Former Brothel King with HUD a TinC exclusive

An undisclosed source in Washington revealed yesterday that recent unemployment figures and home sales decline had caused HUD to come up with some drastic measures. He indicated that HUD had contacted Nevada brothel owner, Joe Conforte, who is presently living in Brazil to avoid prosecution in this country, and told him that charges would be dropped, if he returned to this country as an advisor to HUD.


His area of expertise in prostitution would be put to use in finding some common denominator between housing and prostitution as the two go hand in hand.

They further indicated that they had approached Bernard Madoff to see if there was any interest on his part to arrange financing for the proposed operation. They indicated to him that an "early release" might be arranged or that an office and staff would be made available to him in prison.

HUD did not go in to the details of their plan but one can only speculate on the outcome of a prostitution king, a money generator, housing available and unemployed women.

The aging Conforte, former owner of the Triangle Ranch and the Mustang Ranch, was quoted as saying, "Eet wuld be bueno to get back to the US. I haff many friends there and of course mucho dinero (money) buried that the IRS knows nada about. I guess I have peeked up some of the language since I have been down here."

It will be interesting to see the outcome of this alliance.

The New Masthead

I think it needs a bit more explaining.

Joe Conforte, Nevada brothel owner, who I dealt craps to on numerous occasions in Reno, is in this photograph seen shooting craps in prison in Carson City, Nevada. Gambling, of course, is legal in Nevada, so they had a casino in the state prison. It was reportedly the most honest game in the state. You didn't want to get thrown out of there, there was no place else to go. Joe is not living in Brazil.

I remember Joe pulling up in front of the Primmadonna in a cordovan colored Lincoln Continental convertible, camel top coat, nice fedora, big cigar, walking in to the club with a few of his girls, all nicely dressed, in town for some entertainment, generally on a Thursday night.

Ernie Primm had a special bottle of something, just for Joe, and a box of cigars for him also. Joe spread his money around pretty good, so everyone took good care of him. I had a few occasions to not only deal to him, but also to chat. I always liked him.

The Chris Craft on the pond. Well, I always loved boats, in those days they were all wooden. I had driven a Chris Craft on one occasion, in Michigan, on Burt Lake, that was owned by Hoppie, I think his name was John Hopkins. He was a dashing figure of a man, vacationed at the lake, made a lot of money during the war and moved up to the lake. He bought John Greenmans's store and tavern, turned it into a full time tavern, and it still is there today, changed quite a bit, but still Hoppies.

We had the pond, I saw a Chris Craft for sale, and the practical person I was, bought it, put it on the pond, got it running and had a ball with it. Don't ask what happened to it. I decided to refinish it, ADD kicked in, end of story.

Don't bring up the subject if you talk with my wife, please.