"Don't let nobody out of here," a man believed to be Simpson is heard screaming on the tape. "Think you can steal my s--- and sell it?"
The tape, obtained by TMZ.com, a celebrity website, is the latest development in a troubling week for Simpson.
On the tape, men could be heard swearing and yelling at an unknown number of other men to put their backs against the wall and to stand up. The voice of the man purported to be O.J. keeps asking over and over again "You think you can steal my s---?"
According to TMZ, the audio was taped by Thomas Riccio, co-owner of the auction house Universal Rarities. Simpson has said Riccio warned him several weeks ago people were going to auction off the memorabilia.
Simpson was arrested Sunday in Las Vegas and charged on two counts of robbery with a deadly weapon, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, and conspiracy to commit a crime and burglary with a firearm, police said.
The charges came after Simpson admitted to reporters over the weekend that he he and some other men went to a Las Vegas hotel room to retrieve sports memorabilia he believed belonged to him.
Simpson has said he was accompanied Thursday night by men he met at a wedding cocktail party, and that they took the collectibles. He said the items were stolen from him and were about to be sold by unscrupulous vendors.
He also said the men who joined him were people he'd met at a wedding reception and they were the ones who took the collectibles.
He told police he was not armed and police have said they don't have evidence to suggest that he was carrying a gun.
The memorabilia included autographed sports paraphernalia, his Hall of Fame certificate a picture with former FBI director Edgar Hoover and video footage taken at his first wedding.
A collector who was in the room at the time, Bruce Fromong, said a meeting was set up with potential customers but it became clear very quickly that wasn't the case.
"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,'' Fromong told ABC's "Good Morning America'' Monday. "O.J. at that time was saying, 'I want my stuff. I want my stuff.'"
Fromong said O.J. was not armed with a gun.
"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.' ''
Fromong also said that O.J. later called him to say that he had taken some of his things by mistake and wanted to know how he could return them.
O.J., who is notorious for his acquittal in the murder his wife and her friend, is to be arraigned on Wednesday.
Yale Galanter, Simpson's lawyer, said Simpson will once again, soon be a free man.
"Mr. Simpson is not guilty of these charges,'' Galanter said Sunday. "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."
When asked why he didn't call police to help retrieve his items, Simpson said he found authorities unresponsive ever since his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman were killed in 1994. Although he was found not guilty at the trial, he was later found liable in a wrongful death civil trial.
"The police, since my trouble, have not worked out for me,'' Simpson said.
With files from The Associated Press
