While another new prisoner was beaten and robbed, Galeota was untouched. At the entrance to La Joya, ant hills and wasp nests surround a wooden sign. In the early 1990s, three friends set out to hustle the Russian mob, the Cali cartel and the DEA for the score of a lifetime. I told Juan, I said, Hey. "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. We did outsmart the FBI, we did outsmart the DEA, we even did outsmart the court, Tarzan says in the film. It was this sort of legendary underworld myth, almost, that people had been talking about for, you know, 20 years., He tells DailyMail.com: In Moscow, I got a text from Tony that said, Youve talked to the waiters; you should come meet the chef. The 43-year-old is shaped like a mini refrigerator: short and squat, with a shaved head and wide-set emerald eyes. "But she's never going to forget. Director Robin Dashwood Stars Alex Andreas Ricardo Burgos Tony Galeota 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.
Operation Odessa - From the Heart Productions Inc Tony Galeota: From Running Porky's, Miami's Most Notorious Strip Joint And multiple sources close to Fainberg say he was pressured to rat out Seidle but refused. "My family didn't care; they took it," Galeota says of the stolen goods. But all the cops found were five grams of weed, a bottle of Viagra, and some mysterious yellow pills. The last one locked the door.
Joseph GALEOTA Obituary (2011) - Willimantic, CT - Hartford Courant Marshals deported Ludwig Fainberg from Miami. the agent said. The charismatic teenager sold the stolen suits or electronics at strip clubs or used-car lots. With dark hair and pale, wide-set eyes, teenage Tony resembled a stocky Frank Sinatra. When Galeota arrived, his mobster reputation preceded him. Locked Up Abroad 151M subscribers Miami mobster Tony Galeota is a strip-club supremo. Then she'd charge my friends $50 each," he says. He didn't stay long. "My father wasn't in the mob, but his friends were," Tony says. A bartender characterized Porkys as the kind of place where you could get killed. Babushka was so notorious that FBI agents who described Tarzan as a matre d for criminals bugged the booths there.
The Marin Post So if you wanna do it, the time is now, and essentially, its happening one way or another, so you might be the person to author your story. SO I started with the cops and I had been kind of circling the others without knowing if it was really possible or not. A year later, it was $115,000 per month.". Find your friends on Facebook. "My wife can say she has regrets, but that's bullshit," he says. 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. 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. "I'm used to getting my water from a rain bucket, not hot from the tap." document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. See Photos. Days go by without water, and when it does arrive, it's turbid sludge from a nearby river. Galeota is one of several Americans locked up here. 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). or. In the second interdiction, a Customs plane spotted another suspicious boat off the coast of Panama on August 28th. The club was very successful. "But I've always paid for everything, either with stitches in my head, concussions, or jail time. He called his cartel contacts and arranged to meet them in the pickup area of the Madrid train station. McDonald expects those will be dismissed as well, but not for months. One man stabbed someone over a $10 debt. "We were doing fantastic, but Tarzan got bored and started living the life," Galeota explains.
Operation Odessa (2018) - IMDb But Galeota's problems aren't completely behind him. "But I've always paid for everything, either with stitches in my head, concussions, or jail time. Bonnie also shoplifted booze to sustain her hard drinking habit. But he was too shell-shocked to take up his attorney's offer for a ride to a nice hotel. 16:56 GMT 13 Mar 2018 Here, Galeota is just one of 500 prisoners crammed into a filthy cell block designed to hold 200 people. His father, Arnold, was a strait-laced sales manager but a distant and disapproving dad. You could not mislead him in any way or you could tell that the consequences could be serious, but I loved him. Prisoners eat stale bread and a slice of cheese for breakfast; rice and sometimes beans is their lunch and dinner. S10 E10 Miami Mobster Take Down. The Porky's party nearly came to a sudden end in early 1997. His father, Arnold, was a strait-laced sales manager but a distant and disapproving dad.
Tony Galeota: From Running Porky's, Miami's Most Notorious Strip Joint But when he opens a new club in Panama City, the competition isn't happy and frames him for drug dealing. Has a stint in Panamanian prison reformed Miami's most notorious strip club manager? Create a free family tree for yourself or for Tony Galeota and we'll search for valuable new information for you. June 4, 2013 Galeota was crammed into a sweltering holding cell with 150 others. "I thought I would kick up my heels together like 'Oh my God, I'm finally out,'" he says. New Times wrote about Galeota's plight last year ("From Porky's to Hell," October 4, 2012), even visiting him in La Joya prison, a crumbling concrete complex in the jungle where inmates kill each other with impunity. And, above all, selling it. Even then, however, he couldn't sleep. Galeota also found himself in the back of an unmarked FBI car. With dark hair and pale, wide-set eyes, teenage Tony resembled a stocky Frank Sinatra. The bartender hid in the bathroom and dialed 911. Twice, American authorities had investigated Galeota. Update information for Tony Galeota . Make a one-time donation today for as little as $1. They put a hit out on him when he disappeared with the money, while Juan and Tarzan took the legal fall in Miami. Were out there to cause an effect in the drug industry and I believe we made a little dent on it.. The year before, his father helped him land a job as a wedding DJ. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Texas man busted in death of DJ galpal found stuffed in suitcase in Colombia, Inside the luxe lives of El Chapo's sons including jailbird Ovidio Guzmn Lpez, Arizona officials say Mexican cartels control US border: 'Ticking time bomb', Passengers on Aeromexico flight crouch in fear as plane caught in cartel crossfire: video. Almeida was a specialist in obtaining black-market goods for status-crazed drug dealers. But this was Hialeah.". 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 Doll House couldn't expand fast enough to meet the influx of sex tourists. These interdiction's were part of Operation Martillo, an international operation to fight illegal trafficking. Inside the prison, the sign is a running joke. 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. "That's the problem.". 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. They were very compliant to everything we asked of them, said McElhaney. Like a concert pianist, Tony Galeota has spent his life honing a single skill since he was a teenager. And like the Italian-American crooner, he loved women a little too much. Sign Up. Running an underworld operation in Cocaine Cowboys-era Miami wasn't an easy gig. Miami's underworld may still be seedy, but it has outsourced much of its shadiness to nearby Third-World countries such as Panama. He was 31. Because of his age, he escaped with six months' probation. 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. Sheila Flynn For Dailymail.com
While out of sight, he phoned his guy and lied about being in a particular taxi cab. In the meantime, he's spending time with his wife and kids. But Tony had darker secrets. "He never forced us to do anything. Police repeatedly raided the club, yet Galeota escaped unscathed every time. He is currently being held in Italy. We've been here for two years!' But he was too shell-shocked to take up his attorney's offer for a ride to a nice hotel. His father, Arnold, was a strait-laced sales manager but a distant and disapproving dad. When he was 16, he knocked up his 15-year-old girlfriend at Hauppauge High School. 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.
How 'Tarzan' and a Cuban duo 'got in deep' with a cocaine cartel "Thank God I'm out," he tells New Times in his first interview since his release. On Friday, May 17, Galeota got word that the judge had also dismissed the drug charge because of lack of evidence. A judge eventually dropped the human trafficking charge, but Galeota still rotted in his sordid cell alongside insects the size of small dogs. Two agents told him that they'd been tapping his phone for months. Then she'd charge my friends $50 each," he says. "I was 16 years old and amazed," he says.
Tony Galeota, Infamous Miami Strip Club Manager - Miami New Times Galeota's sheer size and mob connections are the only things keeping him from getting shivved in the dark. Ten million dollars really feels like 10 million dollars, he gushes in the movie. A judge eventually dropped the human trafficking charge, but Galeota still rotted in his sordid cell alongside insects the size of small dogs. "Anthony has been in jail for more than 15 months, and a judge hasn't even heard his case yet!" "When you're in La Joya for two years, you get used to that environment," Galeota says. They'd use their connections with immigration officials to obtain visas and prostitution licenses and then give Tarzan and Tony 40 percent of the profits to run a new club, called the Doll House. He paid for her to secretly get an abortion. He paid for her to secretly get an abortion. He might have sold them the submarine, taken the money and walked away with the money.. When one inmate killed another, the dead man's gang on the outside murdered the inmate's entire family, Galeota says. He answered only to property owner William Seidle, a U.S. Bankruptcy Court trustee who ran a chain of car dealerships. He knew that the owners of a local strip club called Moulin Rouge David Fridman and Jake Lita (an Israeli wanted by German police on human-trafficking charges) had a business offer for the duo. "They murdered a guy in here a couple of days ago," Tony Galeota says. Jimmy Galeota has spent the last month-and-a-half grieving his older brother Michael's death - but perhaps the most difficult part of it all to swallow has been the bizarre circumstances that. Although he admits that "running around whoring and casinoing wasn't worth it," he can't promise to be faithful to the woman who has stood beside him. Rats, roaches, and beetles the size of Chihuahuas crawl over inmates at night. See Photos. "It's not an easy choice," she says. Panama had gone from paradise to purgatory. Tony Galeto.
Tony Galeota: From Running Porky's, Miami's Most Notorious Strip Joint Biography. But the men kept in touch as Russell pursued other projects, with Tarzan sending random messages such as Christmas greetings until he finally sent the email the filmmaker had been awaiting (although he couldnt have guessed the other crazy details in the communication. Galeota is one of several Americans locked up here. Anthony Galeota was born October 17, 1968, on Long Island. Miami mobster Tony Galeota is locked up in Panama after being framed for drug dealing and human trafficking. Wrongly imprisoned. Just not a strip club. His name was Tony Galeota, he said, and he had run Porky's for 18 years before being locked up in Panama's worst prison for a crime he didn't commit. It was 1990, and Galeota transformed the place by wiring in subwoofers and bringing in New York dancers. Get started U.S. Yearbooks Name Index, 1890-1979. 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. A man deeply embedded with Escobar's Medelln cartel, Tony had a notorious reputation as "a really bad guy"he was once caught with 41 passports, and featured on his own 1999 episode of America's. 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. "We were like: 'We want to get the fuck out of here. He soon finds himself wanting to be a mobster, and starts running errands for them. ), The narcotics charge, however, still stands despite little evidence linking Galeota to the drugs. Instead of celebrating, he walked through the scuzzy neighborhood until he found a shabby motel. Banks seized all seven of his apartments. But his mind was on another kind of riches. Back in South Florida, Kristy Galeota vacillates between outrage and empathy for her husband. "It was puppy love," he says. The value then triples to $100,000 per kilo at the street level when it's busted down for individual use.
Strippers, Cocaine and Murder: The Crazy (True) Story of Two Crooks Yester told the Colombians that theyd have to pay $35 million for the vessel, even though Tarzan had talked the price down to $5.5 million plus just $600 for a crew to pilot it to Colombia. Miami's underworld may still be seedy, but it has outsourced much of its shadiness to nearby Third-World countries such as Panama. 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. He and Kristy struck up an unlikely romance. There is no rehabilitation here," he says. But he insists that, for once, he has done nothing wrong. If only there were a place where prostitution was legal, he thought, a city full of beautiful women like Miami, but no rules. "Miami is a place where I would love to live," he pronounced, "and where I would love to die." It had been ten years since U.S. Eventually, however, he made his way to Tarzan. "This country is corrupt. This time, I'm innocent.". The heavy-set Italian even signed a release. "I'm in survival mode now," Galeota says, adding that he agonizes over being imprisoned for what he believes are unjust charges. He was talking to Fainberg about a murder he'd witnessed in Porky's parking lot. 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. But the story of how the documentary got made is nearly as crazy as the caper plot itself. It was a Foxtrot-class submarine, or Project 641 as the Soviets called it. (A New York Police Department spokesman says records from that far back aren't available.) If Galeota is freed, it will be a major blow for Panama's prostitution crackdown.
Michael Galeota's Obituary (1984 - 2016) Estes Park Trail-Gazette October 4, 2012 But the man's paws were soon on her crotch again. His father, Arnold, was a strait-laced sales manager but a distant and disapproving dad. According to the Coast Guard: It first took place north of the Gulf of Uraba. "Bill was one of the most influential people in Miami," Galeota says. With little oversight, military leaders acted as if they were independent of the government. Tarzan eventually testified against Juan and was deported to Israel, where he recanted his testimony meaning Juans conviction for conspiracy to traffic cocaine was overturned and he went free. The Coast Guard said four suspected smugglers were taken into custody and 32 bales of cocaine were found in the water. 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.
New Times wrote about Galeota's plight last year ("From Porky's to Hell," October 4, 2012), even visiting him in La Joya prison, a crumbling concrete complex in the jungle where inmates kill each other with impunity. Galeota jumped at the deal. 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. His Doll House dream began at Porky's. 4:00AM. When Kristy and their three sons finally arrived in June, the business became a family affair: His wife took over at Bongos, while Galeota concentrated on turning the club into a cash machine. And like the Italian-American crooner, he loved women a little too much. We have a lot of laughs about it now," he says. All he needed now were the prostitutes. They also discovered the club was registered as a massage parlor, not a brothel. I said, Thank you, Cali cartel. The FBI swooped in January 21, surrounding the club and arresting Fainberg. I had a friend of mine living in St. Petersburg, and I said, Misha, tell me something, Tarzan real name Ludwig Fainberg says in a heavy Russian accent. Sixteen months later, the two men have yet to appear in court. "Now I'm living in hell.". Tony Galeta. Tarzan, Almeida and Yester had previously teamed on multimillion-dollar deals for Colombian cocaine barons, snagging motorcycles and Kamov 32 military helicopters (with two rotors and capable of transporting 5,000 kilos of cocaine via hook). Its Colombian dancers were in Panama on six-month tourist visas, weren't licensed as prostitutes, and weren't getting required weekly health checkups. 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. 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. But in South Florida, he was once a strip club king. When Bill Seidle died, Galeota knew the club's days were numbered. "I want to go legit when I get out, but if the economy is bad, I might go back to the industry," he says. "This case has had a big impact here," says Jos Otero, a reporter for Panamanian newspaper La Prensa. "I lived it up in Miami," he says. As the couple drove south on I-95, they thought they were leaving the worst behind them. Now the stranger-than-fiction story is brought to life in new documentary Operation Odessa, a film thats closer to a roller-coaster ride than anything else and premieres on Showtime March 31. He ogled the women standing on corners in their underwear and high heels. Finally, on May 23, the gate on Galeota's cramped cell swung open, and he was free to go. A sign on the latter reads, "District Attorney for Drugs: Do Not Enter." As Shea tried to pull the panties off one of the dancers, he heard police sirens in the distance and bolted. Instead, he's trapped in a labyrinthine legal system, alone and unable to speak Spanish. One scammer stole from another scammer; of course I accept it, he says. "It was home to a lot of shrewd and nefarious characters.". "They shot him in the middle of the night," Galeota continues quietly, "and buried his body behind the pavilion.". As the authorities closed in, they picked up Juan and Tarzan, but they couldnt find Tony and neither could the cartel. Explore More. "I'm used to getting my water from a rain bucket, not hot from the tap." "Another night at Porky's, another shooting," he remembers now from his prison cell in Panama. In court statements and interviews with New Times, they said Galeota gave them contracts to sign, cell phones and computers to use, and apartments in which to live. With Fainberg locked up, Porky's was Galeota's plaything. He told them he could get them the submarine for $35million, but said hes need the money in installments; when they gave him the first $10million, he kept the money for himself and disappeared. "The first month, we had $15,000 in gross sales. Now the locals want to get rid of guys like Galeota too, as his case has drawn national attention to corruption and human rights abuses. See also: "From Porky's to Panamanian Prison: Web Extra.". After that, Kristy closed Bongos. Photo courtesy of Josh Weiss Surrounded by Colombian strippers, Galeota gives a toast during a party at the Doll House. Born on June 3, 1924 at Hartford. In the distance, La Cordillera de San Blas cuts through the Panamanian jungle like a serrated knife. They went Maserati shopping by helicopter so they could look at the cars from the air. As he contemplates the question, Galeota watches his fellow inmates kick a soccer ball across La Joya's putrid playground. The person they were going to pay for the submarine was the officer who let them [into the naval base], says Russell. I'm kind of stuck with it. Bonnie also shoplifted booze to sustain her hard drinking habit. "We treated the women well.". It was a weeknight, and Porky's was washed in pale-pink neon light. There was a spate of murders, several police raids, and a federal drug-trafficking trial. He'd already invested in seven apartments in Panama City and rented a storefront on the capital's seediest street, where prostitution was legal. That didnt stop Russell from trying to get them on board with doing a film about the submarine deal. But instead of classical music, his specialty is sex. Facilitating it. Use tab to navigate through the menu items. "I've done a lot of shady things in the States," he admits.
Tony Galeta Profiles | Facebook "I've been in this business my whole life. Again, the charges were dropped. The American says he's giving up the strip club and brothel businesses. This looks great. . "Everybody give me your money!" His attorney has warned him that prosecutors will likely appeal, so he plans to stay in Panama until his case is resolved. Police repeatedly raided the club, yet Galeota escaped unscathed every time. Reborn behind bars. MIAMI BEACH (CBSMiami) The Coast Guard offloaded about $93 million of cocaine Thursday afternoon on Miami Beach. "I thought I would kick up my heels together like 'Oh my God, I'm finally out,'" he says. Photo Gallery. Galeota is no angelic Andy Dufresne, the main character in Shawshank who serves two decades behind bars for a crime he didn't commit. "The worst part of being in here is being in here for nothing. Most of them were robberies gone wrong or simple revenge. But he insists that, for once, he has done nothing wrong. Filmography (by Job) Trailers and Videos. Coast Guard members who seized the cocaine said this is what their jobs are all about. But then the country's corrupt system turned on them. By the time he was 18, he had been arrested seven times for armed robbery and assault, he says. Then an old friend showed up. Kristy was a self-described "firecracker" who had also escaped from an abusive home and wanted attention. By then, the club's criminal clientele and Fainberg's increasingly lavish lifestyle had raised eyebrows. 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. Tony Galeota Age And Family. Thousands of teachers walk out demanding pay, funding incr Canadian teacher with size-Z prosthetic breasts placed on paid leave, What's next for Buster Murdaugh after dad's murder conviction, life sentence, US home prices just did something they haven't done since 2012, Rebel Wilson says Meghan Markle isnt as naturally warm as Prince Harry, Kristen Doute supports Ariana Madix amid mutual ex Tom Sandovals scandal, Celeb-loved jewelry brand Dorsey drops dazzling new styles, Undertaker transforms coffin into barbecue grill, Tom Sizemore And The Dangerous Burden of Desperation, Tom Sandoval breaks silence on Ariana Madix split amid cheating claims.