31 Facts About Joseph Conforte

Joseph Conforte was an American legal brothel owner from Sparks, Nevada, professional boxing promoter, restaurateur, and philanthropist.

Joseph Conforte was born Giuseppe Christophe Joseph Conforte in Augusta, Sicily, December 10,1925, the youngest of one brother and three sisters.

Joseph Conforte ran away from home to Manhattan in New York City at age fifteen.

Joseph Conforte moved to Los Angeles in 1942 and soon leased the produce side of the Shermart Market in West Hollywood.

Joseph Conforte enlisted in the United States Army on November 1,1945, before his twentieth birthday.

Joseph Conforte was in the military police in the army and discharged in January 1950 as a staff sergeant.

Joe Joseph Conforte operated illegal brothels in Oakland, California in 1952 and 1953.

Joseph Conforte moved to Wadsworth, Nevada in 1955 and started the Triangle River Ranch brothel.

Joseph Conforte's operation grew and soon he met and teamed up with Sally Burgess, with whom he had a series of run-ins with law enforcement:.

In 1960, Joseph Conforte was convicted of extortion by threat of Washoe County District Attorney William Raggio, and was sent to prison.

In 1963, Joseph Conforte pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion while in state prison for extortion.

In 1967, Joe and Sally Joseph Conforte took over the Mustang Bridge Ranch brothel in Storey County, Nevada.

The event lead to instant fame for Joe Joseph Conforte who assumed the role as leader of the legal prostitution movement.

Joseph Conforte spoke publicly about the need and benefit of legal prostitution to organizations such as the Lions Club, Rotary Club, on national and regional TV shows, and on talk radio.

Joseph Conforte was behind a 1971 initiative in California to legalize brothels in that state.

In 1976, Joseph Conforte began sponsoring heavyweight Bernardo Mercado who went on to beat Trevor Berbick in 1979 to win the World Boxing Council Continental Americas Heavy Title.

Joseph Conforte reportedly controlled organized crime in Northwestern Nevada, and was quoted in the Nevada State Journal on March 21,1976: "Joseph Conforte said if organized crime elements move into Northern Nevada against his warnings, "Then there's going to be a war.

Joseph Conforte was accused of conspiring to murder the boxer but charges were never filed against him.

In 1977, Joseph Conforte was convicted of tax evasion and fraud, and sentenced to twenty years in prison; fraud charges were added due to his regularly destroying his financial records.

In December 1980, Joseph Conforte fled the country to avoid prison for the tax evasion conviction and prosecution for the attempted bribery of John Giomi.

Joseph Conforte lived as a fugitive of US justice in Brazil for three years.

The Department of Justice granted Joseph Conforte a reduced sentence in exchange for his testimony.

Joseph Conforte gave himself up to the US federal authorities in Miami in December 1983.

Joseph Conforte provided testimony of alleged bribes paid to Claiborne before a Reno grand jury and Claiborne was indicted based on those claims.

Joseph Conforte was prosecuted separately for the crime of attempted bribery of the Lyon County district attorney and sentenced to eighteen months in state prison to run concurrently with his federal sentence.

December 1984, Joseph Conforte was released from federal prison after serving twelve months of what was an original twenty-year sentence for tax evasion and fraud.

Joseph Conforte served no jail time for the state crime of attempted bribery of the Lyon County district attorney.

The IRS drastically reduced the tens of millions of dollars of taxes Joe and Sally Joseph Conforte owed to $7.3 million.

Joseph Conforte created a public offering of Mustang Ranch stock that could have satisfied the remainder of his debt to the IRS, but three attempts at the IPO failed.

In 1985, Conforte opened a Swiss bank account under the alias Jose C Montoya and began skimming profits from Mustang Ranch and sending them to the Swiss account with the aid of several accomplices.

Joseph Conforte slid right through and out of the country.