critics have scoffed at me for trusting that once women are empowered they will help one another. since that is not always been the case, i'm willing to take that bet. the first wave of women who ascended to leadership positions are few and far between and to survive, many focused more on fitting in and helping others. the current wave of female leadership is increasingly willing to speak out. the more women obtain positions of power, the less pressure there will be to conform to the more they will do for other women. research are to suggest that companies with more women in leadership roles have better worklife policies, smaller gender gaps in executive compensation and more women that mid-level management. the hard work of generations before us means that equality is within reach. we can close the leadership gap now. every individual success can make success a little easier for the next. we can do this for ourselves,

for one another, for her daughters and for her sons. if we push hard, this next wave can be the last ways. in the future, there will be no female leaders. there will just be leaders. [applause] >> i think we've seen what it takes to be a global phenomenon. first, and extraordinary business. a second extra antibusiness and on the level of impact on a global stage that all of us would love to have. i think we cheryl, you can see it's not just your intellect. it's not just your experience. it is the whole cheryl. it is followed her. mr. charisma, leadership. i'm proud to have worked with her and i'm looking forward to working with you about the new things are going to do.

what an extraordinary leader, sheryl sandberg. [applause] >> looks to be fat, oscar goodman to discuss his memoir, "being oscar." mr. goodman talks about cases he handled during his career as a criminal defense attorney and share stories from history terms as mayor of las vegas. this is about an hour. >> "being oscar" is the name of the book by former las vegas mayor, oscar goodman. mayor goodman, when did you come to vegas and why? >> we came here in 1964.

i went to wonderful liberal arts college in the outskirts of philadelphia. i loved every day of college. when i went to law school at the university of pennsylvania, it was a time of the civil rights movement was very, very active. however, the students there were interested in going with a white suit and do in corporate law and the like. it was boring me to death. i had just gotten married and i felt that i wasn't supporting my wife. when they decided to walk into the das office in fact, do you have a job, as they are they are ushered me and when the conviction of the first official and the united states. we spoke in a sad i love the dollar an hour. i think i'm the only person who went to an ivy league law school they did that. they took $300,000 from under her mattress and ticket to las vegas to wonder about at the

tables. going over the testimony on a motion to suppress. at the end of the meeting was a cold, dreary, horrible night. the wind was going right through the city hall of philadelphia. they said what are you doing here? i said what else is there? visited las vegas. i went to a matter of fact how would you go to the land of milk and honey? are okay. that's the way at all have been. we came out here. iraqi with $87 in our collective pockets. the great education. but it's the american dream. there was a character a cartoon to her wherever he went there with a cloud over his head. >> what kind of life issue pack

this? >> whoever walked into my office, the amount of bankruptcy. if they wanted a divorce, whatever they want, i would take care of them and try to make them very happy and i was happy. look at this, we must be in las vegas. this is the real mccoy, too. believe me, this is not water because water is for washing. i do have a watch given to me by the convention authority that has all on it. we'll get to that fact this is probably the first string is then delivered during an interview, mayor goodman. i want to go back to the subtitle of your book, which is for a model lawyer to mayor of las vegas. how did you become known as a

mob lawyer? >> you don't start off as a mob lawyer. there's been authors who suggested i was sent out by mobsters to represent bob interest in las vegas. they did not have any particular casino here to take a little piece of it. i came out here with the expectation of not even practicing criminal law. i went into the das office of the clerk while doing similar work. i one day a fellow came for bankruptcy. i take care of him. we had met him. he was a car dealer in those days it was friendlier and the sense the sense you could talk to a car dealer not concern yourself with a suggestion that perhaps are taken out of the house, that kind of thing. one day he calls and says he'd like a bankruptcy. come on down. i had an office over a flower

shop in the roses that wafted through the floor. it was very romantic. i think a church in $250. he was happy. i was happy. a couple weeks later, a phone call comes into the pit of the hotel where he was dealing the cards. the person on the end of the phone said, who is the best criminal lawyer las vegas? nobody in las vegas knows how to say i don't know. instead of saying i don't know, he said he was the best criminal lawyer in las vegas? the fella i did the bankruptcy for set call oscar. that's we started because the fellow who made the phone call was a reputed oscar from the northeast to as in bookmaking and pornogrpahy. i get a phone call saying calm to such and such a place. he better win it. i was scared to death.

being the brave person i am, i said to my wife, how would you like to take a ride with me? went to this exclusive neighborhood, not on the door. he figures three times. i take it. he better win the case. i went around the corner, open up the envelope. i saw 30, $100 bills. i got very, very lucky. if i tried it a thousand times, i listed 999 times. i tried it on st. valentine's day two years after i got my license in the federal courthouse. didn't even know how to pick a jury. i was so nervous i barked all over the steps of the courthouse. we're going to have it where oscar -- >> meaning throughout? >> right. >> the jury felt so sorry for me that they brought back a not guilty.

the brother was so happy that he hired the best criminal lawyer las vegas. first federal case for him. for that time on he would refer me to folks around the country. meyer lansky was one of his friends. bookmakers are his friends. i got a phone call monday about the first wiretap case under the omnibus crime bill, which was taking place in florida, miami did the miami international airport has its own surveilled with wiretaps and they were taking a video of it. the fellow who was providing the torch information to the book makers down there was a bartender here in las vegas and they had him hire me. i went down to miami to try the case and got lucky there again because i got him out of the him out of the case and everyone else was found guilty. one of the first wiretap case in the country.

it just wasn't mentioned for the first two weeks of trial. from that point on, every single mob case in the country, i have at least one client. on december the 12th 1980, the bottom line is i was hired in 1926 cities. i was able to ascertain. but i had one case after another piled up on the floor. i kind of sad they had the name. they were in different handwriting. sorry to john mitchell.

he said we did something that was in it for read here i got all 19 cases as a result of that. once again, the reputation kept on growing. i don't say that arrogantly because it was all muck. >> host: i'll let you skip your martini. i do why you just have to hold back. he used the word when talking about your lawyer career, reputed mobsters. and he used the word mob. are you troubled by that word? why do you always reputed? >> guest: i'll never forget the judge in san diego who was presiding over a case for i was representing a reputed mobster by chris petit down there. chris had a story's career in san diego and everyone was referring to him as a reputed

mobster. the judge that after a while that was his name, reputed mobster. you have to understand, the reason we as reputed as because he is not a monster until he is convicted of being a mobster. he is repeated because that is the reputation that is basically the media want person has given him. that's the reason i use the word reputed good if someone is convicted of a violation or by market data crime, it's fair to call in the mobster. i always took it as a badge of honor to be quite frank. you can hire anybody in the world and they chose me. >> does the government play by the rules? >> now, i hate to interrupt you, they make today. i haven't for 13 years because i was the mayor. when i was practicing particularly during the 70s and 80s, they play by the end

justified the means. they really didn't care that much whether my client did what he was in the courtroom for. they just felt that my clients were so bad that they committed -- he and his crimes but if they could get them, and it's not supposed to work that way either. you don't get somebody. if they could get them, then that was their job. they would do anything to get my clients. i rarely put a client on the witness stand. i really let them be suggested to cross-examination. many many of my clients to be quite frank weren't smart. i thought i could do a much better job than arguing to the jury. i really believed in allowing them to be crashed by a prosecutor. so the end of the story was that these people who are prosecuted had to be my target because i wasn't putting maclaine on to

deny the charges. but i did was try the government and invariably caught them in a lie. i caught them in a violation of the constitution of the united states. people would say o-oscar when the case. i think the fourth amendment is probably the embodiment of one of the great laws that this country has, where government can't get involved in illegal searches and seizures, can't go into someone's home and violate their personal liberties without having a warrant issued by an impartial judge. so i won my case is based on the attack of the government on their veracity, on their credibility. my favorite story in the book is when people don't talk about. this one about david baker. they reputed dealer. african-american sellout. they caricature of the old african-american -- i guess the way polity and would have characterized an african-american in her prior

life. basically, he shuffled, mumbled. he was a smart guy and a nice guy. i think he was probably dealing a serious amounts of hair when. last person that got word that he was going to be involved in a transaction at places as arkansas. so they staked out the airport and they saw him drive up in his cadillac. he was parked outside. they arrested somebody coming in from san diego who is going to make this delivery to him. he didn't know that, so he is waiting outside the airport. four police officers, rednecks, all big fat guys. they were going to testify. i vote the exclusionary rule, which says if you're not testifying, you have to leave the courtroom so you won't hear what the other person says. first cracker gets on the stand.

i swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god. he said, well, we saw this guy sitting there on the curb in his cadillac and i went up to him and i said, sir -- right off the bat, nobody ever called insert his entire life. i knew this was the beginning of some kind of trick auction. he said, sir, would you mind if you lowered your window? and get out of your car? he said certainly, no problem. i know manny wouldn't listen to a police officer they were the last person on earth. he said sir, would you be kind enough to hand us the keys out of your mission? he said certainly. well, then he said sir, would you please open up the trunk for us? nobody ever said please. they said in the trunk. nosair, would you be kind enough to open the back?

you know mr. goodman, i said manny, i'm going to hire three more cops. let me take care of it. tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me god. same testimony. it exactly. same testimony. he said in a open it up and he was polite. this judge, you are black guy, okay? they think your daycare or dealer dealer, all right? no one is going to believe you over four white cops. next cop, the last one thing god

that i had to see up there. i aspired to tell the truth, nothing but the truth so help you god. same testimony. they are lying. the people in the band will be about to tell. he says he not demand that they pick the pilots up in the flight attendants and drove into the motel? is that you saw it in their? they said yeah, right there. i think you've got to be kidding. i said to the judge coming your honor, can i have a day for a convention very important evidence to produce for you? so i said, what you want to pay for? he says that if you have today. come back tomorrow morning. he didn't think i was going to be able to do anything listening to my client. i'm sure he didn't particularly like. he was a likable guy, but the public doesn't like heroin dealers. i think they don't like lying cops even more. so i go back to my office and i

knew in the flight was coming in and was able. and found the name of the pilot for their place. he was in san francisco. i got on the phone and said, sir, i'm oscar good then and i represent a fellow who was arrested in arkansas. he says, man, he says that was like miami vice. he said there were these four white cops. they threw him out of the car. they pushed his face down to the curb. they put a pen to his head. they took the key out of the ignition. they went to the trunk. i said we've come down here and testify to that? he said sure. i think you come on down and then i'll make sure we have a nice german if you want to bring a friend come on make sure everything is taken care of. just be in my office tomorrow morning at 7:00. he came down we put them on the

stand. you know what the prosecutors that? he said there was goodman supporting perjury again. the judge looked at him with such disdain. he threw the case out and said absolutely a constitutional violation. he said thank you. you know the heartbreak and part of the old story is a nice way like my book. those lying cops and the prosecutor because nobody remembers things exactly like the next person. none of them were ever prosecuted for perjury. that's not the good lawyer like ideas. >> host: you are watching booktv on c-span2. we are talking about oscar goodman, "being oscar: from mob lawyer to mayor of las vegas- only in america." who are lefty rosenthal and

anthony spilotro? >> if you saw the movie casino worries start -- >> host: by the way, whenever you're not busy? >> guest: rosen was one of the consultants for the sound in the collegiate who wrote the book at martin scorsese said you should play the lawyer? rosenthal was the one for trade by mr. janeiro. little did he know he could memorize something. they hired me to play myself. every time you watch casino hynek 13 cents, which is a wonderful thing. that is supplemented my income unbelievably over the years. >> host: how much of the made up that movie? >> guest: believe it or not i get about $7000 a year residuals. it's enough to buy a couple drinks. >> host: who were lefty rosenthal and anthony spilotro? >> guest: you didn't can't lefty to his face. it was frank rosenthal. he was the front man basically

for the corporation which owns about five different hotel casinos here in las vegas. very bright guy, very demand in perfectionist. he's the one who developed the sports here before he became unbearable in the wall, like you would imagine in a movie in the 1930s. but he has these ideas of grandeur. anthony spilotro was a childhood associated sub three. according to blunt force that, tony was set out to the chicago mob to look over their interest here in las vegas. according to law enforcement, tony killed 26 people, murdered them. i was always have faced by fbi agents and local police said your client killed 26 people. how can you sleep at night? is that how come you haven't been able to put in jail if he killed 26 people? i never got a jury answer on

that one. unfortunately he was killed and buried in a cornfield in indiana. >> host: worry his lawyer? >> guest: i was his lawyer for many years. he never spent one day in jail except one time i was trying to case, representing kansas city in a trial wasn't over. tony was arrested for murder. he waited until i got back. post the mr. goodman, is there such thing as the mafia? >> guest: there was a time i would've sworn there was sent. the head of the fbi was telling me there was a period if you don't believe the head of the fbi, who can you believe? they said it was the greatest lie ever told. there is no mafia. where i really found out about what i was doing, because i was representing competing families. i know idea of the structure until i began to listen to the

wiretaps and read the search warrants and see the movie casino to find out how to really know what is doing and representing it would've charged a lot ore. i would've on the islands in the caribbean and flown private planes and unlimited supplies without being the spokesperson. after a while i found that there was the mafia. i was representing vinny and they called infinity in a mall. you would not call them that to the face. that is clear. i was representing him in boston. he is a capital in the picture trick crime family. i get a phone call from the prosecutor. he says you are through, oscar. i said what does that mean? you'll never say there's no mafia. the ceremony that these rats, these informants testified to, that they met in a room and put a gun on the table and pulled out a knife and her finger and

took a cart and then you light the card and say if your brother is an apartment you'll kill your brother. if your mother son or sickbed and the boss calls you, you leave your mother. i would laugh at that. i thought it was ludicrous. i get a phone call from the prosecutor on vinny's case then he says we have reported surreptitiously in mafia induction ceremony at 93 k-kilo street and bedford, massachusetts where your client is on the tape. i wasn't going to say he didn't record it i have to hear it. what i heard was there was a ceremony and they put a gun on the table. they brought a nice outcome finger, but the card, the whole works. i said, you know, this is really remarkable that the testimony that i heard all these years, which i used to laugh at and make fun of, apparently has some validity to it.

so we are trying a motion to suppress in this case. this is the case where they end up saying the fbi agent to prison for 10 years. connolly or more up in boston and catch india ei and also supplies. that's a whole different story. i'm sitting down because i get the feeling the case is ever going to be resolved in the as three murder charges against him. i could wrap it up if i were able to resolve it before the trial began. the agents were lying on the stand. but i could prove it at the time as far as taking testimony from the informants and the like. i sat down with vinnie and his associate, jay arbors out, who was a patrician is looking fellow. he looked like a roman centurion, with a regal manner about him. he was a college graduate. i believe boston college accountancy major. were sitting down and i said, you know, fellas, i could witness case. i said i could beat the

murderers. i could beat the bookmaking. i could beat the robbery. i could be the kidnapping. i said where i have a problem is during the stinking tape of the mafia induction ceremony. i said i don't have a problem with the breaking of the fingers and burning of the cars. people are used to that. i don't have a problem if you're brother is a right you'll kill them because that's judeo-christian. that goes back to cain and abel. but i do have a problem with saying that you will leave your mother on her deathbed if he could summon. so then he turns to jr and says next time i will leave that out. >> host: what was vegas like when you first moved here? pardon me if i'm saying is wrong, but were the mobs in control? for the mafia in control of the city and do they have a presence today? >> guest: i'll answer that reverse order. there is no mafia presence with

the corporations coming in here. being subject sncc engagement control supervision. and age has done its part, too. sl is attrition through fbi surveillance and wiretaps and the like. there's no mafia. no bobs in the traditional sense. they have no bearing whatsoever. when i got here in 1964, my wife and i were driving up from the east coast and came to the top of the hill and overlooked the entire ballet. or just a couple sprinkling nights in the desert. i don't think there was a building taller than two stories high. they tumbleweed came rolling -- i hadn't seen a tumbleweed outside of a cowboy movie. i did think they exist. she said where have you brought me? i brought it to the right place. it was a different town. 70,000 people. now we have 2,100,000 people. we had our social life revolved

around a shopping center on saturday and sunday people want a place called vegas village. you saw the alleged mobsters. you saw the politicians and sometimes may have been the same. these are the lawyers,.yours, rabbis, priests. everybody shopped there. it was a very close community. it was different doing business in those days. maybe does the same everyplace else, where a handshake with all you have to to do. if you put something in writing, it was a rarity. the only ring and writing western coffee lawsuit to break terms of the writing. he gave that person your word. it was slower. it was nicer. now is a cosmopolitan city. it is a city with a lot of action. the bottom line is different than it was in those days. when we got here, we would go to a casino and go to a large and see see frankie laine and thereupon.

they didn't charge us. i think that's where he started to really drink. they bring us a free drink, some hors d'oeuvres. it was wonderful because they wanted us to come in a gamble because that's what las vegas is all about, gambling. now the advance of camp they've been commonplace basically run the world, people don't come here to gamble at much as the other things. the town has reshaped it felt to offer great cuisine. we have the best restaurants in the world. you can't beat them anyplace else. wonderful retail shopping. if you wanted to buy somebody get you into jcpenney's. as time went on, to target. it was great if you wanted to see a show of senate select, you flew to send a disco. now we have a wonderful performing a downer. we've got the finest retail shopping in the world. i don't think there's a shop we don't have here. it's a whole different ballgame. which one do i like best people say? i think there were trade-offs.

as i say, the best of everything it's available to be who live here as well as our visitors. in the old days we didn't have that. but in the old days there was something nice about relationships between people that are too busy to have today. >> host: you write and "being oscar" built by the mob, so what? >> guest: what difference does it make? it's interesting. there were two different kinds of mobsters. there were mobsters who were designated mobsters by law enforcement and the media. fellows like most elite who came out from i believe cleveland, part of the purple gang there, et cetera. by the big man who came texas and supposedly was murdered down there. there were those kind of mobsters designated by the press and on for who became on their fathers.

these were the fellows who gave the money to build the beautiful catholic churches that we have here in the synagogues. they were our philanthropists and they were very responsible for shaping las vegas in the legitimate i.d. and it became man of the year awards from the various civic organizations here and deserved it because they left whatever issues they had behind. then there was another kind of obscure the people did know about. they were disclosed in the wiretaps. these were fellas that you thought you knew who they were, that they were the most legitimate business guys in the world, that they ran these casinos and they were 100% can pay their taxes, bulwarks. and then we found out it was into the tapes and see in the affidavits of going through the trials that they weren't what they appear to be and they were hidden owners, were working for his numbers, which was illegal. they didn't hurt anybody. the one thing i will say in all

the years have that here, i have never heard of the house cheating a player. plenty of players cheated the house. but i've never heard of one instance where a player was cheated in gambling in las vegas, which was remarkable. i think that was their code. basically that was the difference between the old days and the new days. >> host: i am a gambler you write. i have been on my life. all but in anything. baseball, football, basketball, to cockroaches having a race. i like the action. >> that's the truth. as a trial lawyer, gasifier brings virgin if i was smart enough to do that, something of great externality and intellect, i probably would have been fired. that basically trying these cases, the adrenaline was always in need. i always thought about them 24 hours a day, seven days a week. i took my work very, very

seriously. i don't take myself seriously, but i take my work very seriously. i would find when i left the courthouse and after i studied for the next days preceding, i became nervous. i didn't have action because the courthouse provided me with that action. that's when i really started to bat. there's not a day in my life that i don't have to been something. if you'd like to know my baseball picks today, i'd be happy to share them. my favorite today cincinnati. if anyone wants to check that it be if they followed me, they're welcome to do it. >> host: another quote from "being oscar." i'm also a drinker. the first time that i cast is ordered a drink is during a booktv interview. i whatsoever not to call me after 5:00. when i finish working, i enjoy a martini or two. call me on the phone and i'll be perfectly lucid, but there's a good chance i won't remember a

conversation. >> guest: that the definition of a real drunk. there's a little bit of truth to that. my day never ends at 5:00. i take my pen and paper and jot down what the conversation was about because in college i would answer and they would never know i was drinking because my mind works that way. i was able to be clear about what everything. but the next day if you asked whether he received a phone call, i have a hard time remembering. i have a hard time remembering what the right age, let alone whether it likes it. it all came together and i read about this in the book as well. when i first decided to run for mayor, there was a debate that was going to take place in summerland, a very affluent area, where all the people who lived there, veteran voters do care about the community. they follow politics. he was going to be a tough audience for me because they

would expect something of substance. i had heard through the grapevine that my opponent, my primary opponent was going to send in a stocky and to bait me into kidney hot because they do have a temper. i just got a phone call that evening before the debate for my son, ross, who would've been in the marine corps. he was stationed at cherry point. he called me and says how it's going? epidemic earned. i have my big debate and i think they will send someone in to get me hot and start my drinking. he says dad, you have to do a preemptive strike. i had no idea. i said what do you mean? he says a preemptive strike as you had take the sting out of it before they sting you. made some sense to me, so i get up and a fellow comes up who i

knew. yet been a newspaper reporter. at that time is working as an investigator for the public defender's office. i said hi. he says, mr. goodman, i knew there was trouble they are a calling me oscar. when is the last time you've been to city hall? ever been to city hall. it's probably a good thing not to be an city hall if you run for mayor. i look at him and i said, he turned around and started walking away from me. and i simply to second, buddy. i said you asked me questions coming he looked me in the face will answer the question. while the audience goes you're not supposed to talk to somebody like that when you rent for office. you're supposed to kiss there were around i guess. but i was hot at this guy. i said you come right up here. i'll tell you something. i've never been to city hall. up to something else, i'm a drunk and i drink to excess. i drink two bottles of gemini,

so don't worry about that one. and i'm a gambler. i'll gamble on anything that moves. the two cockroaches all gamble whether they go left or right. you name the price and i'm ready to put good or bad. when i said that, there is nothing else but to say because i'm not a philanderer, i don't cheat on my wife. i don't abuse women. i'm a pretty nice guy actually. so they had nothing bad to say about me. i went to the entire election process that anybody been able to say anything i didn't say about myself. and the next time, because of the way i did business, i got 86% of the vote. the next time i got 84% of the vote and i'm still looking for the 16% who did vote for me. >> guest: where were you successful as mayor? >> guest: i think i was a mayor at the same way i was lawyer. jurors are the smartest animals that there are.

get 12 people. or florida they have six depending where you are. 12 people who don't know each other, from different walks of life, take a note that they are going to try to be fair and impartial and turning verdict according to the law. and because so involved in trying to do the right thing at their own personal sacrifice, they put themselves in jeopardy as far as their hope is concerned, as far as their emotion is i have always taken their job very, very seriously. and i think they know, one of my favorite books when i was growing up was catcher in the rye. holden caufield was one of my heroes because of the way he lived, but the way he believed in not being a phony. i used that in the crack is in the way i live my life. the one thing they can say about me is i'm not a phony. a lot of people may not like me

cannot be looking for them, too. in all sincerity, i knew jurors would be able to see through alive, through deception, through somebody trying to pull wool over their eyes. so i looked at them right in the eye, one by one and told them the way i perceived the issues. i say i never professed my client's innocence because that's not what it was about. the question is the prosecution did not prove them guilty beyond reasonable doubt and i was able to argue that with great sincerity and great truthfulness. so basically i took that into the mayor's office with me. i would have my coffees at the mayors, martinis at the mayor's come and news conferences were a city basically in front of the media. it was on a bridge to come alive. they can ask me what they wanted, take whatever shot they wanted. they were welcome to it and i told them the way i saw it. however once in a while i said things that would alarm people.

i was talking to a fourth-grade class. my detractors love this one. i love reading to kids. my wife will kill me. i love reading to children. kids are gross. the three little pigs the real story about the wolf not be that guy. so i get through reading the story to the youngsters in fourth-grade and they loved it and i loved it. i looked at my watch and i had a little bit of time. i said you have any questions? one fellow in the back of the room raises his hand and says what is the one thing you would want, mr. mayor, if you run a desert island in the middle of the ocean? and i guess they would've liked me to us that the bible. but i sent a bottle of gin. well, i'm ahlstrom was created. i got back to my office. this is how i committed a violent crime against society.

everybody was saying how can a mayor -- listen to this, how can the mayor tells children to drink gin? how can the mayor say he's done a desert road with two showgirls and children should drink gin and the story kept in bigger and bigger. i told them all to drop dead. i said in the george washington of mayors. i wasn't going to be a phony. if you didn't like the answer you should nasa question. if people don't like the book, they can write their own. that's up to them, not up to me. the other one, because i believe in satire and i loved the irish story, jonathan swift wrote about eating the babies. of course no one is advocating eating babies, but he was trying to get a message across. i was very interested in beautifying are very cold, concrete roads around here. i put enough pressure on people that they finally did it.

one day i get a phone call that a beautiful desert tortoise, which is made out of stone has been to face. and i said if we catch that path, i am going to take his time and cut it off on television. well, everybody says how could this mayor say he's going to cut off a thumb? these are punks. these are just gang bangers who are defacing property, costing the taxpayers millions of dollars. what i did is finally got people to pay attention to graffiti, which is a big problem. they now have graffiti squads. finally they caught the kid. i wasn't going to chop his thumb off on tv. i did want to put them in about what to call those things where you put the persons had driven their arms? i wanted to put them in a stock down on fremont street and have everybody paint him. i thought that would be a good

one. but the judge who sentenced him, part of the sentence was he had to come to my office to apologize. well, i have a machete. somebody gave me as a gift. i took it out of its case and put it on my desk. this kid came out, i don't know whether he still stuttering. some people can't help it. he did not come in as a starter. he will never graffiti anything again. it was the message. the way i delivered it make a difference. that's the way i did business as mayor of las vegas. i did it my way. >> host: oscar goodman served as mayor from 19992 by 2011. who is the current mayor? >> guest: i made american history. i am the only mayor in the history of the united states of america, a country i love who swore in his spouse to succeed him. she's a better mayor than i am. >> host: from the book, oscar "g

oscar." there is no truth that everyone in my wife caroline gets up, comes around to my side of the bed and begins applauding in order to get me going. i am self motivated, even without her. i hear the applause in my head. >> host: that may be the only lie i told him the entire book. the caroline would wake up every morning to get me started with the applause. i have not been as gracious to her as she was of me. but we have a love affair. we've been married 51 years and have nothing but respect for one another. she's very wise, very smart lady. she said that marriage is 50/50. it's 100%, 100%. as long as you respect one another, you can have a wonderful marriage. we have four great kids. pardon me, maryland, four wonderful children. it's been a great ride. it really has.

.. she rode the horse around the desert so i fulfilled number one. wish number two when i started to make money she said i would love if you could buy me a mercedes and i bought her a mercedes. i kept that promise. number three i am the worst. i have done everything and i have called out the militia. i made promises to god if they would just give me this one wish

she wants to curtsy to the queen i have tried to get the queen to see her every time i go to london on behalf of the commission authority and for some reason haven't been able to connect. we could have gotten to see the pope but she wants to curtsy to the queen. so hopefully census on her bucket list and i do love her more than life itself hopefully i will get hurt before the queen before i hang it up. >> host: her grandson likes to visit. >> guest: as a matter of fact i think carolyn said if she could curtsy to the queen she would make sure that on his next visit he will have as many ladies as the prince desires. >> host: oscar goodman what is your relationship with the majority of the senate harry reid? >> guest: harry and i started off together practicing while basically and as a matter of fact they said he was going to be the best civil lawyer and i was going to be the best

criminal lawyer. we had a very cordial relationship. i might even say a friendly relationship. then when i began to represent the clients that i did who were all candidates for what's known as the black book or a list of excluded persons where they are not allowed to go into casinos. they are not allowed to go on to casino properties. if they have to they can even use the restroom in a casino and i thought that was terribly unconstitutional because the criterion for getting in wasn't predicated on a nexis with a gambling violation. it could just be a reputation i thought that was very un-american. i would litigate it time and time again for the people you mentioned early, frank rosenthal lefty is referring to. toni spilotro. i represented these people one after another. if they wanted to take their child to a boxing match that had

nothing to do with the casino, if they wanted to be dinner they couldn't do it and i thought that was terribly wrong in a community that makes its living from these casinos. so i would fight it and harry was the chairman of the gaming commission. you might recall seeing in the movie casino where i'm representing de niro and they have a composite of harry out there. rosenthal or de niro was calling him every name in the look and there was a lot of animus. there was no love affair between reed and myself. we have asked him for some continuances based on personal issues. he would not give them. he was playing hardball and i was playing hardball and we fell out of love with one another and it was not a good relationship. then when i was elected to mayor mayor he threw a party in washington to introduce his mayor to the other people of the senate and it's been a cordial relationship. he has basically been very supportive of many of the things that we have tried to do in the city and right now he will call me asking about my health and my

well-being and what i see him. we tell stories in his office which is a beautiful office overlooking washington d.c.. i'm a the guy who lets bygones be bygones most of the time but it's a better relationship and we consider each other friends. >> host: what are your politics? >> guest: i started coming out here's a republican and then ryan who was a partner of mine and my law office always left that part out when he was running for office because he was afraid of the association with bob. we were kidding about that even this morning. he was running for state assembly. that was his first race in the only election that meant anything as far as party was the democratic primary so my wife and myself switched from republican to democrat so we could port it. after i became the mayor, i really thought that it should be a position that you don't ask whether one of your constituents is in our or a d and we became

nonpartisans which was not a party. we are just not affiliated with any party and that is where we stand today. it's a good feeling. they treat everybody on the merits and you don't have to worry about politics. i think that's what's wrong with this country. there's too much politics into much nonsense where people began saying they are in our and they are going to both lying and then it turned into a personal animosity. i think that is what we see in washington d.c.. i don't think they like each other. i don't think the republicans like the democrats. it's not even a question of disagreement or policies. i don't think they really like each other and the country can't run like that. they had better straighten up their acts. >> host: oscar goodman you have the quote in "being oscar" where there's a feed there is a remedy. >> guest: that's a pretty good quote. that was the motto of my office. i love our city attorney but when you're dealing with

bureaucrats you as them when they can do something you shouldn't ask them, you should tell them do it. if you ask them they always say no. can you imagine you come into my house of sand you say oscar i have just been charged with a very serious offense and i want to pay you to get me off. i say what's the offense and you tell me about it. usually don't know what you are legal responsible for and i said it's going to cost you $100,000. and they say, well can you wed it and i say no. why should they pay me $100,000 but if i charge them $100,000 i have to believe in my heart unless i'm defrauding them that i can win the case for them and i have no problem charging that kind of feed. that is what i meant where there's a fee there's revenue. >> host: you also the quote in a chapter in your book, i don't represent rats. >> guest: i hate rats.

not so much because of the rat and that's an informant because over the years there is a reason that they became rats. in the old days, when i represented somebody who is supposed to be a mafia boss or chieftain, they would take care of one of their underlings. a guy gets arrested, you send a lawyer up to see him, you go to his wife and you say don't worry about your family. i'm going to take care of you and the america, the silence. there's a loyalty that the ledge themselves to and it made a little bit of sense. the modern day, and that's why you think the mob fell apart, the modern day mafia mobster didn't get treated that way. they were arrested. they went to jail. they are waiting for the lawyer.

the lawyer is coming. they call up, no lawyer sense. they hire a lawyer and nobody is paying for them. i'm not saying it's right what happened in the old days that i'm saying that's the difference. the wife and the children aren't visited. they are given no assurances and then the vi was pretty smart. they made up the story and they said you know they overheard a conversation where the chief monster is going to put a contract on you because you are going to testify against him and he's going to have you killed. hearing that there's no reason for them to be loyal and to uphold the oath they took in the old days so that has changed. another thing has into. i don't like rats because of the way the government handles them. to me it's unconscionable that the government makes deals with the devil and fade on their own determined as to who should be

the defendant and who should be the witness. and i have seen too many times over the years that the least culpable becomes the target in the most couple blige given a walk. i have seen over the years to many of these rats, too many of these witnesses who readily admit on the witness stand that they murdered five innocent people. doing two years in prison so they could get the benefit of the deal they testified against the person they are testifying against. to me that's unconscionable. the system should not permit that and they do it with impunity and that is one of the reasons i don't like the system and i would never represent one of these people because i don't believe that after a while they do tell the truth. the case i had with vinny ferrar in boston, the guy said all he heard from a prosecutor and the fbi is that we won't finney. we won't vinny. i said to myself i guess they really want to get finney so i will tell them anything they want. vinnie were --

then he murdered somebody and years go on and he did tell them that and they never told the judge that in the prosecutor kept that in this file and after 17 years of spending time in prison for a murder he didn't commit the judge finally said outrageous. i'm letting them out. do you know what happened to the prosecutor who helped with how that exculpatory evidence? nothing. he's still walking around without any kind of penalty. and i don't mean to yell at you. i guess i'm drinking too much. >> host: a couple of final questions mayor goodman. when you were mayor to have a certain contract or a certain rule for moving companies in the city. >> guest: it's very important to me. i love finding myself in a moving casino. can you imagine having scorsese as your director and sharon stone and we have them onto our. sharon stone and robert de niro

and joe pesci and he becoming your friends and don rickles and everybody. the movie came out and my mother called me, my dear mother and she said oscar i saw your movie. it's a good thing you're a lawyer. i wasn't getting any other part so i decided that i love the movie so much i have to figure out a way to get myself back into the movies and it dawned on me that in order to make a movie of las vegas you have to get a permit and who do you get a permit from? city hall. who is in charge of city hall? the mayor so iran for mayor and i look -- went to the permitting department and i said i'm your new mayor. i have a directive. if anyone's going to make a movie in las vegas i won apart. she said you can't do that. i said i can, i'm the mayor. two weeks later mayor guess who's out here? jackie chan. you send that gentleman writing here. jackie chan comes then with his

director and says i can't believe what i just heard. in order for us to make rush-hour in las vegas you have to have a part? i said absolutely. he said he have to be kidding. i said you see whether i'm kidding. it was a great part. we did it in the desert and it has since imploded. they added an asian type casino with allen king jackie chan chris tucker, a great scene, cutting room floor. well, i got on the phone and i said chan, do you know who i am? do you know who i'm representing? you will never ever run rush hour three in this city as long as i'm the mayor. i scared him so much -- and that is why since then cutting room floor. i went to our city attorney and i said a fraud is being perpetrated on the city of las vegas. we are giving these people a

permit? what can i do for your mayor? i said i want an airtight contract that i can enjoy the movie if they do that. he says you can't do that. i said i can, i'm the mayor. the next movie is called angel blade. they told me it was going to be an exotic thriller and it turns out it's an thriller and i am in that movie. >> host: and on that, here's the cover of the book. "being oscar" from mob lawyer to mayor of los vegas, only in america. oscar goodman is the author and this is a tv on c-span2.

up next on book tv "after words" with guests as political activist and radio host a joe madison. this week craig steven wilder and his latest book "ebony and ivy" race, slavery and the troubled history of america's universities. in at the m.i.t. history chair discusses how the campuses of many elite universities were not only built by slave labor but funded by profits earned from the practice of slavery. this program is about an hour. >> host: "ebony and ivy," professor wilder, i guess the first question is, how did you start down the