This article is about the Nevada brothel; Mustang Ranch is also the name of the biggest brothel on the island of Majorca.

The Mustang Ranch, originally known as the Mustang Bridge Ranch, is a brothel

Brothel

Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...

 in Storey County

Storey County, Nevada

Storey County is a county located in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2000 census, the population was 3,399, which was estimated to have risen to 4,110 in 2006...

, Nevada

Nevada

Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...

, about fifteen miles east of Reno

Reno, Nevada

Reno is the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The city has a population of about 220,500 and is the most populous Nevada city outside of the Las Vegas metropolitan area...

. It is currently located at 1011 Wild Horse Canyon Dr Sparks, NV 89434.

Under owner Joe Conforte

Joe Conforte

Joe Conforte 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 in 1999, but is now reopened under new management...

, it became Nevada's first licensed brothel in 1971, eventually leading to the legalization of brothel prostitution

Prostitution

Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...

 in 10 of 17 counties in the state. It became Nevada's largest brothel with 166 acres (67.2 ha), and the most profitable.

The Mustang Ranch was forfeited to the federal government in 1999 following Conforte's convictions for tax fraud

Tax avoidance and tax evasion

Tax noncompliance describes a range of activities that are unfavorable to a state's tax system. These include tax avoidance, which refers to reducing taxes by legal means, and tax evasion which refers to the criminal non-payment of tax liabilities....

, racketeering

Racket (crime)

A racket is an illegal business, usually run as part of organized crime. Engaging in a racket is called racketeering.Several forms of racket exist. The best-known is the protection racket, in which criminals demand money from businesses in exchange for the service of "protection" against crimes...

 and other crimes. It was auctioned off and reopened in 2005 five miles to the east under the same name but different ownership.

Operation

The prostitutes lived on the ranch during their entire shift, which lasted from several days to several weeks. In the early 1970s, the women were bikini

Bikini

The bikini is typically a women's two-piece swimsuit. One part of the attire covers the breasts and the other part covers the crotch and part of or the entire buttocks, leaving an uncovered area between the two. Merriam–Webster describes the bikini as "a woman's scanty two-piece bathing suit" or "a...

 clad. Conforte claimed in 1971, the average age of the working girls was 18 to 35. Conforte could provide women of any age, race or size on request of the high rollers. The shifts lasted 12 hours per day, the women were required to serve ten to fifteen customers per shift. In 1971, they were required to earn $300 to $600 a week. Women had to pay for their rooms and for any vendors who came to the Ranch. Medicine

Medicine

Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....

 and cosmetics

Cosmetics

Cosmetics are substances used to enhance the appearance or odor of the human body. Cosmetics include skin-care creams, lotions, powders, perfumes, lipsticks, fingernail and toe nail polish, eye and facial makeup, towelettes, permanent waves, colored contact lenses, hair colors, hair sprays and...

 were purchased by non-prostitute employees who lived in Sparks, Nevada

Sparks, Nevada

Sparks is a city in Washoe County, Nevada, United States, located east of Reno, Nevada. The 2010 U.S. Census Bureau population count was 90,264. Sparks is often referred to as half of a twin city .-Geography and Climate:...

. Doctors

Physician

A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...

 came to the ranch to do pelvic exams and check for sexually transmitted diseases. The only time women were allowed out was during menstruation. More than one woman shared the rent for an apartment in Reno or Sparks. Women not working on the ranch were not allowed in. Owner Joe Conforte

Joe Conforte

Joe Conforte 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 in 1999, but is now reopened under new management...

 allowed "out parties" for high rollers to take the women to hotels in Reno.

Las Vegas

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...

 reporter Colin McKinlay visited the Mustang Ranch to do one of the first reports ever allowed by Mustang management. He wrote, "The women were the most beautiful of any fantasy of man. The line-up contained the most pale of Nordic

Nordic countries

The Nordic countries make up a region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic which consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and their associated territories, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland...

 blonde to the midnight of ebony

Ebony

Ebony is a dense black wood, most commonly yielded by several species in the genus Diospyros, but ebony may also refer to other heavy, black woods from unrelated species. Ebony is dense enough to sink in water. Its fine texture, and very smooth finish when polished, make it valuable as an...

; a wide eyed waif

Waif

A waif is a living creature removed, by hardship, loss or other helpless circumstance, from his original surroundings...

 and wrinkled senior; rail thin to pudgy; tall women stood next to near dwarfs

Dwarfism

Dwarfism is short stature resulting from a medical condition. It is sometimes defined as an adult height of less than 4 feet 10 inches  , although this definition is problematic because short stature in itself is not a disorder....

, all to answer the buzzer."

As in other Nevada brothels

Prostitution in Nevada

Nevada is the only U.S. state to allow some legal prostitution, in the form of regulated brothels. Prostitution outside these licensed brothels is illegal....

, customers were buzzed in through a gate. Once in, they chose a woman from a lineup in a lobby, and negotiated prices and services in the woman's room. She checked the penis for any open sores or signs of venereal disease and tested the pre-ejaculatory fluid. A short negotiation was made as to the type of "party" the customer wanted. Typical prices ranged from $100 to $500 plus tips. Some women, who performed bizarre acts approved by the Confortes, could get up to $10,000 for a party. The house received half of anything the women made. In the late 1960s, $25.00 for 30 minutes with half and half. After the negotiations (overheard by a hidden intercom system) were over, the prostitute collected the money and deposited it with a cashier. She returned to the room, washed the male genitals in a basin. After the act, she would again wash the male and slip on her skimpy outfit. He would dress to be escorted to the door. Some men would relax in the bar or on sofas talking to the girls. In time the men would be rested for "round two." Many men had favorites or wanted variety. They could be with as many women as they could afford. The fantasy of two and three women simultaneously was common. Another frequent fantasy was of an older and younger prostitute being intimate with the customer and each other; he pretended they were mother and daughter.

The house rules forbade anal sex

Anal sex

Anal sex is the sex act in which the penis is inserted into the anus of a sexual partner. The term can also include other sexual acts involving the anus, including pegging, anilingus , fingering, and object insertion.Common misconception describes anal sex as practiced almost exclusively by gay men...

 and kiss

Kiss

A kiss is the act of pressing one's lips against the lips or other body parts of another person or of an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, affection, respect, greeting, friendship, and good...

ing on the mouth. Many major-league sports figures and entertainment-industry types would visit the Mustang Ranch. After 1985, due to HIV/AIDS, Nevada state law required customers to wear condom

Condom

A condom is a barrier device most commonly used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy and spreading sexually transmitted diseases . It is put on a man's erect penis and physically blocks ejaculated semen from entering the body of a sexual partner...

s for both intercourse

Sexual intercourse

Sexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which a male's penis enters a female's vagina for the purposes of sexual pleasure or reproduction. The entities may be of opposite sexes, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...

 and oral sex

Oral sex

Oral sex is sexual activity involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a sex partner by the use of the mouth, tongue, teeth or throat. Cunnilingus refers to oral sex performed on females while fellatio refer to oral sex performed on males. Anilingus refers to oral stimulation of a person's anus...

. The women were not allowed to reject a customer who was willing to pay the house minimum and abide by the rules. For the safety of the women, every room had a hidden panic button. Gun towers and guards were present to keep the women in and strangers out.

Mapes Hotel

Mapes Hotel

The Mapes Hotel was a hotel/casino located in Reno, Nevada, next to the Truckee River on Virginia Street. It was built in 1947, and opened on December 17 of that year. It was the first skyscraper built in the Western United States since the start of World War II...

 bellmen in Reno directed men to the Mustang Ranch. Cab drivers typically received 10% commissions on the money their customers spent at the ranch.

Alexa Albert, who conducted interviews with several women in the Mustang Ranch from 1993 to 1996, reported that at one point, the brothel required all women to have pimp

Pimp

A pimp is an agent for prostitutes who collects part of their earnings. The pimp may receive this money in return for advertising services, physical protection, or for providing a location where she may engage clients...

s, who were thought to make the women work harder. Although this practice had stopped by the 1990s, many women were still pressured into the work by boyfriends, husbands, or other family members. About half of the women reported having been sexually abused as children.

History

The brothel started out as a set of four double-wide trailers, run by Richard Bennet and initially called Mustang Bridge Ranch. Joe Conforte

Joe Conforte

Joe Conforte 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 in 1999, but is now reopened under new management...

 (1923-), (Look Magazine in 1971, gave his age as 48) who had owned several brothels in Nevada together with his wife, Sally Burgess Conforte aka Jesse E. Conforte (1917–1992) since October 1955, took over the Mustang Ranch in 1967. At this time, brothels were not explicitly illegal in Nevada, but some had been closed as public nuisances.

Conforte gained political influence in Storey County (by renting out cheap trailers and telling the renters how to vote) and persuaded county officials to pass a brothel-licensing ordinance, which came into effect in 1971. Joe Conforte was featured in Look magazine

Look (American magazine)

Look was a bi-weekly, general-interest magazine published in Des Moines, Iowa from 1937 to 1971, with more of an emphasis on photographs than articles...

, June 29, 1971, the article titled Legal Prostitution Spreads in Nevada by Gerald Astor, Look Senior Editor. Joe was on the cover of Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

magazine November 23, 1972.

The Nevada Supreme Court upheld the right of a county to legalize prostitution, and several counties followed suit. Conforte converted the trailers into a permanent structure with 54 bedrooms. Mustang I had a spa room with jacuzzi. The swimming pool was for adult play.

Initially, the brothel did not serve black customers. In 1967, a separate trailer for blacks was built, and the prostitutes were allowed to refuse these men. This segregation was later abandoned, but black customers were still announced by a special signal, so that women could choose not to join the lineup, something not allowed for white customers.

In 1976, the world class boxer Oscar Bonavena

Oscar Bonavena

Oscar Natalio "Ringo" Bonavena was a heavyweight professional boxer with a career record of 58 wins, 9 losses and 1 draw. A rugged, wild-swinging puncher, he was nicknamed "Ringo" because of his Beatles haircut, and enjoyed professional success in both Argentina and the United States...

 (1942–1976), who was a former friend of Conforte's and probably had an affair with his wife Sally, was shot dead at the ranch by Conforte's bodyguard.

In 1982, Mustang II with 48 bedrooms was built a hundred meters away from Mustang I. A bit smaller and not as luxurious as Mustang I, mostly new women and women demoted from Mustang I for some infraction worked there.

Forfeiture and sale following tax fraud

After losing a tax fraud case in 1990, the brothel was closed for three months and auctioned off. Conforte fled the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and now lives in Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

. The brothel was bought by a holding company (a front for Conforte) and stayed open. After that company and the brothel's manager (a former county commissioner) lost a federal fraud

Fraud

In criminal law, a fraud is an intentional deception made for personal gain or to damage another individual; the related adjective is fraudulent. The specific legal definition varies by legal jurisdiction. Fraud is a crime, and also a civil law violation...

, racketeering and conspiracy case in 1999, the Mustang Ranch was closed and forfeited to the federal government. That same year, the Brazil Supreme Court ruled Conforte could not be extradited.

In 2002, the brothel's furniture, paintings and accessories were auctioned off. The Bureau of Land Management sold the Ranch's pink stucco

Stucco

Stucco or render is a material made of an aggregate, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as decorative coating for walls and ceilings and as a sculptural and artistic material in architecture...

 structures on eBay

EBay

eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...

 in 2003. Bordello owner Lance Gilman purchased the buildings for $145,100 and moved them to his Wild Horse Adult Resort & Spa

Wild Horse Adult Resort & Spa

The Wild Horse Adult Resort and Spa is an adult entertainment complex about 14 miles east of Reno, Nevada, USA which currently is home to two separate legal, licensed brothels: the Wild Horse Ranch and the Mustang Ranch...

 five miles to the east, where the relocated and extensively renovated buildings eventually became the second brothel located at that complex. However, the rights to the name Mustang Ranch, which Gilman had hoped to use for this new brothel, were tied up in a court battle with David Burgess, the owner of the Old Bridge Ranch, nephew of Joe Conforte, and manager of the Mustang Ranch from 1979 until 1989. In December 2006, a federal judge ruled that Gilman was the "exclusive owner of the Mustang Ranch trademark" giving him the rights to use the name and branding.

In late March 2007, the final remaining building, the Annex II which had been bought for $8,600 by Dennis Hof

Dennis Hof

Dennis Hof is an American pimp, entrepreneur, and restaurateur. He is best known as the former, owning two brothels in Nevada. His brothels are in Moundhouse, Nevada, a few minutes outside Carson City, less than an hour by car from Reno, Nevada...

, was burned down in a fire department training exercise. A Reno Gazette-Journal

Reno Gazette-Journal

The Reno Gazette-Journal is the main daily newspaper for Reno, Nevada. It came into being when the Nevada State Journal and the Reno Evening Gazette were combined in 1983...

report cited plans for the restoration of natural conditions to the section of the Truckee River

Truckee River

The Truckee River is a stream in the U.S. states of California and Nevada. The river is about long. Its endorheic drainage basin is about , of which about are in Nevada. The Truckee is the sole outlet of Lake Tahoe and drains part of the high Sierra Nevada, emptying into Pyramid Lake in the Great...

 flowing through the land, following the completion of a similar restoration five miles downstream on McCarran

Pat McCarran

Patrick Anthony McCarran was a Democratic United States Senator from Nevada from 1933 until 1954, and was noted for his strong anti-Communist stance.-Early life and career:...

 Ranch land owned by The Nature Conservancy

The Nature Conservancy

The Nature Conservancy is a US charitable environmental organization that works to preserve the plants, animals, and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive....

. The McCarran Ranch had been the property of United States Senator Patrick McCarran, (1876–1954); when his last surviving daughter, Sister M. Margaret McCarran, SNJM (1904–1998) died, the land was deeded to The Nature Conservancy. It would likely include construction of natural meander

Meander

A meander in general is a bend in a sinuous watercourse. A meander is formed when the moving water in a stream erodes the outer banks and widens its valley. A stream of any volume may assume a meandering course, alternately eroding sediments from the outside of a bend and depositing them on the...

s to the river channel

Channel (geography)

In physical geography, a channel is the physical confine of a river, slough or ocean strait consisting of a bed and banks.A channel is also the natural or human-made deeper course through a reef, sand bar, bay, or any shallow body of water...

 and replacement of invasive whitetop

Whitetop

Whitetop or hoary cress is native to western Asia and eastern Europe and is an invasive species in North America, introduced by contaminated seeds in the early 1900s....

 (Lepidium

Lepidium

Lepidium is a genus of plants in the mustard family Brassicaceae. It includes about 175 species found worldwide, including cress and pepperweed; additional common names include peppercress, peppergrass, and pepperwort...

 draba) with native plants, willow

Willow

Willows, sallows, and osiers form the genus Salix, around 400 species of deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere...

 and cottonwood trees. Such a restoration will cost millions of dollars and could begin by 2007.

Contrary to a popular urban legend

Urban legend

An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true...

 circulated by email, the Mustang Ranch was never operated by the US government.

Films and books

The 1973 motion picture Charley Varrick

Charley Varrick

Charley Varrick is a 1973 crime film directed by Don Siegel and starring Walter Matthau, Andrew Robinson, Joe Don Baker and John Vernon. The film was based on the novel The Looters by John H. Reese.-Plot:...

contained a scene filmed at Mustang Ranch, with a cameo by Joe Conforte. Nevada writer Gabriel R. Vogliotti (1908–1983) did research living at the Mustang Ranch. In 1975 he authored The Girls of Nevada, with a subtitle on the dust jacket, Featuring Joe Conforte, Overseer of the Mustang Ranch. In 1978, Robert Goralnick wrote and directed Mustang: The House That Joe Built.

The 2010 film Love Ranch

Love Ranch

Love Ranch is a 2010 drama film directed by Taylor Hackford and starring Helen Mirren and Joe Pesci.-Background:The film is based on the lives of Joe and Sally Conforte, a married couple who opened the first legal brothel in the United States, the Mustang Ranch in Storey County, Nevada. Violence...

starring Helen Mirren

Helen Mirren

Dame Helen Mirren, DBE is an English actor. She has won an Academy Award for Best Actress, four SAG Awards, four BAFTAs, three Golden Globes, four Emmy Awards, and two Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Awards.-Early life and family:...

is loosely based on the events at the Mustang Ranch. After a visit to the new Mustang Ranch in 2008 Mirren announced I am a complete believer in legal brothels.