Goodman ponders Cullotta; Wynn’s Strip walk sparks chitchat

Wynn on see en be see

CNBC got a lot out of Steve Wynn during his Friday appearance on the cable channel to promote Encore Beach Club, which opened over the weekend and (from what I understand) set some sort of record for sunscreen slathered.

During the interview, Wynn said he dismantled the old entrance to Encore — you might remember that $13 million eyesore — because the view across the street to the unfinished Echelon was bad for business. He said cocktail waitresses at the club would make more than $100,000 per year. He spoke again of moving the company's headquarters to Macau, saying he might split the front office between those sites. He bemoans the giant deficits the federal government has accrued during the Obama administration, and says the women who work for him should retain their slender figures and wear hats and sun block. Check out the coverage from CNBC here.

Before that interview, Wynn caused a tipple of speculation early in the week from a walk he made from Wynn up the Strip toward Bellagio. One version, the unauthorized version, is he walked up to the grand hotel he once owned and took a two-hour stroll, jotting notes the whole time. He then returned to the Wynn and reported what he found in need of fixing to members of his staff. This would be interesting not just because you'd think Steve Wynn could summon a limo for this jaunt, but because if he did take notes on the Bellagio, he might-might-might be interested in buying the hotel from MGM Mirage.

The official version is that Wynn did take a walk — and he can take these sorts of hikes up the Strip even with his eye condition, retinitis pigmentosa, which limits his peripheral vision. But he took a walk only to check out how Encore Beach Club's Strip-side architecture compared to the competition. The meeting was already scheduled. I guess what we learn here, or what we're reminded of, is that if you're Steve Wynn and you're walking along the Strip, people take notice.

Mayoral surprise

As a career lawyer and elected official, Oscar Goodman is an expert on the strangeness of bedfellows. But even he was startled to learn that he's going to be a partner with a longtime antagonist and famed organized-crime figure.

The person in question is Frank Cullotta. He and Goodman are linked once more at Las Vegas Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement. Cullotta has provided his guttural voice to narrate many of the descriptions of the attraction's exhibits.

The Mob Museum, of course, is a vision of Goodman, a testament to his efforts to revitalize the downtown region and put the city's indelible connection to the history of organized crime in proper context.

After giving a state-of-the-museum tour of the old Federal Courthouse and Post Office on Stewart Avenue, site of the famed Kefauver Hearings held in 1950 and 1951, I asked Goodman what he thought of Cullotta's oratory contribution to the project.

"Frank Cullotta?" Goodman responded during a chat atop the Mob Museum steps. "Really? I guess we really are an equal-opportunity museum."

Goodman is not privy to each specific facet of the attraction, as he's busy with his mayoral chores. But Cullotta's involvement is an exceedingly odd, even funny, only-in-Vegas twist. It bears a backstory for those not familiar with Vegas' mob lineage.

Cullotta is the former aide to Tony "The Ant" Spilotro who was Spilotro's deputy for much of Spilotro's career in Las Vegas as a profit-skimming overlord for organized-crime interests operating casinos in Las Vegas. A member of the famed "Hole In The Wall Gang," Cullotta "flipped" allegiances and became a government witness against his former mob colleague and longtime friend, Spilotro.

That was around 1980. At the time, Spilotro was represented by Goodman, and Spilotro long would be remembered — even today — as one of Goodman's premier reputed mob clients. Cullotta, whose testimony against Spilotro failed to land Spilotro in prison, became one of the "graduates" of the federal Witness Protection Program. Goodman was an legal adviser for Cullotta before Cullotta turned state's witness, but Cullotta's testimony against Spilotro, up for racketeering charges stemming from his interest in the Gold Rush jewelry store, where syndicate money was effectively cleansed.

Goodman and Cullotta have little use for each other, which should come as a surprise to exactly nobody. Goodman never respected Cullotta's flip job, and Cullotta has recalled that the best advice Goodman ever provided was to teach the rather casually fashioned Cullotta how to knot a necktie for court appearances. Later, Cullotta would tell associates, "That was a pretty expensive tie job. It cost me 10 grand."

Maybe one day The Mob Museum will host an open discussion starring these two. One can hope, anyway. It would make the Kefauver Hearings look like high tea.

Strong Cup showing at LVMS

Looking to expand its reach beyond racing events, Las Vegas Motor is coming off its most recent Rockabilly Rod Reunion event, where 18 bands performed on two stages in three days in a mix of music and drag racing. The Strip, which is the LVMS drag-racing venue, and Neon Garage were used for an event that was launched in 2004. As an LVMS news release reminds, that year's event featured a band, a pin-up-girl contest and a DJ. One stage was used and it ended in a single day.

Expect the Speedway to continue to attempt to fill dates with music festivals. LVMS is enormous, more than 100,000 seats and a city's worth of acreage. Some inventive staging could make it an appealing large-scale music venue.

Meantime, track General Manager Chris Powell is relieved at the success of this year's Sprint Cup weekend, which according to Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority calculations, pumped $165,767,400 into the local economy. That figure was announced last week.

I'm tempted to say the figure is "about $166 million," but they gave such a specific number, I gotta go with every last dollar. Remarkably, the event showed an economic-impact uptick of 7.4 percent from the 2009 race. It would be tempting to give credit entirely to Danica Patrick, who ran in the Nationwide Series support race the night before the Feb. 28 Shelby American Sprint Cup up race won by Jimmie Johnson. But it wasn't all Danica, who wiped out on the 83rd lap and finished 36th in a race won by Kevin Harvick.

Powell says the sputter in the sport seems to have ended.

"We showed growth this year during a difficult time for (NASCAR) and Las Vegas, and we're thrilled with that," Powell said during a phone interview last week. "The sport is very strong. People look at the NASCAR event in Las Vegas as a great event to get away to. Not just a locally, either. This is truly a national event. People from cold-weather states know that in late February and early March, they can come out and have a great time."

The first Cup race was held in 1998, so in the NASCAR culture, Las Vegas has established something. A track record, I think it's called.

Downtownin'

Quick blasts from downtown Las Vegas, which remains my favorite downtown in all of Las Vegas:

• The Beat Coffeehouse swiftly is becoming the daytime, non-cocktail compliment to Downtown Cocktail Room. That's good news for Michael and Jennifer Cornthwaite, who are the oft-publicized proprietors of both businesses on in the Fremont East district. Inspired by poets Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsburg, icons of the Beat Generation (fueled in part by coffee), the Beat opened last week and already is a spot favored by fun and interesting people who hang around downtown. Stop in. They're easy to spot.

• Who is the man? Ali Pirouzkar is the man. The maitre d' for the fun new supper show Only You at Hennessey's Tavern on Fremont Street and LV Boulevard is a show unto himself. He's slick, but hasn't let his cameo in Casino go to his head. Pirouzkar still is humbly attentive to all guests. Dinner seating for Only You, fronted by former Platter Derek David, is between 80 and 90. There's talk of maybe turning this little production into a jacket-required show. Seems like a noble concept, but really, jackets for a show on Fremont Street? Better think that one through.

• Yes, Tony Sacca, we are aware there is a show called Vegas The Show at Vegas Rocks at Neonopolis. I've written about it. Thanks for reading. Sacca's new show at the 400-seat Embassy Theatre (where visitors to Jillian's once played Skee-Ball) is joined by yet another new production, Sexy & Dangerous, which features Mario and Jenny from America's Got Talent. (In their case, it was also, "America's Got Chainsaws.")

You'll recognize Mario as the ringleader of Monster Circus, at the LV Hilton. That show opened Thursday. Vegas The Show, a history-of-Vegas production starring Sacca (who else?) and impressionist Tom Wallek, starts June 9. Sacca, he's pretty much onstage at all times anyway, and the show track Vegas entertainment from the 1930s through 2050, which, at this writing, has not happened.

Sacca reportedly has worked out a way to have his club and restaurant air-conditioned, and that is a significant amenity to provide customers in June in Las Vegas.

Follow John Katsilometes on Twitter at twitter.com/JohnnyKats.