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. Tony Galeota has a wife named Kristy Galeota, with whom he lives. Tony Gogetta. This business has been very good to me.". Its Colombian dancers were in Panama on six-month tourist visas, weren't licensed as prostitutes, and weren't getting required weekly health checkups. Three weeks after the Doll House raid, Kristy was working the bar at Bongos when three teenagers walked into the restaurant. And there was absolutely no bullshit. When he was 16, he knocked up his 15-year-old girlfriend at Hauppauge High School. 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). In the early 1990s, three friends set out to hustle the Russian mob, the Cali cartel and the DEA for the score of a lifetime. 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. Again, the charges were dropped. "That's the problem.". Now the stranger-than-fiction story is brought to life in new documentary Operation Odessa, a film thats closer to a roller-coaster ride than anything else and premieres on Showtime March 31. The 43-year-old is shaped like a mini refrigerator: short and squat, with a shaved head and wide-set emerald eyes. Sign Up. They were very compliant to everything we asked of them, said McElhaney. Galeota's enemies say that a life of sin has finally caught up with the flesh-peddler. Then an old friend showed up. "I've done a lot of shady things in the States," he admits. (A New York Police Department spokesman says records from that far back aren't available.) Access is free so discover Tony Galeota's story today. Moreover, trafficking prostitutes and drugs and involvement in organized crime are some serious charges.". But Galeota's plan would soon go catastrophically wrong. Running an underworld operation in Cocaine Cowboys-era Miami wasn't an easy gig. 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. Like a concert pianist, Tony Galeota has spent his life honing a single skill since he was a teenager. Galeota is one of several Americans locked up here. , updated But all the cops found were five grams of weed, a bottle of Viagra, and some mysterious yellow pills. By the time they returned to Long Island later that night, a pimp was born. Its a lot of f- -king paper. "It was so slow I couldn't take it," he says. The submarine request, which came from Yester on behalf of the cartel, was not as outrageous as it now sounds. 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. Director Robin Dashwood Stars Alex Andreas Ricardo Burgos Tony Galeota But instead of classical music, his specialty is sex. He was the one whod been speaking directly to the cartel; he was the only one who knew the real amount of money Cali were willing to pay; and he was the one who took the risk and disappeared with millions of the cartels drug money. "I've done a lot of shady things in the States," he admits. When he discovered he was about to be subpoenaed, he withdrew $2,500 from the bank and boarded a two-week Caribbean cruise. 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. Sometimes we get a little excited when we find the amount of cocaine we found, said Castro. 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. ", Instead, he found another, tighter-knit family: the mob. Log In. It wasn't until he ordered some Italian food and a cold Guinness that he finally felt like he was free. His nightmare began in June of 2011, when police raided his Panama City strip club and arrested him and his Ukrainian partner for trafficking women and selling drugs. "I thought I would kick up my heels together like 'Oh my God, I'm finally out,'" he says. "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. Tony Galeta. The Coast Guard said four suspected smugglers were taken into custody and 32 bales of cocaine were found in the water. And he hopes to open a place in Fort Lauderdale when he's back. View the profiles of people named Anthony Galeota. But it bored him. Like a concert pianist, Tony Galeota has spent his life honing a single skill since he was a teenager. But then the country's corrupt system turned on them. The American says he's giving up the strip club and brothel businesses. I got a piece of the action of every blowjob that my friends got," Galeota says. While out of sight, he phoned his guy and lied about being in a particular taxi cab. Controlling it. Eventually, he moved two dozen ladies to Panama City. For the most part, Doll House dancers agree. When his younger brother was molested, he beat the suspected perpetrator to a pulp. "She hasn't worked for 15 years. Anthony Galeota (right) poses with Ludwig "Tarzan" Fainberg inside the Doll House weeks before their arrest. Log In or Sign Up Tonia Galeota See Photos Antonio Galeota See Photos Tony Galeota See Photos Toni Galea See Photos Toni Colletto See Photos Toni Torres Galea Tarzan, got his first job in America as an enforcer for the Gambino crime family. But killings are common in Panama's worst prison, where the smell of raw sewage wafts over the yard, metal shackles hang from mouldy staircases, and overcrowded cells house nearly 3,500 of the Western Hemisphere's vilest murderers, rapists, and drug traffickers. Instead, he says competitors pulled government strings to screw him. And she launched drunken tirades at Tony after baseball games, no matter how well the all-star shortstop performed. As Yester laid low with the cash, cartel liaisons in the United States, aware that they had been burned, pressured Almeida to show them where Yesters relatives lived in and around Miami. We had a $500,000 house, cars, and motorcycles. And, above all, selling it. Thanks to a successful appeal, Almeida served only 18 months for his part in the sub caper. Make a one-time donation today for as little as $1. 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. 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. 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. Michael Galeota, who starred on the Disney Channel's "The Jersey" died Sunday, according to Variety. "They knew some Russian guy named Tarzan who had just opened up a club in Miami called Porky's. His attorney has warned him that prosecutors will likely appeal, so he plans to stay in Panama until his case is resolved. 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. A friend suggested Panama. But Tony had darker secrets. On a crowded balcony overlooking La Joya, Galeota describes the past 16 months as a nightmare. Between the restaurant and the Doll House, he was making enough to retire in five years. We've been here for two years!' Luckier still, a powerful Colombian inmate named Mauricio Ramrez recognized Galeota from his restaurant. He was recently sentenced to serve around six years in federal prison. Back in South Florida, Kristy Galeota vacillates between outrage and empathy for her husband. Tony Galeota's age is expected to be 52. 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. He paid for her to secretly get an abortion. Facebook Email or phone Password Forgot account? 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. See Photos. Prisoners eat stale bread and a slice of cheese for breakfast; rice and sometimes beans is their lunch and dinner. Once they spotted the plane, they changed course which is suspicious for us, said Boatswains Mate 1st Class, Joshua McElhaney with the Coast Guard. "She would use shoe polish to change our driver's licenses so we could go to clubs and drink when we were 15. Its a great success overall. Galeota's wife Kristy comments "Porky's was definitely a place you could get killed." (CBS Miami). By 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. Galeota already lived according to a gangster's code. If any official asks you to pay for anything, please report them.". "It was a very violent atmosphere," he says. Photo Gallery. 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. 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. Galeota believes that his arrest has little to do with a renewed commitment to the law in Panama. And they were doing it on behalf of the notorious Cali drug cartel in Colombia, who planned to use the underwater vessel to smuggle cocaine undetected. When he was 16, he knocked up his 15-year-old girlfriend at Hauppauge High School. South Florida's independent or. "This case has had a big impact here," says Jos Otero, a reporter for Panamanian newspaper La Prensa. He was 31. A narc I know called me with a tip and he said, This is the craziest true-crime caper Ive ever come across in my life. When Galeota stood up, he checked his T-shirt for bullet holes, but found none. "I couldn't take all the people who wanted to come.". I just called a friend who had a friend and asked if he could get us a sub. This story has been shared 173,716 times. The Coast Guard said each one of the kilos is worth $33,000. Research > Galeota > Tony Galeota. A man deeply embedded with Escobar's Medelln cartel, Tony had a notorious reputation as "a really bad guy"he was once caught with 41 passports, and featured on his own 1999 episode of America's. Galeota saw an opportunity. "It is with tremendous heartfelt sadness to announce the passing of Michael James Gal