Miami's underworld may still be seedy, but it has outsourced much of its shadiness to nearby Third-World countries such as Panama. independent local journalism in Miami. Panamanian newspapers put "Operation Fiesta" on the front page as prosecutors alleged Galeota was part of an international crime ring. The dead and dying are piled into wheelbarrows and left by the front gate until guards arrive in the morning. Anthony Galeota was born October 17, 1968, on Long Island. Is this possible, to buy a military submarine - used one? And he said, What a question! Bonnie also shoplifted booze to sustain her hard drinking habit. Tarzan and one of his partners, 'Fat Tony' Galeota, had opened a strip club in Panama similar to a previous enterprise in Miami called Porky's - but they landed behind bars in Central America.. The heavy-set Italian even signed a release. Its Colombian dancers were in Panama on six-month tourist visas, weren't licensed as prostitutes, and weren't getting required weekly health checkups. "I lived it up in Miami," he says. At night, the guards lock the gate and leave, turning over control of each cell block to prisoners. Photo courtesy of Josh Weiss A prisoner poses with a gun smuggled into La Joya with help from guards. "It was a real moneymaker. He was a character.. Miami's underworld may still be seedy, but it has outsourced much of its shadiness to nearby Third-World countries such as Panama. Galeota says the police had already gotten what they wanted: Porky's demise. S10 E10 Miami Mobster Take Down. But the story of how the documentary got made is nearly as crazy as the caper plot itself. Moreover, trafficking prostitutes and drugs and involvement in organized crime are some serious charges.". "We were doing fantastic, but Tarzan got bored and started living the life," Galeota explains. Even then, however, he couldn't sleep. With Fainberg locked up, Porky's was Galeota's plaything. "Now I'm living in hell.". In the distance, La Cordillera de San Blas cuts through the Panamanian jungle like a serrated knife. Galeota was crammed into a sweltering holding cell with 150 others. ", 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/. "My wife could have left me. It was a caper, for sure., He says: Tarzan was the lynchpin to it, because it was his story. 17:57 GMT 13 Mar 2018. A tattoo of an Italian Mafioso emerges from an extra-large sleeveless T-shirt. Indeed, court records show that Seidle was a target of the federal wiretapping investigation. Prostitution in Miami had become too risky, he decided, but overseas sex tourism was soaring. 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. The gig introduced him to a lifelong vice. Galeota's sheer size and mob connections are the only things keeping him from getting shivved in the dark. Wrongly imprisoned. See Photos. 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. Tony Galeto. He offered protection and gave Galeota $200. By the time they returned to Long Island later that night, a pimp was born. Russian mobsters learned about their comrade's successful venture, and adopted the club as a virtual office. 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
"We treated the women well.". 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. Become a member to support the independent voice of South Florida The domestic bliss lasted only a couple of weeks. . Tony Galeota has a wife named Kristy Galeota, with whom he lives. Guards with machine guns man rusty metal towers. Galeota's enemies say that a life of sin has finally caught up with the flesh-peddler. Cops had made several controlled buys of drugs. In an instant, Galeota's meaty hand was around the customer's neck, shoving him outside. When he left to open a bona fide brothel in Panama, Galeota thought the country's lax prostitution laws would make him rich. Instead, they eat rice for lunch and dinner, drink dirty river water, and use a hole in the ground for a toilet. 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. MICHAEL GALEOTA OBITUARY. Marshals deported Ludwig Fainberg from Miami. Although he knows he could receive the death penalty, the money is too tempting to resist. More than anything, Galeota is grateful that his family kept faith in him. Then she'd charge my friends $50 each," he says. Reborn behind bars. 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. When one inmate killed another, the dead man's gang on the outside murdered the inmate's entire family, Galeota says. Sometimes we get a little excited when we find the amount of cocaine we found, said Castro. They arrested 18 suspects, including Galeota, several strippers, and most employees. When traffickers balked at the price, Yester reminded them that it could hold 40 tons of cocaine and would pay for itself quickly. With little oversight, military leaders acted as if they were independent of the government. His father, Arnold, was a strait-laced sales manager but a distant and disapproving dad. 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. Its a lot of f- -king paper. Michael Galeota, who starred on the Disney Channel's "The Jersey" died Sunday, according to Variety. The submarine request, which came from Yester on behalf of the cartel, was not as outrageous as it now sounds. As Shea tried to pull the panties off one of the dancers, he heard police sirens in the distance and bolted. "Maybe we didn't have the permits we were supposed to have, but we're foreigners who didn't understand the rules.". Everything here has a cost.". And, above all, selling it. But the hassle had taken its toll on him. "My wife could have left me. "I thought I would kick up my heels together like 'Oh my God, I'm finally out,'" he says. Inside, the bar is still littered with half-empty bottles of Chivas Regal. Here, Galeota is just one of 500 prisoners crammed into a filthy cell block designed to hold 200 people. When he left to open a bona fide brothel in Panama, Galeota thought the country's lax prostitution laws would make him rich. Galeota's wife Kristy comments "Porky's was definitely a place you could get killed." Its a great success overall. Facilitating it. "Everybody give me your money!" He and Kristy struck up an unlikely romance. 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. "I'm used to getting my water from a rain bucket, not hot from the tap." , updated As for his career, his only oath is that he won't let his sons follow his example. 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. Tony went on the run with the money the drug cartel provided up front, however, as authorities closed in - meaning the deal never happened, Tarzan got deported, Juan was (temporarily) convicted on drug charges and Tony became a fugitive not just from justice but from the hit that was put out on his head. Anywhere other than La Joya, this news would be shocking. The American says he's giving up the strip club and brothel businesses. "Keep your fucking hands off the girl!" Research > Galeota > Tony Galeota. "I don't care how strong you are; that's going to affect your marriage," she says. But his mind was on another kind of riches. Tony Galletta. "It is with tremendous heartfelt sadness to announce the passing of Michael James Gal Police repeatedly raided the club, yet Galeota escaped unscathed every time. But when the house of cards tumbles, John . "I want to go legit when I get out, but if the economy is bad, I might go back to the industry," he says. And she launched drunken tirades at Tony after baseball games, no matter how well the all-star shortstop performed. Tony Kaleta. Back in South Florida, Kristy Galeota vacillates between outrage and empathy for her husband. Miami mobster Tony Galeota is locked up in Panama after being framed for drug dealing and human trafficking. Sixteen months later, the two men have yet to appear in court. Tony Galeota: From Running Porky's, Miami's Most Notorious Strip Joint, to Rotting More than 500 inmates crowd into a cell block designed for 200. He created a souped-up cigarette boat that went for $2 million and was presumably used to transport cocaine. Gunshots flashed like fireworks in the darkness. This time, I'm innocent.". South Florida's independent Over the years, Galeota saw nearly a dozen shootings at Porky's, some of them fatal. #Torture #PanamGovernment #LaJoyaprisonPanam #PresidentVarela #Panam #Corruption. He needed some help," he recalls. And multiple sources close to Fainberg say he was pressured to rat out Seidle but refused. "The investigation was so poorly handled and rushed," says Otero, the journalist. During a visit last month, a New Times reporter witnessed one police official receive a $20 bill in a barely disguised handshake. Business was better, but it still wouldn't make him rich. A judge eventually dropped the human trafficking charge, but Galeota still rotted in his sordid cell alongside insects the size of small dogs. Instead, Galeota admits he's done bad things, such as. "Anthony has been in jail for more than 15 months, and a judge hasn't even heard his case yet!" Even then, however, he couldn't sleep. Tony Gogetta. Make a one-time donation today for as little as $1. The two were married in 1994 at a wedding full of mobsters. There was nothing unusual about it. "Thank God I'm out," he tells New Times in his first interview since his release. See Photos. Filmography (by Job) Trailers and Videos. One man stabbed someone over a $10 debt. None of them ever appeared in the newspapers, but Hialeah police records confirm there were at least ten shootings at Porky's during Galeota's tenure. The drugs will be turned over to the DEA. Its our mission down there besides search and rescue. Banks seized all seven of his apartments. 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. At the entrance to La Joya, ant hills and wasp nests surround a wooden sign. Also read: Tony Galeota: From Running. Kristy caught Tony cheating several times, she says. source of local news and culture, Michael E. Miller The 43-year-old is shaped like a mini refrigerator: short and squat, with a shaved head and wide-set emerald eyes. 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. "They knew some Russian guy named Tarzan who had just opened up a club in Miami called Porky's. "Their connections were bigger than ours," he says. The offload is a result of two successful drug interdictions in the Caribbean since August 23. Of the $10 million, he said, I cannot f- -king believe it how fast I spend it.. A kilo of cocaine in Panama costs much less - about $5,000 per. "Like me, he was a black sheep who could do nothing right.". Galeota already lived according to a gangster's code. Eventually, he moved two dozen ladies to Panama City. "Whenever there is an American businessman involved in crime here in Panama, it becomes an important case. Luckier still, a powerful Colombian inmate named Mauricio Ramrez recognized Galeota from his restaurant. On Friday, May 17, Galeota got word that the judge had also dismissed the drug charge because of lack of evidence. "He was a smooth-talker. He could convince you that the sky was green." The message was that the cocaine traffickers would kill Yesters family members. By now, she knows of his many infidelities, including that he lived and slept with some of the girls at the Doll House. When Bill Seidle died, Galeota knew the club's days were numbered. The last one locked the door. "A family type thing, like an ale house with wings and beer," he says. "She would use shoe polish to change our driver's licenses so we could go to clubs and drink when we were 15. And so with like five days prep I jumped on a plane, went to Miami, started courting the cops and the feds and the US attorneys and all the good guys, the law enforcement side of it their participation was instrumental in it, because theyre the ones that have all the evidentiary record and all the surveillance video and the photos and the wiretaps and all that stuff, most of which is the sort of visual skeleton to the film. 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. "It was a nightmare in there.". When Galeota arrived in Miami in the summer of 1991, the city was awash in coke, crack, and drug cash. Facebook Email or phone Password Forgot account? By the time he was 18, he had been arrested seven times for armed robbery and assault, he says. While on routine patrol, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection plane spotted a suspicious speed boat. But Tarzan a seasoned wheeler-dealer, strip club owner and former mob enforcer took it in his stride and went back to his partners with the response. After that, Kristy closed Bongos. This time, I'm innocent.". I have to tell you, all my enemies are dead, and Im happy, he says in the documentary. (CBS Miami). In this real life Goodfellas tale, New York teen John Alite gets a job at his local Deli, a hangout for 'wise guys'. In hand-painted white lettering, it reads, "Dear visitors. Galeota is one of several Americans locked up here. 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. ", Coast Guard Offloads More Than $93 Million In Cocaine, Miami Beach. He headed right to his beloved Miami, Florida. A poster on the wall advertises "Lesby Show: 2 Girls per Person" for $350. "That's the goal," is all he'll offer. It wasn't until he ordered some Italian food and a cold Guinness that he finally felt like he was free. "She would use shoe polish to change our driver's licenses so we could go to clubs and drink when we were 15. As he sweated in jail, Galeota's Panamanian empire crumbled. Facilitating it. 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! But he insists that, for once, he has done nothing wrong. "It was puppy love," he says. Follow this journalist on Twitter @MikeMillerMiami. 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. Get started U.S. Yearbooks Name Index, 1890-1979. See Photos. 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. 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. Instead of celebrating, he walked through the scuzzy neighbourhood until he found a shabby motel. Behind him, 12-foot-high fences topped with spools of barbed wire frame a muddy soccer field. When he left to open a bona fide brothel in Panama, Galeota thought the country's lax prostitution laws would make him rich. More detailed reports on the crimes weren't available. Rats, roaches, and beetles the size of Chihuahuas crawl over inmates at night. And she launched drunken tirades at Tony after baseball games, no matter how well the all-star shortstop performed. Were out there to cause an effect in the drug industry and I believe we made a little dent on it.. Even though Yester may have suspected that the cartel was after him, he couldnt help but try to get his hands on the remaining $25 million. Just not a strip club. 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. But he was too shell-shocked to take up his attorney's offer for a ride to a nice hotel. 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. The crew boarded the 165-foot Panamanian-flagged coastal freighter Hope II. Upon seeing 10 thugs rush the vehicle and hijack it with the unsuspecting passenger in back, Yester realized that the remaining cash would not be forthcoming. By
Rising swiftly through the ranks, John buries his conscience to become a notorious Mafia hitman. Inmates are fed bread and cheese for breakfast and rice (sometimes beans) for lunch and dinner. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. "Now I'm living in hell.". He ogled the women standing on corners in their underwear and high heels. The 43-year-old is shaped like a mini refrigerator: short and squat, with a shaved head and wide-set emerald eyes. See Photos. Unfortunately, Galeota's defense isn't as simple as quoting strippers, says his lawyer, Guillermina McDonald. The FBI swooped in January 21, surrounding the club and arresting Fainberg. His nightmare began in June , when police raided his Panama City strip club and arrested him and his Ukrainian partner for trafficking women and selling drugs. He left, but returned with a gun. ", After bribing half the guards at La Joya, Galeota was taken to an immigration holding center in Panama City where he and four codefendants were kept for four more days. Anthony Jr. was taken to a juvenile detention center that wasn't much better. TV-14 | 06.05.2013. Dalia Dippolito May Have Tried to Kill Him, But Michael Dippolito Is No Saint, Florida Man Wrestles Shark For Forty Five Minutes, Florida to Execute Death Row Prisoner Donald Dillbeck in February, "We Are Everywhere": Ominous Messages on Anti-Abortion Counseling Centers Prompt Federal Charges, So You're Saying There's (Still) a Chance: Dolphins Playoff Chances Dwindle After 26-20 Loss, Trashed American Flag Sparks Capitol Hill Kerfuffle, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Instead, he's trapped in a labyrinthine legal system, alone and unable to speak Spanish. Anthony Galeota was born October 17, 1968, on Long Island. "She hasn't worked for 15 years. His mother, Bonnie Gellilti, was "a bit of a criminal," Tony remembers. 8:00AM. He was talking to Fainberg about a murder he'd witnessed in Porky's parking lot. When crews were launched to investigate, the suspected smugglers threw several packages into the water. In retrospect, when you tell the stories aloud, its like, Thats insane and you, Tiller, are an insane person for having done that. Its funny; I was just like, this is too good of a story to let go. "Running a club in that neighborhood, win or lose, you've got to fight.". Moreover, trafficking prostitutes and drugs and involvement in organized crime are some serious charges.". Meet me in Africa for a cup of coffee tomorrow.. Join the New Times community and help support independent "There was no transportation, no cops, no nothing," he says. I know its gonna be a strange question. CAKEGATE 2023: Bad Bunny's Restaurant Accused of Gobbling Birthday Girl's Cake, Neighborhood Nazi Jon Minadeo Peddles Hate by the Minute, Gator Gets in on the Action at Tampa Bay Horse Race, 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. 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. 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'd already invested in seven apartments in Panama City and rented a storefront on the capital's seediest street, where prostitution was legal. It continued at another local strip club, called Quarterbacks Playmates Lounge. His father, Arnold, was a strait-laced sales manager but a distant and disapproving dad. Prosecutors say police never filed the necessary paperwork. "If you like to eat chocolate and you live in a chocolate factory, you're going to eat chocolate," he says. Then my friend got back to me a couple days later and said there was just one question: Do you want a sub with missiles or without? , For all their camaraderie, though, the criminals opinions of one another were mixed. They tried to squeeze Fainberg to get Seidle. 4:00AM. Anthony Galeota was born October 17, 1968, on Long Island. By the mid-'90s, Galeota had turned Porky's into a one-stop shop for strippers, sex, and serious drugs. Log In. Then she'd charge my friends $50 each," he says. When Galeota stood up, he checked his T-shirt for bullet holes, but found none. And like the Italian-American crooner, he loved women a little too much. The year before, his father helped him land a job as a wedding DJ. And last year, Yester was finally arrested in Rome on charges unrelated to the submarine while en route to a wedding. And like the Italian-American crooner, he loved women a little too much. See Photos. "I've done a lot of shady things in the States," he admits. He met with mobsters in Cali mansions full of women, and he knocked on random doors in search of dancers. His attorney has warned him that prosecutors will likely appeal, so he plans to stay in Panama until his case is resolved. Tony Galeta. Its about 2,800 kilos, about a ton and a half of contraband. Like a concert pianist, Tony Galeota has spent his life honing a single skill since he was a teenager. Tony Galeota lived in 1954, at address, Massachusetts. Instead, he's trapped in a labyrinthine legal system, alone and unable to speak Spanish. "He had that guido effect on me," she says. And, above all, selling it. Tony and Kristy were shocked and out of a job. The smugglers boat was destroyed because it was a hazard to navigation. But Tony had darker secrets. 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. He bought seven properties pretty much sight unseen.". 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. Biography. I gave each of my kids a Rolex when they were 5 years old. Kristy was able to pay a lawyer $500 to get her son released, but there was no bond for Galeota's drug offense. He sold the shop and in 2010 opened Bongos, a restaurant serving wings and beer. "Whenever there is an American businessman involved in crime here in Panama, it becomes an important case. "But she's never going to forget. 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. "We just meshed," she says. 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. "But I've always paid for everything, either with stitches in my head, concussions, or jail time. Russell did as he was told and flew to the appointed city in Africa; as soon as he walked into his hotel room, the phone rang and he was instructed to be downstairs in five minutes, where Tony whisked him off in a Porsche Cayenne and they spent several surreal days together; Tony showed the director his Russian fighter jet, which had $5million in the cockpit as the fugitives getaway plan, and told his part of the story. 16:56 GMT 13 Mar 2018 View the profiles of people named Anthony Galeota. A judge eventually dropped the human trafficking charge, but Galeota still rotted in his sordid cell alongside insects the size of small dogs. I was literally on a press tour for the last film, and I was in New York doing interviews and stuff I called the producers and said, Do you think we can get a million dollars in the next five days?. He ogled the women standing on corners in their underwear and high heels. Reborn behind bars. Days go by without water, and when it does arrive, it's turbid sludge from a nearby river. "The first month, we had $15,000 in gross sales. The person they were going to pay for the submarine was the officer who let them [into the naval base], says Russell. local news and culture, Michael E. Miller Kristy and his sons hid in a shabby, poorly protected office. "My wife is never going to completely trust me. A tattoo of an Italian Mafioso emerges from an extra-large sleeveless T-shirt. These interdiction's were part of Operation Martillo, an international operation to fight illegal trafficking. Miami's independent source of and help keep the future of New Times, Use of this website constitutes acceptance of our, From Porky's to Panamanian Prison: Web Extra. Photo courtesy of Josh Weiss Surrounded by Colombian strippers, Galeota gives a toast during a party at the Doll House. Almeida was a specialist in obtaining black-market goods for status-crazed drug dealers. She's forgiven me, for the most part. Tony Goleta. They went Maserati shopping by helicopter so they could look at the cars from the air.
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