Mob Lawyer Is New Vegas Mayor
A lawyer who gained fame defending mobsters has been elected mayor of Las Vegas. Oscar Goodman, who has no political experience, easily defeated a veteran city councilman by a wide margin.
The criminal defense attorney and self-described mob mouthpiece ran a campaign that culminated in a landslide win Tuesday. He attributed his victory to running a clean campaign, saying his legal past was not an issue in the election.
Voters didn't seem to mind Goodman's past defense of notorious mobsters, convincingly rejecting Councilman Arnie Adamsen's claims that electing him would further tarnish the image of the gambling city. Goodman became famous by winning verdicts for the likes of Meyer Lansky and Tony "The Ant" Spilotro.
He likened his populist, come-from-behind campaign to that of Gov. Jesse "The Body" Ventura, and shared the Minnesota GovernorÂ's healthy ego and loud intellect.
"He's the body, IÂ'm the brain," the 59-year-old Goodman said as he celebrated his win at an outdoor party with several hundred supporters. "I think the whole political science book could be rewritten by this. I love my past. I don't apologize for one day in my life."
Goodman, who came within 277 votes of winning the job outright in a nine-candidate primary May 4, ended up with 32,765 votes, or 63.8 percent, to Adamsen's 18,620 votes, or 36.2 percent.
Adamsen, the favorite going into the race, tried to make his opponent's past a campaign issue. But voters seemed more interested in Goodman's personality and his populist promises. Adamsen hadnÂ't had the money to run many television ads, and Goodman's pledge that he will make developers pay for much of the city's traffic and pollution woes has gone largely unchallenged.
Goodman entered the race seemingly on a lark with $160,000 of his own money and not much more than a relentless drive to succeed. He ended it with money pouring in from casino owners who jumped on his bandwagon after the strong primary showing.
"I'm colorful. That's what got me in the limelight," said Goodman, who played himself in Martin Scorsese's movie Casino. "But I honestly believe I'm going to be the best mayor Las Vegas ever had."
Goodman promised to immediately tackle the growth and infrastructure issues that fueled his campaign, and said he would meet with the city's council members on Wednesday, though he doesn't take office until June 28.
"I want to make things happen overnight," Goodman said. "Unlike other people, I'm impatient. I'm ready to get going."
©1999 CBS Worldwide Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report