Our republic and its press will rise or fall together.
Joseph Pulitzer
“Reno is so incestuous,” a reporter who became a noted lawyer once told me. The result of that longtime good-ole-boys sterility remains obvious to anyone standing under the Reno Arch today.
Into this corrupt post-WW2 mix came two entrepreneurial Italians in a very Italian town. Al Figoni legendarily ran old downtown Reno vice and kept the riff-raff out. Ex-cab driver Joe Conforte started a retail house of ill fame east of here.
Another ambitious Italian cruised the self-righteous side of reality. Bill Raggio got elected Washoe District Attorney and in the best Carrie Nation tradition, brought a crew with torches and probably pitchforks to burn Conforte’s mobile home brothel to the ground. Mr. “I am not a pimp, I’m a businessman” merely set up shop again slightly farther east in tiny Storey County. The fabled Mustang Bridge Ranch was born.
Not taking anything, ahem, lying down, Conforte later tried to trap Raggio with some hookers in a Reno hotel, cameras grinding (see below), but was jailed for his trouble.
The feud between the two Italian stallions became the stuff of legend.
They both made a fat living trashing each other. In the Nevada Legislature starting in 1973, Senator Raggio, R-Reno, introduced a bill just about every session to make Cow County prostitution illegal.
Insiders told me that they eventually buried the hatchet (not in each other), and occasionally enjoyed a clandestine dinner laughing at how they had prospered from their mutual con.
Conforte just could not leave well enough alone.
“Politics is just a game to him and he loves it,” one of his confidantes told me. He hired pollsters so he could make smart election wagers, hedging his bets by contributing to campaigns. His accuracy was astounding and politicians lusted for the numbers. Conforte was hot copy. Did some reporters get, ahem, a little too close to the story? Jawhol.
The Little Waldorf Saloon would post Conforte’s odds and betting lines. Little Wal’s bet board was watched by political pros for avatars of campaign trends. Trying to affect the media spin, some candidates would bet on themselves.
Little Joe had pols of all stripes on the take, from locals to governors and senators. Everybody knew it, nobody could prove it. Cash was king and he was a kingmaker.
Wise guys knew not to take a Mustang comp from Joe — unless they wanted to star in their own porno movie.
Conforte got into boxing promotion but things soured when Argentine heavyweight contender Oscar Bonavena, rumored to have been involved with Mrs. Conforte, was shot to death by Mustang security guard Willard Ross Brymer.
That tale eventually became part of the fictionalized Hollywood film “Love Ranch” (2010). Oscar winner Joe Pesci (“Goodfellas”) came out of retirement to play a Joe Conforte-ish character. Fellow gold statue honoree Dame Helen Mirren (“The Queen”) performed a Sally Conforte-ish role. It was partially filmed in downtown Reno because much hadn’t changed in half a century. Incest again.
The doomed Bonavena-ish character was cheekily named “Armando Bruza” as in bruiser, get it? For such an all-star cast, including Bryan Cranston, it bombed at the box office.
By 1970, Conforte’s presence and power were ubiquitous. Joe and Sally’s Thanksgiving turkey giveaways to the poor endeared them to many. He spread cash around to many charities and became an internationally recognized anti-hero.
As I wrote back then, “everyone loves sexy, whorehousy Nevada stories.”
In 1971, Conforte wrested control of the Sparks City Council away from casino magnate John Ascuaga. Mustang freebies after council meetings became notorious. These guys were so full of themselves that one even tried to extort a Catholic parish which needed a zoning change.
Exhibiting sinful chutzpah, he did it in the confessional knowing that the priest’s lips were sealed.
Reno Gazette-Journal Executive Editor Warren Lerude began a campaign to “get Joe Conforte out of our community.” For his efforts, Lerude and his commentary page editors won the 1977 Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing, a first for Nevada.
“They couldn’t have done it without me,” Conforte quipped. Only one has been awarded since, to the Las Vegas Sun in 2009 for exposing lethal high-rise construction conditions on the Strip.
Lerude went on to teach journalism at UNR, albeit holding only a bachelor’s degree. He was elected to the Nevada Press Association Hall of Fame some years ago.
His fellow Pulitzer honorees, Foster Church and Norman Cardoza, were not and have not been, an outrageous omission.
Church moved on to a stellar career with the Oregonian in Portland.
Cardoza, retired and in his 90s, still lives in Reno.
Last week, I woke up reminding myself to draft an HOF endorsement for David Toll, publisher of the legendary Gold Hill News and The Compleat Nevada Traveler who died earlier this year. (Barbwire Feb. 23)
Somehow, I flashed on Church and Cardoza. How come those guys aren’t in the HOF? I have now nominated both.
A successful Barbwire nominee, Nevada’s greatest reporter and Tribune alumnus Dennis Myers, once commented on my ongoing campaign for photographer Don Dondero.
“Don just didn’t get nominated soon enough after his death,” Dennis noted. Indeed. Don died in 2003 but was not put in the running until I got into this game about 10 years ago.
Well, Foster Church just took care of that roadblock. He died in Oregon on June 1 at age 80. Perhaps he sent me a long distance message from the big newsroom in the sky.
Sorry you didn’t live to see it, old man. Your colleagues, friends and family will work to honor your legacy and that of Norm Cardoza.
This incredible injustice must be remedied. And soon. Otherwise, that’s just bad journalism.
Take care of each other and be careful out there.
Pray for Ukraine and 53 other currently war-torn lands.
Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno.
Andrew Quarantino Barbano, a 53-year Nevadan, is editor of MississippiWestNV.org, ConsumerCoalitionv.org, Rentvolution.org and NevadaLabor.com. Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Tribune since 1988. E-mail
