Joseph Conforte
Joseph Conforte (December 10, 1925 – March 4, 2019) was an American legal brothel owner from Sparks, Nevada, professional boxing promoter, restaurateur, and philanthropist.
Joseph Conforte | |
|---|---|
| Born | Giuseppe Christophe Conforte December 10, 1925 Augusta, Sicily |
| Died | March 4, 2019 3 April 2019 (aged 93) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Citizenship | United States, Brazil |
| Occupation(s) | Brothel owner, restaurateur, boxing manager |
| Movement | Legal prostitution |
| Criminal charges | 33 counts under RICO, pattern of racketeering |
| Criminal status | Fugitive |
| Spouse | Sally Conforte |
Born in Italy, Conforte was the original owner of the Mustang Ranch and a prominent advocate for legal prostitution, becoming a fixture in Sparks, Nevada. He was married to Sally Conforte (née Burgess).
Early years Conforte was born Giuseppe Christophe Conforte in Augusta, Sicily, December 10, 1925, the youngest of one brother and three sisters. His birth date is often mistaken as January 6, 1926. His mother died when he was five.
Giuseppe traveled to Ellis Island on the Rex steamship in December 1937. Giuseppe was given the name Joseph by immigration services. Conforte's father Agostino ran a small produce shop in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston where he taught young Joe how to sell fruits and vegetables. Agostino also sold bootleg alcohol. As printed in Rolling Stone, 1972: "...this poor immigrant boy from Augusta, Sicily. When he stepped off the boat in New York 35 years ago, he was simply the pudgy, uneducated son of a Massachusetts bootlegger."
Conforte ran away from home to Manhattan in New York City at age fifteen. He moved to Los Angeles in 1942 and soon leased the produce side of the Shermart Market in West Hollywood.
He enlisted in the United States Army on November 1, 1945, before his twentieth birthday. Because of his fake birth date, he was drafted late. He was in the military police in the army and discharged in January 1950 as a staff sergeant.