Michael Galeota, who starred on the Disney Channel's "The Jersey" died Sunday, according to Variety. And there was absolutely no bullshit. 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. Indeed, Tony would turn Porky's into a moneymaking machine. A deep bass line rattled customers' chests as they downed overpriced drinks. For a while, Panama's pay-to-play culture suited Galeota just fine. Cops had made several controlled buys of drugs. 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.. "They murdered a guy in here a couple of days ago," Tony Galeota says. 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 28-year-old English teacher named Tim Schrader agrees to smuggle eight kilos of heroin into the U.S. to solve his financial problems. In retrospect, when you tell the stories aloud, its like, Thats insane and you, Tiller, are an insane person for having done that. Its funny; I was just like, this is too good of a story to let go. Director Tiller Russell Stars Ludwig Fainberg Juan Almeida Nelson Yester See production, box office & company info Add to Watchlist 44 User reviews 9 Critic reviews Awards 1 nomination Videos 2 Trailer 1:46 Between the restaurant and the Doll House, he was making enough to retire in five years. His father, Arnold, was a strait-laced sales manager but a distant and disapproving dad. Almeida was a specialist in obtaining black-market goods for status-crazed drug dealers. If only there were a place where prostitution was legal, he thought, a city full of beautiful women like Miami, but no rules. Instead of celebrating, he walked through the scuzzy neighbourhood until he found a shabby motel. 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. One scammer stole from another scammer; of course I accept it, he says. He left, but returned with a gun. He was talking to Fainberg about a murder he'd witnessed in Porky's parking lot. , updated I said, Thank you, Cali cartel. That didnt stop Russell from trying to get them on board with doing a film about the submarine deal. 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. So if you wanna do it, the time is now, and essentially, its happening one way or another, so you might be the person to author your story. If any official asks you to pay for anything, please report them.". She's forgiven me, for the most part. 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. Instead, he's trapped in a labyrinthine legal system, alone and unable to speak Spanish. His father, Arnold, was a strait-laced sales manager but a distant and disapproving dad. Facilitating it. While Kristy was still in the States, he lived with five of his Colombian prostitutes. At the entrance to La Joya, ant hills and wasp nests surround a wooden sign. Galeota's enemies say that a life of sin has finally caught up with the flesh-peddler. View Tony Galeota's 1940 US census record to find family members, occupation details & more. "I lived it up in Miami," he says. "It was a real moneymaker. There is no rehabilitation here," he says. 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. Facebook gives people the power. 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. "We were like: 'We want to get the fuck out of here. "But she's never going to forget. While he, Tarzan and Juan were dealing with the Colombians and while Tony and Tarzan even got onto a Russian military naval base to tour a possible submarine for the deal the entire time the Cuban was planning to rip off the Colombians. 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. 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. The 43-year-old is shaped like a mini refrigerator: short and squat, with a shaved head and wide-set emerald eyes. "My father wasn't in the mob, but his friends were," Tony says. "Another night at Porky's, another shooting," he remembers now from his prison cell in Panama. New laws effectively outlaw brothels such as the Doll House, permit or not but if Galeota walks with no convictions, it will surely embarrass officials trying to make it look like they're cleaning up the industry. "My wife could have left me. Galeota saw an opportunity. View the profiles of people named Anthony Galeota. "It is with tremendous heartfelt sadness to announce the passing of Michael James. 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. Photo courtesy of Josh Weiss Surrounded by Colombian strippers, Galeota gives a toast during a party at the Doll House. Log in or sign up for Facebook to connect with friends, family and people you know. While another new prisoner was beaten and robbed, Galeota was untouched. 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. Miami's underworld may still be seedy, but it has outsourced much of its shadiness to nearby Third-World countries such as Panama. 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. Fainberg allegedly told undercover cops he had sent coke to Russia in a shipment of frozen shrimp and had bought six $1 million Russian military helicopters for the South Americans. A friend suggested Panama. 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. 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. ", 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/. While Galeota avoided testifying, Fainberg faced 30 counts including racketeering and conspiracy to traffic cocaine and heroin. "Like me, he was a black sheep who could do nothing right.". Then they pushed play on a cassette deck. He was 31. June 4, 2013 It was 1990, and Galeota transformed the place by wiring in subwoofers and bringing in New York dancers. 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. While out of sight, he phoned his guy and lied about being in a particular taxi cab. Russian immigrant Ludwig Fainberg, a.k.a. Within weeks of its April 2011 opening, the club was raking in $6,000 on good nights. "Luis pulled out a .38 and shot the guy in the chest. Juan felt like he had no choice, says Russell. "Now I'm living in hell.". They went Maserati shopping by helicopter so they could look at the cars from the air. But he was too shell-shocked to take up his attorney's offer for a ride to a nice hotel. ", - 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. He escaped with his life and went on the run, aiming to avoid the cartel, Interpol and US law enforcers. See Photos. "When you're in La Joya for two years, you get used to that environment," Galeota says. Then she'd charge my friends $50 each," he says. Galeota is one of several Americans locked up here. Were out there to cause an effect in the drug industry and I believe we made a little dent on it.. The two ran Porky's for another decade after Fainberg's deportation. Anywhere other than La Joya, this news would be shocking. But he was too shell-shocked to take up his attorney's offer for a ride to a nice hotel. But Monday morning, when it came time to walk out of La Joya, there was no vehicle waiting. The gig introduced him to a lifelong vice. We've been here for two years!' 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? 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. He hired 'Fat Tony' Galeota as Porky's manager. "It was puppy love," he says. So the translator said she couldn't take a shower, didn't show up, and the case was delayed. "Keep your fucking hands off the girl!" 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. Kristy caught Tony cheating several times, she says. He is currently being held in Italy. And I'm not asking her to.". Eventually, he moved two dozen ladies to Panama City. 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. Tony Galeota lived in 1954, at address, Massachusetts. 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. Instead, they eat rice for lunch and dinner, drink dirty river water, and use a hole in the ground for a toilet. Galeota was crammed into a sweltering holding cell with 150 others. See also: "From Porky's to Panamanian Prison: Web Extra.". Police repeatedly raided the club, yet Galeota escaped unscathed every time. "She would use shoe polish to change our driver's licenses so we could go to clubs and drink when we were 15. Instead, they eat rice for lunch and dinner, drink dirty river water, and use a hole in the ground for a toilet. Make a one-time donation today for as little as $1. A judge eventually dropped the human trafficking charge, but Galeota still rotted in his sordid cell alongside insects the size of small dogs. 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. One can imagine they did plenty of drugs.. "This case has had a big impact here," says Jos Otero, a reporter for Panamanian newspaper La Prensa. "They shot him in the middle of the night," Galeota continues quietly, "and buried his body behind the pavilion.". In the second interdiction, a Customs plane spotted another suspicious boat off the coast of Panama on August 28th. They had girls in every city. Meet me in Africa for a cup of coffee tomorrow.. We did outsmart the FBI, we did outsmart the DEA, we even did outsmart the court, Tarzan says in the film. "It was so slow I couldn't take it," he says. "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. "Everybody give me your money!" More at IMDbPro Contact Info: View agent, publicist, legal on IMDbPro. "They murdered a guy in here a couple of days ago," Tony Galeota says. 4:00AM. We didn't even have to have sex unless we wanted to," says a Colombian stripper named Catherine. All he needed now were the prostitutes. "She would use shoe polish to change our driver's licenses so we could go to clubs and drink when we were 15. Kristy was a self-described "firecracker" who had also escaped from an abusive home and wanted attention. Anthony Jr. was taken to a juvenile detention center that wasn't much better. Indeed, court records show that Seidle was a target of the federal wiretapping investigation. Greed got the better of him. 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. As the couple drove south on I-95, they thought they were leaving the worst behind them. Tarzan, got his first job in America as an enforcer for the Gambino crime family. Awards. But Galeota was convinced the cops were bluffing and refused to cooperate. 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. Miami's underworld may still be seedy, but it has outsourced much of its shadiness to nearby Third-World countries such as Panama. local news and culture, Michael E. Miller Instead of celebrating, he walked through the scuzzy neighborhood until he found a shabby motel. "My wife is never going to completely trust me. or. As he contemplates the question, Galeota watches his fellow inmates kick a soccer ball across La Joya's putrid playground. She's forgiven me, for the most part. People named Tony Galeta. "This country is corrupt. "I just watched Luis blow a guy away," Galeota heard himself say on tape. Upon seeing 10 thugs rush the vehicle and hijack it with the unsuspecting passenger in back, Yester realized that the remaining cash would not be forthcoming. This time, I'm innocent.". But bloodshed would follow them to Miami. Director Robin Dashwood Stars Alex Andreas Ricardo Burgos Tony Galeota I told Juan, I said, Hey. They'd use their connections with immigration officials to obtain visas and prostitution licenses and then give Tarzan and Tony 40 percent of the profits to run a new club, called the Doll House. Panamanian newspapers put "Operation Fiesta" on the front page as prosecutors alleged Galeota was part of an international crime ring. Find your friends on Facebook. It had been ten years since U.S. A year later, it was $115,000 per month.". Instead, he's trapped in a labyrinthine legal system, alone and unable to speak Spanish. "I brought in music and women," Galeota says. "A family type thing, like an ale house with wings and beer," he says. Anthony Galeota was born October 17, 1968, on Long Island. But their courtship was cut short. 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. I have to tell you, all my enemies are dead, and Im happy, he says in the documentary. Nearly 300 feet long with 10 torpedo tubes (empty in this case), it was diesel but could be converted to electric for silent running. 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. "No one can tell us how long he will be in there," she says. source of local news and culture, Michael E. Miller He was 31. Follow Miami New Times on Facebook and Twitter @MiamiNewTimes. You could not mislead him in any way or you could tell that the consequences could be serious, but I loved him. 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. "I used to have to patch Tony up all the time," Kristy says. There was a spate of murders, several police raids, and a federal drug-trafficking trial. Documentary Drama When Miami mobster Tony Galeota opens a club in Panama City, the competition frames him for drug dealing and human trafficking. The drugs will be turned over to the DEA. Even then, however, he couldn't sleep. This story has been shared 121,048 times. Then once he sent me this crazy email like, Holy s***! But it bored him. Catherine says she slept with customers because she needed the money to support her family. Between an undercover agent, a tap on Tarzans cellphone and the wiring of Babushka, federal law enforcement agencies had enough information to shut down the sale. When he was 16, he knocked up his 15-year-old girlfriend at Hauppauge High School. Anthony Galeota was born October 17, 1968, on Long Island. It was a weeknight, and Porky's was washed in pale-pink neon light. independent local journalism in Miami. This time, I'm innocent.". Get the latest updates in news, food, music and culture, and receive special offers direct to your inbox. Facilitating it. When he was 16, he knocked up his 15-year-old girlfriend at Hauppauge High School. "I was always looking for their approval," he says, "but I never got that. Then an old friend showed up. one of the kids shouted as he pulled a handkerchief over his face and wildly swung a revolver. With dark hair and pale, wide-set eyes, teenage Tony resembled a stocky Frank Sinatra. But when the house of cards tumbles, John . And last year, Yester was finally arrested in Rome on charges unrelated to the submarine while en route to a wedding. He needed some help," he recalls. "They had what seemed like a dynamite case, but it has ended up in pieces.". Become a member to support the independent voice of South Florida The Porky's party nearly came to a sudden end in early 1997. 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. Half an hour later, Galeota was guarding the door when a car rolled up with the window down. Its a lot of f- -king paper. 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. But Tony had darker secrets. "The investigation was so poorly handled and rushed," says Otero, the journalist. Tony Kaleta. These interdiction's were part of Operation Martillo, an international operation to fight illegal trafficking. We have a lot of laughs about it now," he says. For the most part, Doll House dancers agree. They were very compliant to everything we asked of them, said McElhaney. A poster on the wall advertises "Lesby Show: 2 Girls per Person" for $350. Tony Galeota has a wife named Kristy Galeota, with whom he lives. Sometimes we get a little excited when we find the amount of cocaine we found, said Castro. He could convince you that the sky was green." See Photos. "She would use shoe polish to change our driver's licenses so we could go to clubs and drink when we were 15.