Galeota is not exactly repentant. "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. The Dolls House, Via Espaia Road, Panama City, Panam, "They murdered a guy in here a couple of days ago" Tony Galeota, Tony Galeota: From Running Porky's, Miami's Most Notorious Strip Joint, to Rotting in a Panamanian Jail. We both understand that.". Then she'd charge my friends $50 each," he says. Sign Up. "Whenever there is an American businessman involved in crime here in Panama, it becomes an important case. Miami's independent source of I'm kind of stuck with it. Tony and Kristy were shocked and out of a job. 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. "Now I'm living in hell.". This business has been very good to me.". One can imagine they did plenty of drugs.. But Fainberg wasn't in town to catch up. ", - 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. The submarine request, which came from Yester on behalf of the cartel, was not as outrageous as it now sounds. He called me in two days and he asked me, do we want the submarine with missiles or without missiles? says Tarzan. SO I started with the cops and I had been kind of circling the others without knowing if it was really possible or not. And, above all, selling it. By now, she knows of his many infidelities, including that he lived and slept with some of the girls at the Doll House. Its a great success overall. According to the Coast Guard: It first took place north of the Gulf of Uraba. 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 and his "girls" in the Doll House, before the bust. It had been ten years since U.S. Facebook Email or phone Password Forgot account? We break down the best movies and series to watch in November in theaters and streaming. Behind him, 12-foot-high fences topped with spools of barbed wire frame a muddy soccer field. local news and culture, Michael E. Miller Ludwig Fainberg a Russian-speaking Ukrainian nicknamed "Tarzan" for his flowing locks had opened it a few months earlier but ran it like a private club for Eastern Europeans. With dark hair and pale, wide-set eyes, teenage Tony resembled a stocky Frank Sinatra. His mother, Bonnie Gellilti, was "a bit of a. "I'm used to getting my water from a rain bucket, not hot from the tap." Over the years, Galeota saw nearly a dozen shootings at Porky's, some of them fatal. "But she's never going to forget. 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. "My father wasn't in the mob, but his friends were," Tony says. Most of them were robberies gone wrong or simple revenge. 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. Kristy caught Tony cheating several times, she says. "We just meshed," she says. As the couple drove south on I-95, they thought they were leaving the worst behind them. They went Maserati shopping by helicopter so they could look at the cars from the air. Explore More. When he left to open a bona fide brothel in Panama, Galeota thought the country's lax prostitution laws would make him rich. But in South Florida, he was once a strip club king. 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). ", Instead, he found another, tighter-knit family: the mob. He ogled the women standing on corners in their underwear and high heels. Theyre nice guys [the cartel members], and I didnt ask what they needed the submarine for, Tarzan tells The Post, speaking on a crackling phone connection from Russia. 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. Russian immigrant Ludwig Fainberg, a.k.a. "No one can tell us how long he will be in there," she says. While Kristy was still in the States, he lived with five of his Colombian prostitutes. Get the latest updates in news, food, music and culture, and receive special offers direct to your inbox. As he contemplates the question, Galeota watches his fellow inmates kick a soccer ball across La Joya's putrid playground. 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. 4:00AM. Galeota examines a bruise from a prison fight in La Joya. He left, but returned with a gun. At the entrance to La Joya, ant hills and wasp nests surround a wooden sign. "Everybody give me your money!" "It was a nightmare in there. Galeota's wife Kristy comments "Porky's was definitely a place you could get killed." I hoped to walk away from the deal with $10 million.. Instead, he says competitors pulled government strings to screw him. He was recently sentenced to serve around six years in federal prison. A sign on the latter reads, "District Attorney for Drugs: Do Not Enter." The message was that the cocaine traffickers would kill Yesters family members. 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? The year before, his father helped him land a job as a wedding DJ. When Seidle died in 2008, Porky's political protection followed the 82-year-old to the grave. And she launched drunken tirades at Tony after baseball games, no matter how well the all-star shortstop performed. Tarzan managed to get light punishment for his 1997 conviction; he rolled over on Almeida and spent 30 months behind bars before being deported to Israel, where his family had immigrated, in 1999. 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. A tattoo of an Italian Mafioso emerges from an extra-large sleeveless T-shirt. 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. "Bill was one of the most influential people in Miami," Galeota says. "This country is corrupt. 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. On a crowded balcony overlooking La Joya, Galeota describes the past 16 months as a nightmare. The 43-year-old is shaped like a mini refrigerator: short and squat, with a shaved head and wide-set emerald eyes. 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. "I wouldn't leave a dog in that prison, let alone my husband.". It was coke or pimping or messing with the wrong people.. Episode 5: Spain /Sold My Soul All the services here are free. Galeota saw an opportunity. On June 19, 2011, Tony and his oldest son, 15-year-old Anthony Jr., had just sat down to eat wings in the Doll House office around 11 p.m. when the gold-painted doors burst open. Panama's judicial system is outdated and overburdened, she says. Rising swiftly through the ranks, John buries his conscience to become a notorious Mafia hitman. And I'm not asking her to.". They put a hit out on him when he disappeared with the money, while Juan and Tarzan took the legal fall in Miami. A judge eventually dropped the human trafficking charge, but Galeota still rotted in his sordid cell alongside insects the size of small dogs. More detailed reports on the crimes weren't available. With dark hair and pale, wide-set eyes, teenage Tony resembled a stocky Frank Sinatra. Within weeks of its April 2011 opening, the club was raking in $6,000 on good nights. With dark hair and pale, wide-set eyes, teenage Tony resembled a stocky Frank Sinatra. He escaped with his life and went on the run, aiming to avoid the cartel, Interpol and US law enforcers. So the translator said she couldn't take a shower, didn't show up, and the case was delayed. 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. Ten million dollars really feels like 10 million dollars, he gushes in the movie. 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. A friend suggested Panama. 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. 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. He broke it off with the woman, but his problems were only beginning. or. 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. "These guys were into just about everything," Assistant U.S. Attorney Diana Fernandez said at the time. S10 E10 Miami Mobster Take Down. He and Fainberg were on their way to riches thanks to powerful friends and legalized prostitution. Michael Galeota, who starred on the Disney Channel's "The Jersey" died Sunday, according to Variety. "I used to have to patch Tony up all the time," Kristy says. S10 E10 - Miami Mobster Take Down Tony Galeota is framed for drug trafficking in Panama City. Police repeatedly raided the club, yet Galeota escaped unscathed every time. Tony Galletta. 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. "She would use shoe polish to change our driver's licenses so we could go to clubs and drink when we were 15. "Anthony has been in jail for more than 15 months, and a judge hasn't even heard his case yet!" As for his career, his only oath is that he won't let his sons follow his example. But in South Florida, he was once a strip club king. Let me check.. "I was just numb.". 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. He paid for her to secretly get an abortion. "I couldn't take all the people who wanted to come.". Police repeatedly raided the club, yet Galeota escaped unscathed every time. If he didnt give them the information, he was afraid that he would have gotten killed, and he was probably right., In the meantime, Yester may have been too in love with his eight-figure haul to really care and there was ultimately no retribution against his family. Its impossible but only because its true. Use tab to navigate through the menu items. More than anything, Galeota is grateful that his family kept faith in him. Galeota is one of several Americans locked up here. "It was a very violent atmosphere," he says. Anthony Galeota was born October 17, 1968, on Long Island. 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?. But when he opens a new club in Panama City, the competition isn't happy and frames him for drug dealing. Get the latest updates in news, food, music and culture, and receive special offers direct to your inbox. The goods came from sources in the freshly fallen Soviet Union, a place where everything seemed to be up for grabs at ridiculously low prices. 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. At night, the guards lock the gate and leave, turning over control of each cell block to prisoners. Become a member to support the independent voice of South Florida And he hopes to open a place in Fort Lauderdale when he's back, Just not a strip club. In the distance, La Cordillera de San Blas cuts through the Panamanian jungle like a serrated knife. Filmography (by Job) Trailers and Videos. "We went there and we couldn't believe what we saw," says Josh Weiss, a former DJ at Porky's and one of Galeota's closest friends. Reborn behind bars. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. "Their connections were bigger than ours," he says. According to Yester, the cartel provided an initial payment of $10 million. 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. If anything, Galeota's life got even more out of control after Fainberg's arrest. "Now I'm living in hell.". One man stabbed someone over a $10 debt. The domestic bliss lasted only a couple of weeks. Moreover, trafficking prostitutes and drugs and involvement in organized crime are some serious charges.". Follow Miami New Times on Facebook and Twitter @MiamiNewTimes. Facebook gives people the power. Become a member to support the independent voice of South Florida 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. 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. His father, Arnold, was a strait-laced sales manager but a distant and disapproving dad. He was 31. "Like me, he was a black sheep who could do nothing right.". Inside, the bar is still littered with half-empty bottles of Chivas Regal. So we met with a realtor, got high, and Tony got stupid with money. "I've been in this business my whole life. But Galeota was convinced the cops were bluffing and refused to cooperate. Like a concert pianist, Tony Galeota has spent his life honing a single skill since he was a teenager. A tattoo of an Italian Mafioso emerges from an extra-large sleeveless T-shirt. The two were married in 1994 at a wedding full of mobsters. Panamanian newspapers put "Operation Fiesta" on the front page as prosecutors alleged Galeota was part of an international crime ring. "The worst part of being in here is being in here for nothing. Coast Guard members who seized the cocaine said this is what their jobs are all about. He raises his eyebrows and looks upwards to the left to emphasize just how flabbergasted he was with Mishas counter question. 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. Somewhere between his native Ukraine, Israel, and Russia, he'd shed his trademark long hair and changed his name to Alon Bar. Im gonna see them in f***ing hell when I arrive there., Russell says the fugitive is probably one of the most fascinating human beings Ive ever been in a room with., He adds: Theres five other films you couldve made about his life and life experiences, and yet he was charming and cultured and funny and also, then, on a dime deadly serious, not somebody that you trifle with. Almeida was a specialist in obtaining black-market goods for status-crazed drug dealers. During a visit last month, a New Times reporter witnessed one police official receive a $20 bill in a barely disguised handshake. 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. Log In or Sign Up Tony Galeota See Photos Anthony Galeota See Photos Tony Kalata See Photos Tony Galeote See Photos Tony Galea See Photos Tony Galeto See Photos Tony Gullette See Photos Tony Gulotta See Photos But she insists that her husband's imprisonment has brought them closer. Prostitution in Miami had become too risky, he decided, but overseas sex tourism was soaring. "Last week we were supposed to have a hearing, but there was no running water in Panama City. As for Yester taking a flier with the cartel money, Tarzan says he would have done the same himself if he could have and expresses no hard feelings. Two days later, he was transferred to La Joya a hellish cinder-block complex an hour outside of Panama City. "They murdered a guy in here a couple of days ago," Tony Galeota says. She is cute and curvy with dark hair and a button nose. Tarzan, got his first job in America as an enforcer for the Gambino crime family. 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. We've been here for two years!' And like the Italian-American crooner, he loved women a little too much. "It was puppy love," he says. "Luis pulled out a .38 and shot the guy in the chest. Tony Galeota's age is expected to be 52. 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. Guards with machine guns man rusty metal towers. One scammer stole from another scammer; of course I accept it, he says. The last one locked the door. 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. Galeota yelled. Prosecutors say police never filed the necessary paperwork. Moreover, trafficking prostitutes and drugs and involvement in organized crime are some serious charges.". CAKEGATE 2023: Bad Bunny's Restaurant Accused of Gobbling Birthday Girl's Cake, Neighborhood Nazi Jon Minadeo Peddles Hate by the Minute, Gator Gets in on the Action at Tampa Bay Horse Race, 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. Wrongly imprisoned. Access is free so discover Tony Galeota's story today. When one inmate killed another, the dead man's gang on the outside murdered the inmate's entire family, Galeota says. Galeota's enemies say that a life of sin has finally caught up with the flesh-peddler. But Tony had darker secrets. More than anything, Galeota is grateful that his family kept faith in him. It wasn't until he ordered some Italian food and a cold Guinness that he finally felt like he was free. Anywhere other than La Joya, this news would be shocking. Indeed, Havana Club has already reopened. Michael Galeota, who starred on the Disney Channel's "The Jersey" died Sunday, according to Variety. Behind him, 12-foot-high fences topped with spools of barbed wire frame a muddy soccer field. Bonnie also shoplifted booze to sustain her hard drinking habit. 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. A judge eventually dropped the human trafficking charge, but Galeota still rotted in his sordid cell alongside insects the size of small dogs. 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. 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. South Florida's independent Join the New Times community and help support independent They had girls in every city. 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. Miami's underworld may still be seedy, but it has outsourced much of its shadiness to nearby Third-World countries such as Panama. Anthony Galeota was born October 17, 1968, on Long Island. On Friday, May 17, Galeota got word that the judge had also dismissed the drug charge because of lack of evidence. When Galeota stood up, he checked his T-shirt for bullet holes, but found none. But Porky's was just a Hialeah dive bar on the corner of SE 14th Street and Ninth Avenue, surrounded by cheap motels and buzzed by flights taking off from Miami International Airport. "We were doing fantastic, but Tarzan got bored and started living the life," Galeota explains. Seidle was never charged with a crime. 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. independent local journalism in Miami. "Thank God I'm out," he tells New Times in his first interview since his release. A tattoo of an Italian Mafioso emerges from an extra-large sleeveless T-shirt. But he insists that, for once, he has done nothing wrong. 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. "This case has had a big impact here," says Jos Otero, a reporter for Panamanian newspaper La Prensa. 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. Create a free family tree for yourself or for Tony Galeota and we'll search for valuable new information for you. It continued at another local strip club, called Quarterbacks Playmates Lounge. Twice, American authorities had investigated Galeota. And like the Italian-American crooner, he loved women a little too much. People named Tony Goleta. In the second interdiction, a Customs plane spotted another suspicious boat off the coast of Panama on August 28th. I said, Thank you, Cali cartel. "It's not an easy choice," she says. People named Tony Galeta. But when the house of cards tumbles, John . He was 31. "She would use shoe polish to change our driver's licenses so we could go to clubs and drink when we were 15. "Whenever there is an American businessman involved in crime here in Panama, it becomes an important case. And when his mother was distraught over a broken washing machine, he filled the house with new appliances. 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.. "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. 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. "He had that guido effect on me," she says. Locked Up Abroad 151M subscribers Miami mobster Tony Galeota is a strip-club supremo.