Brothel owner not sorry to see end of Mustang Ranch reign

RENO, Nev. - In every other state, it's vice. In Nevada, it's capitalism. And the owner of a brothel just east of the state capital is looking forward to Monday's shutdown of the Mustang Ranch as an opportunity to expand.

"We're going to take over where the Mustang left off, except in a classy manner," Moonlight Bunnyranch Manager Dennis Hof said.

The Mustang Ranch is scheduled to be forfeited to the federal government following the conviction of former Mustang madam Shirley Colletti for racketeering and for conspiring with two paper companies to conceal that fugitive Joe Conforte actually owned the brothel.

Hof has interviewed at least 40 Mustang Ranch girls, but has hired only four.

"We don't want any part of that negative reputation the Mustang has," he said. But he does expect the closing of Nevada's best-known brothel to boost his business off U.S. 50 about 15 minutes east of the Capitol dome.

Calling himself a "new breed of brothel owners," Hof stressed that the industry will survive by attracting business-minded managers. That was the downfall of the current owners of the Mustang Ranch, he said.

"You have to follow general accounting and business practices. If they were operating a Dairy Queen, they wouldn't be in business either," he said.

He hopes to double his stable of prostitutes to 50 by fall. About 75 women at the Mustang will be jobless after the feds take the keys Monday afternoon.

Hof compares the $25 million brothel industry's transition in Nevada to the early days of gambling in the state.

"There were people of, how can I say this, questionable ethics making up the gambling industry," he said. "They had tax problems, criminal problems, much like the Mustang had. Everyone wondered if the industry would survive."

But gambling thrived, he said, because businessmen took over for mobsters.

Jesi, a prostitute at the Moonlight Bunnyranch who formerly worked at the Mustang, said she can't imagine what her former coworkers are going to do.

"I'd probably just go be a waitress somewhere. I wouldn't go work at any other house. Been there and done that," she said.

Regina Winters of Wells, Nev., is a former prostitute and brothel manager who has teamed up with a partner in an effort to purchase the Mustang. She also worries about what will happen to the girls.

"It's going to be out on the streets for a lot of them. There's going to be problems," she said. "Some might get out of the business. And some will go to other houses."

Or they could turn to Edwina Hughes, assistant director of the Center Street Mission in Reno. She has offered assistance to any of the prostitutes at Mustang Ranch.

"We just wanted to see if there was anything we could do to help out. We knew some of the ladies have kids, and we thought we could help them with moving, support or even just a basket of food," Hughes said.

So far, she doesn't have any takers, but the response from women she's talked to has been positive.

"It's not something we put our stamp of approval on, but we want to help them out," she said. "This may cause some of them to change their lives. We're not here to judge."

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