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November 23, 2005
CHANGE OF PLANS Fleiss to go on her ownRICHARDS OUT; 'HOLLYWOOD MADAM' STILL PLANS TO BUILD CRYSTAL BROTHEL FOR WOMEN
By DOUG McMURDO
Mere days after Joe Richards earned perhaps $1 million worth of free advertising in publications from Pahrump to London following his announcement that he and Fleiss - of "Hollywood Madam" notoriety - would open Nevada's first brothel featuring male prostitutes, the businessman announced on Friday he had changed his mind. Fleiss, however, has not pulled the plug. "This is something I could do better than anyone else," she said. "And it's something I want to do." Richards owns Mabel's and the Cherry Patch brothels in nearby Crystal, the Cherry Patch II in the Lathrop Wells area, as well as the Kingdom Gentleman's Club at Highway 160 and Homestead Road. In a telephone interview on Monday, Richards said he and Fleiss were friends and have been for a long time. "There's no problem with Heidi and me," he said, refuting rumors the pair had a falling out. "We just both thought it would be best if she went on her own." Fleiss agrees, and on her own she will go - along with a couple of undisclosed backers - on 60 acres of land abutting Richards' property that she recently purchased in Crystal. "Joe called me Friday and said he was backing out," Fleiss said in an interview held Monday. "In a way that's the best thing. It's one way to get out of the problems Joe and I could face if we were together." While Fleiss also denied she and Richards were no longer on good terms, she did say the two don't share the same values when it comes to running a business. "I like Joe, but the only thing we have in common is that we both like health foods," said Fleiss. She said she thinks Richards should sell the Kingdom Gentleman's Club to Chucky Cheese, and she didn't appear to be joking. She also said the Cherry Patch was "dilapidated" and believes it would be less expensive to build something new rather than renovate the existing building. Fleiss, in an interview in Pahrump on Monday, said she has attempted to get her life back on track after her release from prison a few years ago on income tax evasion and money laundering charges. The transition has not been easy. The prison term - she spent more than three years in confinement, including drug rehab before her conviction and a halfway house after she was released - stems from her arrest in 1993 and the subsequent infamy that followed her state and federal trials. Those trials were grounded in the allegation she ran a highly successful, high-price call-girl service that counted several Hollywood stars among its clientele. Now she's living at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas and is in the process of renting a home in Pahrump where, she says, she hopes to win over the hearts and minds of residents and public officials in whose hands her future rests. Fleiss said people should do what they do best, and for her that means an executive position in the world's oldest profession - one with a twist considering the gender reversal. "Running a business is like being a basketball coach," said Fleiss. "You have to go to practice as well as coach the game. If you're not there you can't do your job. If I stayed in L.A. I'd never get this done." The idea of a rooster ranch begs the question: Are women like many men when it comes to carnal encounters? According to comedian Billy Crystal, women need a reason to have sex. Men just need a place. Fleiss disagrees. "I think it would work," she said. "Women make more money than they ever have before. We're liberated like we've never been liberated before. I've done my research and the one common refrain from women is 'open something for us.'" Fleiss concedes she has capitalized on her notoriety; she wrote "Pandering" in 2002 and appeared in a sex tips video with Victoria Sellers, the daughter of the late actor Peter Sellers. She contends, however, that she's never watched any of the movies or documentaries - save one - that focused on her days as Hollywood's madam and the subsequent trials and convictions. "That's the past and I don't want to live in the past," said Fleiss. "I don't think it's healthy for me to watch them." Considering the prison residue still evident in her psyche, Fleiss cuts a somewhat tragic figure at the same time she exudes confidence. "I spent three years looking at a ceiling from a bunk bed," she said. "There were four women in cells built for one. One of my cellmates ate M&Ms and had diarrhea every day. That was murder." Fleiss said she didn't last long at the first minimum-security camp in which she was confined. "I had the pimp jacket (reputation)," she said. "It wasn't like I was Martha Stewart who had a Betty Crocker jacket." Fleiss was a celebrity in prison, but that didn't work to her advantage, she said. "They'd say things like, 'you think you're a pimp? I'll show you what a pimp is.' It was lesbian hell." To deal with the harsh reality that exists in the penitentiary, Fleiss said she started jogging for the first time in her life. The track at the Dublin, Calif., prison was crude. Armed guards surrounded her in towers ringing the recreation yard. Still, the oval-shaped pathway was her legal escape route. "I ran 22 miles some days," said Fleiss. "I ran between six and 20 miles. I'd run until I'd hear the guard shout 'Fleiss, off the rec field.' Running allowed me to think. I didn't even use headphones." Fleiss said she cut off all outside visitations early in her term, saying she had to believe life in the big house was the only reality that existed. "I couldn't think of what was outside. I couldn't." She said she had a relationship with another inmate; a woman that Fleiss says resembles actress and singer Jennifer Lopez - J-Lo as prison tough gal. "I was gay for the stay as they say," Fleiss said. "I still send her money every month, it just seems like the right thing to do, but I'm not a lesbian. I love men." One day after a jog Fleiss headed to the showers. While next in line one inmate made Fleiss stand aside while other inmates in line behind her showered. Humiliated, Fleiss broke down. "I shouted at the top of my lungs, 'Does anybody else need to take a shower?' Does anyone else want to go in front of me?' I just lost it." On the verge of tears and cloaked in a towel and embarrassment, Fleiss said she had an epiphany. "I was standing there looking at the mold on the concrete floors, smelling the stink, and I promised myself that one day I would be showering in a beautiful bathroom with all the things a woman could need, and most of these girls will never have what I'll have." And so it is not surprising that Fleiss has grand plans for her stud farm- exotic landscaping, waterfalls, an opulent decor, high ceilings, marble floors and, more than anything, luxurious bathrooms with high-end fixtures in the brothel's social area as well as in each of its rooms. "The exterior will be made entirely of frosted glass. Millions of tiny glass beads that will sparkle; it will look like a diamond in the desert." Fleiss plans on hiring as many as 30 male prostitutes and a staff of 12 non-sex employees. There will be a hair salon, a place to get facials, manicures, pedicures and massages. "Women deserve to be pampered. I'm a woman, I know what we want, and I know how to make everybody happy." She said the brothel would cost, at most, $1.5 million to build and that, she said, "is a very conservative figure. It could cost only $600,000, but we'll spend whatever it takes to do it right." Who "we" are remains a mystery. Fleiss said she couldn't disclose any potential partnerships because she hadn't had time to tell anyone involved that she was speaking to the Pahrump Valley Times. Crystal, a tiny Nye County hamlet located 20 miles north of Pahrump on Highway 160 seven miles south of Highway 95, "has a lot of eyesores," Fleiss said, "but also a lot of potential." Before a groundbreaking could be held, however, Fleiss is likely in for a tough go when it comes to getting licensed as a brothel operator. A felony conviction could derail any applicant. "I was good at my business. I was the best, but I also didn't have any regard for the law. That's the one fact that bothers me and always will. Here in Nye County prostitution is legal and I hope I'm given a chance," said Fleiss. Surprisingly, Fleiss mentions only Nye County Board of Commissioners Chairwoman Candice Trummell when asked how she would approach the liquor and licensing board, and she knows Trummell would likely be against the licensing of any additional brothels in Nye County, regardless of who the applicant might be. "She'll probably vote against me, but I like Candice," Fleiss said. "She's against prostitution on moral grounds, she makes no secret of that, and she isn't a hypocrite." Trummell's cell phone voice mail was full and she is reportedly out of town for the next few days and unavailable for comment. Fleiss said she has spoken to the commissioner, however, and one gets the sense that Fleiss respects strong women regardless of their position on prostitution. "Candice is very bright. You can't say that about too many 26-year-olds," Fleiss said. "Politicians usually have a thousand faces, but Candice has just one." Commissioner Patricia Cox said she has been contacted by Fleiss but refused to speak to her. "I just thought she would want to talk about things that I shouldn't be talking about," said Cox. On one point Fleiss and Trummell are in agreement, if only half way: "I don't believe brothels should be near a community. I don't believe they should be near churches, schools or residential areas. They need to be away from a community in a private place. Sex is a very private and personal thing." For Heidi Fleiss, opening a rooster ranch in Crystal could be the crowning achievement of a life lived on the edge. "I hope to open within 60 days of getting licensed," she said, adding with a small chuckle, "People need to understand I'm not a bad person. I'm just your average girl who happens to be a convicted felon." |
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