Chapter 1: What insights does Oscar Goodman share about Las Vegas?
We'll be in Las Vegas. Welcome to Vegas. Las Vegas functions on a 24-hour-a-day schedule. Who's the casino? Big volcano out in front. That's the Eiffel Tower. Mirage. Riviera. The Mirage. Flamingo. Sahara. The MGM Grand. This isn't the real Caesars Palace, is it?
on a gamble they always put the machines that pay off the most right in the front good luck the strip is just the most amazing stretch of road i think probably anywhere in the world kicking ass in vegas vegas baby vegas baby welcome to las vegas i don't know what i think about oscar goodman
I want to say I respect what he does, and if I needed help, I hope my advocate is half the lawyer he is.
Chapter 2: How does Oscar Goodman describe his legal career and ethical dilemmas?
At the same time, what he's done and who he's defended troubles me, makes me uncomfortable, ethically, even if I'm not sure it should. When Oscar speaks about his clients, he does so very deliberately, as if to make sure he doesn't say something that would get him in trouble.
He claims there's no such thing as the mob, even though history has proven it beyond a shadow of a doubt, but that might just be his well-polished shtick. Oscar will tell you that he's really just naive, but it's hard to accept because he's clearly very intelligent. He considers his greatest accomplishment to be his family, and he loves his wife very much.
It's clear he passionately enjoys what he does, and what he does is defend rights. He's also incredibly likable, although he's one hell of a ball buster. Oscar is the kind of guy that you want to like you, even if you're not sure you like him. Oscar Goodman was born July 26, 1939 in the working class neighborhood of West Philadelphia.
His last name and stereotypical Jewish features made him a target for bullies and bigots. But Oscar wouldn't back down from a fight, even if he often lost them. He had difficulty taking his education seriously despite his family's emphasis on it. Despite being more of a quick wit, Oscar eventually became a top student.
He got into Haverford College more because of his tenacity and charm than his grades. He graduated in 1961, then attended the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
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Chapter 3: What personal experiences shaped Oscar Goodman's views on law and justice?
During a summer break, Oscar and a friend visited Las Vegas, specifically Dunes. Oscar loved to gamble and drink. He earned a reputation as a ladies' man. That was until he met Carolyn Goldmark. The two dated throughout college, but when they decided they wanted to get married, her parents were disappointed that she fell in love with a Jewish boy.
Despite being Jewish themselves, her family was only technically Jewish, never practicing their faith. When Oscar asked Carolyn's father if he could marry his daughter, the couple were talked into waiting a year until Oscar finished his first year of law school. Oscar barely passed. Despite being in law school, Oscar considered multiple career options, including an artist.
It wasn't until he took a full-time job as the assistant district attorney that Oscar fell in love with law. But he still hated law school. It was Carolyn that inspired him to aspire to more than class clown. Oscar would tell you that he got into law to help people, not make money, irregardless of the fact that he made a lot of it.
Coming out of law school, he decided to write a bunch of district attorneys around the country looking for work. He got a response from Las Vegas.
Chapter 4: How did Oscar Goodman transition from prosecution to defense attorney?
So in the fall of 1964, the couple moved to Vegas. The Rat Pack was performing at the Sands, and Caesar's Palace was under construction. When they arrived, the city's population was 75,000 people, fewer than some neighborhoods in Philadelphia. It had a flat landscape that transformed into a neon jungle at night. Oscar fell in love with the city instantly, but it was a cultural shock to Carolyn.
He would only last 18 months working for the prosecution, complaining that the system was too weighted in their favor, taking advantage of those too poor or uneducated to defend themselves properly. He decided he wanted to be a criminal defense attorney. Friend and fellow lawyer Harry Claiborne tried to discourage him from it, saying there was no money in criminal law.
The money was in civil defense. 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.
Chapter 5: What challenges did Oscar Goodman face in his early criminal defense cases?
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.
He had his client take the stand and claim that he borrowed the vehicle.
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Chapter 6: What was the significance of Oscar Goodman's case with Meyer Lansky?
Oscar implored the jury to probe their hearts before finding fault in with the defendant. It worked. He admitted he could try that case a thousand times and lose it in 999. His next noteworthy case was a sweeping federal indictment in Florida with multiple defendants. It was regarding transmitting sports wagering information to illegal bet makers.
Since he was not being mentioned in the government's evidence, he got his client's case severed from the others. Good thing, too, because in the end, they were all found guilty. His client basically won by forfeit. After that, all of a sudden, he started getting calls from all over the country asking for his services.
The largest coordinated gambling raid ever was Oscar's next case, dealing with illegal bookmaking. In Vegas, federal investigators arrested Frank Rosenthal, Paul Pierce, and Jerry Zarowitz, one of the original owners on record for Caesar's Palace. At the time, all three were employed at the Stardust. The case hinged on wiretap information, which established multi-state connections.
In this case, no one's freedom was at stake. Instead, their state work card faced revocation.
Chapter 7: How did Oscar Goodman become known as a 'mob lawyer'?
Without those cards, they couldn't work in the gaming industry. Oscar first successfully argued that they couldn't have their cards removed without due process, something that wasn't explicitly afforded to them under the law. He won a decision that supported his argument. It was only the beginning of his lawyering.
Next, he attacked the government for not disclosing the specific charges his clients were facing, calling it a grand inquisition of the type held in Nazi Germany. He challenged who signed the affidavits, getting the assistant attorney general to admit his boss's signature on the documents were a forgery. As a result, the case was dismissed.
Oscar's most infamous client was Meyer Lansky, the man behind the mob's investments in Las Vegas. He was known as the mob's accountant. In 1972, he was accused of skimming 36 million from the Flamingo from 1960 to 1967. This would be the case that would forever change the way government viewed Goodman, becoming known as a mob lawyer. Lansky attempted to flee prosecution by relocating to Israel.
However, they would not offer him asylum. Before the jury could acquit him based on lack of evidence, the judge dismissed the case in 1974 based on Lansky's health. while no one challenged that Lansky had healthy shoes. We hope you've enjoyed this premium content preview. For access to the rest of this episode, as well as all the premium content we offer, go to patreon.com slash 360 Vegas.
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