Explore More. MIAMI BEACH (CBSMiami) The Coast Guard offloaded about $93 million of cocaine Thursday afternoon on Miami Beach. He paid for her to secretly get an abortion. ", Tony Galeota and fellow defendant Alon "Tarzan" Bar during better days in their Panama club The Doll House, After bribing half the guards at La Joya, Galeota was taken to an immigration holding center in Panama City where he and four co-defendants were kept for four more days. 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. "It was a nightmare in there. Galeota believes that his arrest has little to do with a renewed commitment to the law in Panama. Its a lot of f- -king paper. He created a souped-up cigarette boat that went for $2 million and was presumably used to transport cocaine. But the deal never happened. And then Russell got a text message out of the blue. "They would describe what they looked like," Galeota says. With little oversight, military leaders acted as if they were independent of the government. A judge eventually dropped the human trafficking charge, but Galeota still rotted in his sordid cell alongside insects the size of small dogs. Somewhere between his native Ukraine, Israel, and Russia, he'd shed his trademark long hair and changed his name to Alon Bar. Director Robin Dashwood Stars Alex Andreas Ricardo Burgos Tony Galeota The last one locked the door. His father, Arnold, was a strait-laced sales manager but a distant and disapproving dad. "My wife could have left me. Its a great success overall. Just not a strip club. Instead, they eat rice for lunch and dinner, drink dirty river water, and use a hole in the ground for a toilet. Miami's underworld may still be seedy, but it has outsourced much of its shadiness to nearby Third-World countries such as Panama. "It is with tremendous heartfelt sadness to announce the passing of Michael James. For 18 years, Galeota ran Porky's with the same punishing justice he learned from the mob and transformed it into Miami's most notorious whorehouse, where Russian gangsters and Cuban criminals spent millions on sex and drugs. 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. His Doll House dream began at Porky's. "But I've always paid for everything, either with stitches in my head, concussions, or jail time. Awards. Tarzan and Tony went so far as to gain access to a Soviet naval base and be taken on a tour of a submarine potentially for sale, even cajoling Russian military officials to pose for photos - which they used to prove to the Colombians that a deal could be brokered (and which are shown in the film). 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. Over the years, Galeota saw nearly a dozen shootings at Porky's, some of them fatal. Miami's underworld may still be seedy, but it has outsourced much of its shadiness to nearby Third-World countries such as Panama. As far as he was concerned, he owned the military base. He and Fainberg were on their way to riches thanks to powerful friends and legalized prostitution. "That clean, business-friendly, postcard-Panama bullshit is just a faade," Galeota says. Galeota's sheer size and mob connections are the only things keeping him from getting shivved in the dark. 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.. But Monday morning, when it came time to walk out of La Joya, there was no vehicle waiting. His mother, Bonnie Gellilti, was "a bit of a criminal," Tony remembers. Photo courtesy of Josh Weiss A prisoner poses with a gun smuggled into La Joya with help from guards. Inside, the bar is still littered with half-empty bottles of Chivas Regal. He turned himself in a few days later, but the lounge's owner decided to close the cursed club. And like the Italian-American crooner, he loved women a little too much. Galeota jumped at the deal. Galeota's wife Kristy comments "Porky's was definitely a place you could get killed." Tony is my friend, and well always love each other. Galeota saw an opportunity. "Their connections were bigger than ours," he says. "He had that guido effect on me," she says. "My family didn't care; they took it," Galeota says of the stolen goods. And, above all, selling it. Then she'd charge my friends $50 each," he says. Tarzan, got his first job in America as an enforcer for the Gambino crime family. She's forgiven me, for the most part. He sold the shop and in 2010 opened Bongos, a restaurant serving wings and beer. "They shot him in the middle of the night," Galeota continues quietly, "and buried his body behind the pavilion.". Then she'd charge my friends $50 each," he says. Anywhere other than La Joya, this news would be shocking. And she launched drunken tirades at Tony after baseball games, no matter how well the all-star shortstop performed. 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. "But she's never going to forget. I gave each of my kids a Rolex when they were 5 years old. 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.". 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. He was, after all, working with an American playboy in Miami and a fugitive Cuban spy to procure this submarine. Sixteen months later, the two men have yet to appear in court. 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. "They knew some Russian guy named Tarzan who had just opened up a club in Miami called Porky's. These interdiction's were part of Operation Martillo, an international operation to fight illegal trafficking. Access is free so discover Tony Galeota's story today. Galeota may not be a good man, but he is brutally honest. 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. "The worst part of being in here is being in here for nothing. ", Coast Guard Offloads More Than $93 Million In Cocaine, Miami Beach. And like the Italian-American crooner, he loved women a little too much. We did outsmart the FBI, we did outsmart the DEA, we even did outsmart the court, Tarzan says in the film. "Bill was one of the most influential people in Miami," Galeota says. Wrongly imprisoned. Again, Tony's friends in New York told him where to go. "My wife could have left me. He bought seven properties pretty much sight unseen.". Panamanian police had been casing the Doll House, Moulin Rouge, and another joint, called Havana Club, for weeks. "She would use shoe polish to change our driver's licenses so we could go to clubs and drink when we were 15. 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. Prosecutors accused him of providing prostitutes for his Russian friends, trafficking drugs, selling stolen cigarettes and liquor, and setting up arms deals for Russian and Colombian cocaine smugglers. But he insists that, for once, he has done nothing wrong. Marshals deported Ludwig Fainberg from Miami. "My father wasn't in the mob, but his friends were," Tony says. In the meantime, he's spending time with his wife and kids. Then they pushed play on a cassette deck. Galeota's sheer size and mob connections are the only things keeping him from getting shivved in the dark. And there was absolutely no bullshit. And multiple sources close to Fainberg say he was pressured to rat out Seidle but refused. Log in or sign up for Facebook to connect with friends, family and people you know. 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. Facilitating it. Prostitution in Miami had become too risky, he decided, but overseas sex tourism was soaring. He didn't stay long. "They murdered a guy in here a couple of days ago," Tony Galeota says. The eight crew members aboard the Hope II and the vessel were taken into custody and will be turned over to U.S. officials for further investigation. TV-14 | 06.05.2013. Kristy caught Tony cheating several times, she says. He also owned the Russian restaurant Babushka, which was a magnet for snowbirding criminals from his homeland. She is cute and curvy with dark hair and a button nose. Through the air plane window, Tony Galeota could see the city's colonial churches glow like polished gold. "It was a very violent atmosphere," he says. A judge eventually dropped the human trafficking charge, but Galeota still rotted in his sordid cell alongside insects the size of small dogs. 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. At the entrance to La Joya, ant hills and wasp nests surround a wooden sign. Rising swiftly through the ranks, John buries his conscience to become a notorious Mafia hitman. "I just watched Luis blow a guy away," Galeota heard himself say on tape. local news and culture, Michael E. Miller On Friday, May 17, Galeota got word that the judge had also dismissed the drug charge because of lack of evidence. Finally, on May 23, the gate on Galeota's cramped cell swung open, and he was free to go. 4:00AM. We travelled all the time. They tried to squeeze Fainberg to get Seidle. "You see who wants to fuck your wife, who wants to rob you, and who your real friends are.". 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. "This case has had a big impact here," says Jos Otero, a reporter for Panamanian newspaper La Prensa. 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. "I was just numb.". There was nothing unusual about it. His attorney has warned him that prosecutors will likely appeal, so he plans to stay in Panama until his case is resolved. 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. 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. 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). On Friday, May 17, Galeota got word that the judge had also dismissed the drug charge because of lack of evidence. The offload is a result of two successful drug interdictions in the Caribbean since August 23. "This country is corrupt. Tony Galeta. It continued at another local strip club, called Quarterbacks Playmates Lounge. As for his career, his only oath is that he won't let his sons follow his example. 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?. 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. S10 E10 - Miami Mobster Take Down Tony Galeota is framed for drug trafficking in Panama City. Ten million dollars really feels like 10 million dollars, he gushes in the movie. He broke it off with the woman, but his problems were only beginning. "I thought I would kick up my heels together like 'Oh my God, I'm finally out,'" he says.
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