Mustang Ranch’s New ‘Madam’ on Bankruptcy Court’s Payroll

A federal bankruptcy trustee is the new “madam” at the Mustang Ranch, and she says she’ll run the legal brothel “like any other business.”

But first, Jeri Coppa needs a staff, since the bordello’s “working girls” left before federal officials closed it Tuesday because the owner, Joe Conforte, missed a payment on his tax bill.

“I will run it like any other business, a bar or a store,” Coppa said. “The point is, an operating business sells better than one that is shut down.”

Coppa acted as trustee for a bankrupt brothel near Fallon several years ago. It never sold and creditors eventually foreclosed.

Conforte, apparently acting on advance notice the bankruptcy court intended to liquidate his business, had closed the bordello and sent his employees away before receiving formal notice.

Coppa said the prostitutes are out on the street with nowhere to go and urged them to return to the 105-room Mustang Ranch, which is located about 12 miles east of Reno in Storey County, where brothels are legal under county law.

Some customers who showed up at the ranch were surprised to find it closed. “I guess it’s back to the opera,” one man joked.

Conforte’s much-publicized attempts to sell the brothel through public stock offerings for about $23 million failed twice in recent years.