tony galeota family

Inside the prison, the sign is a running joke. And there was absolutely no bullshit. Of the $10 million, he said, I cannot f- -king believe it how fast I spend it.. A dozen plainclothes cops poured in with pistols drawn. October 4, 2012 Rats, roaches, and beetles the size of Chihuahuas crawl over inmates at night. And they were doing it on behalf of the notorious Cali drug cartel in Colombia, who planned to use the underwater vessel to smuggle cocaine undetected. This is a guy that the FBI went after for years but could never get him. Its a lot of f- -king paper. According to the Coast Guard: It first took place north of the Gulf of Uraba. "We just meshed," she says. And I'm not asking her to.". During a visit last month, a New Times reporter witnessed one police official receive a $20 bill in a barely disguised handshake. There is no rehabilitation here," he says. 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. Advertisement. 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. He paid for her to secretly get an abortion. Photo courtesy of Josh Weiss A prisoner poses with a gun smuggled into La Joya with help from guards. (A New York Police Department spokesman says records from that far back aren't available.) 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. Meanwhile, the task force had gotten wind of the bizarre submarine plan; not only had they wiretapped Tarzan, but they had also inserted an undercover agent into the operation an agent who appears in the documentary after undergoing an extensive makeup disguise because he continues to work undercover cases involving the Russian mob. Instead of celebrating, he walked through the scuzzy neighborhood until he found a shabby motel. The offload is a result of two successful drug interdictions in the Caribbean since August 23. Join the New Times community and help support independent Juan, Tarzan and law enforcement insisted there was no way hed agree to participate in the documentary. And she launched drunken tirades at Tony after baseball games, no matter how well the all-star shortstop performed. 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. I hoped to walk away from the deal with $10 million.. "There was no transportation, no cops, no nothing," he says. 16:56 GMT 13 Mar 2018 "The worst part of being in here is being in here for nothing. Get the latest updates in news, food, music and culture, and receive special offers direct to your inbox. Become a member to support the independent voice of South Florida But the deal never happened. "Anthony has been in jail for more than 15 months, and a judge hasn't even heard his case yet!" Behind him, 12-foot-high fences topped with spools of barbed wire frame a muddy soccer field. Anthony Galeota was born October 17, 1968, on Long Island. local news and culture, Michael E. Miller Join the New Times community and help support See also: "From Porky's to Panamanian Prison: Web Extra.". We asked them some questions and some of their information didnt quite add up, so we conducted a boarding.. It wasn't until he ordered some Italian food and a cold Guinness that he finally felt like he was free. He ogled the women standing on corners in their underwear and high heels. He and Kristy struck up an unlikely romance. Indeed, Tony would turn Porky's into a moneymaking machine. But instead of classical music, his specialty is sex. "He was a smooth-talker. Here, Galeota is just one of 500 prisoners crammed into a filthy cell block designed to hold 200 people. 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. 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. "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. When he discovered he was about to be subpoenaed, he withdrew $2,500 from the bank and boarded a two-week Caribbean cruise. And he hopes to open a place in Fort Lauderdale when he's back. Get the latest updates in news, food, music and culture, and receive special offers direct to your inbox. "They shot him in the middle of the night," Galeota continues quietly, "and buried his body behind the pavilion.". And like the Italian-American crooner, he loved women a little too much. In hand-painted white lettering, it reads, "Dear visitors. 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. "She would use shoe polish to change our driver's licenses so we could go to clubs and drink when we were 15. 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. Has a stint in Panamanian prison reformed Miami's most notorious strip club manager? See Photos. 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 hired 'Fat Tony' Galeota as Porky's manager. Kenyan court is shown vital evidence ignored by police two years after his arrest over 4.5m cocaine haul, Body armor-clad Cancun cops are 'suspended' after posing for pictures with topless tourists on the beach, Isabel Oakeshott receives 'menacing' message from Matt Hancock, Ken Bruce: 'I always wanted to be a radio presenter from about 15', Pavement where disabled woman gestured at cyclist before fatal crash, Pro-Ukrainian drone lands on Russian spy planes exposing location, 'Buster is next!' "No one can tell us how long he will be in there," she says. Yester, a highly regarded affiliate of multiple cocaine cartels, opened European markets for Colombian narco-terrorist Pablo Escobar and went on the run in 1990 after being charged with cocaine trafficking. Anthony Galeota (right) poses with Ludwig "Tarzan" Fainberg inside the Doll House weeks before their arrest. Facilitating it. Thanks to a successful appeal, Almeida served only 18 months for his part in the sub caper. "I was just numb.". Moreover, trafficking prostitutes and drugs and involvement in organized crime are some serious charges.". Next time, I will steal it back from him., Tarzan (left) at the site of the submarine. Like a real-life godfather, Galeota weathered it all. ", McDonald has succeeded, however, in chipping away at the case, persuading a judge three weeks ago to drop the trafficking charge on a technicality. 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. 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. MIAMI BEACH (CBSMiami) The Coast Guard offloaded about $93 million of cocaine Thursday afternoon on Miami Beach. Two days later, he was transferred to La Joya a hellish cinder-block complex an hour outside of Panama City. When the bartender told Shea it was last call, he became enraged. Prosecutors charged Galeota and Fainberg with not only drug dealing but also human trafficking. Through the air plane window, Tony Galeota could see the city's colonial churches glow like polished gold. Coast Guard members who seized the cocaine said this is what their jobs are all about. 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. But the story of how the documentary got made is nearly as crazy as the caper plot itself. While another new prisoner was beaten and robbed, Galeota was untouched. 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 first month, we had $15,000 in gross sales. Indeed, court records show that Seidle was a target of the federal wiretapping investigation. 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. Eventually, he moved two dozen ladies to Panama City. Even then, however, he couldn't sleep. Banged Up Abroad - Wikipedia People named Toni Galeota Find your friends on Facebook Log in or sign up for Facebook to connect with friends, family and people you know. SO I started with the cops and I had been kind of circling the others without knowing if it was really possible or not. October 4, 2012 Galeota's wife Kristy comments "Porky's was definitely a place you could get killed." 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. "I used to have to patch Tony up all the time," Kristy says. 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. "That's the goal," is all he'll offer. She's forgiven me, for the most part. When crews were launched to investigate, the suspected smugglers threw several packages into the water. On Friday, May 17, Galeota got word that the judge had also dismissed the drug charge because of lack of evidence. This time, I'm innocent.". ", Tony Galeota and fellow defendant Alon "Tarzan" Bar during better days in their Panama club The Doll House, After bribing half the guards at La Joya, Galeota was taken to an immigration holding center in Panama City where he and four co-defendants were kept for four more days. "I've done a lot of shady things in the States," he admits. "I'm not a religious person, but I believe I went to jail because I was living like a rock star -- running around with all these women, drinking a bottle of vodka every day for two years," he says. Sometimes we get a little excited when we find the amount of cocaine we found, said Castro. Galeota's sheer size and mob connections are the only things keeping him from getting shivved in the dark. 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). Miami Mobster Take Down - YouTube For the most part, Doll House dancers agree. His father, Arnold, was a strait-laced sales manager but a distant and disapproving dad. Then they pushed play on a cassette deck. TV-14 | 06.05.2013. The message was that the cocaine traffickers would kill Yesters family members. Tony Galeota has a wife named Kristy Galeota, with whom he lives. But Tony had darker secrets. It is not known when he was born or his current age. The smugglers boat was destroyed because it was a hazard to navigation. Get started U.S. Yearbooks Name Index, 1890-1979. "But I've always paid for everything, either with stitches in my head, concussions, or jail time. We've received your submission. "They murdered a guy in here a couple of days ago," Tony Galeota says. Its about 2,800 kilos, about a ton and a half of contraband. "I couldn't take all the people who wanted to come.". 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. South Florida's independent While out of sight, he phoned his guy and lied about being in a particular taxi cab. "I brought in music and women," Galeota says. "They had what seemed like a dynamite case, but it has ended up in pieces.". "I lived it up in Miami," he says. When he was 16, he knocked up his 15-year-old girlfriend at Hauppauge High School. "Their connections were bigger than ours," he says. Two agents told him that they'd been tapping his phone for months. He didn't stay long. Anthony Galeota Profiles | Facebook 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. So I was literally stepping over dead bodies of the people who had been shanked and stuff over the course of the night.. 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 Galeota's sheer size and mob connections are the only things keeping him from getting shivved in the dark. 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. 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. He might have sold them the submarine, taken the money and walked away with the money.. Galeota believes that his arrest has little to do with a renewed commitment to the law in Panama. June 4, 2013 Miami mobster Tony Galeota is locked up in Panama after being framed for drug dealing and human trafficking. 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 were all together when Tony worked for the Russin mobsters in Porky's club as its manager. When Bill Seidle died, Galeota knew the club's days were numbered. View the profiles of people named Anthony Galeota. It wasn't until he ordered some Italian food and a cold Guinness that he finally felt like he was free. Half an hour later, Galeota was guarding the door when a car rolled up with the window down. 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. "That clean, business-friendly, postcard-Panama bullshit is just a faade," Galeota says. Michael Galeota Obituary (1984 - 2016) - Legacy He'd already invested in seven apartments in Panama City and rented a storefront on the capital's seediest street, where prostitution was legal. In the meantime, he's spending time with his wife and kids. 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. Watch Locked Up Abroad Season 10 Episode 10 Miami Mobster Take Down Online Its a great success overall. The gig introduced him to a lifelong vice. "But I've always paid for everything, either with stitches in my head, concussions, or jail time. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. Tony Galeota, Infamous Miami Strip Club Manager - Miami New Times "I'm in survival mode now," Galeota says, adding that he agonizes over being imprisoned for what he believes are unjust charges. Then once he sent me this crazy email like, Holy s***! 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 Miami's underworld may still be seedy, but it has outsourced much of its shadiness to nearby Third-World countries such as Panama. A deep bass line rattled customers' chests as they downed overpriced drinks. 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. Russian immigrant Ludwig Fainberg, a.k.a. Police repeatedly raided the club, yet Galeota escaped unscathed every time. It was like this super weird, incredibly sketchy circumstance that we came together in, Russell tells DailyMail.com of his visit to the Mad Max-like prison where at night they lock the gates. "They shot him in the middle of the night," Galeota continues quietly, "and buried his body behind the pavilion.". Because of his age, he escaped with six months' probation. I just called a friend who had a friend and asked if he could get us a sub. The two were married in 1994 at a wedding full of mobsters. The Coast Guard said four suspected smugglers were taken into custody and 32 bales of cocaine were found in the water. Years later, Tarzan again found himself behind bars, this time in Panama; in fact, he was serving time in 2011 when Russell first approached him for the documentary. Tony was a tough, muscular little shit back then. Bonnie also shoplifted booze to sustain her hard drinking habit. Log In or Sign Up Tonia Galeota See Photos Antonio Galeota See Photos Tony Galeota See Photos Toni Galea See Photos Toni Colletto See Photos Toni Torres Galea "I'm not a religious person, but I believe I went to jail because I was living like a rock star -- running around with all these women, drinking a bottle of vodka every day for two years," he says. Galeota's enemies say that a life of sin has finally caught up with the flesh-peddler. "I lived it up in Miami," he says. 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. As he sweated in jail, Galeota's Panamanian empire crumbled. 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. Tony Galeota - Historical records and family trees - MyHeritage "I just watched Luis blow a guy away," Galeota heard himself say on tape. 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. "They knew some Russian guy named Tarzan who had just opened up a club in Miami called Porky's. 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. The 43-year-old is shaped like a mini refrigerator: short and squat, with a shaved head and wide-set emerald eyes. In the distance, La Cordillera de San Blas cuts through the Panamanian jungle like a serrated knife. 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. Anthony Galeota was born October 17, 1968, on Long Island. Tony Galeota: From Running Porky's, Miami's Most Notorious Strip Joint Santiago de Cali shone in the syrupy South American sunlight filling Colombia's Cauca River Valley.