This is a Facebook entry from Joe Conforte. Apparently someone had asked him about his "time: in Carson City where he reportedly ran the casino. One magazine back then had a foto of him standing at the crap table. This was his reply to that question:
"I more or less ran the casino in the prison when I was in there, we called it "The Bull Pen". I had my own waiter, nice old man named Williams, he used to bring me my steaks so he could have some spending money, $2 a week. He killed a couple of lawyers in the Washoe County Court House. There was a black kid, he used to get $3 a week for fanning me while I played bridge on hot days, and a guy called Penguin got $3 to bring my bathrobe and slippers after dinner and set up my chair to watch tv."
Showing posts with label joe conforte. Show all posts
Showing posts with label joe conforte. Show all posts
Monday, April 29, 2013
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Joe Conforte
His book is ready and can be purchased at this site. It is also in some book stores. I have gotten a few inquiries. He lives in Argentina, he is on my Facebook, and seems to be doing well .................
http://joeconforte.com/
Monday, June 27, 2011
Joe Conforte - His new book
I remember him pulling up in his Cordovan Colored Lincoln Continental Convertable, Camel Haired Topcoat, big cigar .... he had a lot of fans. At the Primm, we kept a special bottle for him, and a box of cigars, just for Joe.
I remember when the Washoe County DA, Bill Raggio, burnt him down, literally. I remember picking up a few bucks from cab drivers, if we steered a well heeled customer to the Triangle, and a cab to take them there. We got a nice "finders" fee.
Check out his new book HERE. I think you can check it out at this site.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Joe Conforte
Joe Conforte was born in 1926 in Sicily. He emigrated with his family to the United States in 1937 and settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts.[1]
By the 1950s, Conforte was a cab driver in the San Francisco area. He drove a cab in Oakland, California taking G.I.'s from the Oakland Army Base and sailors from Alameda Naval Air Station and the Oakland Navy Supply Base during World War II. Conforte would take the military men to brothels on the border of Alameda County and Contra Costa County. He moved to Nevada in 1955 and opened the Triangle River Ranch brothel in Wadsworth, an illegal brothel at the junction of Washoe, Storey and Lyon counties. In 1959, Conforte served 22 months in jail after attempting to extort the Washoe County district attorney. He served 2 1/2 years in prison for income tax evasion in 1963.
Joe Conforte and his wife Sally Burgess Conforte took over the Mustang Bridge Ranch in Storey County in 1967. (The name of the brothel was later changed to Mustang Ranch.) In 1971, Storey County made prostitution legal and licensed Conforte as a brothel owner.
In April 1977 Joe and Sally Conforte were arrested on 10 counts of income tax evasion. She was fined $10,000 and given a suspended sentence; he faced a minimum five years in prison and $10,000 fine. Conforte appealed his conviction but fled the country in 1980 when he lost the appeal. He later returned and served a reduced sentence.[2]
Conforte fled to Brazil in 1991 ahead of a federal grand jury handing up numerous indictments in 1995 and 1998. The Brazilian Supreme Court ruled in 1999 that the extradition treaty between Brazil and the United States did not cover bankruptcy fraud.[3]
I knew Joe, a little, and often dealt craps to him at the old Primm in Reno.
He is a part of Nevada history, a part not often mentioned, but NEVERTHELESS, a part of its rich history.
By the 1950s, Conforte was a cab driver in the San Francisco area. He drove a cab in Oakland, California taking G.I.'s from the Oakland Army Base and sailors from Alameda Naval Air Station and the Oakland Navy Supply Base during World War II. Conforte would take the military men to brothels on the border of Alameda County and Contra Costa County. He moved to Nevada in 1955 and opened the Triangle River Ranch brothel in Wadsworth, an illegal brothel at the junction of Washoe, Storey and Lyon counties. In 1959, Conforte served 22 months in jail after attempting to extort the Washoe County district attorney. He served 2 1/2 years in prison for income tax evasion in 1963.
Joe Conforte and his wife Sally Burgess Conforte took over the Mustang Bridge Ranch in Storey County in 1967. (The name of the brothel was later changed to Mustang Ranch.) In 1971, Storey County made prostitution legal and licensed Conforte as a brothel owner.
In April 1977 Joe and Sally Conforte were arrested on 10 counts of income tax evasion. She was fined $10,000 and given a suspended sentence; he faced a minimum five years in prison and $10,000 fine. Conforte appealed his conviction but fled the country in 1980 when he lost the appeal. He later returned and served a reduced sentence.[2]
Conforte fled to Brazil in 1991 ahead of a federal grand jury handing up numerous indictments in 1995 and 1998. The Brazilian Supreme Court ruled in 1999 that the extradition treaty between Brazil and the United States did not cover bankruptcy fraud.[3]
I knew Joe, a little, and often dealt craps to him at the old Primm in Reno.
He is a part of Nevada history, a part not often mentioned, but NEVERTHELESS, a part of its rich history.
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