Oscar Goodman

Goodman passed the Nevada Bar Exam in 1964, the top of his class.

At first, the pay wasn't much, but he kept busy accepting court-appointed criminal cases.

Lewis Crockett was the case that set the tone for Oscar's defense career.

Lewis was a black man accused of murdering an informant in a drug case.

He had already been through one trial in which the jury was hung.

Oscar did his best, but the verdict was not only guilty, it was a death row case.

Goodman buried himself in the Nevada Revised Statutes looking for something that would help him to get the death sentence overturned.

He learned that Crockett had a doppelganger that confessed he was at the scene of the crime with a gun, but denied shooting the victim.

As a result, Oscar was granted a new trial.

He was able to get his client off by having him pass a polygraph test.

After the Crockett victory, cases poured in from the west side of Las Vegas, known for its low-income black families.

One day, a pit boss at the Hacienda received a phone call.

While on the phone, he turned to a dealer Oscar had befriended and asked him who the best lawyer in Vegas was.

The guy said, I don't know whether he does any criminal work, but Oscar Goodman was a hell of a guy.

And with that, the guy on the phone relayed that Oscar was the best.

That call would lead Oscar to represent a man named Mel Horowitz, a known associate of such organized crime figures as Raymond Patriarca, Meyer Lansky, and Fat Tony Salerno.

He was arrested for violating the Dyer Act, which governs interstate car theft cases.

Typically, they are impossible cases to win because the prosecution basically just had to prove the car was stolen and driven over state lines.

To secure his services, Oscar was visited by a man who gave him an envelope with three dimes in it and told, kid, you better win.

Oscar admits he was so nervous he threw up outside the courthouse.