mr. simon goodman.e is the accident ant of a german jewish family that lost many works of art during the holocaust and has spent decades in a quest to recover them. he is a graduate of munich university and the author of the orpheus clock, a book about s efforts to reclaim his family's heritage. with that i would ask the panel members to stand and be sworn up. >> if you would raise your right hand. do you affirm the test you are about to give before the committee will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you got? you may be seated. ambassador lauder, we will begin with your opening statement. welcome. >> thank you, senator cruz. before i make my remarks, i am president of the world jewish congress, and on behalf of the jewish people not only in the united states, but everywhere. we say to the senate thank you for this law. it has been long overdue, but we thank you very, very much on behalf of the jewish people. ranking member coons, senator and members of the committee. to ma

mr. goodman. >> thank you, chairman cruz, senator blumenthal, all the members of the committee. i'm grateful for this opportunity to testify in support of the holocaust expropriated art recovery act. for the last 20 years i have dedicated my life to recovering my grandfather's art collection lost between 1940 and 1945. he was murdered in april 1944. but it was not until 1994 when my father died and i inherited his response that i became aware of my father's solitary and largely unsuccessful quest to regain his own father's dispersed collection. my father never shared with me what he was doing. it was probably too painful. my father did survive the war in britain, although badly wounded during the war. as soon as victory was e declared, he returned to the netherlands only to find his parents gone and the family home stripped bare. in addition, almost all my grandfather's letters, documents, photos concerning the art collection had been destroyed by the nazis. his library was also shipped to germany

mr. goodman has taken? >> there is no good numbers, obviously, with you can saying think probably 2 to 300,000 worths of art around the world that have been unaccounted for. the minor ones we will never know, but the major ones we have seen from the records that the nazi kept what they stole. it doesn't even touch the amount of drawings, presents, amounts of furniture that was never recorded. the closest we can say is probably a couple hundred,000 works of art are out there somewhere. >> mr. goodman you were saying there's some 24 more pieces of art. how many have you recovered to this point do you still have searching to do? >> elf a lot of searching to do. there's one important painting that i have traced to new york in 1955, and beyond that, the testimony of the eras of two different art gallery it is that conflicts, so one of them is probably lying to me and i can't yet figure out which. i have recovered, or at least received settlements so far for about 20 paintings, and i received about 300 antiques f

mr. goodman and dame mirren. hearing your story and being very familiar with the story that is told in the movie, i take it that in neither of these cases was there any kind of delay, which is the purpose of f the statute of limitations, to prevent, in other words, delays in making claims are taking advantage of the passage of time. both of the stories from the one depicted in your movie, dame mirren, and yours in your own life, indicates to me that there was just no way that it was delay or postpone it of claims. am i correct in that observati observation? >> yes. that is absolutely true. in every case my family ask just as soon as we can. the problem is was gathering sufficient evidence to get a case to court, or if not a settlement. been an uphill battle to gather the information, most of which didn't become available until the end of the last century. and then i have to add that despite all this, it is extreme expensive for what families like mine do. so i do this despite the obvious unnatural obstacles. it's

mr. goodman, they are lying. i said manny come i can't do two things at once. i can't say they are lying and i can't listen to the witness testified. they are lying. i say take it easy. next-line common same thing. he said they are lying, they are lying. the people that were there can tell you that. i said what are you talking about? he says the pilot of the flight attendants always come on the plane and they get into a van to go to the motel. i said yeah. he says they saw the whole thing. i said what are you talking about? i know they saw the whole thing. i said to the judge, timeout, judge. mr. goodman, don't waste our time. give me a couple days to investigate it. you can't get a little bit. i went back to my office and said to one of my associates of a my associates can win a light amber because manny was going to be this way. we know the airline. find out who the pilot was. he found out my called the pilot. he was in san francisco. i said would you mind coming down in telling this judge what you saw that day. he said i don't mind. i said i'll buy you dinne

mr. goodman. thank you, chairman cruz, senator blumenthal, all the the members of the committee. i'm grateful to testify. my name is simon goodman, and for the last 20 years, i have dedicated my life to recovering my grandfather's art collection. lost between 1940 and 1945. he was murdered in april 1944. it was not until 1994 when my father died and i inherited his correspondence i became aware of my father's unsuccessful quest to regain his father's dispersed collection. my father never shared with me what he was doing. it was probably too painful. my father survived the war in britain. as soon as victory was declared he returned to the netherlands only to find his parents gone. and the family home stripped bare. in addition, almost all my grandfather's letters, documents, photos, concerning the art collection had been destroyed by the nazis. his library was also shipped to germany. my father's only recourse was try to sketch an inventory from memory. the governments affecting my family at least

mr. goodman, the jury's been summoned in. well, i got so nervous, i walked down the stairs of the federal courthouse, and i parked it all over the second step. and i went back to my office, and i said, okay, we're all set to pick the jury and try the case, and the jury went out to deliberate after all the ed was in and the -- all the evidence was in and the closing argument. and my client's brother, the alleged mobster, while we're walking back to my office which was two blocks away from the federal courthouse, says is it better if the jury takes a long time? i said, the longer they take, the better. we walk into my office, the phone's ringing, the jury has a verdict. well, you can imagine how i felt. we went back this, i think they felt so sorry for me that they came back with a not guilty. >> what were some of the -- after that first case, what were some of the crazier cases that you were given? >> well, i became an expert, believe it or not, in, of all things, wiretap cases because the wiretap statute just went into effect

mr. adam cohen and ms. goodman will be outside the auditorium signing books.i know people have been waiting patiently in line to get in questions, so if you could hold off until the signing. thank you very much. if you have feedback or went to further support printers row lit fest college-- thank you. [applause]. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> you are watching the tv on c-span2. you have been listening to amy goodman, more from chicago in just a few minutes. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> every year online bookseller amazon puts out a list of the 20 most well read to cities acros

mr. vegas? like elvis or wayne newton or bugsy siegel used to be? if there is, he would probably be this guy. former mayor, oscar goodman.bodies are buried. some of them, equally allegedly, by some of his former clients. we meet over drinks at oscar's, the steakhouse that bears his name, and boasts beef, booze, and broads. you had some colorful, uh, clients. who was nice, and who was less fun to have a -- >> oscar: well the truth of the matter is, all my clients were nice to me. because i kept them out of prison. >> anthony: did, uh, alleged mob guys know how to eat? >> oscar: my mother used to say, two things she said -- she's the greatest lady. she said, "oscar's clients don't hurt anybody, they just kill each other." >> anthony: right. >> oscar: and she also said, "oscar's clients take us to the best restaurants." >> anthony: they knew where to go. >> oscar: they knew where to go, yeah. and always treated right. i mean they were always treated like kings and queens. >> anthony: did the feds hold it against you? i mean, you know, you were just doing your job, but i mean -- >> oscar: they didn't see it that way. >> anth