IRS Gavel Puts an End to Famed Mustang Ranch

Matchbook by mattress cover, T-shirt by toaster, condom by coffee table, the famed Mustang Ranch went out with a whimper Tuesday.

The piecemeal dismantling of Nevada’s oldest, largest legal brothel, 10 miles east of Reno on the Truckee River, took place under an orange-and-white striped tent, befitting the circus atmosphere.

Hundreds of onlookers--some serious bidders, some merely curious, some former clients there for old times’ sake--watched from chairs or stood on the sidelines as an Internal Revenue Service auctioneer pounded the gavel on sale after sale.

The auction, overseen by a small army of 80 IRS personnel, was ordered by the agency in September after Mustang Ranch owners Joseph and Sally Conforte failed to pay an estimated $13-million tax debt.

The 105-room bordello, bedecked in its riot of colors, including red, orange and purple, was padlocked after a federal bankruptcy judge denied a last-ditch scheme by a court-appointed trustee to reopen and run the house of ill repute.

Tours conducted by the IRS for would-be bidders attracted 3,500 people Saturday, most of them women who had previously been barred from the grounds.

Looking more natty than needy in a striped suit and navy topcoat, Joe Conforte put in sporadic appearances as mementoes of his monument to sexual fulfillment were carted off by retirees, saloon keepers and coffee shop owners.

Items ranged from the erotic to the everyday, with oil paintings of bare-breasted women far outnumbered by such mundane commodities as plastic laundry hampers, floor fans and hair curlers.

Anything with Mustang Ranch printed or etched on it drew a hefty price.

“My bar was a brothel from the 1860s on, so these’ll fit right in,” said Bob Nicoletti, proprietor of the Silver Dollar Saloon in Marysville, Calif., and the proud new owner of two Mustang posters mounted on carved wood. He paid $875 for them.

Tim Yee drove his wife and two children from Sacramento to see the Mustang turn its last trick on this gray, chilly day. “We just came to see what was here because it was historical,” he said. Clearly, Jennifer Yee, 7, will have something out of the ordinary to talk about at the next show and tell.

Rob Strouse, a highway department worker from the central Oregon town of Sisters, planned a Reno vacation so that his wife, Corinna, could bid on a crystal unicorn figure. “There’s a lot of neat little trinkets and stuff that she’s interested in,” he said. “They’re dust collectors, as far as I’m concerned.”

For many of those in attendance, nostalgia was the main attraction.

Jerry Newcomer, a retired Nevada Bell worker, recalled installing phone cables for the bordello in 1971.

He pointed out the front iron gate, where heavyweight boxing contender Oscar Bonavena was shot to death in 1976 by a guard from the watch tower that rises above the low-slung complex. Bonavena at the time was romantically involved with Conforte’s wife, Conforte has been quoted as saying.

Just after the auction got under way after 9 a.m., there was some concern the event would prove a big bust. Before unloading souvenirs, the IRS was intent on selling the land and buildings for at least $1.4 million. But a lusty bidding war failed to materialize.

Auctioneer Keith Thomas of Louisville, Ky., began by eliciting a bid from an unidentified buyer of $395,000 for a trailer park owned by Conforte in Lockwood, just west off Interstate 80.

Then, the fun started, with Thomas holding up a plastic bag of six Mustang Ranch T-shirts. They were sold in a flash for $105 to Shawn Murray, a radio station employee from Las Vegas who immediately began hawking them at $30 each.

Almost an hour into the auction, an anonymous bidder raised his white card to seal a $1.49-million deal for the ranch buildings and land. Avoiding shouted questions from a phalanx of reporters, the bidder hustled himself into a gold Acura Legend with a license plate reading NV LAW2.

He later was identified as Victor Alan Perry, a Reno lawyer and brother of Peter A. Perry, a longtime attorney for Conforte. Reached by telephone, Victor Perry said he has never represented Conforte and bid on behalf of a client whom he declined to identify.

“I’m waiting for instructions from my client,” said Perry, who put down 20% of Tuesday’s bid, which covered about 330 acres, the Mustang Ranch building and the neighboring Triangle River Ranch.

Earlier, when surrounded by reporters right after his property had been sold, Conforte used the opportunity to put in a good word for legalizing prostitution in California, where he said he intends to spend time lobbying lawmakers.

“My aim is to get it legalized all over the United States,” said Conforte, who had been trying to sell the ranch since 1985, when he was released from prison after serving 18 months for tax evasion. Three efforts to raise money by taking the Mustang Ranch public--in 1985, 1988 and earlier this year--came to naught. It has operated under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code for four years.

But Conforte still sees a good bet for governments, if they will charge enough for bordello licenses. The revenues, he said, could be used to “start rehabilitation centers for drug addicts. In other words, the emphasis should be on education.”