UNIVERSAL LIFE CHURCH ORDAINS OSCAR B. GOODMAN, FORMER LAS VEGAS MAYOR AND FORMER GO-TO DEFENSE ATTORNEY TO THE MOBGoodman to perform a mass wedding ceremony at The Mob Museum in Las Vegas on Valentine's Day
Former Las Vegas mayor and notorious lawyer for the old mob, Oscar B. Goodman has repented and seen the light! The spirit has compelled him to get ordained with the Monastery and begin his new heavenly career as a Universal Life Church wedding minister. His Honor will officiate his first wedding on St Valentine's Day 2012 at the new Mob Museum, formerly the old federal courthouse and U.S. Post Office in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. It was there that mob lawyer Goodman made a name for himself representing such reputed mobsters and bad guys as; Meyer Lansky, Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal and Anthony Spilotro. Today, Brother Goodman joins the ranks of celebrity ULC Ministers, including Conan O'Brien, Kathy Griffin, Jeff Probst, and Rob Dyrdek (who has just finished officiating his sister's wedding on his upcoming Fantasy Factory MTV series).
Seven couples will have a chance to have the new "Mob Minister" marry them inside of the old historic downtown courtroom. The couples will be chosen on February 1 via a random drawing and promotion hosted by Vegas.com, The Mob Museum and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. For details and to enter the MARRIED AT THE MOB MUSEUM contest, visit www.vegas.com/weddings.
Brother Goodman enjoyed an exciting career as a young public defense attorney who later rose to become Las Vegas's most popular Mayor of all time, an office he held from 1999 to 2011. In 2007, he was re-elected for a third term, winning 86% of all votes! He is also the first Mayor in the country to be succeeded by his wife, Mayor Carolyn G. Goodman. During his career, Br. Goodman also worked as a spokesperson for Bombay Sapphire Gin for which he was compensated $100,000 and donated entirely to charity. He currently serves as chairman of the host committee for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
Mayor Goodman is a key visionary of The Mob Museum and oversaw the purchase of the building many years ago for $1 from the federal government with the promise to preserve its historic nature. The Mob Museum, the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, is a $42 million dollar project a decade in the making. Recently named by Travel and Leisure as a "Las Vegas best new attraction", The Mob museum was designed by the same team that created the International Spy Museum in Washington D.C. It includes iconic one-of-a-kind artifacts and interactive, themed environments, and even a short film hosted by Hollywood producer Nicholas Pileggi (of the movie Casino fame). By way of interest, Mayor Goodman appeared as himself in the 1995 Martin Scorsese film Casino.
The interactive exhibits include getting a chance to use the same type of wire-tapping gear as the FBI to listen in on conversations and a chance to go up against the bad guys in a hands-on Tommy gun exhibit. It is purported to be "as close as you can get to the Mob without being asked to wear a wire." The exhibit includes an insider's look into some of the Mob's biggest players including Al Capone, Whitey Bulger, Bugsy Siegel, John Gotti and many more. Rumor has it that Whitey Bulger is trying to attend the affair but the Boston authorities are turning a deaf ear to his pleas.
To show the other end of the spectrum, in 1950 the former federal courthouse and U.S. Post Office was the site of one of 14 nationally televised Kefauver hearings to expose organized crime. The hearings gained the highest ratings of any television show of their day. The nation was glued to its televisions as mobster after mobster took the Fifth Amendment, denying any association with the Las Vegas hotels they built and ran. The Mob Museum is also working with the FBI and many famous undercover agents who made a career of fighting the mob, including legendary agents Joe Pistone who infiltrated the Mob posing as a small time jewel thief, Donnie Brasco, Cuban-born Jack Garcia and others.
As "Hizzoner" has become an ordained minister, the Universal Life Church Monastery prays everyone will come to understand we are all children of the same universe no greater than the trees and no lesser than the stars. We all have a right to be here.
Contact the Monastery or follow us on Facebook and Twitter, video of the ceremony to follow.
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