According to Yester, the cartel provided an initial payment of $10 million. "Their connections were bigger than ours," he says. He bought seven properties pretty much sight unseen.". But not until she discovered he'd been dating a former Porky's stripper for more than two years did she threaten to divorce him in 2009. Garrulous and bearish, the dentist-turned-hood (practicing the former in the Soviet Union and training for the latter in Brighton Beach) routinely carried two pistols and operated out of his Hialeah, Fla., strip club, Porkys: famous for a small motorized car that pulled up between the spread legs of dancers as they performed. Galeota's enemies say that a life of sin has finally caught up with the flesh-peddler. "This case has had a big impact here," says Jos Otero, a reporter for Panamanian newspaper La Prensa. "My wife can say she has regrets, but that's bullshit," he says. local news and culture, Michael E. Miller They were concerned that Tarzan and his arriviste colleagues in crime would merge with Cuban mobsters who already used brutal, bloody force to rule Miamis underworld and create a sort of supergroup of criminality. The person they were going to pay for the submarine was the officer who let them [into the naval base], says Russell. Finally, on May 23, the gate on Galeota's cramped cell swung open, and he was free to go. "I've done a lot of shady things in the States," he admits. People named Tony Galeota Find your friends on Facebook Log in or sign up for Facebook to connect with friends, family and people you know. "He was a smooth-talker. The guards leave at 5pm, and they just lock the gates, and its inmate rule at night, he says, explaining that he bribed a guard to get him in and out of the jail. Tony Goleta. Cops had made several controlled buys of drugs. Michael Galeota's Obituary (1984 - 2016) Estes Park Trail-Gazette "I was just numb.". Locked Up Abroad 151M subscribers Miami mobster Tony Galeota is a strip-club supremo. Then they pushed play on a cassette deck. But she insists that her husband's imprisonment has brought them closer. Miami Mobster Take Down - YouTube she scoffs. Explore More. Miami playboy, Russian gangster and Cuban spy tried to buy submarine Moreover, trafficking prostitutes and drugs and involvement in organized crime are some serious charges.". "They would describe what they looked like," Galeota says. "We were like: 'We want to get the fuck out of here. It's not quite Shawshank Redemption, but when Tony Galeota walked out of a Panama City jail cell May 23, it was still a small serving of justice. See Photos. "But I did it for my child.". "It was puppy love," he says. "I don't care how strong you are; that's going to affect your marriage," she says. "They knew some Russian guy named Tarzan who had just opened up a club in Miami called Porky's. "Miami is a place where I would love to live," he pronounced, "and where I would love to die." 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. Sixteen months later, the two men have yet to appear in court. The smugglers boat was destroyed because it was a hazard to navigation. "I just watched Luis blow a guy away," Galeota heard himself say on tape. When he was 16, he knocked up his 15-year-old girlfriend at Hauppauge High School. Tony Galeto. He was 31. Unfortunately, Galeota's defense isn't as simple as quoting strippers, says his lawyer, Guillermina McDonald. When a dancer clapped her ass cheeks like a maraca, a customer's hands instinctively rose to touch them. Its Colombian dancers were in Panama on six-month tourist visas, weren't licensed as prostitutes, and weren't getting required weekly health checkups. And I'm not asking her to. He was 31. I hoped to walk away from the deal with $10 million.. 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 wouldn't leave a dog in that prison, let alone my husband.". "Running a club in that neighborhood, win or lose, you've got to fight.". "Thank God I'm out," he tells New Times in his first interview since his release. "This country is corrupt. By now, she knows of his many infidelities, including that he lived and slept with some of the girls at the Doll House. Can he prove his innocence and escape? Galeota believes that his arrest has little to do with a renewed commitment to the law in Panama. His mother, Bonnie Gellilti, was "a bit of a criminal," Tony remembers. Theres this crazy Russian gangster who sold a submarine to the Cali drug cartel; his name is Tarzan and hes locked in a Panamanian prison and he had a Blackberry And he said, Do you want his number?, And I said, Hell, yes! "A family type thing, like an ale house with wings and beer," he says. 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.. Furious and Busted Rick Cedar steals radios to support his family. Kristy was a self-described "firecracker" who had also escaped from an abusive home and wanted attention. He raises his eyebrows and looks upwards to the left to emphasize just how flabbergasted he was with Mishas counter question. For the most part, Doll House dancers agree. , updated "My wife could have left me. His mother, Bonnie Gellilti, was "a bit of a. Behind him, 12-foot-high fences topped with spools of barbed wire frame a muddy soccer field. 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. And so from there, Juan showed up in Moscow with a vague, half-assed agreement with Tarzan he still had gotten me to come there without agreeing to be in the film, and he put me through the paces of taking me to the sauna and sort of took me on this insane kind of underworld tour of Moscow. "My father wasn't in the mob, but his friends were," Tony says. Anthony Galeota Profiles | Facebook A judge eventually dropped the human trafficking charge, but Galeota still rotted in his sordid cell alongside insects the size of small dogs. Toni Galeota Profiles | Facebook Filmography (by Job) Trailers and Videos. In describing Tarzan, Almeida says in the film, He struck me as an oddball. Tarzan classifies Almeida as a guy who had two drinks and thought he was Tony Montana. As for movie-star handsome, hooker-loving Yesters first impression of Tarzan: I said, This f- -king guy is trouble. Thirty minutes later, I loved the trouble., Abetted by the tumultuous state of the former Soviet Union the ruble was completely devalued and state-owned resources went to whomever had the most firepower gaining access to the submarine was surprisingly easy. There was nothing unusual about it. It's not quite Shawshank Redemption, but when Tony Galeota walked out of a Panama City jail cell May 23, it was still a small serving of justice. The gig introduced him to a lifelong vice. Docs need stars just like features need stars. Locked up in one of the world's worst prisons, Tony has to prove his innocence and attempt an audacious escape. Just not a strip club. South Florida's independent Porky's: Notes from inside South Florida's sleaziest strip club Of the $10 million, he said, I cannot f- -king believe it how fast I spend it.. or. and help keep the future of New Times, Use of this website constitutes acceptance of our, From Porky's to Panamanian Prison: Web Extra. They finally fled the country this past July, leaving Tony alone. Galeota already lived according to a gangster's code. One man stabbed someone over a $10 debt. The lessons in crime didn't come fast enough for Galeota to stay out of trouble. Anthony Galeota was born October 17, 1968, on Long Island. Juan, Tarzan and law enforcement insisted there was no way hed agree to participate in the documentary. The dead and dying are piled into wheelbarrows and left by the front gate until guards arrive in the morning. 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. And twice they had given up. And, above all, selling it. See Photos. Tony Galeota: From Running Porky's, Miami's Most Notorious Strip Joint The year before, his father helped him land a job as a wedding DJ. Galeota is one of several Americans locked up here. Galeota's sheer size and mob connections are the only things keeping him from getting shivved in the dark. As far as he was concerned, he owned the military base. "That clean, business-friendly, postcard-Panama bullshit is just a faade," Galeota says. His father, Arnold, was a strait-laced sales manager but a distant and disapproving dad. "She would use shoe polish to change our driver's licenses so we could go to clubs and drink when we were 15. The value then triples to $100,000 per kilo at the street level when it's busted down for individual use. A tattoo of an Italian Mafioso emerges from an extra-large sleeveless T-shirt. "I lived it up in Miami," he says. Use tab to navigate through the menu items. Instead, he's trapped in a labyrinthine legal system, alone and unable to speak Spanish. The $33,000 number is actually the wholesale price in the US for smugglers - or how much a kilo is worth delivered to US soil, for traffickers. More detailed reports on the crimes weren't available. Become a member to support the independent voice of South Florida The American says he's giving up the strip club and brothel businesses. But Monday morning, when it came time to walk out of La Joya, there was no vehicle waiting. 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. 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. As for his career, his only oath is that he won't let his sons follow his example. "It's not an easy choice," she says. Facilitating it. By the mid-'90s, Galeota had turned Porky's into a one-stop shop for strippers, sex, and serious drugs. 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.". ", Instead, he found another, tighter-knit family: the mob. He offered protection and gave Galeota $200. Tony was a tough, muscular little shit back then. Instead, he's trapped in a labyrinthine legal system, alone and unable to speak Spanish. TV-14 | 06.05.2013. "My wife is never going to completely trust me. Get started U.S. Yearbooks Name Index, 1890-1979. One can imagine they did plenty of drugs.. Michael Galeota Obituary (1984 - 2016) Chicago Sun-Times Michael Galeota, who starred on the Disney Channel's "The Jersey" died Sunday, according to Variety. Bonnie also shoplifted booze to sustain her hard drinking habit. People named Tony Goleta. He left, but returned with a gun. Get the latest updates in news, food, music and culture, and receive special offers direct to your inbox. 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. 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. Juan felt like he had no choice, says Russell. He'd already invested in seven apartments in Panama City and rented a storefront on the capital's seediest street, where prostitution was legal. But it was abundantly clear that the key figure in the deal was Yester and his story would be particularly illuminating though the CIA, DEA and FBI had been after him, without success, for more than two decades. One scammer stole from another scammer; of course I accept it, he says. Russian immigrant Ludwig Fainberg, a.k.a. With dark hair and pale, wide-set eyes, teenage Tony resembled a stocky Frank Sinatra. "She hasn't worked for 15 years. "It was a very violent atmosphere," he says. For 18 years, Galeota ran Porky's with the same punishing justice he learned from the mob and transformed it into Miami's most notorious whorehouse, where Russian gangsters and Cuban criminals spent millions on sex and drugs. The charismatic teenager sold the stolen suits or electronics at strip clubs or used-car lots. But he was too shell-shocked to take up his attorney's offer for a ride to a nice hotel. Back in the mid-1990s, if you were a Miami mobster seeking girls, guns, cocaine, the services of an arsonist, or muscle to beat down a deadbeat, Ludwig Tarzan Fainberg was your man. Anywhere other than La Joya, this news would be shocking. He is currently being held in Italy. "Maybe we didn't have the permits we were supposed to have, but we're foreigners who didn't understand the rules.". He created a souped-up cigarette boat that went for $2 million and was presumably used to transport cocaine. Eventually, however, he made his way to Tarzan. At the entrance to La Joya, ant hills and wasp nests surround a wooden sign. Galeota is one of several Americans locked up here. Tony Galeota Age And Family. Controlling it. Log in or sign up for Facebook to connect with friends, family and people you know. "We were doing fantastic, but Tarzan got bored and started living the life," Galeota explains. Meet me in Africa for a cup of coffee tomorrow.. When he left to open a bona fide brothel in Panama, Galeota thought the country's lax prostitution laws would make him rich. The 43-year-old is shaped like a mini refrigerator: short and squat, with a shaved head and wide-set emerald eyes. 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. (CBS Miami). It was a Foxtrot-class submarine, or Project 641 as the Soviets called it. The club was very successful. His school friends didn't believe him, so a few days later he sneaked out, stole his mom's minivan, and drove around the neighborhood loading up with other teens. More than anything, Galeota is grateful that his family kept faith in him. 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. Then she'd charge my friends $50 each," he says. He ogled the women standing on corners in their underwear and high heels. She's forgiven me, for the most part. His father, Arnold, was a strait-laced sales manager but a distant and disapproving dad. "But she's never going to forget. #Torture #PanamGovernment #LaJoyaprisonPanam #PresidentVarela #Panam #Corruption. Tony Galeota Profiles | Facebook But this was Hialeah.". Galeota yelled. On Friday, May 17, Galeota got word that the judge had also dismissed the drug charge because of lack of evidence. 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. 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 in South Florida, he was once a strip club king. "I'm used to getting my water from a rain bucket, not hot from the tap." He was 31. ), The narcotics charge, however, still stands despite little evidence linking Galeota to the drugs. Join Facebook to connect with Anthony Galeota and others you may know. His father, Arnold, was a strait-laced sales manager but a distant and disapproving dad. Documentary Drama When Miami mobster Tony Galeota opens a club in Panama City, the competition frames him for drug dealing and human trafficking. 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. October 4, 2012 Become a member to support the independent voice of South Florida Running an underworld operation in Cocaine Cowboys-era Miami wasn't an easy gig. Tony Galeota. "Many times, I worried about him getting killed. Tony Galeota has a wife named Kristy Galeota, with whom he lives. Tony Galeota Tony Galeota. It wasn't until he ordered some Italian food and a cold Guinness that he finally felt like he was free. Here, Galeota is just one of 500 prisoners crammed into a filthy cell block designed to hold 200 people. The heavy-set Italian even signed a release. Fainberg allegedly told undercover cops he had sent coke to Russia in a shipment of frozen shrimp and had bought six $1 million Russian military helicopters for the South Americans. As for Yester taking a flier with the cartel money, Tarzan says he would have done the same himself if he could have and expresses no hard feelings. "I thought I would kick up my heels together like 'Oh my God, I'm finally out,'" he says. "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. 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 large Russian man called Tarzan sits in an armchair against the backdrop of a cracked and stained wall, a pack of cigarettes, lighter and an ash tray on a table to his left, and he shrugs as he talks about a deal he tried to broker more than 20 years ago. Bonnie also shoplifted booze to sustain her hard drinking habit. "We were like: 'We want to get the fuck out of here. Most of them were robberies gone wrong or simple revenge. Skip Ancestry main menu Main Menu "They shot him in the middle of the night," Galeota continues quietly, "and buried his body behind the pavilion.". And then Russell got a text message out of the blue. He sold the shop and in 2010 opened Bongos, a restaurant serving wings and beer. "Keep your fucking hands off the girl!" It was apparent they had what appeared to be narcotics and after we did the test they had bales on board of pure cocaine, said Boatswains Mate Omar Castro with the U.S. Coast Guard. If Galeota is freed, it will be a major blow for Panama's prostitution crackdown. "Whenever there is an American businessman involved in crime here in Panama, it becomes an important case. Panama became Galeota's personal paradise. 4:00AM. He soon finds himself wanting to be a mobster, and starts running errands for them. On Friday, May 17, Galeota got word that the judge had also dismissed the drug charge because of lack of evidence. He and Kristy struck up an unlikely romance. Two days later, he was transferred to La Joya a hellish cinder-block complex an hour outside of Panama City. "I was 16 years old and amazed," he says. And theyre like, F*** yeah, lets do it. "That's the problem.". McDonald expects those will be dismissed as well, but not for months. So the translator said she couldn't take a shower, didn't show up, and the case was delayed. But his mind was on another kind of riches. "This case has had a big impact here," says Jos Otero, a reporter for Panamanian newspaper La Prensa. And when his mother was distraught over a broken washing machine, he filled the house with new appliances. There is no rehabilitation here," he says. "I used to have to patch Tony up all the time," Kristy says. "We went there and we couldn't believe what we saw," says Josh Weiss, a former DJ at Porky's and one of Galeota's closest friends. Instead of celebrating, he walked through the scuzzy neighborhood until he found a shabby motel. Galeota and his "girls" in the Doll House, before the bust. one of the kids shouted as he pulled a handkerchief over his face and wildly swung a revolver. Galeota says the police had already gotten what they wanted: Porky's demise. The heavy-set Italian even signed a release. Business was better, but it still wouldn't make him rich. Although he knows he could receive the death penalty, the money is too tempting to resist. Its about 2,800 kilos, about a ton and a half of contraband. He was a big, big fish.". ", http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2012-10-04/news/tony-galeota-from-running-porky-s-miami-s-most-notorious-strip-joint-to-rotting-in-a-panamanian-jail/full/. "They shot him in the middle of the night," Galeota continues quietly, "and buried his body behind the pavilion.". "Another night at Porky's, another shooting," he remembers now from his prison cell in Panama. In January 1997, after he dropped his daughter off at school, Tarzan was arrested and hit with a 30-count federal indictment. 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. "We treated the women well.". 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. Miami's independent source of The nightmare deepened for Galeota. And she launched drunken tirades at Tony after baseball games, no matter how well the all-star shortstop performed. The Dolls House, Via Espaia Road, Panama City, Panam, "They murdered a guy in here a couple of days ago" Tony Galeota, Tony Galeota: From Running Porky's, Miami's Most Notorious Strip Joint, to Rotting in a Panamanian Jail. Panama had gone from paradise to purgatory. See Photos. "I was just numb.". During the Doll House raid, they found marked bills in the register and several grams of pot on a promoter. Guards with machine guns man rusty metal towers. Three weeks after the Doll House raid, Kristy was working the bar at Bongos when three teenagers walked into the restaurant. 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. Panamanian police had been casing the Doll House, Moulin Rouge, and another joint, called Havana Club, for weeks. His attorney has warned him that prosecutors will likely appeal, so he plans to stay in Panama until his case is resolved. Apparently knowing all too well how things would shake out, Yester decided to screw his partners and take off for Amsterdam with the first $10 million. "Their connections were bigger than ours," he says. He was a character.. The bartender hid in the bathroom and dialed 911. 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. He answered only to property owner William Seidle, a U.S. Bankruptcy Court trustee who ran a chain of car dealerships. October 4, 2012 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.
