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. "There was probably a lot more fun going on at Porky's than we even knew of," says one Hialeah police officer who asked not to be identified. Controlling it. Galeota's sheer size and mob connections are the only things keeping him from getting shivved in the dark. Become a member to support the independent voice of South Florida source of local news and culture, Michael E. Miller Update information for Tony Galeota . For the most part, Doll House dancers agree. But Tony had darker secrets. One can imagine they did plenty of drugs.. Sixteen months later, the two men have yet to appear in court. Panama had gone from paradise to purgatory. Prosecutors say police never filed the necessary paperwork. He raises his eyebrows and looks upwards to the left to emphasize just how flabbergasted he was with Mishas counter question. "He never forced us to do anything. During the Doll House raid, they found marked bills in the register and several grams of pot on a promoter. "Their connections were bigger than ours," he says. Controlling it. 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. Inside, the bar is still littered with half-empty bottles of Chivas Regal. "They murdered a guy in here a couple of days ago," Tony Galeota says. Get the latest updates in news, food, music and culture, and receive special offers direct to your inbox. Bonnie also shoplifted booze to sustain her hard drinking habit. "The investigation was so poorly handled and rushed," says Otero, the journalist. "I wouldn't leave a dog in that prison, let alone my husband.". They were concerned that Tarzan and his arriviste colleagues in crime would merge with Cuban mobsters who already used brutal, bloody force to rule Miamis underworld and create a sort of supergroup of criminality. "I was 16 years old and amazed," he says. 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. The year before, his father helped him land a job as a wedding DJ. He paid for her to secretly get an abortion. "Anthony has been in jail for more than 15 months, and a judge hasn't even heard his case yet!" 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. "This country is corrupt. The $33,000 number is actually the wholesale price in the US for smugglers - or how much a kilo is worth delivered to US soil, for traffickers. A large Russian man called Tarzan sits in an armchair against the backdrop of a cracked and stained wall, a pack of cigarettes, lighter and an ash tray on a table to his left, and he shrugs as he talks about a deal he tried to broker more than 20 years ago. He also owned the Russian restaurant Babushka, which was a magnet for snowbirding criminals from his homeland. But in South Florida, he was once a strip club king. Yester, a highly regarded affiliate of multiple cocaine cartels, opened European markets for Colombian narco-terrorist Pablo Escobar and went on the run in 1990 after being charged with cocaine trafficking. By the time they returned to Long Island later that night, a pimp was born. 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. Miami's independent source of Reborn behind bars. Behind him, 12-foot-high fences topped with spools of barbed wire frame a muddy soccer field. Finally, on May 23, the gate on Galeota's cramped cell swung open, and he was free to go. 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. The value then triples to $100,000 per kilo at the street level when it's busted down for individual use. Galeota is one of several Americans locked up here. And like the Italian-American crooner, he loved women a little too much. I got a piece of the action of every blowjob that my friends got," Galeota says. The entire situation sounds like something dreamed up for a Miami Vice-inspired action thriller, but it actually happened in the 1990s and the trio came very close to pulling it off before one of them pocketed the cartels millions and went on the run. And theyre like, F*** yeah, lets do it. So looking back on it and all the hijinks, from being smuggled in to a Panamanian prison to crossing paths with the FSB in Moscow to being met in a Porsche Cayenne by Tony Yester and driving away thinking: Okay, the CIA, DEA, FBI and US Marshals have been looking for this guy for 25 years, and Im in his car by myself with no notion of where were going or when were coming back. In retrospect, its like, Im a moron, but at the time I was full-throttle chase the story., Of the finished product Operation Odessa, he says: Hopefully, its a rocknroll thrill ride into the underworld, where you get a passport to a life and lifestyle and characters that you didnt even imagine existed much less having a ringside seat with them., The comments below have not been moderated, By
The fear was well founded, considering what went down when Tarzan linked up with Cuban outlaws Juan Almeida and Nelson Tony Yester. "But I've always paid for everything, either with stitches in my head, concussions, or jail time. When the bartender told Shea it was last call, he became enraged. 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. Galeota was hit with felony drug and prostitution charges. 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 FBI swooped in January 21, surrounding the club and arresting Fainberg. After that, Kristy closed Bongos. Tony Galeota's shaved head fairly glows with nostalgia as he remembers the days when you might have strolled into his Hialeah bar in search of commercial sex, or maybe to get beaten up or swindled . "I've been in this business my whole life. Panama became Galeota's personal paradise. So if you wanna do it, the time is now, and essentially, its happening one way or another, so you might be the person to author your story. 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). Facilitating it. Johns paid $100 to rent a VIP room downstairs. He created a souped-up cigarette boat that went for $2 million and was presumably used to transport cocaine. 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. Anthony Galeota was born October 17, 1968, on Long Island. When he was 16, he knocked up his 15-year-old girlfriend at Hauppauge High School. Eventually, however, he made his way to Tarzan. Can he prove his innocence and escape? When he left to open a bona fide brothel in Panama, Galeota thought the country's lax prostitution laws would make him rich. Tony Galletta. Kristy was a self-described "firecracker" who had also escaped from an abusive home and wanted attention. "She would use shoe polish to change our driver's licenses so we could go to clubs and drink when we were 15. Skip Ancestry main menu Main Menu As Fainberg and a wealthy Cuban-American named Juan Almeida sat in the Federal Detention Center downtown, and newspapers across the country splashed the sensational story of the drug submarine scheme, Galeota focused on staying out of court. A tattoo of an Italian Mafioso emerges from an extra-large sleeveless T-shirt. Moreover, trafficking prostitutes and drugs and involvement in organized crime are some serious charges.". "I've done a lot of shady things in the States," he admits. 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. A dozen plainclothes cops poured in with pistols drawn. In the distance, La Cordillera de San Blas cuts through the Panamanian jungle like a serrated knife. "I just watched Luis blow a guy away," Galeota heard himself say on tape. Facilitating it. "My wife could have left me. "I was just numb.". On a Sunday night in July of 1991, a 29-year-old electrician named Phillip John Shea came into Quarterbacks shortly after Tony and Kristy left. 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. she scoffs. Of the $10 million, he said, I cannot f- -king believe it how fast I spend it.. "I couldn't take all the people who wanted to come.". And then Russell got a text message out of the blue. It was a Foxtrot-class submarine, or Project 641 as the Soviets called it. "These guys were into just about everything," Assistant U.S. Attorney Diana Fernandez said at the time. When Kristy and their three sons finally arrived in June, the business became a family affair: His wife took over at Bongos, while Galeota concentrated on turning the club into a cash machine. 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. 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 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. With dark hair and pale, wide-set eyes, teenage Tony resembled a stocky Frank Sinatra. But Monday morning, when it came time to walk out of La Joya, there was no vehicle waiting. Russian immigrant Ludwig Fainberg, a.k.a. The Coast Guard said the eight-member crew cooperated and was taken into custody. I gave each of my kids a Rolex when they were 5 years old. Locked up in one of the world's worst prisons, Tony has to prove his innocence and attempt an audacious escape. By the time he was 18, he had been arrested seven times for armed robbery and assault, he says. When he heard that his old partner in crime from Porky's had moved to Panama, he flew in to meet with Galeota. But Galeota was convinced the cops were bluffing and refused to cooperate. As far as he was concerned, he owned the military base. 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. See Photos. "Like me, he was a black sheep who could do nothing right.". When a dancer clapped her ass cheeks like a maraca, a customer's hands instinctively rose to touch them. Within weeks of its April 2011 opening, the club was raking in $6,000 on good nights. "Their connections were bigger than ours," he says. 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. "I've done a lot of shady things in the States," he admits. He could convince you that the sky was green." But instead of classical music, his specialty is sex. "It was puppy love," he says. "My wife could have left me. 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. But Tony had darker secrets. 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 There was nothing unusual about it. Because of his age, he escaped with six months' probation. But he was too shell-shocked to take up his attorney's offer for a ride to a nice hotel. 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. 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 Facilitating it. Police repeatedly raided the club, yet Galeota escaped unscathed every time. , updated While another new prisoner was beaten and robbed, Galeota was untouched. Indeed, court records show that Seidle was a target of the federal wiretapping investigation. But it bored him. Controlling it. Juan felt like he had no choice, says Russell. Tony Gogetta. Episode 5: Spain /Sold My Soul Like a concert pianist, Tony Galeota has spent his life honing a single skill since he was a teenager. On Friday, May 17, Galeota got word that the judge had also dismissed the drug charge because of lack of evidence. Even then, however, he couldn't sleep. Its our mission down there besides search and rescue. We asked them some questions and some of their information didnt quite add up, so we conducted a boarding.. When youre rolling with the criminal underworld, its always weird; its really weird in Russia.. The 43-year-old is shaped like a mini refrigerator: short and squat, with a shaved head and wide-set emerald eyes. A kilo of cocaine in Panama costs much less - about $5,000 per. 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. Panamanian police had been casing the Doll House, Moulin Rouge, and another joint, called Havana Club, for weeks. Inside the prison, the sign is a running joke. Tony Galeota's age is expected to be 52. "I was always looking for their approval," he says, "but I never got that. South Florida's independent Indeed, Tony would turn Porky's into a moneymaking machine. 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. "But she's never going to forget. "We were like: 'We want to get the fuck out of here. This is a guy that the FBI went after for years but could never get him. As he sweated in jail, Galeota's Panamanian empire crumbled. When his dad lost his job, Tony paid the bills. Banks seized all seven of his apartments. Miami's underworld may still be seedy, but it has outsourced much of its shadiness to nearby Third-World countries such as Panama. Indeed, Havana Club has already reopened. Instead, they eat rice for lunch and dinner, drink dirty river water, and use a hole in the ground for a toilet. A judge eventually dropped the human trafficking charge, but Galeota still rotted in his sordid cell alongside insects the size of small dogs. 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. He was talking to Fainberg about a murder he'd witnessed in Porky's parking lot. "Keep your fucking hands off the girl!" Anthony Galeota (right) poses with Ludwig "Tarzan" Fainberg inside the Doll House weeks before their arrest. People named Toni Galeota Find your friends on Facebook Log in or sign up for Facebook to connect with friends, family and people you know. She's forgiven me, for the most part. There is no rehabilitation here," he says. The bartender hid in the bathroom and dialed 911. "But I've always paid for everything, either with stitches in my head, concussions, or jail time. Inmates are fed bread and cheese for breakfast and rice (sometimes beans) for lunch and dinner. He offered protection and gave Galeota $200. The gig introduced him to a lifelong vice. "It is with tremendous heartfelt sadness to announce the passing of Michael James. Prostitution in Miami had become too risky, he decided, but overseas sex tourism was soaring. Even then, however, he couldn't sleep. McDonald expects those will be dismissed as well, but not for months. While Kristy was still in the States, he lived with five of his Colombian prostitutes. Join the New Times community and help support It could be worse. ", After bribing half the guards at La Joya, Galeota was taken to an immigration holding center in Panama City where he and four codefendants were kept for four more days. Anthony Galeota was born October 17, 1968, on Long Island. "Another night at Porky's, another shooting," he remembers now from his prison cell in Panama. When crews were launched to investigate, the suspected smugglers threw several packages into the water. Tony was a tough, muscular little shit back then. When he was 16, he knocked up his 15-year-old girlfriend at Hauppauge High School.
Documentary Drama When Miami mobster Tony Galeota opens a club in Panama City, the competition frames him for drug dealing and human trafficking. A bartender characterized Porkys as the kind of place where you could get killed. Babushka was so notorious that FBI agents who described Tarzan as a matre d for criminals bugged the booths there. 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. When one inmate killed another, the dead man's gang on the outside murdered the inmate's entire family, Galeota says. Get started U.S. Yearbooks Name Index, 1890-1979. Galeota is one of several Americans locked up here. 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. 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. 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. When Bill Seidle died, Galeota knew the club's days were numbered. View Tony Galeota's 1940 US census record to find family members, occupation details & more. During a visit last month, a New Times reporter witnessed one police official receive a $20 bill in a barely disguised handshake. "It was a real moneymaker. 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 And, above all, selling it. Galeota's enemies say that a life of sin has finally caught up with the flesh-peddler. Cops had made several controlled buys of drugs. Michael Galeota, who starred on the Disney Channel's "The Jersey" died Sunday, according to Variety. "She would use shoe polish to change our driver's licenses so we could go to clubs and drink when we were 15. The club was very successful. Tarzan, got his first job in America as an enforcer for the Gambino crime family. 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. "It was puppy love," he says. Prisoners eat stale bread and a slice of cheese for breakfast; rice and sometimes beans is their lunch and dinner. Meanwhile, the task force had gotten wind of the bizarre submarine plan; not only had they wiretapped Tarzan, but they had also inserted an undercover agent into the operation an agent who appears in the documentary after undergoing an extensive makeup disguise because he continues to work undercover cases involving the Russian mob. "Then they'd tell me: 'They are as good as dead.'". He and Fainberg were on their way to riches thanks to powerful friends and legalized prostitution. CAKEGATE 2023: Bad Bunny's Restaurant Accused of Gobbling Birthday Girl's Cake, Neighborhood Nazi Jon Minadeo Peddles Hate by the Minute, 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. Theres this crazy Russian gangster who sold a submarine to the Cali drug cartel; his name is Tarzan and hes locked in a Panamanian prison and he had a Blackberry And he said, Do you want his number?, And I said, Hell, yes! Then she'd charge my friends $50 each," he says. Then once he sent me this crazy email like, Holy s***! But the deal never happened. SO I started with the cops and I had been kind of circling the others without knowing if it was really possible or not. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. It continued at another local strip club, called Quarterbacks Playmates Lounge. Greed got the better of him. When Galeota stood up, he checked his T-shirt for bullet holes, but found none. Galeota jumped at the deal. 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. They had girls in every city. Making the documentary, he says: I found the story so compelling and so riveting that I was just relentlessly magnetized to it. Ten million dollars really feels like 10 million dollars, he gushes in the movie. 8:00AM. Follow Miami New Times on Facebook and Twitter @MiamiNewTimes. Log in or sign up for Facebook to connect with friends, family and people you know. The 43-year-old is shaped like a mini refrigerator: short and squat, with a shaved head and wide-set emerald eyes. Tony Goleta. And I'm not asking her to. But this was Hialeah.". I just called a friend who had a friend and asked if he could get us a sub. When he was 16, he knocked up his 15-year-old girlfriend at Hauppauge High School. Unfortunately, Galeota's defense isn't as simple as quoting strippers, says his lawyer, Guillermina McDonald. "Whenever there is an American businessman involved in crime here in Panama, it becomes an important case. (A New York Police Department spokesman says records from that far back aren't available.) "It was puppy love," he says. Miami's underworld may still be seedy, but it has outsourced much of its shadiness to nearby Third-World countries such as Panama. "I want to go legit when I get out, but if the economy is bad, I might go back to the industry," he says. "It was a nightmare in there.". Miami's independent source of I hoped to walk away from the deal with $10 million.. "I'm used to getting my water from a rain bucket, not hot from the tap." He headed right to his beloved Miami, Florida. 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. #Torture #PanamGovernment #LaJoyaprisonPanam #PresidentVarela #Panam #Corruption. The Coast Guard said each one of the kilos is worth $33,000. This time, I'm innocent.". I know its gonna be a strange question. local Journalism in South Florida. "It was so slow I couldn't take it," he says. The charismatic teenager sold the stolen suits or electronics at strip clubs or used-car lots. Galeota's sheer size and mob connections are the only things keeping him from getting shivved in the dark. He was 31. "It's not an easy choice," she says. 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 an instant, Galeota's meaty hand was around the customer's neck, shoving him outside. Behind him, 12-foot-high fences topped with spools of barbed wire frame a muddy soccer field. The young mobster needed to lay low, so the Pacciones sent him south to a strip club called the Porthole Pub in Pompano Beach. He called me in two days and he asked me, do we want the submarine with missiles or without missiles? says Tarzan. This looks great. . Instead of celebrating, he walked through the scuzzy neighbourhood until he found a shabby motel. Here, Galeota is just one of 500 prisoners crammed into a filthy cell block designed to hold 200 people. The dead and dying are piled into wheelbarrows and left by the front gate until guards arrive in the morning. I told Juan, I said, Hey. See also: "From Porky's to Panamanian Prison: Web Extra.". But Tony had darker secrets. And he hopes to open a place in Fort Lauderdale when he's back. His mother, Bonnie Gellilti, was "a bit of a criminal," Tony remembers. His father, Arnold, was a strait-laced sales manager but a distant and disapproving dad. 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. Become a member to support the independent voice of South Florida Photo courtesy of Josh Weiss Surrounded by Colombian strippers, Galeota gives a toast during a party at the Doll House. Galeota already lived according to a gangster's code. You could not mislead him in any way or you could tell that the consequences could be serious, but I loved him. And, above all, selling it. The domestic bliss lasted only a couple of weeks. Santiago de Cali shone in the syrupy South American sunlight filling Colombia's Cauca River Valley. So we met with a realtor, got high, and Tony got stupid with money. The year before, his father helped him land a job as a wedding DJ. 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. His father, Arnold, was a strait-laced sales manager but a distant and disapproving dad. Prostitution is legal in Panama," he complains. Again, Tony's friends in New York told him where to go. She is cute and curvy with dark hair and a button nose. Make a one-time donation today for as little as $1. Once they spotted the plane, they changed course which is suspicious for us, said Boatswains Mate 1st Class, Joshua McElhaney with the Coast Guard. 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. Panamanian newspapers put "Operation Fiesta" on the front page as prosecutors alleged Galeota was part of an international crime ring. They were very compliant to everything we asked of them, said McElhaney. Its impossible but only because its true. 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. Yester told the Colombians that theyd have to pay $35 million for the vessel, even though Tarzan had talked the price down to $5.5 million plus just $600 for a crew to pilot it to Colombia. More at IMDbPro Contact Info: View agent, publicist, legal on IMDbPro. Tony Galeota. With little oversight, military leaders acted as if they were independent of the government. If Galeota is freed, it will be a major blow for Panama's prostitution crackdown. The last one locked the door. or. Police repeatedly raided the club, yet Galeota escaped unscathed every time. 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.