A tattoo of an Italian Mafioso emerges from an extra-large sleeveless T-shirt. He needed some help," he recalls. Wrongly imprisoned. In an instant, Galeota's meaty hand was around the customer's neck, shoving him outside. "She would use shoe polish to change our driver's licenses so we could go to clubs and drink when we were 15. He offered protection and gave Galeota $200. Were out there to cause an effect in the drug industry and I believe we made a little dent on it.. "When you're in La Joya for two years, you get used to that environment," Galeota says. 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. "That clean, business-friendly, postcard-Panama bullshit is just a faade," Galeota says. When a dancer clapped her ass cheeks like a maraca, a customer's hands instinctively rose to touch them. Tony Kaleta. Prostitution was so common at Porky's that the club had fixed places and prices, Galeota says. But Fainberg wasn't in town to catch up. Instead, they eat rice for lunch and dinner, drink dirty river water, and use a hole in the ground for a toilet. Indeed, Havana Club has already reopened. "He had that guido effect on me," she says. Tony was a tough, muscular little shit back then. His father, Arnold, was a strait-laced sales manager but a distant and disapproving dad. Meet me in Africa for a cup of coffee tomorrow.. 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 But Tony had darker secrets. Facilitating it. "I lived it up in Miami," he says. 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. Thats why you have to do this kind of story as non-fiction., The initial meeting with Tarzan, however, was hampered by the fact that the Russian mob got wind of Russells visit, he says, and they threatened Tarzans life inside the jail if he shared his full story. "This case has had a big impact here," says Jos Otero, a reporter for Panamanian newspaper La Prensa. He answered only to property owner William Seidle, a U.S. Bankruptcy Court trustee who ran a chain of car dealerships. We've been here for two years!' The message was that the cocaine traffickers would kill Yesters family members. And theyre like, F*** yeah, lets do it. Sheila Flynn For Dailymail.com The 43-year-old is shaped like a mini refrigerator: short and squat, with a shaved head and wide-set emerald eyes. 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. While on routine patrol, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection plane spotted a suspicious speed boat. But he was too shell-shocked to take up his attorney's offer for a ride to a nice hotel. The 43-year-old is shaped like a mini refrigerator: short and squat, with a shaved head and wide-set emerald eyes. Everybody wanted to make money. 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. Facilitating it. Unfortunately, Galeota's defense isn't as simple as quoting strippers, says his lawyer, Guillermina McDonald. I got a piece of the action of every blowjob that my friends got," Galeota says. Get started U.S. Yearbooks Name Index, 1890-1979. The FBI swooped in January 21, surrounding the club and arresting Fainberg. Prosecutors charged Galeota and Fainberg with not only drug dealing but also human trafficking. We asked them some questions and some of their information didnt quite add up, so we conducted a boarding.. 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. "The first month, we had $15,000 in gross sales. 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. Galeota was crammed into a sweltering holding cell with 150 others. 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. But when the house of cards tumbles, John . Jimmy Galeota has spent the last month-and-a-half grieving his older brother Michael's death - but perhaps the most difficult part of it all to swallow has been the bizarre circumstances that. But bloodshed would follow them to Miami. But he insists that, for once, he has done nothing wrong. People named Tony Galeta. Although he knows he could receive the death penalty, the money is too tempting to resist. Eventually, however, he made his way to Tarzan. Sixteen months later, the two men have yet to appear in court. "It was a real moneymaker. or. And like the Italian-American crooner, he loved women a little too much. 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. and help keep the future of New Times, Use of this website constitutes acceptance of our, From Porky's to Panamanian Prison: Web Extra. She is cute and curvy with dark hair and a button nose. "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. "Their connections were bigger than ours," he says. , updated Make a one-time donation today for as little as $1. He ogled the women standing on corners in their underwear and high heels. "We were doing fantastic, but Tarzan got bored and started living the life," Galeota explains. A tattoo of an Italian Mafioso emerges from an extra-large sleeveless T-shirt. At the entrance to La Joya, ant hills and wasp nests surround a wooden sign. Has a stint in Panamanian prison reformed Miami's most notorious strip club manager? By the time they returned to Long Island later that night, a pimp was born. "I've done a lot of shady things in the States," he admits. But Galeota's problems aren't completely behind him. "Running a club in that neighborhood, win or lose, you've got to fight.". When he was 16, he knocked up his 15-year-old girlfriend at Hauppauge High School. 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. Controlling it. The bartender hid in the bathroom and dialed 911. source of local news and culture, Michael E. Miller #Torture #PanamGovernment #LaJoyaprisonPanam #PresidentVarela #Panam #Corruption. During the Doll House raid, they found marked bills in the register and several grams of pot on a promoter. But the men kept in touch as Russell pursued other projects, with Tarzan sending random messages such as Christmas greetings until he finally sent the email the filmmaker had been awaiting (although he couldnt have guessed the other crazy details in the communication. The irony is not lost on Galeota that after a life of crime in Miami, he was arrested in Panama just as he was going legit. Juan, Tarzan and law enforcement insisted there was no way hed agree to participate in the documentary. New Times wrote about Galeota's plight last year ("From Porky's to Hell," October 4, 2012), even visiting him in La Joya prison, a crumbling concrete complex in the jungle where inmates kill each other with impunity. But their courtship was cut short. As Shea tried to pull the panties off one of the dancers, he heard police sirens in the distance and bolted. ", Coast Guard Offloads More Than $93 Million In Cocaine, Miami Beach. Once they spotted the plane, they changed course which is suspicious for us, said Boatswains Mate 1st Class, Joshua McElhaney with the Coast Guard. ", - 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. 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. 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. Tony Galeota has a wife named Kristy Galeota, with whom he lives. But in South Florida, he was once a strip club king. "She would use shoe polish to change our driver's licenses so we could go to clubs and drink when we were 15. But Monday morning, when it came time to walk out of La Joya, there was no vehicle waiting. This looks great. . Prostitution in Miami had become too risky, he decided, but overseas sex tourism was soaring. "I'm used to getting my water from a rain bucket, not hot from the tap." Michael Galeota, who starred on the Disney Channel's "The Jersey" died Sunday, according to Variety. And he hopes to open a place in Fort Lauderdale when he's back. "We were like: 'We want to get the fuck out of here. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. Locked up in one of the world's worst prisons, Tony has to prove his innocence and attempt an audacious escape. Galeota is one of several Americans locked up here. Within weeks of its April 2011 opening, the club was raking in $6,000 on good nights. As he sweated in jail, Galeota's Panamanian empire crumbled. I'm kind of stuck with it. But Galeota's plan would soon go catastrophically wrong. It was a weeknight, and Porky's was washed in pale-pink neon light. Tony Galletta. 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. (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. "They murdered a guy in here a couple of days ago," Tony Galeota says. "I wouldn't leave a dog in that prison, let alone my husband.". Log in or sign up for Facebook to connect with friends, family and people you know. There is no rehabilitation here," he says. "She would use shoe polish to change our driver's licenses so we could go to clubs and drink when we were 15. Join the New Times community and help support independent But when he opens a new club in Panama City, the competition isn't happy and frames him for drug dealing. Miami's underworld may still be seedy, but it has outsourced much of its shadiness to nearby Third-World countries such as Panama. Tony Galeota's age is expected to be 52. They went Maserati shopping by helicopter so they could look at the cars from the air. Prisoners eat stale bread and a slice of cheese for breakfast; rice and sometimes beans is their lunch and dinner. "It was puppy love," he says. (CBS Miami). We both understand that.". 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. 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. She's forgiven me, for the most part. "I used to have to patch Tony up all the time," Kristy says. Its impossible but only because its true. His father, Arnold, was a strait-laced sales manager but a distant and disapproving dad. Galeota also found himself in the back of an unmarked FBI car. But his mind was on another kind of riches. 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. ", McDonald has succeeded, however, in chipping away at the case, persuading a judge three weeks ago to drop the trafficking charge on a technicality. According to the Coast Guard: It first took place north of the Gulf of Uraba. Episode 5: Spain /Sold My Soul Like a real-life godfather, Galeota weathered it all. And when his mother was distraught over a broken washing machine, he filled the house with new appliances. S10 E10 Miami Mobster Take Down. 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). And I'm not asking her to.". "It was a nightmare in there. One scammer stole from another scammer; of course I accept it, he says. Kristy was able to pay a lawyer $500 to get her son released, but there was no bond for Galeota's drug offense. With Fainberg locked up, Porky's was Galeota's plaything. Days go by without water, and when it does arrive, it's turbid sludge from a nearby river. Greed got the better of him. When his younger brother was molested, he beat the suspected perpetrator to a pulp. The last one locked the door. He raises his eyebrows and looks upwards to the left to emphasize just how flabbergasted he was with Mishas counter question. But in South Florida, he was once a strip club king. But it bored him. 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. October 4, 2012 Even then, however, he couldn't sleep. It wasn't until he ordered some Italian food and a cold Guinness that he finally felt like he was free. He was, after all, working with an American playboy in Miami and a fugitive Cuban spy to procure this submarine.