Mustang Ranch to become public land today

Ownership of Mustang Ranch Brothel, which includes 340 acres of land and 2.5 miles of Truckee River frontage, will pass from the Internal Revenue Service to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management today.

The transaction includes buildings, property and water rights.

"We're very excited. This is going to be a nice addition to public lands in that area," bureau spokesman Mark Struble said. "We might demolish the buildings and rehabilitate the site to increase the floodplain area, but there also might be some adaptive uses for the buildings. We'll just have to wait and see."

Several public meetings will be scheduled in the coming months for public comments concerning use of the property. Some of the acreage at higher elevations could be sold. with the money used to maintain the property surrounding the river, Struble said.

"We want to hear people's ideas," he said. "We don't want to do this with blindfolds on."

The Truckee River's riparian zone is a bucolic setting, the river twisting around cottonwoods, willows and pastures. Officials say riparian zone restoration could aid water quality, improve flood control and provide a place for outdoor recreation such as fishing and rafting.

Federal agents shut down the Mustang Ranch brothel in 1999 after a federal jury returned 34 guilty verdicts against AGE Enterprises, the corporation that owned the Mustang Ranch, and two corporation employees for racketeering, money laundering, tax evasion and other crimes.

The IRS is a branch of the Treasury Department. So, the money will go to the Treasury Department's asset forfeiture fund. Sale of the property will ultimately benefit the IRS, to offset costs incurred during the legal process.

Prostitution in Nevada was not legalized until 1970, but Mustang owner Joe Conforte slipped around the law in a three-county area near Wadsworth, operating his first Nevada sex-for-sale operation, the Triangle River Ranch, in mobile homes.

By staying mobile, he could move to Lyon County when he got into trouble in Storey, then pick up and move into Washoe if need be.

The Triangle River Ranch was declared a public nuisance in 1960 and burned down by order of the Storey County commissioners, but Conforte stayed in business.

In 1967, he bought and operated the Mustang Ranch, until a tax-evasion charge sent him to jail.

Conforte fled the country after a new round of tax evasion charges in 1990 and the gate of the Mustang Ranch was locked, but it reopened, under the auspices of the IRS.

U.S. District Judge Howard McKibben ordered all of the corporations' assets seized immediately, except the brothel. The judge delayed seizure of the Mustang property for a month, to allow the employees to find other quarters.

The Mustang Ranch -- which over the years has included Mustang, Mustang II and the Old Bridge Ranch -- funded about 4 percent of Storey County's bankroll for nearly 30 years through business licensing, property tax and other fees. The Mustang Ranch closure cost the county $250,000 of its $6 million budget when the doors closed in 1990.