The Mustang Ranch
Near Reno, Nevada
Ten miles east of Reno, the Mustang Ranch holds the distinction of being the first legally licensed brothel in the United States. Joe Conforte took over the property in the nineteen sixties, and in nineteen seventy-one Storey County issued the license that made it official, touching off a wave of legalization that eventually spread to ten of Nevada's seventeen counties. The federal government caught up with Conforte in nineteen ninety when the IRS seized the ranch over tax debts, putting federal officials in the awkward position of briefly operating a brothel.
They closed it. Conforte fled to Brazil to avoid charges. The property was seized a second time in nineteen ninety-nine after fraud convictions, then demolished in two thousand three.
A new version of the Mustang Ranch opened nearby, trading on the name but not the original buildings.
