Columnist Ruthe Deskin: Ranch story a tragedy to the end

Ruthe Deskin

Thursday, Dec. 19, 2002 | 8:22 a.m.

The long and sordid tale of the Mustang Ranch in Northern Nevada has finally reached a conclusion.

Nevada's most infamous brothel recently came under the auctioneers gavel with everything inside the pink stucco building going to interested bidders.

The key to the Mustang Ranch went for $170, bed and furniture sold for around $500 and nude paintings brought $1,000 apiece.

Mustang Ranch jackets sold for $300, which made me wish I had kept a Mustang T-shirt given to me by the former owner, Joe Conforte.

The conniving Conforte was trying to curry favor for reasons I have never understood.

One day at the Reno airport, we were waiting to board a plane. Conforte somehow learned it was my birthday. He came running over with a Mustang Ranch T-shirt for me.

Embarrassed? You bet I was. Humiliated would better describe my feelings.

I took the shirt without a thank you and pretended I didn't know him.

When the auctioneers gavel came down for the last time, it was the end of a scandal-ridden tale of prostitution, murder and fraud.

Conforte started his first "cathouse" in 1955. Authorities proclaimed it a public nuisance and it was burned to the ground.

In 1957 Storey County legalized prostitution and Conforte opened the Mustang Ranch about 15 miles from Reno.

Conforte became somewhat of a folk hero as he chomped on his expensive cigars and wore his signature fur coats in the winter. He thumbed his nose at the federal government.

In 1990 when he failed to pay a $13 million tax debt, the government seized the property and became brothel operators.

Conforte fled to Brazil.

When the federal government auctioned the property, who was the buyer? Joe Conforte, who had returned to the United States with immunity for becoming a witness in a notorious case. And that is another story.

A few years later the government again took the property, closed the business for good and auctioned off the furnishings.

Joe Conforte was a blustery individual who skirted the law, lied to bring down a federal judge, whose name was once tied into a murder investigation and who influenced politicians.

He also gave food to the poor, donated to worthy causes and, it is claimed, offered free passes to the brothel to returned Desert Storm soldiers.

Prostitution has been part of the Nevada scene since the days when the discovery of gold and silver brought fortune-seekers to the state. Rural counties, strapped for funds, are grateful for business licenses and other fees the brothels provide.

Several TV puff pieces about the larger and more elaborate houses have attempted to convince the public that prostitution is an honorable profession.

Whatever your reaction, one thing is for certain: It is here to stay and the Joe Confortes of the world will continue to reap the benefits.

The life and times of Joe Conforte and his flamboyant wife have become a Nevada legend that would make a great movie.