Opening statements set in Mustang Ranch case

Tuesday, June 22, 1999 | 9:31 a.m.

A jury was selected on the opening day of the case against former Storey County Commissioner Shirley Colletti, who faces charges of racketeering, conspiracy and wire fraud. The U.S. District Court trial is expected to last up to six weeks.

Colletti, missing brothel boss Joe Conforte and other Mustang figures were named in a 33-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury last August. A.G.E. Corp., the current owner of the legal bordello, also was named.

Conforte, 73, owned the bordello until it was sold by the Internal Revenue Service for delinquent taxes in 1990. He fled the country in 1991 to avoid prosecution for tax evasion and is believed to be holed up in South America.

The indictment alleges Conforte arranged to purchase the Mustang and other assets seized by the IRS by fraudulently using A.G.E. as a front for his ownership.

Colletti, 64, a former Mustang manager, is charged with personally taking $700,000 in cash to Acapulco, Mexico, for delivery to Conforte.

She also is accused of receiving $10,000 a month in payoffs from Mustang Ranch, 12 miles east of Reno, while she was on the county commission from 1988 to 1996.

Colletti's attorneys claim federal prosecutors are trying to force forfeiture of the brothel and to hurt Conforte for thumbing his nose at them.