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 Can he prove his innocence and escape? 16:56 GMT 13 Mar 2018 Greed got the better of him. Join the New Times community and help support Instead of celebrating, he walked through the scuzzy neighbourhood until he found a shabby motel. 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. His nightmare began in June , when police raided his Panama City strip club and arrested him and his Ukrainian partner for trafficking women and selling drugs. 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. Tony Galletta. The 43-year-old is shaped like a mini refrigerator: short and squat, with a shaved head and wide-set emerald eyes. When he left to open a bona fide brothel in Panama, Galeota thought the country's lax prostitution laws would make him rich. 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 Make a one-time donation today for as little as $1. This time, I'm innocent.". 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. MIAMI BEACH (CBSMiami) The Coast Guard offloaded about $93 million of cocaine Thursday afternoon on Miami Beach. Anthony Galeota was born October 17, 1968, on Long Island. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. But this was Hialeah.". Galeota is one of several Americans locked up here. 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. Sixteen months later, the two men have yet to appear in court. 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. Anthony Galeota was born October 17, 1968, on Long Island. 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. Biography. Log In. 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. Then she'd charge my friends $50 each," he says. "But I did it for my child.". Galeota's sheer size and mob connections are the only things keeping him from getting shivved in the dark. "I'm in survival mode now," Galeota says, adding that he agonizes over being imprisoned for what he believes are unjust charges. "My wife can say she has regrets, but that's bullshit," he says. "I lived it up in Miami," he says. Galeota's sheer size and mob connections are the only things keeping him from getting shivved in the dark. Eventually, however, he made his way to Tarzan. "No one can tell us how long he will be in there," she says. and help keep the future of New Times, Use of this website constitutes acceptance of our. Tony Galeto. He answered only to property owner William Seidle, a U.S. Bankruptcy Court trustee who ran a chain of car dealerships. When a dancer clapped her ass cheeks like a maraca, a customer's hands instinctively rose to touch them. In the early 1990s, three friends set out to hustle the Russian mob, the Cali cartel and the DEA for the score of a lifetime. In the meantime, he's spending time with his wife and kids. Catherine says she slept with customers because she needed the money to support her family. 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. "There was no transportation, no cops, no nothing," 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. 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. Were out there to cause an effect in the drug industry and I believe we made a little dent on it.. or. You could not mislead him in any way or you could tell that the consequences could be serious, but I loved him. Behind him, 12-foot-high fences topped with spools of barbed wire frame a muddy soccer field. All he needed now were the prostitutes. "These guys were into just about everything," Assistant U.S. Attorney Diana Fernandez said at the time. As he contemplates the question, Galeota watches his fellow inmates kick a soccer ball across La Joya's putrid playground. Inmates are fed bread and cheese for breakfast and rice (sometimes beans) for lunch and dinner. I'm kind of stuck with it. 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 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. 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. We travelled all the time. In the meantime, he's spending time with his wife and kids. It was apparent they had what appeared to be narcotics and after we did the test they had bales on board of pure cocaine, said Boatswains Mate Omar Castro with the U.S. Coast Guard. Galeota tried going straight, opening a coffee shop in downtown Panama City. Through the air plane window, Tony Galeota could see the city's colonial churches glow like polished gold. Three weeks after the Doll House raid, Kristy was working the bar at Bongos when three teenagers walked into the restaurant. Facilitating it. Panama had gone from paradise to purgatory. 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. Anywhere other than La Joya, this news would be shocking. But then the country's corrupt system turned on them. But she insists that her husband's imprisonment has brought them closer. Then she'd charge my friends $50 each," he says. ", 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/. Girls charged $150 or more for sex. "Everybody give me your money!" 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. A kilo of cocaine in Panama costs much less - about $5,000 per. "I wouldn't leave a dog in that prison, let alone my husband.". 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. Moreover, trafficking prostitutes and drugs and involvement in organized crime are some serious charges.". Make a one-time donation today for as little as $1. "They murdered a guy in here a couple of days ago," Tony Galeota says. Finally, on May 23, the gate on Galeota's cramped cell swung open, and he was free to go. With dark hair and pale, wide-set eyes, teenage Tony resembled a stocky Frank Sinatra. McDonald expects those will be dismissed as well, but not for months. "Their connections were bigger than ours," he says. There was a spate of murders, several police raids, and a federal drug-trafficking trial. South Florida's independent They had girls in every city. Police repeatedly raided the club, yet Galeota escaped unscathed every time. When he discovered he was about to be subpoenaed, he withdrew $2,500 from the bank and boarded a two-week Caribbean cruise. 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. "Now I'm living in hell.". The Coast Guard said each one of the kilos is worth $33,000. Juan, Tarzan and law enforcement insisted there was no way hed agree to participate in the documentary. "It was puppy love," he says. I got a piece of the action of every blowjob that my friends got," Galeota says. Police again surrounded Porky's in the early hours of May 9, 2009. "Like me, he was a black sheep who could do nothing right.". By then, the club's criminal clientele and Fainberg's increasingly lavish lifestyle had raised eyebrows. "I lived it up in Miami," he says. "He had that guido effect on me," she says. But Tony had darker secrets. Eventually, he moved two dozen ladies to Panama City. But the deal never happened. A friend suggested Panama. 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. 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. Miami's independent source of And I'm not asking her to.". "She would use shoe polish to change our driver's licenses so we could go to clubs and drink when we were 15. "They had what seemed like a dynamite case, but it has ended up in pieces.". Tarzan, Almeida and Yester had previously teamed on multimillion-dollar deals for Colombian cocaine barons, snagging motorcycles and Kamov 32 military helicopters (with two rotors and capable of transporting 5,000 kilos of cocaine via hook). The Coast Guard said four suspected smugglers were taken into custody and 32 bales of cocaine were found in the water. Marshals deported Ludwig Fainberg from Miami. Meanwhile, the task force had gotten wind of the bizarre submarine plan; not only had they wiretapped Tarzan, but they had also inserted an undercover agent into the operation an agent who appears in the documentary after undergoing an extensive makeup disguise because he continues to work undercover cases involving the Russian mob. 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? But the man's paws were soon on her crotch again. "My father wasn't in the mob, but his friends were," Tony says. Join Facebook to connect with Anthony Galeota and others you may know. I know its gonna be a strange question. But Monday morning, when it came time to walk out of La Joya, there was no vehicle waiting. At night, the guards lock the gate and leave, turning over control of each cell block to prisoners. I flew to a little island near St. Petersburg, met with a retired Russian admiral, and he took me to the navy base, says Tarzan. "Last week we were supposed to have a hearing, but there was no running water in Panama City. Nobody was impressed more than Kristy Sharpe, an 18-year-old waitress from Orlando with blond hair, blue eyes, and lightly freckled skin. Moreover, trafficking prostitutes and drugs and involvement in organized crime are some serious charges.". With dark hair and pale, wide-set eyes, teenage Tony resembled a stocky Frank Sinatra. Galeota's enemies say that a life of sin has finally caught up with the flesh-peddler. Because of his age, he escaped with six months' probation. He bought seven properties pretty much sight unseen.". In this real life Goodfellas tale, New York teen John Alite gets a job at his local Deli, a hangout for 'wise guys'. Galeota examines a bruise from a prison fight in La Joya. 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. Tony Galeota's age is expected to be 52. 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. He headed right to his beloved Miami, Florida. More at IMDbPro Contact Info: View agent, publicist, legal on IMDbPro. Family members can also bring them food and clean water, however, and inmates bribe guards to smuggle in additional items. One man stabbed someone over a $10 debt. "That's the problem.". We've received your submission. "I want to go legit when I get out, but if the economy is bad, I might go back to the industry," he says. 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. In an instant, Galeota's meaty hand was around the customer's neck, shoving him outside. His government protection would evaporate, the Doll House would be raided, his investments would be stolen, and he would be arrested. Its Colombian dancers were in Panama on six-month tourist visas, weren't licensed as prostitutes, and weren't getting required weekly health checkups. According to Yester, the cartel provided an initial payment of $10 million. This time, I'm innocent.". See Photos. Wrongly imprisoned. Everybody wanted to make money. Let me check.. He ogled the women standing on corners in their underwear and high heels. But he was too shell-shocked to take up his attorney's offer for a ride to a nice hotel. Controlling it. The domestic bliss lasted only a couple of weeks. His Doll House dream began at Porky's. The 43-year-old is shaped like a mini refrigerator: short and squat, with a shaved head and wide-set emerald eyes. A year later, it was $115,000 per month.". The year before, his father helped him land a job as a wedding DJ. 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. Tony Galeota has a wife named Kristy Galeota, with whom he lives. Reborn behind bars. Miami's underworld may still be seedy, but it has outsourced much of its shadiness to nearby Third-World countries such as Panama. Log In. 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. 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. So I was literally stepping over dead bodies of the people who had been shanked and stuff over the course of the night.. ", - 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. "It was home to a lot of shrewd and nefarious characters.". Michael Galeota, who starred on the Disney Channel's "The Jersey" died Sunday, according to Variety. See also: "From Porky's to Panamanian Prison: Web Extra.". For the most part, Doll House dancers agree. When his younger brother was molested, he beat the suspected perpetrator to a pulp. Galeota is not exactly repentant. When he heard that his old partner in crime from Porky's had moved to Panama, he flew in to meet with Galeota. There was nothing unusual about it. The American says he's giving up the strip club and brothel businesses. And twice they had given up. "The first month, we had $15,000 in gross sales. A judge eventually dropped the human trafficking charge, but Galeota still rotted in his sordid cell alongside insects the size of small dogs. They went Maserati shopping by helicopter so they could look at the cars from the air. Instead, they eat rice for lunch and dinner, drink dirty river water, and use a hole in the ground for a toilet. 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. They taught him the rules, the most important of which Galeota took to heart: "You can have your girlfriends on the side," he remembers hearing, "but never leave your wife.". Panamanian police had been casing the Doll House, Moulin Rouge, and another joint, called Havana Club, for weeks. The Doll House couldn't expand fast enough to meet the influx of sex tourists. And when his mother was distraught over a broken washing machine, he filled the house with new appliances. "I've done a lot of shady things in the States," he admits. It was a caper, for sure., He says: Tarzan was the lynchpin to it, because it was his story.