His father, Arnold, was a strait-laced sales manager but a distant and disapproving dad. This is a guy that the FBI went after for years but could never get him. Inmates are fed bread and cheese for breakfast and rice (sometimes beans) for lunch and dinner. 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. Nobody was impressed more than Kristy Sharpe, an 18-year-old waitress from Orlando with blond hair, blue eyes, and lightly freckled skin. 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. 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. Reborn behind bars. See also: "From Porky's to Panamanian Prison: Web Extra.". Guards with machine guns man rusty metal towers. And there was absolutely no bullshit. Twice, American authorities had investigated Galeota. 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!' "My father wasn't in the mob, but his friends were," Tony says. 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. Like a concert pianist, Tony Galeota has spent his life honing a single skill since he was a teenager. Meet me in Africa for a cup of coffee tomorrow.. Galeota examines a bruise from a prison fight in La Joya. 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. Follow Miami New Times on Facebook and Twitter @MiamiNewTimes. "Whenever there is an American businessman involved in crime here in Panama, it becomes an important case. The two ran Porky's for another decade after Fainberg's deportation. All the services here are free. 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). Over the years, Galeota saw nearly a dozen shootings at Porky's, some of them fatal. In the distance, La Cordillera de San Blas cuts through the Panamanian jungle like a serrated knife. "Running a club in that neighborhood, win or lose, you've got to fight.". Reborn behind bars. Galeota is one of several Americans locked up here. The heavy-set Italian even signed a release. "It was a real moneymaker. He was 31. Tony is my friend, and well always love each other. "There was no transportation, no cops, no nothing," he says. He paid for her to secretly get an abortion. People named Tony Galeta. 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. They went Maserati shopping by helicopter so they could look at the cars from the air. Russell did as he was told and flew to the appointed city in Africa; as soon as he walked into his hotel room, the phone rang and he was instructed to be downstairs in five minutes, where Tony whisked him off in a Porsche Cayenne and they spent several surreal days together; Tony showed the director his Russian fighter jet, which had $5million in the cockpit as the fugitives getaway plan, and told his part of the story. They were very compliant to everything we asked of them, said McElhaney. But the man's paws were soon on her crotch again. Join the New Times community and help support independent "When you're in La Joya for two years, you get used to that environment," Galeota says. Miami's underworld may still be seedy, but it has outsourced much of its shadiness to nearby Third-World countries such as Panama. "It was a nightmare in there.". 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. Awards. 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'm used to getting my water from a rain bucket, not hot from the tap." The eight crew members aboard the Hope II and the vessel were taken into custody and will be turned over to U.S. officials for further investigation. Galeota tried going straight, opening a coffee shop in downtown Panama City. Can he prove his innocence and escape? "Now I'm living in hell.". The FBI swooped in January 21, surrounding the club and arresting Fainberg. This story has been shared 173,716 times. On a crowded balcony overlooking La Joya, Galeota describes the past 16 months as a nightmare. But he insists that, for once, he has done nothing wrong. she scoffs. The 43-year-old is shaped like a mini refrigerator: short and squat, with a shaved head and wide-set emerald eyes. All he needed now were the prostitutes. one of the kids shouted as he pulled a handkerchief over his face and wildly swung a revolver. October 4, 2012 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. "But she's never going to forget. As Shea tried to pull the panties off one of the dancers, he heard police sirens in the distance and bolted. We have a lot of laughs about it now," he says. Here, Galeota is just one of 500 prisoners crammed into a filthy cell block designed to hold 200 people. The submarine request, which came from Yester on behalf of the cartel, was not as outrageous as it now sounds. His father, Arnold, was a strait-laced sales manager but a distant and disapproving dad. 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. 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. Half an hour later, Galeota was guarding the door when a car rolled up with the window down. A large Russian man called Tarzan sits in an armchair against the backdrop of a cracked and stained wall, a pack of cigarettes, lighter and an ash tray on a table to his left, and he shrugs as he talks about a deal he tried to broker more than 20 years ago. "The worst part of being in here is being in here for nothing. "There were beautiful girls, just walking the streets, giving blowjobs for $10 or $15.". Update information for Tony Galeota . He was very serious and said he would look into it. He could convince you that the sky was green." 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. ", McDonald has succeeded, however, in chipping away at the case, persuading a judge three weeks ago to drop the trafficking charge on a technicality. His government protection would evaporate, the Doll House would be raided, his investments would be stolen, and he would be arrested. "We were like: 'We want to get the fuck out of here. "It's not an easy choice," she says. But Galeota's plan would soon go catastrophically wrong. A kilo of cocaine in Panama costs much less - about $5,000 per. Galeota is no angelic Andy Dufresne, the main character in Shawshank who serves two decades behind bars for a crime he didn't commit. "But I've always paid for everything, either with stitches in my head, concussions, or jail time. and help keep the future of New Times, Use of this website constitutes acceptance of our. The crew boarded the 165-foot Panamanian-flagged coastal freighter Hope II. Dancers with names like Baby Doll, Tipsie, Trixie, and Crme offered to have sex with the cops for as little as $150, court records show. Tony Galeota Age And Family. 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. Galeota is no angelic Andy Dufresne, the main character in Shawshank who serves two decades behind bars for a crime he didn't commit. "My father wasn't in the mob, but his friends were," Tony says. Galeota's enemies say that a life of sin has finally caught up with the flesh-peddler. More than anything, Galeota is grateful that his family kept faith in him. Log in or sign up for Facebook to connect with friends, family and people you know. Galeota is one of several Americans locked up here. "Anthony has been in jail for more than 15 months, and a judge hasn't even heard his case yet!" 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. You could not mislead him in any way or you could tell that the consequences could be serious, but I loved him. State and local police launched an investigation in February 2009. Galeota and his "girls" in the Doll House, before the bust. His father, Arnold, was a strait-laced sales manager but a distant and disapproving dad. 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. Furious and Busted Rick Cedar steals radios to support his family. "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. "My wife is never going to completely trust me. We asked them some questions and some of their information didnt quite add up, so we conducted a boarding.. More at IMDbPro Contact Info: View agent, publicist, legal on IMDbPro. This time, I'm innocent.". Inside, the bar is still littered with half-empty bottles of Chivas Regal. "I used to have to patch Tony up all the time," Kristy says. At the entrance to La Joya, ant hills and wasp nests surround a wooden sign. With little oversight, military leaders acted as if they were independent of the government. 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. Anthony Galeota was born October 17, 1968, on Long Island. We break down the best movies and series to watch in November in theaters and streaming. The year before, his father helped him land a job as a wedding DJ. The young mobster needed to lay low, so the Pacciones sent him south to a strip club called the Porthole Pub in Pompano Beach. With dark hair and pale, wide-set eyes, teenage Tony resembled a stocky Frank Sinatra. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. Even then, however, he couldn't sleep. A judge eventually dropped the human trafficking charge, but Galeota still rotted in his sordid cell alongside insects the size of small dogs. Wrongly imprisoned. (Panama passed harsher penalties for human trafficking during Galeota's incarceration, but Galeota can't be prosecuted under laws that weren't in place when he was arrested. When Kristy and their three sons finally arrived in June, the business became a family affair: His wife took over at Bongos, while Galeota concentrated on turning the club into a cash machine. It continued at another local strip club, called Quarterbacks Playmates Lounge. 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 Galeota avoided testifying, Fainberg faced 30 counts including racketeering and conspiracy to traffic cocaine and heroin. But Monday morning, when it came time to walk out of La Joya, there was no vehicle waiting. He was 31. Thanks to a successful appeal, Almeida served only 18 months for his part in the sub caper. One scammer stole from another scammer; of course I accept it, he says. Anthony Galeota was born October 17, 1968, on Long Island. The drugs will be turned over to the DEA. Tony Kaleta. Galeota is one of several Americans locked up here. "It was a nightmare in there. By then, the club's criminal clientele and Fainberg's increasingly lavish lifestyle had raised eyebrows. "I thought I would kick up my heels together like 'Oh my God, I'm finally out,'" he says. "This country is corrupt. 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. "My wife can say she has regrets, but that's bullshit," he says. Kristy caught Tony cheating several times, she says. In the meantime, he's spending time with his wife and kids. "I want to go legit when I get out, but if the economy is bad, I might go back to the industry," he says. "The first month, we had $15,000 in gross sales. "I thought I would kick up my heels together like 'Oh my God, I'm finally out,'" he says. He paid for her to secretly get an abortion. 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. He was 31. Let me check.. According to the Coast Guard: It first took place north of the Gulf of Uraba. His father, Arnold, was a strait-laced sales manager but a distant and disapproving dad. Greed got the better of him. It wasn't until he ordered some Italian food and a cold Guinness that he finally felt like he was free. "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. and help keep the future of New Times, Use of this website constitutes acceptance of our, From Porky's to Panamanian Prison: Web Extra. Anywhere other than La Joya, this news would be shocking. 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. When youre rolling with the criminal underworld, its always weird; its really weird in Russia.. A judge eventually dropped the human trafficking charge, but Galeota still rotted in his sordid cell alongside insects the size of small dogs. Tony Galeota lived in 1954, at address, Massachusetts. independent local journalism in Miami. When traffickers balked at the price, Yester reminded them that it could hold 40 tons of cocaine and would pay for itself quickly. A tattoo of an Italian Mafioso emerges from an extra-large sleeveless T-shirt. A friend suggested Panama. "When you go to prison, it's like dying, but you get to see your own funeral," Galeota says. Log In. GALEOTA, Joseph A., Sr. Joseph A. Galeota Sr., 86, of Ashford CT, died on Wednesday (January 26, 2011) at Windham Hospital from congestive heart failure. 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. Here, Galeota is just one of 500 prisoners crammed into a filthy cell block designed to hold 200 people. The nightmare deepened for Galeota. And she launched drunken tirades at Tony after baseball games, no matter how well the all-star shortstop performed. Gunshots flashed like fireworks in the darkness. But Galeota was convinced the cops were bluffing and refused to cooperate. When Seidle died in 2008, Porky's political protection followed the 82-year-old to the grave. , updated He paid for her to secretly get an abortion. Tarzan and one of his partners, 'Fat Tony' Galeota, had opened a strip club in Panama similar to a previous enterprise in Miami called Porky's - but they landed behind bars in Central America.. The last one locked the door. "It was puppy love," he says. Sixteen months later, the two men have yet to appear in court. Prostitution is legal in Panama," he complains. Galeota is no angelic Andy Dufresne, the main character in Shawshank who serves two decades behind bars for a crime he didn't commit. Instead of celebrating, he walked through the scuzzy neighbourhood until he found a shabby motel. While on routine patrol, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection plane spotted a suspicious speed boat. Here, Galeota is just one of 500 prisoners crammed into a filthy cell block designed to hold 200 people. "Luis pulled out a .38 and shot the guy in the chest. That didnt stop Russell from trying to get them on board with doing a film about the submarine deal. Kristy was a self-described "firecracker" who had also escaped from an abusive home and wanted attention. But this was Hialeah.". He answered only to property owner William Seidle, a U.S. Bankruptcy Court trustee who ran a chain of car dealerships. Because of his age, he escaped with six months' probation. He ogled the women standing on corners in their underwear and high heels. Instead, he's trapped in a labyrinthine legal system, alone and unable to speak Spanish. Then she'd charge my friends $50 each," he says. These interdiction's were part of Operation Martillo, an international operation to fight illegal trafficking. Business was better, but it still wouldn't make him rich. Instead, they eat rice for lunch and dinner, drink dirty river water, and use a hole in the ground for a toilet. Three weeks after the Doll House raid, Kristy was working the bar at Bongos when three teenagers walked into the restaurant. Wrongly imprisoned. "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. "But she's never going to forget. ", - 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. "She would use shoe polish to change our driver's licenses so we could go to clubs and drink when we were 15. But when he opens a new club in Panama City, the competition isn't happy and frames him for drug dealing. 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. The Porky's party nearly came to a sudden end in early 1997. Police again surrounded Porky's in the early hours of May 9, 2009. But he insists that, for once, he has done nothing wrong. I never got a straight answer [about why he was in jail there], says Russell. It was February 2011, and he was preparing to open the Doll House, his own strip club in Panama. 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. Galeota may not be a good man, but he is brutally honest. His attorney has warned him that prosecutors will likely appeal, so he plans to stay in Panama until his case is resolved. 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. As he contemplates the question, Galeota watches his fellow inmates kick a soccer ball across La Joya's putrid playground. Has a stint in Panamanian prison reformed Miami's most notorious strip club manager? "I was always looking for their approval," he says, "but I never got that. Galeota already lived according to a gangster's code. 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. Photo courtesy of Josh Weiss - Giant insects infest the prison. With dark hair and pale, wide-set eyes, teenage Tony resembled a stocky Frank Sinatra. Miami's underworld may still be seedy, but it has outsourced much of its shadiness to nearby Third-World countries such as Panama. Sixteen months later, the two men have yet to appear in court. He created a souped-up cigarette boat that went for $2 million and was presumably used to transport cocaine. But Tony had darker secrets. "Their connections were bigger than ours," he says. As the authorities closed in, they picked up Juan and Tarzan, but they couldnt find Tony and neither could the cartel. Guards with machine guns man rusty metal towers. They were concerned that Tarzan and his arriviste colleagues in crime would merge with Cuban mobsters who already used brutal, bloody force to rule Miamis underworld and create a sort of supergroup of criminality. 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. Sheila Flynn For Dailymail.com Documentary Drama When Miami mobster Tony Galeota opens a club in Panama City, the competition frames him for drug dealing and human trafficking. 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. We've been here for two years!'

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