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He was 31. "We were like: 'We want to get the fuck out of here. The crew boarded the 165-foot Panamanian-flagged coastal freighter Hope II. And like the Italian-American crooner, he loved women a little too much. October 4, 2012 I know its gonna be a strange question. "Now I'm living in hell.". All he needed now were the prostitutes. "They murdered a guy in here a couple of days ago," Tony Galeota says. MIAMI BEACH (CBSMiami) The Coast Guard offloaded about $93 million of cocaine Thursday afternoon on Miami Beach. As he sweated in jail, Galeota's Panamanian empire crumbled. 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. But his mind was on another kind of riches. When youre rolling with the criminal underworld, its always weird; its really weird in Russia.. "I've been in this business my whole life. "My father wasn't in the mob, but his friends were," Tony says. When his dad lost his job, Tony paid the bills. More than anything, Galeota is grateful that his family kept faith in him. 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. Sixteen months later, the two men have yet to appear in court. "I lived it up in Miami," he says. It had been ten years since U.S. Running an underworld operation in Cocaine Cowboys-era Miami wasn't an easy gig. Tony and Kristy were shocked and out of a job. A tattoo of an Italian Mafioso emerges from an extra-large sleeveless T-shirt. The bartender hid in the bathroom and dialed 911. It was coke or pimping or messing with the wrong people.. 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. A judge eventually dropped the human trafficking charge, but Galeota still rotted in his sordid cell alongside insects the size of small dogs. One man stabbed someone over a $10 debt. 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. People named Tony Galeota Find your friends on Facebook Log in or sign up for Facebook to connect with friends, family and people you know. Galeota's enemies say that a life of sin has finally caught up with the flesh-peddler. 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. 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. "They shot him in the middle of the night," Galeota continues quietly, "and buried his body behind the pavilion.". 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. "There were beautiful girls, just walking the streets, giving blowjobs for $10 or $15.". 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? Tony Gogetta. ", Instead, he found another, tighter-knit family: the mob. The irony is not lost on Galeota that after a life of crime in Miami, he was arrested in Panama just as he was going legit. 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. Kristy and his sons hid in a shabby, poorly protected office. He was a character.. Prostitution in Miami had become too risky, he decided, but overseas sex tourism was soaring. 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. He didn't stay long. 16:56 GMT 13 Mar 2018 Once they spotted the plane, they changed course which is suspicious for us, said Boatswains Mate 1st Class, Joshua McElhaney with the Coast Guard. It is not known when he was born or his current age. ", McDonald has succeeded, however, in chipping away at the case, persuading a judge three weeks ago to drop the trafficking charge on a technicality. "My wife could have left me. Galeota may not be a good man, but he is brutally honest. Galeota is one of several Americans locked up here. 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. Reborn behind bars. she scoffs. Here, Galeota is just one of 500 prisoners crammed into a filthy cell block designed to hold 200 people. Over the years, Galeota saw nearly a dozen shootings at Porky's, some of them fatal. But he insists that, for once, he has done nothing wrong. Galeota says the police had already gotten what they wanted: Porky's demise. "Anthony has been in jail for more than 15 months, and a judge hasn't even heard his case yet!" "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. 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At night, the guards lock the gate and leave, turning over control of each cell block to prisoners. If anything, Galeota's life got even more out of control after Fainberg's arrest. The gig introduced him to a lifelong vice. This business has been very good to me.". the agent said. On a crowded balcony overlooking La Joya, Galeota describes the past 16 months as a nightmare. Ten million dollars really feels like 10 million dollars, he gushes in the movie. Business was better, but it still wouldn't make him rich. Guards with machine guns man rusty metal towers. The value then triples to $100,000 per kilo at the street level when it's busted down for individual use. A friend suggested Panama. 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. The message was that the cocaine traffickers would kill Yesters family members. Galeota's enemies say that a life of sin has finally caught up with the flesh-peddler. Advertisement. "He never forced us to do anything. By the time he was 18, he had been arrested seven times for armed robbery and assault, he says. It was February 2011, and he was preparing to open the Doll House, his own strip club in Panama. Galeota is one of several Americans locked up here. Between the restaurant and the Doll House, he was making enough to retire in five years. "Whenever there is an American businessman involved in crime here in Panama, it becomes an important case. 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. But bloodshed would follow them to Miami. Moreover, trafficking prostitutes and drugs and involvement in organized crime are some serious charges.". I have to tell you, all my enemies are dead, and Im happy, he says in the documentary. "I thought I would kick up my heels together like 'Oh my God, I'm finally out,'" he says. Galeota is one of several Americans locked up here. It was a weeknight, and Porky's was washed in pale-pink neon light. Its impossible but only because its true. "We just meshed," she says. During a visit last month, a New Times reporter witnessed one police official receive a $20 bill in a barely disguised handshake. "She would use shoe polish to change our driver's licenses so we could go to clubs and drink when we were 15. On Friday, May 17, Galeota got word that the judge had also dismissed the drug charge because of lack of evidence. Panama had gone from paradise to purgatory. 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 Tarzan managed to get light punishment for his 1997 conviction; he rolled over on Almeida and spent 30 months behind bars before being deported to Israel, where his family had immigrated, in 1999. Over the course of three months, undercover detectives made dozens of visits, tallying up a vivid snapshot of the club: "15 purchases of cocaine, four purchases of MDMA, one purchase of Xanax, one purchase of marijuana, 18 solicitations for prostitution, [and] 20 lewd acts.". It could be worse. 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. Tony Goleta. Thanks to a successful appeal, Almeida served only 18 months for his part in the sub caper. Tony Galeota Age And Family. Almeida was a specialist in obtaining black-market goods for status-crazed drug dealers. "I've done a lot of shady things in the States," he admits. "That's obstruction of justice.". But their courtship was cut short. "A family type thing, like an ale house with wings and beer," he says. Also read: Tony Galeota: From Running. (A New York Police Department spokesman says records from that far back aren't available.) More than anything, Galeota is grateful that his family kept faith in him. Finally, on May 23, the gate on Galeota's cramped cell swung open, and he was free to go. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. "They had what seemed like a dynamite case, but it has ended up in pieces.". Its a great satisfaction after being two months deployed and everybodys tired but you come home with a case like this its very satisfying, said Castro. "They knew some Russian guy named Tarzan who had just opened up a club in Miami called Porky's. Update information for Tony Galeota . If Galeota is freed, it will be a major blow for Panama's prostitution crackdown. People named Tony Galeta. Docs need stars just like features need stars. But instead of classical music, his specialty is sex. Facilitating it. When he discovered he was about to be subpoenaed, he withdrew $2,500 from the bank and boarded a two-week Caribbean cruise. But the deal never happened. "My family didn't care; they took it," Galeota says of the stolen goods. When traffickers balked at the price, Yester reminded them that it could hold 40 tons of cocaine and would pay for itself quickly. 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. Get the latest updates in news, food, music and culture, and receive special offers direct to your inbox. He broke it off with the woman, but his problems were only beginning. Galeota tried going straight, opening a coffee shop in downtown Panama City. Galeota jumped at the deal. Get started U.S. Yearbooks Name Index, 1890-1979. Anywhere other than La Joya, this news would be shocking. "I brought in music and women," Galeota says. , updated Anthony Galeota was born October 17, 1968, on Long Island. "He had that guido effect on me," she says. Indeed, Tony would turn Porky's into a moneymaking machine. Then they pushed play on a cassette deck. 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. And she launched drunken tirades at Tony after baseball games, no matter how well the all-star shortstop performed. By then, the club's criminal clientele and Fainberg's increasingly lavish lifestyle had raised eyebrows. And he hopes to open a place in Fort Lauderdale when he's back. ), The narcotics charge, however, still stands despite little evidence linking Galeota to the drugs. 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. Filthy and crowded cell block of La Joya Prison, Panama. Anywhere other than La Joya, this news would be shocking. Juan, Tarzan and law enforcement insisted there was no way hed agree to participate in the documentary. Access is free so discover Tony Galeota's story today. Biography. Kristy was able to pay a lawyer $500 to get her son released, but there was no bond for Galeota's drug offense. Instead, Galeota admits he's done bad things, such as. With little oversight, military leaders acted as if they were independent of the government. See Photos. In an instant, Galeota's meaty hand was around the customer's neck, shoving him outside. Nearly 300 feet long with 10 torpedo tubes (empty in this case), it was diesel but could be converted to electric for silent running. Make a one-time donation today for as little as $1. 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. The domestic bliss lasted only a couple of weeks. Instead, he's trapped in a labyrinthine legal system, alone and unable to speak Spanish. But he was too shell-shocked to take up his attorney's offer for a ride to a nice hotel. Tony is my friend, and well always love each other. "It was puppy love," he says. By now, she knows of his many infidelities, including that he lived and slept with some of the girls at the Doll House. "I've done a lot of shady things in the States," he admits. Director Robin Dashwood Stars Alex Andreas Ricardo Burgos Tony Galeota Become a member to support the independent voice of South Florida But Porky's was just a Hialeah dive bar on the corner of SE 14th Street and Ninth Avenue, surrounded by cheap motels and buzzed by flights taking off from Miami International Airport. And, above all, selling it. Skip Ancestry main menu Main Menu He left, but returned with a gun. By the time they returned to Long Island later that night, a pimp was born. Tony Galletta. I said, Thank you, Cali cartel. In the distance, La Cordillera de San Blas cuts through the Panamanian jungle like a serrated knife. He bought seven properties pretty much sight unseen.". S10 E10 - Miami Mobster Take Down Tony Galeota is framed for drug trafficking in Panama City. Tony Galeta. 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 You could not mislead him in any way or you could tell that the consequences could be serious, but I loved him. "These guys were into just about everything," Assistant U.S. Attorney Diana Fernandez said at the time. 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. 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.