Content area
Full Text
Photo. John Koontz, 85, knew Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel,
Will Rogers and Ty Cobb in his 26 years as Nevada secretary of
state during the 1940s, '50s, '60s and '70s. Ed
Vogel/Review-Journal
John Koontz is living in retirement in Tonopah, but the political veteran walks down memory lane.
CARSON CITY _ In his 26 years as secretary of state, John Koontz may have been the most popular politician in Nevada. Twice he won election without opposition, while three other times he gathered more votes than any candidate on the entire statewide ballot.
Friends frequently asked "Johnny" when he was going to run for governor. He'd chuckle and say never. Koontz, now 85, was reared in Goldfield and wanted to remain a small-town boy.
"I was satisfied with the job I had," Koontz said last week, sitting in a chair in his living room. "I didn't want to get involved with the gambling that was coming in at that time. The governors always get involved with the gamblers and have to fight them all the time."
Without reservation he said the mob controlled the gaming industry that emerged along the Strip in the 1950s. In those days, the secretary of state served as director of the state Motor Vehicles Department and also supervised the Tax Commission, which regulated gambling.
Koontz once even met Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, who opened his Flamingo Hotel in 1947, the same year Koontz became secretary of state. He remembers how much some people disliked the boss of Murder Inc.
"Les Moody, the chief of the state police, and I were going back to Washington," Koontz said. "We got into Virginia and went to a hotel to get a room. The newspapers were on a rack and the headlines said, `Bugsy Siegel murdered.' I said, `Look Les, Bugsy got killed.' This...