Editing Mustang Ranch (section)

==History==
The brothel started out as a set of four double-wide trailers, run by Richard Bennett and initially called ''Mustang Bridge Ranch.'' Joe Conforte (1925-2019), (''[[Look (American magazine)|Look]]'' gave his age as 48 in 1971) 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 Bridge 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'', 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]]'' 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.

In 1976, the world class boxer [[Oscar Bonavena]] (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.<ref name="Farrell">{{ cite news 
|first=Barry
|last=Farrell
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b-MCAAAAMBAJ
|title=The Killing At the Notorious Mustang Ranch
|work=[[New York (magazine)|New York]] 
|date=July 26, 1976
|pages=41–49
|access-date= 2009-06-07 }}</ref>

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. Mustang 1 was subsequently rebranded as the "World Famous Mustang Ranch".<ref name="nvreno">{{cite web|title=Reno Brothels|url=http://www.nvbrothels.net:80/reno.htm|website=NV Brothels|access-date=4 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030207171156/http://www.nvbrothels.net/reno.htm|archive-date=7 February 2003|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== 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]] to [[Brazil]]. The brothel was bought by a holding company and stayed open. After that company and the brothel's manager (a former county commissioner) lost a federal [[fraud]], [[racketeering]] and conspiracy case in 1999, the Mustang Ranch was closed and forfeited to the federal government. That same year, the [[Supreme Federal Court (Brazil)|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]] structures on [[eBay]] in 2003. Bordello owner [[Lance Gilman]] purchased the buildings for $145,100 and moved them to his [[Wild Horse Adult Resort & Spa]] five miles (8&nbsp;km) 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.<ref>{{cite news|title=Battle for Mustang Ranch name over; Gilman wins|url=http://virginiacitynews.com/battle-for-mustang-ranch-name-over-gilman-wins-p918-91.htm|access-date=29 July 2011|newspaper=Virginia City News|date=17 September 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304073405/http://virginiacitynews.com/battle-for-mustang-ranch-name-over-gilman-wins-p918-91.htm|archive-date=4 March 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In late March 2007, the final remaining building, the Annex II which had been bought for $8,600 by [[Dennis Hof]], was burned down in a fire department training exercise.<ref name=shipley>{{cite news|last=Shipley|first=Jarid|title=A fiery end for the Mustang Ranch 2|url=http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20070326/NEWS/103260065|access-date=29 July 2011|newspaper=Nevada Appeal|date=26 March 2007}}</ref>  A ''[[Reno Gazette-Journal]]'' report<ref>[http://news.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051017/NEWS10/510170319/1002 River returning to nature] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20060112092156/http://news.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051017/NEWS10/510170319/1002 |date=2006-01-12 }}, an October 2005 ''[[Reno Gazette-Journal]]'' article mentioning the fate of the Mustang Ranch</ref> cited plans for the restoration of natural conditions to the section of the [[Truckee River]] flowing through the land, following the completion of a similar restoration<ref>[http://nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/nevada/preserves/art11683.html Restoration of McCarran Ranch land] from [[The Nature Conservancy]] website</ref> five miles downstream on [[Pat McCarran|McCarran]] Ranch land owned by [[The Nature Conservancy]].

Contrary to a popular [[urban legend]] circulated by email, the Mustang Ranch was never operated by the U.S. government. It was operated by the Bankruptcy Trustee appointed by the United States Bankruptcy Court on behalf of the United States Government.<ref>[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-oct-12-tr-spano12-story.html Hoping to save the wild Mustang -- Ranch, that is]</ref><ref>[http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/government/a/mustang_ranch.htm False: U.S. Gov't Tried (and Failed) to Run Mustang Ranch]</ref>