Sold Out: The 25th Anniversary of Casino: Looking Back with Nicholas Pileggi (Joining Virtually) and Oscar Goodman

Date: November 19, 2020

Time: 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Cost: $75; 10% off for Members & Donors

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The 1995 film Casino is consistently ranked among the greatest Mob movies of all time. Its fictional depictions of true events in Las Vegas in the 1970s and ’80s evoke nostalgic memories for longtime locals and impassioned debate among history buffs. On the 25^th anniversary of Casino, screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi, former Mob defense attorney Oscar Goodman and special guests will discuss the making of the classic movie and its impact on Las Vegas.

This program will be held in The Mob Museum’s Historic Courtroom. Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi will participate via videoconference. Oscar Goodman, who played himself in the film, will participate in person.

This program is now sold out. 

Limited capacity. Reservations required.

In addition to this exciting event, the Museum will debut a limited-time, temporary exhibit on November 13 featuring artifacts, memorabilia and rare photographs from the movie. The exhibit will display an array of movie props linked to the Tangiers hotel-casino, the fictional stand-in for the real-life Stardust on the Las Vegas Strip. Other artifacts include an original script donated by Frank Cullotta, the late Chicago mobster who served as a consultant to Scorsese and also played a hitman in the film; rare photographs from the set donated by former Mob defense attorney Oscar Goodman, who played himself in the movie; prop newspapers printed in Las Vegas for use in the movie; and more. This exhibit will be located on the Museum’s first floor and will be on display until November 14, 2021.

Featured Speakers

Nicholas Pileggi  

Nicholas Pileggi

Nicholas Pileggi is an American author, producer and screenwriter. Pileggi began his career as a journalist and had a profound interest in the Mafia. He is best known for writing Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family (1986), which he adapted into the movie Goodfellas (1990), and for writing Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas and the subsequent screenplay for Casino (1995). The movie versions of both were directed and co-written by Martin Scorsese. Pileggi also wrote the screenplay for the film City Hall (1996), starring Al Pacino. He served as an Executive Producer of American Gangster (2007), a biographical crime film based on the criminal career of Frank Lucas. He also authored Blye, Private Eye (1987).

Oscar Goodman  

Oscar Goodman

Oscar Goodman is an American attorney and politician. He was the mayor of Las Vegas, Nevada from 1999 to 2011. During his career as a defense attorney, he represented defendants accused of being some of the leading organized crime figures in Las Vegas, such as Meyer Lansky, Nicky Scarfo, Herbert "Fat Herbie" Blitzstein, Phil Leonetti, former Stardust Casino boss Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, and Jamiel "Jimmy" Chagra, a 1970s drug trafficker who was acquitted of ordering the murder of Federal Judge John H. Wood, Jr. One of his notorious clients was reputed Chicago mobster Anthony "Tony the Ant" Spilotro, who was known to have a short and violent temper. In the 1995 movie Casino, the character of Nicky Santoro was based on Spilotro and was portrayed by actor Joe Pesci. Goodman appeared in the film as himself while defending "Ace Rothstein", a character closely based on Lefty Rosenthal and played by Robert De Niro.