People named Tony Galeta. Research > Galeota > Tony Galeota. His nightmare began in June of 2011, when police raided his Panama City strip club and arrested him and his Ukrainian partner for trafficking women and selling drugs. "I lived it up in Miami," he says. So the translator said she couldn't take a shower, didn't show up, and the case was delayed. He offered protection and gave Galeota $200. I said, Thank you, Cali cartel. "My family didn't care; they took it," Galeota says of the stolen goods. But the story of how the documentary got made is nearly as crazy as the caper plot itself. Although he knows he could receive the death penalty, the money is too tempting to resist. S10 E10 Miami Mobster Take Down. After that, Kristy closed Bongos. Juan, Tarzan and law enforcement insisted there was no way hed agree to participate in the documentary. The gig introduced him to a lifelong vice. "She would use shoe polish to change our driver's licenses so we could go to clubs and drink when we were 15. "She would use shoe polish to change our driver's licenses so we could go to clubs and drink when we were 15. "We just meshed," she says. "This case has had a big impact here," says Jos Otero, a reporter for Panamanian newspaper La Prensa. But Galeota's problems aren't completely behind him. "Their connections were bigger than ours," he says. Controlling it. Indeed, Havana Club has already reopened. GALEOTA, Joseph A., Sr. Joseph A. Galeota Sr., 86, of Ashford CT, died on Wednesday (January 26, 2011) at Windham Hospital from congestive heart failure. Get started U.S. Yearbooks Name Index, 1890-1979. Update information for Tony Galeota . They tried to squeeze Fainberg to get Seidle. Galeota's enemies say that a life of sin has finally caught up with the flesh-peddler. Prosecutors charged Galeota and Fainberg with not only drug dealing but also human trafficking. He turned himself in a few days later, but the lounge's owner decided to close the cursed club. Join Facebook to connect with Anthony Galeota and others you may know. In hand-painted white lettering, it reads, "Dear visitors. I definitely want his number and so I began chasing it from there and actually jumped on a plane, went down and smuggled myself into this Panamanian prison to meet with him.. Miami's underworld may still be seedy, but it has outsourced much of its shadiness to nearby Third-World countries such as Panama. When Bill Seidle died, Galeota knew the club's days were numbered. He paid for her to secretly get an abortion. "He never forced us to do anything. When he was 16, he knocked up his 15-year-old girlfriend at Hauppauge High School. Galeota's sheer size and mob connections are the only things keeping him from getting shivved in the dark. Sign Up. "No one can tell us how long he will be in there," she says. The two ran Porky's for another decade after Fainberg's deportation. If anything, Galeota's life got even more out of control after Fainberg's arrest. Inside, the bar is still littered with half-empty bottles of Chivas Regal. He could convince you that the sky was green." 4:00AM. The entire situation sounds like something dreamed up for a Miami Vice-inspired action thriller, but it actually happened in the 1990s and the trio came very close to pulling it off before one of them pocketed the cartels millions and went on the run. Thats why you have to do this kind of story as non-fiction., The initial meeting with Tarzan, however, was hampered by the fact that the Russian mob got wind of Russells visit, he says, and they threatened Tarzans life inside the jail if he shared his full story. Family members can also bring them food and clean water, however, and inmates bribe guards to smuggle in additional items. Back in South Florida, Kristy Galeota vacillates between outrage and empathy for her husband. "If you like to eat chocolate and you live in a chocolate factory, you're going to eat chocolate," he says. ", - Tony Galeota: From Running Porky's, Miami's Most Notorious Strip Joint, to Rotting in a Panamanian Jail, - Sex and Drugs in the Champagne Room: The Truth About Porky's and Other Miami Strip Clubs. "There was probably a lot more fun going on at Porky's than we even knew of," says one Hialeah police officer who asked not to be identified. Behind him, 12-foot-high fences topped with spools of barbed wire frame a muddy soccer field. Documentary Drama When Miami mobster Tony Galeota opens a club in Panama City, the competition frames him for drug dealing and human trafficking. We've been here for two years!' We didn't even have to have sex unless we wanted to," says a Colombian stripper named Catherine. "They murdered a guy in here a couple of days ago," Tony Galeota says. The 43-year-old is shaped like a mini refrigerator: short and squat, with a shaved head and wide-set emerald eyes. "I was just numb.". Prostitution in Miami had become too risky, he decided, but overseas sex tourism was soaring. As chronicled in the new Showtime documentary Operation Odessa, the trio of cutthroat outlaws collaborated in 1996 to procure the ultimate weapon for Colombias money-minting Cali cocaine cartel: a military submarine. Tony Gogetta. Of the $10 million, he said, I cannot f- -king believe it how fast I spend it.. Can he prove his innocence and escape? I have to tell you, all my enemies are dead, and Im happy, he says in the documentary. Ludwig Fainberg a Russian-speaking Ukrainian nicknamed "Tarzan" for his flowing locks had opened it a few months earlier but ran it like a private club for Eastern Europeans. Become a member to support the independent voice of South Florida They are willing to assume the massive risk of getting caught and going to prison for decades, because if they make just one big score they're millionaires. At the entrance to La Joya, ant hills and wasp nests surround a wooden sign. He was hilarious and charming and garrulous, and it was as if hed stepped right out of a Scorsese movie, Russell says, adding: You know whats the funny thing people dont know about docs? There was nothing unusual about it. She is a high-powered attorney who has defended two former presidents in corruption cases, but even she hasn't been able to get Galeota out of jail yet. "My father wasn't in the mob, but his friends were," Tony says. But when Galeota was arrested June 19, 2011, and charged with trafficking drugs and women, he was just as innocent as Stephen King's saintly inmate. While Galeota avoided testifying, Fainberg faced 30 counts including racketeering and conspiracy to traffic cocaine and heroin. When he heard that his old partner in crime from Porky's had moved to Panama, he flew in to meet with Galeota. As far as he was concerned, he owned the military base. He was, after all, working with an American playboy in Miami and a fugitive Cuban spy to procure this submarine. Almeida, back in Moscow, trying to work out yet another deal and not realizing that this one had already soured, managed to temporarily elude arrest. Thanks to a successful appeal, Almeida served only 18 months for his part in the sub caper. When he left to open a bona fide brothel in Panama, Galeota thought the country's lax prostitution laws would make him rich. Tony was a tough, muscular little shit back then. Tarzans on board and essentially youre in the movie, one way or another. Then I ended up spending a great deal of what I like to call social engineering, which is kind of like the hanging out with all these guys theyre all very secretive cats with these very sketchy kind of criminal pasts. More than anything, Galeota is grateful that his family kept faith in him. More at IMDbPro Contact Info: View agent, publicist, legal on IMDbPro. A tattoo of an Italian Mafioso emerges from an extra-large sleeveless T-shirt. Anthony Galeota was born October 17, 1968, on Long Island. SO I started with the cops and I had been kind of circling the others without knowing if it was really possible or not. MIAMI BEACH (CBSMiami) The Coast Guard offloaded about $93 million of cocaine Thursday afternoon on Miami Beach. See Photos. They arrested 18 suspects, including Galeota, several strippers, and most employees. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. "I'm in survival mode now," Galeota says, adding that he agonizes over being imprisoned for what he believes are unjust charges. According to Yester, the cartel provided an initial payment of $10 million. Then she'd charge my friends $50 each," he says. The bartender hid in the bathroom and dialed 911. Log In or Sign Up Tony Galeota See Photos Anthony Galeota See Photos Tony Kalata See Photos Tony Galeote See Photos Tony Galea See Photos Tony Galeto See Photos Tony Gullette See Photos Tony Gulotta See Photos Facebook Email or phone Password Forgot account? Shea fatally blasted bouncer Richard Jimenez in the face and then opened fire on the dancers, shooting one in the chest and another in the head. Tarzan managed to get light punishment for his 1997 conviction; he rolled over on Almeida and spent 30 months behind bars before being deported to Israel, where his family had immigrated, in 1999. "I've done a lot of shady things in the States," he admits. Gunshots flashed like fireworks in the darkness. Tony Galeto. His attorney has warned him that prosecutors will likely appeal, so he plans to stay in Panama until his case is resolved. Dancers with names like Baby Doll, Tipsie, Trixie, and Crme offered to have sex with the cops for as little as $150, court records show. Its our mission down there besides search and rescue. ", Instead, he found another, tighter-knit family: the mob. "This case has had a big impact here," says Jos Otero, a reporter for Panamanian newspaper La Prensa. Make a one-time donation today for as little as $1. A dozen plainclothes cops poured in with pistols drawn. They had girls in every city. He was soon promoted from DJing weddings to robbing delivery trucks for the Paccione clan (which federal court records tie to the infamous Gambino crime family). and help keep the future of New Times, Use of this website constitutes acceptance of our, running Miami's most infamous strip club, Porky's, Tony Galeota: From Running Porky's, Miami's Most Notorious Strip Joint, to Rotting in a Panamanian Jail, Sex and Drugs in the Champagne Room: The Truth About Porky's and Other Miami Strip Clubs. "I lived it up in Miami," he says. With dark hair and pale, wide-set eyes, teenage Tony resembled a stocky Frank Sinatra. "That's the problem.". It was 1990, and Galeota transformed the place by wiring in subwoofers and bringing in New York dancers. "A family type thing, like an ale house with wings and beer," he says. Prostitutes were everywhere at the weddings, and when Tony asked another employee where they came from, the older kid took him to Manhattan's infamous West End. A year later, it was $115,000 per month.". The nightmare deepened for Galeota. Anthony Galeota was born October 17, 1968, on Long Island. If Galeota is freed, it will be a major blow for Panama's prostitution crackdown. The goods came from sources in the freshly fallen Soviet Union, a place where everything seemed to be up for grabs at ridiculously low prices. On a Sunday night in July of 1991, a 29-year-old electrician named Phillip John Shea came into Quarterbacks shortly after Tony and Kristy left. Miami's independent source of The 43-year-old is shaped like a mini refrigerator: short and squat, with a shaved head and wide-set emerald eyes. The domestic bliss lasted only a couple of weeks. The lessons in crime didn't come fast enough for Galeota to stay out of trouble. La Joya is flush with contraband, from cell phones and cigarettes to marijuana and handguns all of it brought in with the complicity of corrupt guards. But Galeota was convinced the cops were bluffing and refused to cooperate. Greed got the better of him. CAKEGATE 2023: Bad Bunny's Restaurant Accused of Gobbling Birthday Girl's Cake, Neighborhood Nazi Jon Minadeo Peddles Hate by the Minute, Sen. Rubio's Permanent Daylight Savings Bill Sees Light of Day Once More, NFL Legend Ray Lewis Joins World Jai-Alai League Board of Directors, Affordable New "Micro-Units" Slated for Little River, Edgewater. By the time they returned to Long Island later that night, a pimp was born. "I've done a lot of shady things in the States," he admits. "I brought in music and women," Galeota says. Galeota's imprisonment abroad marks the end of one of Miami's most outrageous eras, when Russian and Colombian cartels stocked strip clubs with cheap prostitutes and cheaper cocaine. A deep bass line rattled customers' chests as they downed overpriced drinks. Here, Galeota is just one of 500 prisoners crammed into a filthy cell block designed to hold 200 people. Michael Galeota, who starred on the Disney Channel's "The Jersey" died Sunday, according to Variety. Explore More. Sign Up. Indeed, court records show that Seidle was a target of the federal wiretapping investigation. The most audacious plot allegedly hatched in the back of Porky's was to purchase a former Soviet submarine for $5.5 million for a Colombian drug cartel so it could ship cocaine up the coast to California. They taught him the rules, the most important of which Galeota took to heart: "You can have your girlfriends on the side," he remembers hearing, "but never leave your wife.". When traffickers balked at the price, Yester reminded them that it could hold 40 tons of cocaine and would pay for itself quickly. But killings are common in Panama's worst prison, where the smell of raw sewage wafts over the yard, metal shackles hang from moldy staircases, and overcrowded cells house nearly 3,500 of the Western Hemisphere's vilest murderers, rapists, and drug traffickers. Twice, American authorities had investigated Galeota. It is not known when he was born or his current age. Tony Galeota's age is expected to be 52. For two decades, Galeota managed Porky's, a Hialeah dive notorious for drugs, prostitution, and violence, where he was part pimp, part bouncer, and completely untouchable. The Coast Guard said each one of the kilos is worth $33,000. As Yester laid low with the cash, cartel liaisons in the United States, aware that they had been burned, pressured Almeida to show them where Yesters relatives lived in and around Miami. One scammer stole from another scammer; of course I accept it, he says. But bloodshed would follow them to Miami. "They murdered a guy in here a couple of days ago," Tony Galeota says. See Photos. Anthony Galeota was born October 17, 1968, on Long Island. "Bill was one of the most influential people in Miami," Galeota says. Eventually, however, he made his way to Tarzan. Theyre nice guys [the cartel members], and I didnt ask what they needed the submarine for, Tarzan tells The Post, speaking on a crackling phone connection from Russia. On June 19, 2011, Tony and his oldest son, 15-year-old Anthony Jr., had just sat down to eat wings in the Doll House office around 11 p.m. when the gold-painted doors burst open. Panama became Galeota's personal paradise. "I just watched Luis blow a guy away," Galeota heard himself say on tape. Facebook gives people the power. This time, the feds took over the strip club before selling it to new owners, with one requirement: Neither Galeota nor anyone else from the old club could ever work there again. I know its gonna be a strange question. I hoped to walk away from the deal with $10 million.. New laws effectively outlaw brothels such as the Doll House, permit or not but if Galeota walks with no convictions, it will surely embarrass officials trying to make it look like they're cleaning up the industry. "I thought I would kick up my heels together like 'Oh my God, I'm finally out,'" he says. Galeota may not be a good man, but he is brutally honest. As he contemplates the question, Galeota watches his fellow inmates kick a soccer ball across La Joya's putrid playground. Between an undercover agent, a tap on Tarzans cellphone and the wiring of Babushka, federal law enforcement agencies had enough information to shut down the sale. "The first month, we had $15,000 in gross sales. As the authorities closed in, they picked up Juan and Tarzan, but they couldnt find Tony and neither could the cartel. Between the restaurant and the Doll House, he was making enough to retire in five years. Michael Galeota, who starred on the Disney Channel's "The Jersey" died Sunday, according to Variety. He answered only to property owner William Seidle, a U.S. Bankruptcy Court trustee who ran a chain of car dealerships. The gig introduced him to a lifelong vice. But this was Hialeah.". Luckier still, a powerful Colombian inmate named Mauricio Ramrez recognized Galeota from his restaurant. He met with mobsters in Cali mansions full of women, and he knocked on random doors in search of dancers. He paid for her to secretly get an abortion. A tattoo of an Italian Mafioso emerges from an extra-large sleeveless T-shirt. Its a great satisfaction after being two months deployed and everybodys tired but you come home with a case like this its very satisfying, said Castro. A narc I know called me with a tip and he said, This is the craziest true-crime caper Ive ever come across in my life. He was the one whod been speaking directly to the cartel; he was the only one who knew the real amount of money Cali were willing to pay; and he was the one who took the risk and disappeared with millions of the cartels drug money. His father, Arnold, was a strait-laced sales manager but a distant and disapproving dad. Both Juan and Tarzan shared with Russell how they had graduated from buying helicopters, motorcycles and cars for the cartel from Russia to pursuing a submarine for the drugrunners. "They shot him in the middle of the night," Galeota continues quietly, "and buried his body behind the pavilion.". Make a one-time donation today for as little as $1. Instead, Galeota admits he's done bad things, such as. His father, Arnold, was a strait-laced sales manager but a distant and disapproving dad. And that's why drug traffickers are in the business - take something that starts off with a value of $5,000 and when you're done selling it at the retail level the value has skyrocketed. If he didnt give them the information, he was afraid that he would have gotten killed, and he was probably right., In the meantime, Yester may have been too in love with his eight-figure haul to really care and there was ultimately no retribution against his family. The offload is a result of two successful drug interdictions in the Caribbean since August 23. Instead, he's trapped in a labyrinthine legal system, alone and unable to speak Spanish. Anywhere other than La Joya, this news would be shocking. He soon finds himself wanting to be a mobster, and starts running errands for them. Prosecutors accused him of providing prostitutes for his Russian friends, trafficking drugs, selling stolen cigarettes and liquor, and setting up arms deals for Russian and Colombian cocaine smugglers. Instead, Galeota admits he's done bad things, such as running Miami's most infamous strip club, Porky's, for years before moving to Panama and opening a brothel. His father, Arnold, was a strait-laced sales manager but a distant and disapproving dad. And he hopes to open a place in Fort Lauderdale when he's back, Just not a strip club. And so it was extraordinary, where sort of person after person was this larger-than-life character, from Fat Tony the bartender to Tony Yester the spy-turned-dope-dealer-turned-fugitive. They also discovered the club was registered as a massage parlor, not a brothel. His mother, Bonnie Gellilti, was "a bit of a criminal," Tony remembers. So looking back on it and all the hijinks, from being smuggled in to a Panamanian prison to crossing paths with the FSB in Moscow to being met in a Porsche Cayenne by Tony Yester and driving away thinking: Okay, the CIA, DEA, FBI and US Marshals have been looking for this guy for 25 years, and Im in his car by myself with no notion of where were going or when were coming back. In retrospect, its like, Im a moron, but at the time I was full-throttle chase the story., Of the finished product Operation Odessa, he says: Hopefully, its a rocknroll thrill ride into the underworld, where you get a passport to a life and lifestyle and characters that you didnt even imagine existed much less having a ringside seat with them., The comments below have not been moderated, By And theyre like, F*** yeah, lets do it. But killings are common in Panama's worst prison, where the smell of raw sewage wafts over the yard, metal shackles hang from mouldy staircases, and overcrowded cells house nearly 3,500 of the Western Hemisphere's vilest murderers, rapists, and drug traffickers. Become a member to support the independent voice of South Florida The club was very successful. And then Russell got a text message out of the blue. Wrongly imprisoned. Most of them were robberies gone wrong or simple revenge. He might have sold them the submarine, taken the money and walked away with the money.. He was 31. Reborn behind bars. "Anthony has been in jail for more than 15 months, and a judge hasn't even heard his case yet!" McDonald expects those will be dismissed as well, but not for months. "That's obstruction of justice.". 4:00AM. Inside La Joya, he had paid a guard to smuggle in a BlackBerry to talk to his wife, but strangers kept calling with threats to kill his kids unless he paid them. "They shot him in the middle of the night," Galeota continues quietly, "and buried his body behind the pavilion.". The Coast Guard said the eight-member crew cooperated and was taken into custody. The dead and dying are piled into wheelbarrows and left by the front gate until guards arrive in the morning. Tarzan was released from the Panamanian prison in around 2016 and has since built a side career out of playing tough guys in gangster flicks shot in Russia, where he now lives. ), The narcotics charge, however, still stands despite little evidence linking Galeota to the drugs. "My wife can say she has regrets, but that's bullshit," he says. "I've done a lot of shady things in the States," he admits. Nearly 300 feet long with 10 torpedo tubes (empty in this case), it was diesel but could be converted to electric for silent running. Galeota's imprisonment abroad marks the end of one of Miami's most outrageous eras, when Russian and Colombian cartels stocked strip clubs with cheap prostitutes and cheaper cocaine. When a dancer clapped her ass cheeks like a maraca, a customer's hands instinctively rose to touch them. This time, I'm innocent.". "Many times, I worried about him getting killed. Follow Miami New Times on Facebook and Twitter @MiamiNewTimes. Catherine says she slept with customers because she needed the money to support her family. "Running a club in that neighborhood, win or lose, you've got to fight.". And there was absolutely no bullshit. If I were to make this story up and pitch it as a writer, producers would be like, Thats the worst pitch Ive ever heard. He was 31. Im gonna see them in f***ing hell when I arrive there., Russell says the fugitive is probably one of the most fascinating human beings Ive ever been in a room with., He adds: Theres five other films you couldve made about his life and life experiences, and yet he was charming and cultured and funny and also, then, on a dime deadly serious, not somebody that you trifle with. We had a $500,000 house, cars, and motorcycles. But Fainberg wasn't in town to catch up. In January 2017, Almeida got federally charged by the Drug Enforcement Administration with conspiracy to possess narcotics with intent to distribute. By the mid-'90s, Galeota had turned Porky's into a one-stop shop for strippers, sex, and serious drugs. "This case has had a big impact here," says Jos Otero, a reporter for Panamanian newspaper La Prensa. "She hasn't worked for 15 years. Murdaugh is heckled as he leaves court, Moment teenager crashes into back of lorry after 100mph police race, Ken Bruce finishes his 30-year tenure as host of BBC Radio 2, Family of a 10-month-old baby filmed vaping open up, Missing hiker buried under snow forces arm out to wave to helicopter, Insane moment river of rocks falls onto Malibu Canyon in CA, Fleet-footed cop chases an offender riding a scooter, Ukrainian soldier takes out five tanks with Javelin missiles.
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