Mustang

That’s the entrance to the Mustang Ranch, the first and easily the most famous legal house of prostitution in Nevada.  It has been in the news a lot over the years-

• Famous boxer Oscar Bonavena was shot to death there in 1976.
• Owner Joe Conforte was convicted of tax fraud and racketeering in 1999.  He fled to Brazil and the property was seized by the Feds.
• The Bureau of Land Management auctioned the brothel on EBay.
• Mustang Ranch was going to go public on the New York Stock Exchange in 1990, and almost did.  The IPO fell through when the IRS ruled that the prostitutes were employees, not contractors, and were owed a ton of back pay and benefits.

The brothel is back in the news today because the current owner, Lance Gilman, just got elected County Commissioner of Storey County.  He ran as a Republican, and got 62% of the vote.

It brings to mind the old vaudeville joke:

Please don’t tell my mama that I’m in politics.  She thinks I play piano in a whore house.