NY journalist suggests Goldberg made death threats

Thursday, Feb. 8, 2001 | 10:35 a.m.

A New York financial reporter suggested in a recent column that late Park Place Entertainment Corp. Chief Executive Arthur Goldberg had issued a death threat against him in November 1999.

New York Post columnist John Crudele wrote he learned through an organized crime source that Goldberg "was looking around the underworld for someone who could get me ... to 'retract what I had written.' "

"(The source) took this to be a death threat and advised me to take what I was hearing very seriously," Crudele wrote.

Crudele said this incident was related to reports that Goldberg was seriously ill, reports Crudele said prompted Goldberg to "approach some friends of his about doing something to me." Crudele said he contacted both Park Place and the New Jersey Gaming Enforcement Division about the incident, and said New Jersey officials had investigated.

Soon after, Crudele said he received a copy of what appeared to be Goldberg's medical records, indicating the executive had been diagnosed with a fatal bone marrow disorder. Goldberg died in October of bone marrow failure.

Dennis Neilander, chairman of the Nevada Gaming Control Board, said the Crudele column was "the first I've heard of this."

"I'm not aware of him contacting our office," Neilander said. "I don't think it involves Nevada at all."

Park Place officials declined comment.