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this to a friend December 14, 2002
RENO, Nev. (AP) - The last trinkets from the infamous Mustang Ranch brothel, including nude paintings and furniture from the kinky "Jungle Room," were sold at a government auction Saturday. More than 250 bidders packed the parlor of the state's first legal bordello to participate in the sale of much of fugitive brothel boss Joe Conforte's property. "It's kind of sad. It's the end of an era," said Jack Drace of Reno, a former Mustang bouncer. "It was just a lot of fun out here. You could see all types of people from street people to governors." The ranch was forfeited to the federal government in 1999 after guilty verdicts against the bordello's parent companies and manager in a federal fraud and racketeering trial. The women who worked there were evicted and the brothel was padlocked. The estimated $800,000 in auction proceeds will go into a federal fund to help cover law enforcement costs, said Internal Revenue Service spokesman Michael Hickey. Among other gaudy relics, a bed and other furniture from the Jungle Room sold for $550 and nude paintings went for up to $1,000 each. Mustang jackets that originally sold for $30 fetched $300 to $400. Also sold was office furniture, television sets, VCRS, restaurant equipment and other personal property from America's best-known sporting house. One of the busiest bidders was Dennis Hof, owner of the Moonlite Bunny Ranch brothel just east of Carson City. He paid more than $20,000 for items he plans to house in a museum next to his bordello. Among other souvenirs, be bought 30,000 Mustang matchbooks for $1,200 and etched glass with Conforte's name and the Mustang logo for $400. "The Mustang Ranch is part of American history," Hof said. "The high prices today show a desire for people to own a piece of history. We bought enough to replicate a mini-Mustang." The ranch's history also drew 23-year-old bidder Monica Narrow of Reno. "I think everybody knows about the Mustang Ranch," she said. "It's the most famous brothel of all." Fetching the most at the IRS auction were four pieces of Conforte real estate in the Reno area. The shuttered Cabin in the Sky restaurant near Virginia City sold for $88,000 to a San Francisco Bay area investment group, which is undecided about its plans for the site. A vacant 1-acre residential lot in Sparks went for $64,000 to Troy Regas, manager of the nearby Old Bridge Ranch brothel. Regas, a Hells Angels member, said the parcel would be used to expand the motorcycle club's headquarters. David Burgess, president of the club's Nevada chapter, is the nephew of Conforte's late wife, Sally Conforte. A vacant 2.15-acre residential lot in Sparks sold for $129,000 to Javier Barajas, while a vacant 1.6-acre commercial lot in Sparks went for $261,000 to Network Realty. The Treasury Department tentatively has approved an IRS plan to transfer the 340-acre ranch to the Bureau of Land Management. BLM officials have said it will no longer be a brothel, but they are open to ideas on what to do with the prime riverfront property 15 miles east of Reno. The 104-room Mustang Ranch was taken over by Conforte in 1967 during a time when prostitution was illegal. In 1971, it became the state's first legal brothel and led to the movement that resulted in legalized prostitution in 12 of Nevada's 17 counties. Prostitution is still illegal in Reno and Las Vegas. Conforte fled to avoid tax charges more than 10 years ago and lives in Brazil, where authorities refuse to extradite him. In 1990, hundreds of items from the brothel were sold at auction to help pay off $13 million in back taxes owed by Conforte. --
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