One man stabbed someone over a $10 debt. It could be worse. Eventually, however, he made his way to Tarzan. As he contemplates the question, Galeota watches his fellow inmates kick a soccer ball across La Joya's putrid playground. 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. In January 1997, after he dropped his daughter off at school, Tarzan was arrested and hit with a 30-count federal indictment. We both understand that.". He paid for her to secretly get an abortion. Like a concert pianist, Tony Galeota has spent his life honing a single skill since he was a teenager. Join the New Times community and help support I gave each of my kids a Rolex when they were 5 years old. And twice they had given up. "I used to have to patch Tony up all the time," Kristy says. The fear was well founded, considering what went down when Tarzan linked up with Cuban outlaws Juan Almeida and Nelson Tony Yester. In the second interdiction, a Customs plane spotted another suspicious boat off the coast of Panama on August 28th. local news and culture, Michael E. Miller "This case has had a big impact here," says Jos Otero, a reporter for Panamanian newspaper La Prensa. At the entrance to La Joya, ant hills and wasp nests surround a wooden sign. When he left to open a bona fide brothel in Panama, Galeota thought the country's lax prostitution laws would make him rich. In the meantime, he's spending time with his wife and kids. He was very serious and said he would look into it. Next time, I will steal it back from him., Tarzan (left) at the site of the submarine. Tony Galeta. Tony Gogetta. But this was Hialeah.". Tony Galeto. In an instant, Galeota's meaty hand was around the customer's neck, shoving him outside. Michael Galeota, who starred on the Disney Channel's "The Jersey" died Sunday, according to Variety. See Photos. Use tab to navigate through the menu items. And last year, Yester was finally arrested in Rome on charges unrelated to the submarine while en route to a wedding. That didnt stop Russell from trying to get them on board with doing a film about the submarine deal. Galeota is one of several Americans locked up here. As the authorities closed in, they picked up Juan and Tarzan, but they couldnt find Tony and neither could the cartel. State and local police launched an investigation in February 2009. "It was so slow I couldn't take it," he says. Galeota also found himself in the back of an unmarked FBI car. Over the years, Galeota saw nearly a dozen shootings at Porky's, some of them fatal. Galeota is one of several Americans locked up here. or. A year later, it was $115,000 per month.". Tony was a tough, muscular little shit back then. Miami mobster Tony Galeota is locked up in Panama after being framed for drug dealing and human trafficking. The trio convened in Russia, and snapshots of them aboard the football-field-size sub, posing with the captain, hamming it up with one another, were shown to cartel members to make clear that the submarine sale closed with all parties naked in a bathhouse was for real. His father, Arnold, was a strait-laced sales manager but a distant and disapproving dad. "Keep your fucking hands off the girl!" Tony is my friend, and well always love each other. I had kind of, little by little, put the word out to everybody among the cops, all the law enforcement side as well as among the crooks and said, Gotta meet Tony, gotta meet Tony, gotta meet Tony knowing that he was the only guy who really knew what happened. 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 nightmare deepened for Galeota. "Like me, he was a black sheep who could do nothing right.". Director Robin Dashwood Stars Alex Andreas Ricardo Burgos Tony Galeota We were approximately 24-hours on board before we got to a hidden compartment, said Castro.There was a hidden compartment and once we opened it we found all the contraband.. Anthony Jr. was taken to a juvenile detention center that wasn't much better. Kristy was a self-described "firecracker" who had also escaped from an abusive home and wanted attention. "If you like to eat chocolate and you live in a chocolate factory, you're going to eat chocolate," he says. And she launched drunken tirades at Tony after baseball games, no matter how well the all-star shortstop performed. The 43-year-old is shaped like a mini refrigerator: short and squat, with a shaved head and wide-set emerald eyes. This business has been very good to me.". Docs need stars just like features need stars. 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. Miami's underworld may still be seedy, but it has outsourced much of its shadiness to nearby Third-World countries such as Panama. Become a member to support the independent voice of South Florida When he was 16, he knocked up his 15-year-old girlfriend at Hauppauge High School. 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. "There were beautiful girls, just walking the streets, giving blowjobs for $10 or $15.". 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. In the meantime, he's spending time with his wife and kids. 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. As he sweated in jail, Galeota's Panamanian empire crumbled. But Tony had darker secrets. "The first month, we had $15,000 in gross sales. The offload is a result of two successful drug interdictions in the Caribbean since August 23. Is this possible, to buy a military submarine - used one? And he said, What a question! Anywhere other than La Joya, this news would be shocking. Anthony Galeota (right) poses with Ludwig "Tarzan" Fainberg inside the Doll House weeks before their arrest. The charismatic teenager sold the stolen suits or electronics at strip clubs or used-car lots. "Anthony has been in jail for more than 15 months, and a judge hasn't even heard his case yet!" "It is with tremendous heartfelt sadness to announce the passing of Michael James Galeota," Jan. 10, reads a statement on a Go Fund Me page, created by Galeota's family to raise money for his burial. All the services here are free. ", - 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. Then once he sent me this crazy email like, Holy s***! Locked up in one of the world's worst prisons, Tony has to prove his innocence and attempt an audacious escape. "I couldn't take all the people who wanted to come.". 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! 16:56 GMT 13 Mar 2018 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. He left, but returned with a gun. "They shot him in the middle of the night," Galeota continues quietly, "and buried his body behind the pavilion.". "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. 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. But Galeota's problems aren't completely behind him. "My wife could have left me. "I was always looking for their approval," he says, "but I never got that. Tarzan and one of his partners, Fat Tony Galeota, had opened a strip club in Panama similar to a previous enterprise in Miami called Porkys but they landed behind bars in Central America. Galeota believes that his arrest has little to do with a renewed commitment to the law in Panama. But Tony had darker secrets. "I don't care how strong you are; that's going to affect your marriage," she says. See Photos. Filmography (by Job) Trailers and Videos. Seidle was never charged with a crime. "Luis pulled out a .38 and shot the guy in the chest. Anthony Galeota was born October 17, 1968, on Long Island. 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. 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. 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). The lessons in crime didn't come fast enough for Galeota to stay out of trouble. "But she's never going to forget. 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. With little oversight, military leaders acted as if they were independent of the government. Galeota yelled. But all the cops found were five grams of weed, a bottle of Viagra, and some mysterious yellow pills. Bonnie also shoplifted booze to sustain her hard drinking habit. He paid for her to secretly get an abortion. or. There was a spate of murders, several police raids, and a federal drug-trafficking trial. Director Tiller Russell Stars Ludwig Fainberg Juan Almeida Nelson Yester See production, box office & company info Add to Watchlist 44 User reviews 9 Critic reviews Awards 1 nomination Videos 2 Trailer 1:46 The gig introduced him to a lifelong vice. Galeota's enemies say that a life of sin has finally caught up with the flesh-peddler. See also: "From Porky's to Panamanian Prison: Web Extra.". On a crowded balcony overlooking La Joya, Galeota describes the past 16 months as a nightmare. "I wouldn't leave a dog in that prison, let alone my husband.". When youre rolling with the criminal underworld, its always weird; its really weird in Russia.. When Galeota stood up, he checked his T-shirt for bullet holes, but found none. Tony Galletta. "We just meshed," she says. All the main players involved appear on camera and share their stories, including law enforcement, from which the documentary takes its name; Operation Odessa was formed as a joint task force in the 1990s as American authorities worried that Colombian cartels would join together with Russian organized crime to pair drug money with Soviet military hardware. Make a one-time donation today for as little as $1. Biography. While Kristy was still in the States, he lived with five of his Colombian prostitutes. The year before, his father helped him land a job as a wedding DJ. "He never forced us to do anything. According to Yester, the cartel provided an initial payment of $10 million. View the profiles of people named Anthony Galeota. We travelled all the time. We didn't even have to have sex unless we wanted to," says a Colombian stripper named Catherine. Galeota's sheer size and mob connections are the only things keeping him from getting shivved in the dark. When Bill Seidle died, Galeota knew the club's days were numbered. "She would use shoe polish to change our driver's licenses so we could go to clubs and drink when we were 15. Bonnie also shoplifted booze to sustain her hard drinking habit. A tattoo of an Italian Mafioso emerges from an extra-large sleeveless T-shirt. For the most part, Doll House dancers agree. 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. Rising swiftly through the ranks, John buries his conscience to become a notorious Mafia hitman. By the time they returned to Long Island later that night, a pimp was born. But instead of classical music, his specialty is sex. 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. Panama's judicial system is outdated and overburdened, she says. Panama had gone from paradise to purgatory. Photo courtesy of Josh Weiss Surrounded by Colombian strippers, Galeota gives a toast during a party at the Doll House. Like a real-life godfather, Galeota weathered it all. He faced nine years in prison, but because he provided evidence against Almeida, he served just three years before being deported to his adopted homeland of Israel. Galeota is one of several Americans locked up here. "Whenever there is an American businessman involved in crime here in Panama, it becomes an important case. Rats, roaches, and beetles the size of Chihuahuas crawl over inmates at night. "They knew some Russian guy named Tarzan who had just opened up a club in Miami called Porky's. We asked them some questions and some of their information didnt quite add up, so we conducted a boarding.. "Now I'm living in hell.". Documentary Drama When Miami mobster Tony Galeota opens a club in Panama City, the competition frames him for drug dealing and human trafficking. But the Doll House and Moulin Rouge remain closed. It was a weeknight, and Porky's was washed in pale-pink neon light. Become a member to support the independent voice of South Florida Bonnie also shoplifted booze to sustain her hard drinking habit. SO I started with the cops and I had been kind of circling the others without knowing if it was really possible or not. Prostitution was so common at Porky's that the club had fixed places and prices, Galeota says.

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