Oscar Goodman remembers sad night in Sinatra’s life

Sunday night's "Sinatra 100: An All-Star Grammy Concert" on CBS was a fitting tribute to the man who made Las Vegas swing for a generation.

Frank Sinatra knew how to party, and the Strip has buzzed in recent weeks with the approach of his 100th birthday celebration at Wynn Las Vegas. Amid the buildup and the increased play of Sinatra's incredible soundtrack, Oscar Goodman was reminded of the eerie January evening in 1977 when the party suddenly stopped and the music went silent throughout the town.

At the time, Sinatra was headlining at Caesars Palace. His pal Frank Rosenthal was trying to maintain his own place on the Strip marquee as the embattled, and unofficial, boss of the mobbed-up Stardust. Sinatra and Rosenthal appeared to be close friends. The singer had even appeared with comedian Don Rickles on "The Frank Rosenthal Show" while the mob-connected gaming figure was brawling with state casino regulators and using his weekly television broadcast to deliver sarcastic diatribes.

Just after the the new year, Rosenthal planned a swinging birthday celebration at the Stardust for Natalina "Dolly" Sinatra, the entertainer's mother. The room was packed with local luminaries, who received medallion necklaces to commemorate the evening. Some were there to honor Sinatra's mother, others out of deference to Rosenthal.

Goodman, then a defense attorney with a client list that read like a who's who of organized crime, represented Rosenthal and arrived at the Stardust with wife Carolyn Goodman by his side.

"It was a big deal because that's just about the time Rosenthal was having his issues with the state," Goodman recalled Monday, the sounds of the Sinatra celebration still ringing through the Strip. "They were talking about having a major birthday party for Dolly Sinatra, and Rosenthal invited a lot of the big shots from around town. I was there because I was their lawyer."

The glitterati was on hand, Carolyn recalled, and the atmosphere in the room was about to burst in anticipation of the arrival of Sinatra and his mother.

"A pall came over the entire room," Oscar Goodman said. "They made an announcement. There had been a plane crash."

The chartered Jet Avia Learjet carrying Dolly Sinatra to Las Vegas had crashed into the mountains approximately 22 miles northwest of Palm Springs. The two passengers and the two-person crew were killed.

The revelry suddenly ceased. The crowd was stunned.

"Everyone was waiting for him," Goodman recalled. "A silence came over the entire room. Everything stopped. Everyone filed out. It was a very, very sad night for him and for those of us who were there to celebrate with him. It was a festive event. It must have been the darkest day of his life."

The National Transportation Safety Board investigated the crash and determined the "probable cause of the accident was the flightcrew's misinterpretation of the instrument flight rules clearance" and that an air traffic controller's "failure to detect the aircraft's deviation from the route of flight" played a role.

In a concurring opinion, NTSB official Francis H. McAdams was more blunt: "This accident occurred, in my opinion, because of nonstandard and nonprofessional clearances and transmissions on the part of the controller and the pilot. If the proper language had been used, the accident most likely not have occurred."

Many years later, Goodman remains intrigued by Sinatra's cordial and respectful relationship with Rosenthal. Both men had friends in the Chicago underworld, and by participating in the birthday party Sinatra may have been using his celebrity to weigh in on Rosenthal's regulatory troubles.

While the irascible Rosenthal's reputation continues to fade with the passage of time, Sinatra's star seems to burn brighter by the year.

One wound up in the casino Black Book, the other in "The Great American Songbook," where he sings and swings forever more.

— John L. Smith's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. Contact him at 702 383-0295, or jsmith@reviewjournal.com. Follow him: @jlnevadasmith