Topic: Oscar Goodman

Oscar Baylin Goodman (born July 26, 1939) is an American lawyer and politician. He has been the mayor of Las Vegas, Nevada since 1999. Mayor Goodman is an Independent and a former member of the Democratic Party.

Goodman was born to a Jewish family in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He graduated from the Haverford School in Haverford, PA in 1957 and then matriculated down the street to Haverford College, where he graduated in 1961. He received his Juris Doctor (J.D.) from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1964. He was admitted to the Nevada Bar Association in 1965 and he served as Chief Deputy Public Defender in Clark County, Nevada from 1966 to 1967. He and his wife Carolyn have four children.

During his career as a defense attorney he represented defendants accused of being some of the leading organized crime figures in Las Vegas, such as Meyer Lansky, Nicky Scarfo, Herbert "Fat Herbie" Blitzstein, Phil Leonetti, former Stardust Casino boss Frank 'Lefty' Rosenthal, and Jamiel "Jimmy" Chagra a 1970s drug trafficker who was acquitted of ordering the murder of Federal Judge John Wood. His most notorious client was reputed Chicago mobster Anthony "Tony the Ant" Spilotro, who was known to have a short and violent temper. In the semi-factual 1995 movie Casino, the character of Nicky Santoro was based on Spilotro and was portrayed by actor Joe Pesci. Goodman had a cameo appearance in the film as himself while defending "Ace Rothstein", which was a character closely based on Lefty Rosenthal and played by Robert DeNiro. Goodman also represented former San Diego Mayor Roger Hedgecock, who was convicted of accepting illegal campaign contributions and eventually forced to resign. Hedgecock was later cleared of all charges on appeal due to jury tampering.