Log In. Controlling it. "They shot him in the middle of the night," Galeota continues quietly, "and buried his body behind the pavilion.". I hoped to walk away from the deal with $10 million.. Michael Galeota, who starred on the Disney Channel's "The Jersey" died Sunday, according to Variety. (CBS Miami). And last year, Yester was finally arrested in Rome on charges unrelated to the submarine while en route to a wedding. And he hopes to open a place in Fort Lauderdale when he's back, Just not a strip club. One man stabbed someone over a $10 debt. Instead, Galeota admits he's done bad things, such as. Here, Galeota is just one of 500 prisoners crammed into a filthy cell block designed to hold 200 people. He broke it off with the woman, but his problems were only beginning. "We just meshed," she says. Galeota's wife Kristy comments "Porky's was definitely a place you could get killed." But Tony had darker secrets. He bought seven properties pretty much sight unseen.". "The worst part of being in here is being in here for nothing. She is cute and curvy with dark hair and a button nose. Galeota saw an opportunity. But the deal never happened. He was a loan shark: generously offering money but punishing those who didn't pay back. The Marin Post 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. "My family didn't care; they took it," Galeota says of the stolen goods. With little oversight, military leaders acted as if they were independent of the government. June 4, 2013 He didn't stay long. The submarine request, which came from Yester on behalf of the cartel, was not as outrageous as it now sounds. Anthony Galeota was born October 17, 1968, on Long Island. He answered only to property owner William Seidle, a U.S. Bankruptcy Court trustee who ran a chain of car dealerships. Get the latest updates in news, food, music and culture, and receive special offers direct to your inbox. On Friday, May 17, Galeota got word that the judge had also dismissed the drug charge because of lack of evidence. Tony Galeota. During the Doll House raid, they found marked bills in the register and several grams of pot on a promoter. Michael Galeota Obituary (1984 - 2016) - Pontotoc, MS - Pontotoc Progress 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. Tony Galeota Wikipedia: Everything To Know About The Film Actor Panamanian newspapers put "Operation Fiesta" on the front page as prosecutors alleged Galeota was part of an international crime ring. Controlling it. When crews were launched to investigate, the suspected smugglers threw several packages into the water. The domestic bliss lasted only a couple of weeks. Banged Up Abroad - National Geographic for everyone in everywhere While Galeota avoided testifying, Fainberg faced 30 counts including racketeering and conspiracy to traffic cocaine and heroin. Filmography (by Job) Trailers and Videos. He knew that the owners of a local strip club called Moulin Rouge David Fridman and Jake Lita (an Israeli wanted by German police on human-trafficking charges) had a business offer for the duo. Galeota is no angelic Andy Dufresne, the main character in Shawshank who serves two decades behind bars for a crime he didn't commit. 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. "My wife could have left me. But the man's paws were soon on her crotch again. I never got a straight answer [about why he was in jail there], says Russell. In the meantime, he's spending time with his wife and kids. Join the New Times community and help support But Galeota's plan would soon go catastrophically wrong. The drugs will be turned over to the DEA. But in South Florida, he was once a strip club king. Galeota is one of several Americans locked up here. Two days later, he was transferred to La Joya a hellish cinder-block complex an hour outside of Panama City. "There was probably a lot more fun going on at Porky's than we even knew of," says one Hialeah police officer who asked not to be identified. "But I've always paid for everything, either with stitches in my head, concussions, or jail time. 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. Then they pushed play on a cassette deck. 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. There was a spate of murders, several police raids, and a federal drug-trafficking trial. "They murdered a guy in here a couple of days ago," Tony Galeota says. He was talking to Fainberg about a murder he'd witnessed in Porky's parking lot. "They murdered a guy in here a couple of days ago," Tony Galeota says. When the bartender told Shea it was last call, he became enraged. We've been here for two years!' the agent said. 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. He was hilarious and charming and garrulous, and it was as if hed stepped right out of a Scorsese movie, Russell says, adding: You know whats the funny thing people dont know about docs? "She would use shoe polish to change our driver's licenses so we could go to clubs and drink when we were 15. 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. Galeota's enemies say that a life of sin has finally caught up with the flesh-peddler. See Photos. Episode 5: Spain /Sold My Soul Marshals deported Ludwig Fainberg from Miami. View the profiles of people named Anthony Galeota. Galeota's sheer size and mob connections are the only things keeping him from getting shivved in the dark. 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. She is a high-powered attorney who has defended two former presidents in corruption cases, but even she hasn't been able to get Galeota out of jail yet. 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. See Photos. "Their connections were bigger than ours," he says. It could be worse. "This country is corrupt. So the translator said she couldn't take a shower, didn't show up, and the case was delayed. It is not known when he was born or his current age. For the most part, Doll House dancers agree. "Now I'm living in hell.". Galeota's sheer size and mob connections are the only things keeping him from getting shivved in the dark. 4:00AM. Greed got the better of him. Strippers, Cocaine and Murder: The Crazy (True) Story of Two Crooks They tried to squeeze Fainberg to get Seidle. Get the latest updates in news, food, music and culture, and receive special offers direct to your inbox. (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. or. They had girls in every city. He ogled the women standing on corners in their underwear and high heels. And they were doing it on behalf of the notorious Cali drug cartel in Colombia, who planned to use the underwater vessel to smuggle cocaine undetected. I just called a friend who had a friend and asked if he could get us a sub. "I brought in music and women," Galeota says. Twice, American authorities had investigated Galeota. 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. I have to tell you, all my enemies are dead, and Im happy, he says in the documentary. 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. Galeota examines a bruise from a prison fight in La Joya. Its our mission down there besides search and rescue. There was nothing unusual about it. Porky's: Notes from inside South Florida's sleaziest strip club Miami Mobster Take Down - YouTube When his dad lost his job, Tony paid the bills. I said, Thank you, Cali cartel. Photo courtesy of Josh Weiss - Giant insects infest the prison. 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. Instead, they eat rice for lunch and dinner, drink dirty river water, and use a hole in the ground for a toilet. More at IMDbPro Contact Info: View agent, publicist, legal on IMDbPro. Toni Galeota Profiles | Facebook Like a real-life godfather, Galeota weathered it all. The two were married in 1994 at a wedding full of mobsters. 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. Its a lot of f- -king paper. "It was puppy love," he says. The American says he's giving up the strip club and brothel businesses. 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. Sometimes we get a little excited when we find the amount of cocaine we found, said Castro. The year before, his father helped him land a job as a wedding DJ. "It was puppy love," he says. Tony Galeota Tony Galeota. But their courtship was cut short. On Friday, May 17, Galeota got word that the judge had also dismissed the drug charge because of lack of evidence. Behind him, 12-foot-high fences topped with spools of barbed wire frame a muddy soccer field. Like a concert pianist, Tony Galeota has spent his life honing a single skill since he was a teenager. But not until she discovered he'd been dating a former Porky's stripper for more than two years did she threaten to divorce him in 2009. 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. His father, Arnold, was a strait-laced sales manager but a distant and disapproving dad. "Now I'm living in hell.". 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. Police repeatedly raided the club, yet Galeota escaped unscathed every time. I was literally on a press tour for the last film, and I was in New York doing interviews and stuff I called the producers and said, Do you think we can get a million dollars in the next five days?. He paid for her to secretly get an abortion. "These guys were into just about everything," Assistant U.S. Attorney Diana Fernandez said at the time. "Another night at Porky's, another shooting," he remembers now from his prison cell in Panama. "They shot him in the middle of the night," Galeota continues quietly, "and buried his body behind the pavilion.". His Doll House dream began at Porky's. Again, Tony's friends in New York told him where to go. Banks seized all seven of his apartments. Ten million dollars really feels like 10 million dollars, he gushes in the movie. "That clean, business-friendly, postcard-Panama bullshit is just a faade," Galeota says. Tarzans on board and essentially youre in the movie, one way or another. Then I ended up spending a great deal of what I like to call social engineering, which is kind of like the hanging out with all these guys theyre all very secretive cats with these very sketchy kind of criminal pasts. This looks great. . They finally fled the country this past July, leaving Tony alone. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Texas man busted in death of DJ galpal found stuffed in suitcase in Colombia, Inside the luxe lives of El Chapo's sons including jailbird Ovidio Guzmn Lpez, Arizona officials say Mexican cartels control US border: 'Ticking time bomb', Passengers on Aeromexico flight crouch in fear as plane caught in cartel crossfire: video. "She would use shoe polish to change our driver's licenses so we could go to clubs and drink when we were 15. Like a concert pianist, Tony Galeota has spent his life honing a single skill since he was a teenager. As Shea tried to pull the panties off one of the dancers, he heard police sirens in the distance and bolted. 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. Join the New Times community and help support independent . These interdiction's were part of Operation Martillo, an international operation to fight illegal trafficking. "My father wasn't in the mob, but his friends were," Tony says. If only there were a place where prostitution was legal, he thought, a city full of beautiful women like Miami, but no rules. "It was so slow I couldn't take it," he says. When he heard that his old partner in crime from Porky's had moved to Panama, he flew in to meet with Galeota. Prostitution is legal in Panama," he complains. Everybody wanted to make money. People named Toni Galeota Find your friends on Facebook Log in or sign up for Facebook to connect with friends, family and people you know. Wrongly imprisoned. The gig introduced him to a lifelong vice. #Torture #PanamGovernment #LaJoyaprisonPanam #PresidentVarela #Panam #Corruption. Most of them were robberies gone wrong or simple revenge. While on routine patrol, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection plane spotted a suspicious speed boat. "Whenever there is an American businessman involved in crime here in Panama, it becomes an important case. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. A deep bass line rattled customers' chests as they downed overpriced drinks. "It is with tremendous heartfelt sadness to announce the passing of Michael James. Johns paid $100 to rent a VIP room downstairs. 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. Bonnie also shoplifted booze to sustain her hard drinking habit. independent local journalism in Miami. As the authorities closed in, they picked up Juan and Tarzan, but they couldnt find Tony and neither could the cartel. Follow Miami New Times on Facebook and Twitter @MiamiNewTimes. Thousands of teachers walk out demanding pay, funding incr Canadian teacher with size-Z prosthetic breasts placed on paid leave, What's next for Buster Murdaugh after dad's murder conviction, life sentence, US home prices just did something they haven't done since 2012, Rebel Wilson says Meghan Markle isnt as naturally warm as Prince Harry, Kristen Doute supports Ariana Madix amid mutual ex Tom Sandovals scandal, Celeb-loved jewelry brand Dorsey drops dazzling new styles, Undertaker transforms coffin into barbecue grill, Tom Sizemore And The Dangerous Burden of Desperation, Tom Sandoval breaks silence on Ariana Madix split amid cheating claims. When youre rolling with the criminal underworld, its always weird; its really weird in Russia.. S10 E10 Miami Mobster Take Down. The 43-year-old is shaped like a mini refrigerator: short and squat, with a shaved head and wide-set emerald eyes. We break down the best movies and series to watch in November in theaters and streaming. People named Tony Goleta. "It was a real moneymaker. "Anthony has been in jail for more than 15 months, and a judge hasn't even heard his case yet!" A judge eventually dropped the human trafficking charge, but Galeota still rotted in his sordid cell alongside insects the size of small dogs. Like a concert pianist, Tony Galeota has spent his life honing a single skill since he was a teenager. 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. When he left to open a bona fide brothel in Panama, Galeota thought the country's lax prostitution laws would make him rich. Its impossible but only because its true. "A family type thing, like an ale house with wings and beer," he says.
Close