"It was home to a lot of shrewd and nefarious characters.". "They murdered a guy in here a couple of days ago," Tony Galeota says. Tony Galeota. But Tony had darker secrets. Nearly 300 feet long with 10 torpedo tubes (empty in this case), it was diesel but could be converted to electric for silent running. Tony and Kristy were shocked and out of a job. 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. Juan, Tarzan and law enforcement insisted there was no way hed agree to participate in the documentary. So I was literally stepping over dead bodies of the people who had been shanked and stuff over the course of the night.. "It was a real moneymaker. Indeed, Tony would turn Porky's into a moneymaking machine. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. 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. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. 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. local news and culture, Michael E. Miller SO I started with the cops and I had been kind of circling the others without knowing if it was really possible or not. Of the $10 million, he said, I cannot f- -king believe it how fast I spend it.. Michael Galeota, who starred on the Disney Channel's "The Jersey" died Sunday, according to Variety. 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. "Whenever there is an American businessman involved in crime here in Panama, it becomes an important case. ", 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/. The drugs will be turned over to the DEA. His government protection would evaporate, the Doll House would be raided, his investments would be stolen, and he would be arrested. Has a stint in Panamanian prison reformed Miami's most notorious strip club manager? 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. And theyre like, F*** yeah, lets do it. 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. "That clean, business-friendly, postcard-Panama bullshit is just a faade," Galeota says. 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. But the Doll House and Moulin Rouge remain closed. 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. Between the restaurant and the Doll House, he was making enough to retire in five years. A judge eventually dropped the human trafficking charge, but Galeota still rotted in his sordid cell alongside insects the size of small dogs. Log In. Years later, Tarzan again found himself behind bars, this time in Panama; in fact, he was serving time in 2011 when Russell first approached him for the documentary. "You see who wants to fuck your wife, who wants to rob you, and who your real friends are.". But Monday morning, when it came time to walk out of La Joya, there was no vehicle waiting. Get the latest updates in news, food, music and culture, and receive special offers direct to your inbox. When Galeota arrived in Miami in the summer of 1991, the city was awash in coke, crack, and drug cash. Then she'd charge my friends $50 each," he says. The crew boarded the 165-foot Panamanian-flagged coastal freighter Hope II. 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As the couple drove south on I-95, they thought they were leaving the worst behind them. "Whenever there is an American businessman involved in crime here in Panama, it becomes an important case. The trio convened in Russia, and snapshots of them aboard the football-field-size sub, posing with the captain, hamming it up with one another, were shown to cartel members to make clear that the submarine sale closed with all parties naked in a bathhouse was for real. "But she's never going to forget. "I wouldn't leave a dog in that prison, let alone my husband.". That didnt stop Russell from trying to get them on board with doing a film about the submarine deal. 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. And like the Italian-American crooner, he loved women a little too much. So we met with a realtor, got high, and Tony got stupid with money. "Luis pulled out a .38 and shot the guy in the chest. 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. We both understand that.". "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. "I was 16 years old and amazed," he says. Inside La Joya, he had paid a guard to smuggle in a BlackBerry to talk to his wife, but strangers kept calling with threats to kill his kids unless he paid them. Cops had made several controlled buys of drugs.
Toni Galeota Profiles | Facebook Running an underworld operation in Cocaine Cowboys-era Miami wasn't an easy gig. Inside the prison, the sign is a running joke. 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. The last one locked the door. I know its gonna be a strange question. And he hopes to open a place in Fort Lauderdale when he's back. One man stabbed someone over a $10 debt. There was nothing unusual about it. This time, I'm innocent.". "She would use shoe polish to change our driver's licenses so we could go to clubs and drink when we were 15. 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. Like a real-life godfather, Galeota weathered it all. Sixteen months later, the two men have yet to appear in court. "She hasn't worked for 15 years. Dalia Dippolito May Have Tried to Kill Him, But Michael Dippolito Is No Saint, Florida Man Wrestles Shark For Forty Five Minutes, Florida to Execute Death Row Prisoner Donald Dillbeck in February, "We Are Everywhere": Ominous Messages on Anti-Abortion Counseling Centers Prompt Federal Charges, So You're Saying There's (Still) a Chance: Dolphins Playoff Chances Dwindle After 26-20 Loss, Trashed American Flag Sparks Capitol Hill Kerfuffle, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Galeota was hit with felony drug and prostitution charges. He faced nine years in prison, but because he provided evidence against Almeida, he served just three years before being deported to his adopted homeland of Israel. We have a lot of laughs about it now," he says. Galeota's enemies say that a life of sin has finally caught up with the flesh-peddler. By the time he was 18, he had been arrested seven times for armed robbery and assault, he says. He was 31. ", McDonald has succeeded, however, in chipping away at the case, persuading a judge three weeks ago to drop the trafficking charge on a technicality. "The worst part of being in here is being in here for nothing. and help keep the future of New Times, Use of this website constitutes acceptance of our, From Porky's to Panamanian Prison: Web Extra. And that's why drug traffickers are in the business - take something that starts off with a value of $5,000 and when you're done selling it at the retail level the value has skyrocketed. The 43-year-old is shaped like a mini refrigerator: short and squat, with a shaved head and wide-set emerald eyes. But Monday morning, when it came time to walk out of La Joya, there was no vehicle waiting. 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.".
Watch Locked Up Abroad Season 10 Episode 10 Miami Mobster Take Down Online (A New York Police Department spokesman says records from that far back aren't available.)
Tony Goleta Profiles | Facebook The American says he's giving up the strip club and brothel businesses.
Log in or sign up for Facebook to connect with friends, family and people you know. 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. And then Russell got a text message out of the blue. More than anything, Galeota is grateful that his family kept faith in him. "Bill was one of the most influential people in Miami," Galeota says. Also read: Tony Galeota: From Running. But his mind was on another kind of riches. 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. He answered only to property owner William Seidle, a U.S. Bankruptcy Court trustee who ran a chain of car dealerships. Indeed, court records show that Seidle was a target of the federal wiretapping investigation. And I'm not asking her to.". Join the New Times community and help support and help keep the future of New Times, Use of this website constitutes acceptance of our, running Miami's most infamous strip club, Porky's, 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. Locked up in one of the world's worst prisons, Tony has to prove his innocence and attempt an audacious escape. Police repeatedly raided the club, yet Galeota escaped unscathed every time. ", "You hear that?" Gunshots flashed like fireworks in the darkness. "I was always looking for their approval," he says, "but I never got that. "They shot him in the middle of the night," Galeota continues quietly, "and buried his body behind the pavilion.". 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. South Florida's independent Both Juan and Tarzan shared with Russell how they had graduated from buying helicopters, motorcycles and cars for the cartel from Russia to pursuing a submarine for the drugrunners. He'd already invested in seven apartments in Panama City and rented a storefront on the capital's seediest street, where prostitution was legal. Galeota already lived according to a gangster's code. Bonnie also shoplifted booze to sustain her hard drinking habit. By then, the club's criminal clientele and Fainberg's increasingly lavish lifestyle had raised eyebrows. And she launched drunken tirades at Tony after baseball games, no matter how well the all-star shortstop performed.