"Whenever there is an American businessman involved in crime here in Panama, it becomes an important case. It was a Foxtrot-class submarine, or Project 641 as the Soviets called it. Panamanian newspapers put "Operation Fiesta" on the front page as prosecutors alleged Galeota was part of an international crime ring. Documentary Drama When Miami mobster Tony Galeota opens a club in Panama City, the competition frames him for drug dealing and human trafficking. Police repeatedly raided the club, yet Galeota escaped unscathed every time. But when the house of cards tumbles, John . 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. When Galeota stood up, he checked his T-shirt for bullet holes, but found none. And she launched drunken tirades at Tony after baseball games, no matter how well the all-star shortstop performed. "We treated the women well.". Although he knows he could receive the death penalty, the money is too tempting to resist. Luckier still, a powerful Colombian inmate named Mauricio Ramrez recognized Galeota from his restaurant. 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. "This case has had a big impact here," says Jos Otero, a reporter for Panamanian newspaper La Prensa. Kristy was able to pay a lawyer $500 to get her son released, but there was no bond for Galeota's drug offense. Locked up in one of the world's worst prisons, Tony has to prove his innocence and attempt an audacious escape. But he insists that, for once, he has done nothing wrong. 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. When his younger brother was molested, he beat the suspected perpetrator to a pulp. Bonnie also shoplifted booze to sustain her hard drinking habit. It had been ten years since U.S. He also owned the Russian restaurant Babushka, which was a magnet for snowbirding criminals from his homeland. They went Maserati shopping by helicopter so they could look at the cars from the air. Half an hour later, Galeota was guarding the door when a car rolled up with the window down. 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. 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. But she insists that her husband's imprisonment has brought them closer. Become a member to support the independent voice of South Florida "I brought in music and women," Galeota says. 8:00AM. Banks seized all seven of his apartments. ", 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/. When traffickers balked at the price, Yester reminded them that it could hold 40 tons of cocaine and would pay for itself quickly. Become a member to support the independent voice of South Florida Tony is my friend, and well always love each other. This story has been shared 121,048 times. When the bartender told Shea it was last call, he became enraged. "My family didn't care; they took it," Galeota says of the stolen goods. It is not known when he was born or his current age. And twice they had given up. I have to tell you, all my enemies are dead, and Im happy, he says in the documentary. Jimmy Galeota has spent the last month-and-a-half grieving his older brother Michael's death - but perhaps the most difficult part of it all to swallow has been the bizarre circumstances that. And like the Italian-American crooner, he loved women a little too much. This time, I'm innocent.". "I don't care how strong you are; that's going to affect your marriage," she says. 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. He bought seven properties pretty much sight unseen.". Somewhere between his native Ukraine, Israel, and Russia, he'd shed his trademark long hair and changed his name to Alon Bar. He is currently being held in Italy. 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. A kilo of cocaine in Panama costs much less - about $5,000 per. Behind him, 12-foot-high fences topped with spools of barbed wire frame a muddy soccer field. S10 E10 Miami Mobster Take Down. One man stabbed someone over a $10 debt. Almeida was a specialist in obtaining black-market goods for status-crazed drug dealers. the agent said. Get the latest updates in news, food, music and culture, and receive special offers direct to your inbox. Facilitating it. He called his cartel contacts and arranged to meet them in the pickup area of the Madrid train station. Anthony Galeota was born October 17, 1968, on Long Island. For the most part, Doll House dancers agree. A deep bass line rattled customers' chests as they downed overpriced drinks. He paid for her to secretly get an abortion. Galeota is no angelic Andy Dufresne, the main character in Shawshank who serves two decades behind bars for a crime he didn't commit. Police repeatedly raided the club, yet Galeota escaped unscathed every time. And there was absolutely no bullshit. 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. Anthony Jr. was taken to a juvenile detention center that wasn't much better. October 4, 2012 Galeota yelled. Galeota's enemies say that a life of sin has finally caught up with the flesh-peddler. Get the latest updates in news, food, music and culture, and receive special offers direct to your inbox. Sometimes we get a little excited when we find the amount of cocaine we found, said Castro. He called me in two days and he asked me, do we want the submarine with missiles or without missiles? says Tarzan. He ogled the women standing on corners in their underwear and high heels. The FBI swooped in January 21, surrounding the club and arresting Fainberg. 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. And she launched drunken tirades at Tony after baseball games, no matter how well the all-star shortstop performed. 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. When he heard that his old partner in crime from Porky's had moved to Panama, he flew in to meet with Galeota. We break down the best movies and series to watch in November in theaters and streaming. In hand-painted white lettering, it reads, "Dear visitors. "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. Panama's judicial system is outdated and overburdened, she says. Find your friends on Facebook. She is cute and curvy with dark hair and a button nose. He was soon promoted from DJing weddings to robbing delivery trucks for the Paccione clan (which federal court records tie to the infamous Gambino crime family). Join Facebook to connect with Anthony Galeota and others you may know. Make a one-time donation today for as little as $1. Create a free family tree for yourself or for Tony Galeota and we'll search for valuable new information for you. 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. A tattoo of an Italian Mafioso emerges from an extra-large sleeveless T-shirt. 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. While Kristy was still in the States, he lived with five of his Colombian prostitutes. The smugglers boat was destroyed because it was a hazard to navigation. At night, the guards lock the gate and leave, turning over control of each cell block to prisoners. The domestic bliss lasted only a couple of weeks. But bloodshed would follow them to Miami. The young mobster needed to lay low, so the Pacciones sent him south to a strip club called the Porthole Pub in Pompano Beach. Like a real-life godfather, Galeota weathered it all. Finally, on May 23, the gate on Galeota's cramped cell swung open, and he was free to go. 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. Galeota is no angelic Andy Dufresne, the main character in Shawshank who serves two decades behind bars for a crime he didn't commit. Docs need stars just like features need stars. But he insists that, for once, he has done nothing wrong. Michael Galeota, who starred on the Disney Channel's "The Jersey" died Sunday, according to Variety. "Anthony has been in jail for more than 15 months, and a judge hasn't even heard his case yet!" The gig introduced him to a lifelong vice. 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! This business has been very good to me.". Sheila Flynn For Dailymail.com, Smashing the Sinaloa cartel: Major coup for DEA as agents seize $6MILLION cash, hundreds of pounds of narcotics and indict 75 across America for 'laundering drug money for El Chapo's gang', Is this proof that British aristocrat did NOT smuggle drugs into Africa? Police again surrounded Porky's in the early hours of May 9, 2009. See Photos. And he hopes to open a place in Fort Lauderdale when he's back. In describing Tarzan, Almeida says in the film, He struck me as an oddball. Tarzan classifies Almeida as a guy who had two drinks and thought he was Tony Montana. As for movie-star handsome, hooker-loving Yesters first impression of Tarzan: I said, This f- -king guy is trouble. Thirty minutes later, I loved the trouble., Abetted by the tumultuous state of the former Soviet Union the ruble was completely devalued and state-owned resources went to whomever had the most firepower gaining access to the submarine was surprisingly easy. 4:00AM. "It was puppy love," he says. Its our mission down there besides search and rescue. And then Russell got a text message out of the blue. And he hopes to open a place in Fort Lauderdale when he's back, Just not a strip club. "If you like to eat chocolate and you live in a chocolate factory, you're going to eat chocolate," he says. The fear was well founded, considering what went down when Tarzan linked up with Cuban outlaws Juan Almeida and Nelson Tony Yester. But their courtship was cut short. (CBS Miami). During the Doll House raid, they found marked bills in the register and several grams of pot on a promoter. I know its gonna be a strange question. But Tony had darker secrets. Instead, he's trapped in a labyrinthine legal system, alone and unable to speak Spanish. His attorney has warned him that prosecutors will likely appeal, so he plans to stay in Panama until his case is resolved. Galeota already lived according to a gangster's code. "That's the goal," is all he'll offer. On Friday, May 17, Galeota got word that the judge had also dismissed the drug charge because of lack of evidence. or. In January 1997, after he dropped his daughter off at school, Tarzan was arrested and hit with a 30-count federal indictment. His Doll House dream began at Porky's. TV-14 | 06.05.2013. Sixteen months later, the two men have yet to appear in court. 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. But it bored him. Galeota is one of several Americans locked up here. "I used to have to patch Tony up all the time," Kristy says. Galeota examines a bruise from a prison fight in La Joya. But instead of classical music, his specialty is sex. If only there were a place where prostitution was legal, he thought, a city full of beautiful women like Miami, but no rules. Prosecutors say police never filed the necessary paperwork. "My wife could have left me. During a visit last month, a New Times reporter witnessed one police official receive a $20 bill in a barely disguised handshake. Tony Galeota lived in 1954, at address, Massachusetts. All the services here are free. CAKEGATE 2023: Bad Bunny's Restaurant Accused of Gobbling Birthday Girl's Cake, Neighborhood Nazi Jon Minadeo Peddles Hate by the Minute, 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. 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 MIAMI BEACH (CBSMiami) The Coast Guard offloaded about $93 million of cocaine Thursday afternoon on Miami Beach. "It is with tremendous heartfelt sadness to announce the passing of Michael James. "I lived it up in Miami," he says. Filthy and crowded cell block of La Joya Prison, Panama. But when he opens a new club in Panama City, the competition isn't happy and frames him for drug dealing. The American says he's giving up the strip club and brothel businesses. Here, Galeota is just one of 500 prisoners crammed into a filthy cell block designed to hold 200 people. "They would describe what they looked like," Galeota says. "I couldn't take all the people who wanted to come.". Skip Ancestry main menu Main Menu Marshals deported Ludwig Fainberg from Miami. Thanks to a successful appeal, Almeida served only 18 months for his part in the sub caper. "My father wasn't in the mob, but his friends were," Tony says. Even then, however, he couldn't sleep. Prostitution was so common at Porky's that the club had fixed places and prices, Galeota says. With little oversight, military leaders acted as if they were independent of the government. In the meantime, he's spending time with his wife and kids. Anthony Galeota was born October 17, 1968, on Long Island. Photo courtesy of Josh Weiss - Giant insects infest the prison. Guards with machine guns man rusty metal towers. Sheila Flynn For Dailymail.com "My wife could have left me. 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. When his dad lost his job, Tony paid the bills. But the Doll House and Moulin Rouge remain closed. 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. independent local journalism in Miami. "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. There is no rehabilitation here," he says. MICHAEL GALEOTA OBITUARY. "It was a very violent atmosphere," he says. They tried to squeeze Fainberg to get Seidle. Anthony Galeota was born October 17, 1968, on Long Island. Sign Up. Galeota is one of several Americans locked up here. Thats how they eventually uncovered the plot to sell a submarine to the Cali cartel, orchestrated by Tarzan, exotic car importer Juan Almeida and Nelson Tony Yester, a Cuban immigrant believed to be a trained intelligence operative who remains an international fugitive to this day. Cops had made several controlled buys of drugs. 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. As the authorities closed in, they picked up Juan and Tarzan, but they couldnt find Tony and neither could the cartel. Gunshots flashed like fireworks in the darkness. For a while, Panama's pay-to-play culture suited Galeota just fine. Photo courtesy of Josh Weiss A prisoner poses with a gun smuggled into La Joya with help from guards. We had a $500,000 house, cars, and motorcycles. "When you're in La Joya for two years, you get used to that environment," Galeota says. 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. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. 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 But Galeota's problems aren't completely behind him. "There were beautiful girls, just walking the streets, giving blowjobs for $10 or $15.". "Now I'm living in hell.". Im gonna see them in f***ing hell when I arrive there., Russell says the fugitive is probably one of the most fascinating human beings Ive ever been in a room with., He adds: Theres five other films you couldve made about his life and life experiences, and yet he was charming and cultured and funny and also, then, on a dime deadly serious, not somebody that you trifle with. He was 31. We travelled all the time. He paid for her to secretly get an abortion. Almeida, back in Moscow, trying to work out yet another deal and not realizing that this one had already soured, managed to temporarily elude arrest. But Tony had darker secrets. Johns paid $100 to rent a VIP room downstairs. "It was a nightmare in there. Galeota tried going straight, opening a coffee shop in downtown Panama City. It was a lot of kind of romancing them and explaining to them, hey, this is your chance to tell your story on kind of a broad canvas. ), 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. And I'm not asking her to. But Tony had darker secrets. "They knew some Russian guy named Tarzan who had just opened up a club in Miami called Porky's. His mother, Bonnie Gellilti, was "a bit of a criminal," Tony remembers. Join the New Times community and help support The gig introduced him to a lifelong vice. "Miami is a place where I would love to live," he pronounced, "and where I would love to die." Galeota says the police had already gotten what they wanted: Porky's demise. While on routine patrol, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection plane spotted a suspicious speed boat. Days go by without water, and when it does arrive, it's turbid sludge from a nearby river. It wasn't until he ordered some Italian food and a cold Guinness that he finally felt like he was free. Controlling it. It's not quite Shawshank Redemption, but when Tony Galeota walked out of a Panama City jail cell May 23, it was still a small serving of justice. Just not a strip club. Instead, they eat rice for lunch and dinner, drink dirty river water, and use a hole in the ground for a toilet. As for his career, his only oath is that he won't let his sons follow his example. In the distance, La Cordillera de San Blas cuts through the Panamanian jungle like a serrated knife. 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. As he sweated in jail, Galeota's Panamanian empire crumbled. "It was a real moneymaker. According to the Coast Guard: It first took place north of the Gulf of Uraba. 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. He headed right to his beloved Miami, Florida. But killings are common in Panama's worst prison, where the smell of raw sewage wafts over the yard, metal shackles hang from moldy staircases, and overcrowded cells house nearly 3,500 of the Western Hemisphere's vilest murderers, rapists, and drug traffickers. "A family type thing, like an ale house with wings and beer," he says. As for Yester taking a flier with the cartel money, Tarzan says he would have done the same himself if he could have and expresses no hard feelings. "Their connections were bigger than ours," he says. When Seidle died in 2008, Porky's political protection followed the 82-year-old to the grave. But his mind was on another kind of riches. Kristy was a self-described "firecracker" who had also escaped from an abusive home and wanted attention. McDonald expects those will be dismissed as well, but not for months. This is a guy that the FBI went after for years but could never get him. I got a piece of the action of every blowjob that my friends got," Galeota says. "I was always looking for their approval," he says, "but I never got that. Tony Gogetta. 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 . When he was 16, he knocked up his 15-year-old girlfriend at Hauppauge High School. 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. 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. 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. This time, I'm innocent.". independent local journalism in Miami. He raises his eyebrows and looks upwards to the left to emphasize just how flabbergasted he was with Mishas counter question. In the second interdiction, a Customs plane spotted another suspicious boat off the coast of Panama on August 28th. Miami's underworld may still be seedy, but it has outsourced much of its shadiness to nearby Third-World countries such as Panama.

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