United States | From mafia town to metropolis

Las Vegas’s power couple says goodbye to power

The Goodmans were mayors for 25 years. Their evolution mirrors that of Sin City

Oscar Goodman and Mayor Carolyn Goodman, at their home in Las Vegas, United States on January 27th 2024
Leaving Las VegasPhotograph: Cody Cobb/New York Times/Redux/Eyevine
|Las Vegas

CAROLYN GOODMAN had a big decision to make. Her husband, Oscar, a former defence attorney for reputed mobsters, was going to be term-limited after serving 12 years as mayor of Las Vegas. He wanted her to succeed him. It was 2011, and there were already more than a dozen candidates vying for the job. “I said, ‘All right, I’ll file. But under one condition,’” she recalls. She coveted the black and white $100 poker chips with Mr Goodman’s likeness that he used as a business card. “I want my own chip if I win,” she demanded, “and I want it to be $1,000.”

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This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “From mafia town to metropolis”

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