| Joe Conforte | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1926 Sicily |
| Occupation | Brothel Owner |
| Known for | Running the Mustang Ranch brothel; fleeing the country when convicted of tax fraud |
| Spouse | Sally Burgess Conforte |
Joe Conforte (born 1926) was the owner of the Mustang Ranch, a Nevada brothel that was the first legal brothel in the United States. The brothel was closed by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in 1999, but is now reopened under new management. He is portrayed by Joe Pesci in the 2010 film Love Ranch.
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Joe Conforte was born in 1926 in Augusta, a little city close to Siracusa in Sicily. Look Magazine in June 1971, stated Conforte was age 48. He immigrated with his family to the United States in 1937 and settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts.[1]
During World War II and into the early 1950s, Conforte was a cab driver in Oakland, California. He drove soldiers from the Oakland Army Base, and sailors from the Oakland Naval Supply Depot and Alameda Naval Air Station, to brothels on the border of Alameda County and Contra Costa County.
Conforte moved to 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. In 1963, convicted for the crime of income tax evasion, Conforte served two and a half years in prison.
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. Conforte paid bell men at the famous Mapes Hotel to direct guests to the legal brothel.
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 up 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] As of 2011[update], he continues to live in Brazil.
Conforte's first wife, Sally, died in 1992.[4] He has two daughters (born c. 1992 and 1995) with his second wife.[3]