His body was found at his Love Ranch brothel about an hour outside Las Vegas following a weekend of parties celebrating his 72nd birthday.<\/b>
\nLAS VEGAS \u2014 Nevada\u2019s most famous pimp tried to bring the state\u2019s legal brothel industry into the mainstream by mingling with celebrities, showcasing his business on HBO and staging outlandish publicity stunts.
Dennis Hof\u2019s fame made him an attention-grabbing figure in an otherwise quiet industry. And, despite being found dead on Tuesday, he\u2019s poised to win an election to the state Legislature in less than three weeks.
Hof, who starred in the HBO reality series \u201cCathouse,\u201d marketed himself as a Donald Trump-style Republican in his race for a heavily GOP Assembly district that includes wide stretches of desert where nuclear bombs were once tested.
His body was found at his Love Ranch brothel about an hour outside Las Vegas following a weekend of parties celebrating his 72nd birthday. Guests included porn actor Ron Jeremy, \u201cHollywood Madam\u201d Heidi Fleiss, former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio and a mix of local politicians and friends.
No foul play is suspected, and it could be six weeks before a cause of death is determined, authorities said.
In the meantime, it\u2019s too late to change the ballots, which have already been printed and mailed. Voting begins Saturday. Even though officials will post notices at the polls that Hof died, he seems likely to get elected.
\u201cJust when I thought that there was nothing else in this race that could possibly shock me, here we are,\u201d Hof\u2019s campaign consultant, Chuck Muth, said Wednesday.
Waging a no-holds-barred campaign, Hof\u2019s incendiary style drew fans and well-known supporters such as Trump adviser Roger Stone and Arpaio. But it also brought scrutiny to Hof\u2019s businesses and alienated him from the state\u2019s GOP establishment.
Nevada is the only state to allow legal prostitution, which occurs at about 20 licensed brothels in mostly rural areas.
Most brothel owners keep a low profile, offering few interviews and buying only subtle advertising. But Hof had a penchant for splashy billboards and stunts that included helping several women \u201cauction\u201d their virginity.
Hof made an unsuccessful run for the Statehouse in 2016 as a Libertarian. Then this past summer, he ousted a three-term incumbent Republican in the primary after putting up billboards advertising his rival\u2019s arrest for disorderly conduct three decades prior and sending campaign emails with a candid picture of the man slumped and asleep in a chair.
After Hof\u2019s win, establishment Republicans refused to back him, including U. S. Sen. Dean Heller, who is in a tight re-election race, and Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt, who is in a close battle for the governor\u2019s mansion.
Hof then put up a billboard that declared \u201cLaxalt-Hof-Heller\u201d as \u201cthe winning team\u201d and said that, if elected, he would set up a luxury motor coach in front of the Carson City Capitol building offering liquor and \u201cfree shoulder massages.\u201d
\u201cIt\u2019s too bad that he didn\u2019t get to see this through,\u201d Fleiss told reporters Tuesday. \u201cHe saw it as going all the way to governor one day.\u201d
The Assembly district Hof was running in has long been held by Republicans. His Democratic opponent, Las Vegas educator Lesia Romanov, has little visible presence in Nye County, where most of the district is.
Billing himself as \u201cthe Trump of Pahrump,\u201d Hof wrote a memoir in 2015 titled \u201cThe Art of the Pimp,\u201d akin to Trump\u2019s book \u201cThe Art of the Deal.\u201d After winning the primary, he credited the president with paving the way by proving a candidate could upend establishment politics and win.
Trump \u201cwas the Christopher Columbus for me,\u201d Hof told The Associated Press. \u201cHe found the way and I jumped on it.\u201d
Hof, who was born in Phoenix in 1946, owned several gas stations and other small businesses before moving to Nevada in the 1970s.
He had two daughters, who are both adults and were estranged from him for years, Muth said. Hof also had an ex-wife, but Muth did not know her whereabouts or details about her.
In 1992, Hof bought his first brothel and eventually grew his empire to six, including an Area 51-themed brothel. He began selling some of the properties this year as he faced regulatory problems in southern Nevada and a push to outlaw licensed bordellos in the two counties where he operated.
Hof said he was downsizing to focus on politics, which he called \u201ca dirty business.\u201d He said the anti-brothel push, the regulatory problems and multiple allegations of sexual assault against him were politically motivated.
Three of the allegations from prostitutes never resulted in charges. Few details have been released about a fourth allegation that the Nevada Department of Public Safety has been investigating. It was made in September by a woman who reported at a hospital that Hof had raped her.
Hof denied all of the accusations.
Sheriff\u2019s deputies removed the license from the brothel where his body was found. Because Hof was the only person listed on the license, the brothel cannot operate until a new owner applies for the permit, Nye County spokesman Arnold Knightly said Wednesday.
Hof\u2019s longtime madam and company financial officer were expected to apply for the license, Muth said. The madam, Suzette Cole, did not respond to a text message seeking comment Wednesday.
As for his four northern Nevada brothels, they had other names on the business licenses and were still operating Wednesday, Lyon County Manager Jeff Page said.
\u2022 Famous Nevada pimp running for office loses brothel license \u2022 Nevada investigating legal pimp, candidate for sex assault \u2022 Republican pimp, brothel owner wins Nevada primary<\/p>\n

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