Feds to demolish infamous Mustang Ranch brothel near Reno

MUSTANG -- The Mustang Ranch, Nevada's first legal brothel and arguably its most famous, will be demolished while federal officials decide what to do with the property the IRS seized three years ago, land managers said Monday.

The ranch's pink stucco main building and a smaller unit will be destroyed rather than renovated, said Mark Struble, spokesman for the Bureau of Land Management.

"The buildings were built for a specific purpose in mind and they realistically can't be used for anything else," Struble told The Associated Press Monday.

Both riverfront buildings are within the Truckee River floodplain and violate building safety codes. He said the agency has not decided when or how the buildings will be demolished.

"It would take too much money to rehabilitate the buildings because they're of shoddy construction. They certainly didn't pump their profits back into the buildings," Struble said.

The legal house of prostitution 15 miles east of Reno has been closed for three years.

The 104-room Mustang Ranch was taken over by Joe Conforte in 1967 during a time when prostitution was illegal. In 1971, it became the state's first legal brothel and led to the movement that legalized prostitution in 12 of Nevada's 17 counties.

Conforte fled to avoid tax charges more than 10 years ago and lives in Brazil.

The IRS seized the ranch in 1999 after guilty verdicts against the bordello's parent companies and manager in a federal fraud and racketeering trial. The women who worked there were evicted and the brothel was padlocked.

The BLM obtained title to the property on Feb. 21.

BLM officials earlier had said the buildings would no longer be used for prostitution, but that they were willing to entertain ideas for other uses.

Among suggested ideas were to convert the buildings into a home for battered women or an interpretive center for wild horses, Struble said.

The BLM has scheduled a March 25 public open house in Lockwood to gather ideas for long-term management of the riverfront property.

"We want to get the public beyond the brothel era and to envision what is the highest and best use of the ranch," Struble said.