‘60 Minutes 2’ feature focuses on Goodman’s past

Erin Neff

Wednesday, Dec. 1, 1999 | 11:15 a.m.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman sensed last night's broadcast of an 11-minute piece about him on "60 Minutes 2" might evoke more about his past than his present.

"You never know how they're going to spin it," Goodman said before viewing the program. "I had a good interview with Mike Wallace back in New York, but it'll probably be that mob lawyer thing."

The main reason Wallace and his fellow CBS colleagues chose to focus on Goodman in the third segment of Tuesday's show was a 1986 interview with then criminal defense attorney Goodman.

Tuesday's show began with a brief introduction to Goodman and some New York studio shots of the recent Wallace interview and then flashed back to include about 5 minutes of the piece titled "The Mouthpiece" that aired in 1986.

During the "classic" interview, as 60 Minutes calls these pieces, a brown-haired Goodman defends himself as a good lawyer and downplays the mob's role.

Even after describing a room in his downtown law offices to Wallace as "The Godfather's Room" during that 1986 segment, Goodman responds to one of Wallace's questions with an incredulous, "What mob?"

When the segment returned to the present day, Wallace again asked if Goodman had any regrets representing the likes of Meyer Lansky and Tony "The Ant" Spilotro.

Wallace even reminded Goodman that he once said he would prefer his daughter date Spilotro than an FBI agent.