John Dunton, 62, has broken decades of silence to say on tape that OJ Simpson was indeed at the scene of the double murder along with four Gambino crime family gangsters he hired to kill his ex-wife Nicole Brown, MailOnline can reveal.

Although Dunton initially spoke to LA police after the brutal double murder, he went silent after mobsters pushed him to his knees, put a gun in his mouth and threatened to kill him and his family if he spoke about the murder again .

Dunton has bravely waited 30 years for the deaths of many of the mobsters and the man at the center of it all, OJ Simpson, so he can tell the world what really happened.

Speaking to Hollywood private investigator Paul Barresi, 75, PI for a number of celebrities including Sharon Stone and Amber Heard, Dunton said Simpson was absolutely responsible for the murders.

Asked if Simpson paid the mob to kill his ex-wife, Dunton said: ‘100 per cent. The four guys who came were members of the Gambino family.

‘They were involved in all sorts of things. You know what the mob does.

‘The bottom line is that everything was done with OJ’s direction. That’s what happened.’

He added: ‘He was there. I don’t know what he did, but he was there. He knew these guys were going over to Nicole’s house to kill her.

‘He wanted to be there. I do not know why.

‘I’m glad he’s dead to be honest. What he did was a really horrible thing and I went through hell because of it.’

Dunton first met Barresi when the private investigator was hired to find out what he told police about Anthony Pellicano, Michael Jackson’s private investigator who would end up spending 16 years in prison for wiretapping and wiretapping.

He had allegedly claimed that Pellicano had put Brown’s house under surveillance.

Dunton was also threatened by the Gambino crime family – one of the infamous ‘Five Families’ that ran New York’s underworld.

He said: ‘The guy who put the gun in my mouth, he hit several people and if he hit me it wouldn’t be any different. He also said that they would also beat my family.

‘When they threw me down on my knees and made me cross my ankles and stick a gun all the way down my mouth, it was terrifying.’

Although Dunton knows the name of the mobster who threatened him, he chose not to say his name as the mobster is ‘old’, he is ‘still alive’.

After he and his family were threatened, Dunton stopped talking to the police.

He added: ‘I didn’t say anything. When OJ got out of prison he called me two or three times. I didn’t talk to him. I didn’t want to meet. I just hung up.’

Dunton was afraid that he too would be killed. He was so scared that even when he was hauled before a grand jury investigating OJ Simpson’s best friend Al Cowlings, he refused to answer their questions and was jailed for 23 days as a result.

Hollywood private investigator Paul Barresi told MailOnline: ‘For more than three decades I have been at the center of every high-profile Hollywood celebrity scandal.

‘When the star behind the scandal dies, the secrets simmering under the red carpet tend to surface.

‘After Nicole and Ron’s murder, Anthony Pellicano tasked me with uncovering everything I could find about the relationship between OJ and Nicole during their marriage, after their marriage and beyond the grave.

‘Pellicano was also interested in knowing about a secret witness named John Dunton, a 34-year-old LA resident who claimed to be at the crime scene.

”’Don’t use strong-arm threats,” Pellicano instructed – ”Be a gentleman. Just see what you can find out about the man.”

‘I went to see Mr Dunton at his residence in LA and the first thing he said to me was: ”If you’re a journalist I have nothing to say and if you’re not a journalist I still have nothing to say say. ”

“I didn’t speak to Mr. Dunton again until today, almost thirty years to the day.”