Goodman linked to mob boss in report

Jace Radke

Thursday, May 15, 2003 | 11:24 a.m.

An East Coast mob boss turned government informant told the FBI that he met with Oscar Goodman shortly before Goodman became mayor of Las Vegas, and that he contributed $10,000 to Goodman's campaign in 1999, according to the New York Daily News.

The former mob boss told the FBI he made the donation because Goodman told him he would help him with zoning for a proposed strip club in Las Vegas, according to the report.

The newspaper reported Wednesday that it found Vincent "Vinnie Ocean" Palermo's statements about Goodman in hundreds of pages of internal FBI documents.

According to the newspaper:

Through a spokeswoman, Goodman said Wednesday that he "never met with Mr. Palermo about a strip club and has no idea what he is talking about."

Calls to the New York office of the FBI regarding the internal documents that the Daily News cited were not returned.

The newspaper also reported that Palermo told the FBI that he met with an unidentified "assistant" to Mayor Goodman in June 1999.

While waiting in the mayor's office, Palermo said he saw another gangster, Charles "Charlie Moose" Panarella, a soldier in the Colombo crime family, the report said.

Panarella "kissed the mayor's assistant on both cheeks and left," Palmero told the FBI, according to the report.

Goodman's spokeswoman said Goodman does know of Panarella, but did not meet with him or Palermo in his office.

In an interview at the Clark County jail where he is being held, William Cassidy, one of Goodman's former aides, said Wednesday: "We had standing orders: No wise guys at the mayor's office."

Cassidy said he didn't know who Palermo was, but Cassidy also said Panarella was at Goodman's law office on several occasions.

Cassidy is jailed while awaiting trial on charges that he allegedly set fire to his estranged wife's massage parlor and sexually assaulted her,

In testimony before a Clark County grand jury, Cassidy's estranged wife said he used to threaten her by bragging that he had connections to organized crime.

Panarella was placed in Nevada's Black Book, the list of people barred from Nevada casinos, on Sept. 25, 1997.

As a defense attorney, Goodman represented such organized crime figures as Anthony "Tony the Ant" Spilotro and Joey Cusumano. Cusumano, who is also in the Black Book, attended a party at Goodman's house earlier this year, causing some gaming officials to criticize the mayor for the company he was keeping.

Palermo, who was arrested in December 1999, has pleaded guilty to a racketeering conspiracy involving four murders and other crimes, and is currently in New York for the DeCavalcante trial. He has cooperated with the FBI, giving names of dozens of organized crime figures in New York and New Jersey to authorities.

Sun reporter

Jeff German contributed to this story.