Joe Conforte
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Joe Conforte (born 1926) was the owner of the notorious Mustang Ranch, a now-defunct Nevada brothel that was the first legal brothel in the United States.
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[edit] Biography
Joe Conforte was born in 1926 in Sicily. He emigrated with his family to the United States in 1937 and settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts.[1]
By the 1950s, Conforte was a cab driver in the San Francisco area. He moved in Nevada in 1955 and opened the Triangle River Ranch brothel in Wadsworth, an illegal brothel at the junction of Washoe, Storey and Lyon counties. In 1959, Conforte served 22 months in jail after attempting to extort the Washoe County district attorney. He served 2 1/2 years in prison for income tax evasion in 1963.
Joe Conforte and his wife Sally Burgess Conforte took over the Mustang Bridge Ranch in Storey County in 1967. (The name of the brothel was later changed to Mustang Ranch.) In 1971, Storey County made prostitution legal and licensed Conforte as a brothel owner.
In April 1977 Joe and Sally Conforte were arrested on 10 counts of income tax evasion. She was fined $10,000 and given a suspended sentence; he faced a minimum five years in prison and $10,000 fine. Conforte appealed his conviction but fled the country in 1980 when he lost the appeal. He later returned and served a reduced sentence.[2]
Conforte fled to Brazil in 1991 ahead of a federal grand jury handing down numerous indictments in 1995 and 1998. The Brazilian Supreme Court ruled in 1999 that the extradition treaty between Brazil and the United States did not cover bankruptcy fraud.[3]
[edit] Marriage and children
Conforte's first wife, Sally, passed away in 1992.[4] He has two daughters (born c. 1992 and 1995) with his second wife.[3]
[edit] References
- ^ Bradlee, Ben Jr.. "For Sale: One Legal Bordello . . . Asking $25 Million", Boston Globe, 1985-04-15.
- ^ "U.S. Frees Brothel Owner", New York Times, 1984-12-13.
- ^ a b Meehan Breen, Erin. "Conforte in exile", The Reno Gazette-Journal, 2004-05-29.
- ^ "Sally Conforte; Former Madam of Mustang Ranch Brothel", Los Angeles Times, 1992-09-11, p. 26.
