tony galeota family

When the bartender told Shea it was last call, he became enraged. Controlling it. Theyre nice guys [the cartel members], and I didnt ask what they needed the submarine for, Tarzan tells The Post, speaking on a crackling phone connection from Russia. During a visit last month, a New Times reporter witnessed one police official receive a $20 bill in a barely disguised handshake. Ten million dollars really feels like 10 million dollars, he gushes in the movie. Even then, however, he couldn't sleep. Prostitution is legal in Panama," he complains. His father, Arnold, was a strait-laced sales manager but a distant and disapproving dad. Indeed, Tony would turn Porky's into a moneymaking machine. He created a souped-up cigarette boat that went for $2 million and was presumably used to transport cocaine. Tony Galeota. He paid for her to secretly get an abortion. Seidle was never charged with a crime. Galeota already lived according to a gangster's code. "But she's never going to forget. ", "You hear that?" View Tony Galeota's 1940 US census record to find family members, occupation details & more. The crew boarded the 165-foot Panamanian-flagged coastal freighter Hope II. Galeota yelled. Behind him, 12-foot-high fences topped with spools of barbed wire frame a muddy soccer field. "I've been in this business my whole life. All the services here are free. 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. But Tony had darker secrets. His mother, Bonnie Gellilti, was "a bit of a. 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. "Whenever there is an American businessman involved in crime here in Panama, it becomes an important case. ), The narcotics charge, however, still stands despite little evidence linking Galeota to the drugs. On June 19, 2011, Tony and his oldest son, 15-year-old Anthony Jr., had just sat down to eat wings in the Doll House office around 11 p.m. when the gold-painted doors burst open. When he heard that his old partner in crime from Porky's had moved to Panama, he flew in to meet with Galeota. 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. By the time they returned to Long Island later that night, a pimp was born. 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. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. 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. 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. Gunshots flashed like fireworks in the darkness. Get started U.S. Yearbooks Name Index, 1890-1979. "I brought in music and women," Galeota says. 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. The value then triples to $100,000 per kilo at the street level when it's busted down for individual use. By now, she knows of his many infidelities, including that he lived and slept with some of the girls at the Doll House. But the hassle had taken its toll on him. It was a weeknight, and Porky's was washed in pale-pink neon light. "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. More detailed reports on the crimes weren't available. "She hasn't worked for 15 years. "My wife is never going to completely trust me. "This case has had a big impact here," says Jos Otero, a reporter for Panamanian newspaper La Prensa. Tarzan and Tony went so far as to gain access to a Soviet naval base and be taken on a tour of a submarine potentially for sale, even cajoling Russian military officials to pose for photos - which they used to prove to the Colombians that a deal could be brokered (and which are shown 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. In the distance, La Cordillera de San Blas cuts through the Panamanian jungle like a serrated knife. Family members can also bring them food and clean water, however, and inmates bribe guards to smuggle in additional items. By "She would use shoe polish to change our driver's licenses so we could go to clubs and drink when we were 15. 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.. 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. It could be worse. For a while, Panama's pay-to-play culture suited Galeota just fine. "It is with tremendous heartfelt sadness to announce the passing of Michael James. And she launched drunken tirades at Tony after baseball games, no matter how well the all-star shortstop performed. and help keep the future of New Times, Use of this website constitutes acceptance of our, From Porky's to Panamanian Prison: Web Extra. The message was that the cocaine traffickers would kill Yesters family members. 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. "If you like to eat chocolate and you live in a chocolate factory, you're going to eat chocolate," he says. Running an underworld operation in Cocaine Cowboys-era Miami wasn't an easy gig. He decked out the Doll House with five upstairs rooms equipped with king-size beds, mirrors, lube, condoms, and showers, and brought in dozens of Colombian women, who could earn $120 split with the club for an hour of sex. Here, Galeota is just one of 500 prisoners crammed into a filthy cell block designed to hold 200 people. 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. His government protection would evaporate, the Doll House would be raided, his investments would be stolen, and he would be arrested. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. He left, but returned with a gun. 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. 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. Over the years, Galeota saw nearly a dozen shootings at Porky's, some of them fatal. Inmates are fed bread and cheese for breakfast and rice (sometimes beans) for lunch and dinner. The young mobster needed to lay low, so the Pacciones sent him south to a strip club called the Porthole Pub in Pompano Beach. 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. Police repeatedly raided the club, yet Galeota escaped unscathed every time. "There were beautiful girls, just walking the streets, giving blowjobs for $10 or $15.". 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. "It was a very violent atmosphere," he says. When he left to open a bona fide brothel in Panama, Galeota thought the country's lax prostitution laws would make him rich. 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. 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. And then Russell got a text message out of the blue. Facilitating it. See Photos. I just called a friend who had a friend and asked if he could get us a sub. "That's the problem.". Has a stint in Panamanian prison reformed Miami's most notorious strip club manager? Tony Galeto. "It was a nightmare in there.". A tattoo of an Italian Mafioso emerges from an extra-large sleeveless T-shirt. Sixteen months later, the two men have yet to appear in court. They went Maserati shopping by helicopter so they could look at the cars from the air. He was very serious and said he would look into it. 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. "Maybe we didn't have the permits we were supposed to have, but we're foreigners who didn't understand the rules.". Wrongly imprisoned. A kilo of cocaine in Panama costs much less - about $5,000 per. In the meantime, he's spending time with his wife and kids. Locked Up Abroad 151M subscribers Miami mobster Tony Galeota is a strip-club supremo. "My wife could have left me. And there was absolutely no bullshit. He escaped with his life and went on the run, aiming to avoid the cartel, Interpol and US law enforcers. She's forgiven me, for the most part. Theyre nice guys [the cartel members], and I didnt ask what they needed the submarine for., If they woke up and were hungry, they would fly a private jet to Cancun for lunch, says Tiller Russell, director of Operation Odessa. Then theyd roll to Venezuela to check out a new casino. 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. "Whenever there is an American businessman involved in crime here in Panama, it becomes an important case. source of local news and culture, Michael E. Miller Furious and Busted Rick Cedar steals radios to support his family. Meet me in Africa for a cup of coffee tomorrow.. The year before, his father helped him land a job as a wedding DJ. 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! "He never forced us to do anything. Half an hour later, Galeota was guarding the door when a car rolled up with the window down. "I've done a lot of shady things in the States," he admits. Follow this journalist on Twitter @MikeMillerMiami. There is no rehabilitation here," he says. It was a caper, for sure., He says: Tarzan was the lynchpin to it, because it was his story. 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. Instead of celebrating, he walked through the scuzzy neighborhood until he found a shabby motel. "I thought I would kick up my heels together like 'Oh my God, I'm finally out,'" he says. When Seidle died in 2008, Porky's political protection followed the 82-year-old to the grave. We didn't even have to have sex unless we wanted to," says a Colombian stripper named Catherine. "That clean, business-friendly, postcard-Panama bullshit is just a faade," Galeota says. Facebook Email or phone Password Forgot account? 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. 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. But he was too shell-shocked to take up his attorney's offer for a ride to a nice hotel. "We just meshed," she says. Panamanian police had been casing the Doll House, Moulin Rouge, and another joint, called Havana Club, for weeks. "I'm in survival mode now," Galeota says, adding that he agonizes over being imprisoned for what he believes are unjust charges. 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. He was, after all, working with an American playboy in Miami and a fugitive Cuban spy to procure this submarine. "They shot him in the middle of the night," Galeota continues quietly, "and buried his body behind the pavilion.". When traffickers balked at the price, Yester reminded them that it could hold 40 tons of cocaine and would pay for itself quickly. and help keep the future of New Times, Use of this website constitutes acceptance of our. A dozen plainclothes cops poured in with pistols drawn. local news and culture, Michael E. Miller A tattoo of an Italian Mafioso emerges from an extra-large sleeveless T-shirt. (A New York Police Department spokesman says records from that far back aren't available.) But Galeota's problems aren't completely behind him. "It was puppy love," he says. 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. 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. "I don't care how strong you are; that's going to affect your marriage," she says. Tony and Kristy were shocked and out of a job. He was 31. Galeota's sheer size and mob connections are the only things keeping him from getting shivved in the dark. "Whenever there is an American businessman involved in crime here in Panama, it becomes an important case. Research > Galeota > Tony Galeota. 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. Michael Galeota, who starred on the Disney Channel's "The Jersey" died Sunday, according to Variety. One man stabbed someone over a $10 debt. Can he prove his innocence and escape? Kristy and his sons hid in a shabby, poorly protected office. Miami's independent source of "I was always looking for their approval," he says, "but I never got that. Galeota's enemies say that a life of sin has finally caught up with the flesh-peddler. 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. Tony Galeota's shaved head fairly glows with nostalgia as he remembers the days when you might have strolled into his Hialeah bar in search of commercial sex, or maybe to get beaten up or swindled . "It is with tremendous heartfelt sadness to announce the passing of Michael James. They tried to squeeze Fainberg to get Seidle. Instead, Galeota admits he's done bad things, such as. Galeota jumped at the deal. She's forgiven me, for the most part. "When you go to prison, it's like dying, but you get to see your own funeral," Galeota says. A tattoo of an Italian Mafioso emerges from an extra-large sleeveless T-shirt. ", Instead, he found another, tighter-knit family: the mob. He was a loan shark: generously offering money but punishing those who didn't pay back. But Galeota was convinced the cops were bluffing and refused to cooperate. 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. With dark hair and pale, wide-set eyes, teenage Tony resembled a stocky Frank Sinatra. As Fainberg and a wealthy Cuban-American named Juan Almeida sat in the Federal Detention Center downtown, and newspapers across the country splashed the sensational story of the drug submarine scheme, Galeota focused on staying out of court. "But I've always paid for everything, either with stitches in my head, concussions, or jail time. Kristy was able to pay a lawyer $500 to get her son released, but there was no bond for Galeota's drug offense. I said, Thank you, Cali cartel. Both Juan and Tarzan shared with Russell how they had graduated from buying helicopters, motorcycles and cars for the cartel from Russia to pursuing a submarine for the drugrunners. "But she's never going to forget. 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. Of the $10 million, he said, I cannot f- -king believe it how fast I spend it.. 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. We've received your submission. When he left to open a bona fide brothel in Panama, Galeota thought the country's lax prostitution laws would make him rich. Become a member to support the independent voice of South Florida 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. "Now I'm living in hell.". And last year, Yester was finally arrested in Rome on charges unrelated to the submarine while en route to a wedding. "Keep your fucking hands off the girl!" He and Fainberg were on their way to riches thanks to powerful friends and legalized prostitution. We had a $500,000 house, cars, and motorcycles. "We were doing fantastic, but Tarzan got bored and started living the life," Galeota explains. ), Right about the time my last film was coming out, he emailed me and said, I did a jailbreak from Panama, traveled to Costa Rica, on to Cuba and then got repatriated to Moscow Im ready to do the movie, Russell says. 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. 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. The two ran Porky's for another decade after Fainberg's deportation. Like a concert pianist, Tony Galeota has spent his life honing a single skill since he was a teenager. Kristy was a self-described "firecracker" who had also escaped from an abusive home and wanted attention. Making the documentary, he says: I found the story so compelling and so riveting that I was just relentlessly magnetized to it. "Their connections were bigger than ours," he says. On Friday, May 17, Galeota got word that the judge had also dismissed the drug charge because of lack of evidence. "I was just numb.". The heavy-set Italian even signed a release. Back in South Florida, Kristy Galeota vacillates between outrage and empathy for her husband. "Running a club in that neighborhood, win or lose, you've got to fight.". "I'm used to getting my water from a rain bucket, not hot from the tap." I'm kind of stuck with it. The drugs will be turned over to the DEA. Tony is my friend, and well always love each other. He ogled the women standing on corners in their underwear and high heels. And like the Italian-American crooner, he loved women a little too much. He met with mobsters in Cali mansions full of women, and he knocked on random doors in search of dancers. "It was a real moneymaker. The nightmare deepened for Galeota. 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. And, above all, selling it. If only there were a place where prostitution was legal, he thought, a city full of beautiful women like Miami, but no rules. The 43-year-old is shaped like a mini refrigerator: short and squat, with a shaved head and wide-set emerald eyes. Controlling it. 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. Guards with machine guns man rusty metal towers. The Porky's party nearly came to a sudden end in early 1997. Everybody wanted to make money. she scoffs. 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. Within weeks of its April 2011 opening, the club was raking in $6,000 on good nights. He is currently being held in Italy. As the couple drove south on I-95, they thought they were leaving the worst behind them. Access is free so discover Tony Galeota's story today. Police repeatedly raided the club, yet Galeota escaped unscathed every time. or. Days go by without water, and when it does arrive, it's turbid sludge from a nearby river. "I've done a lot of shady things in the States," he admits. In the distance, La Cordillera de San Blas cuts through the Panamanian jungle like a serrated knife. "Everybody give me your money!" independent local journalism in Miami. And like the Italian-American crooner, he loved women a little too much. Sixteen months later, the two men have yet to appear in court. Facebook gives people the power. He was a character.. 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 in South Florida, he was once a strip club king. 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. See Photos. Galeota is one of several Americans locked up here. "We treated the women well.". Anthony Galeota was born October 17, 1968, on Long Island. And she launched drunken tirades at Tony after baseball games, no matter how well the all-star shortstop performed. But the Doll House and Moulin Rouge remain closed. Sometimes we get a little excited when we find the amount of cocaine we found, said Castro. We both understand that.". "They murdered a guy in here a couple of days ago," Tony Galeota says. We have a lot of laughs about it now," he says. "It was a nightmare in there. Michael Galeota, who starred on the Disney Channel's "The Jersey" died Sunday, according to Variety. Photo courtesy of Josh Weiss A prisoner poses with a gun smuggled into La Joya with help from guards. S10 E10 Miami Mobster Take Down. 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. ", 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. Bonnie also shoplifted booze to sustain her hard drinking habit. Galeota and his "girls" in the Doll House, before the bust. 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. 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. While he, Tarzan and Juan were dealing with the Colombians and while Tony and Tarzan even got onto a Russian military naval base to tour a possible submarine for the deal the entire time the Cuban was planning to rip off the Colombians. See also: "From Porky's to Panamanian Prison: Web Extra.". 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. They were all together when Tony worked for the Russin mobsters in Porky's club as its manager. Instead, he's trapped in a labyrinthine legal system, alone and unable to speak Spanish. "It's not an easy choice," 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. Inside the prison, the sign is a running joke. 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. More than anything, Galeota is grateful that his family kept faith in him. So the translator said she couldn't take a shower, didn't show up, and the case was delayed. When Bill Seidle died, Galeota knew the club's days were numbered. If any official asks you to pay for anything, please report them.". 8:00AM. Bonnie also shoplifted booze to sustain her hard drinking habit. "They murdered a guy in here a couple of days ago," Tony Galeota says. This time, I'm innocent.". "There was no transportation, no cops, no nothing," 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. While another new prisoner was beaten and robbed, Galeota was untouched. 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. This is a guy that the FBI went after for years but could never get him. But then the country's corrupt system turned on them. I got a piece of the action of every blowjob that my friends got," Galeota says. "It is with tremendous heartfelt sadness to announce the passing of Michael James Gal After that, Kristy closed Bongos. "The first month, we had $15,000 in gross sales. ", McDonald has succeeded, however, in chipping away at the case, persuading a judge three weeks ago to drop the trafficking charge on a technicality. I have to tell you, all my enemies are dead, and Im happy, he says in the documentary. "This country is corrupt. When Galeota arrived, his mobster reputation preceded him. Galeota is no angelic Andy Dufresne, the main character in Shawshank who serves two decades behind bars for a crime he didn't commit. 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 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. October 4, 2012 Galeota was crammed into a sweltering holding cell with 150 others.

Edinburgh Wrestling Club, Articles T