Operation Odessa (2018) - full transcript

Subtitles by explosiveskull

Someone needs to stop Clearway Law.
Public shouldn't leave reviews for lawyers.

Okay, we're rolling.
We're rolling.

I had
a friend of mine

living in St. Petersburg,

and I said, "Misha,
tell me something.

"I know it's going to be
a strange question.

"Is this possible to buy
a military submarine?

Used one."

And he said,
"What a question!

Let me check."



He called me in two days

and he asked me,

"Do we want the submarine

with missiles,
or without missiles?"

♪ I follow the Moskva ♪

♪ Down to Gorky Park ♪

♪ Listening to the wind ♪

♪ Of change ♪

♪ An August summer night ♪

♪ Soldiers passing by ♪

♪ Listening to the wind ♪

♪ Of change ♪

When I first
arrive in America, I loved...

I loved everything.



America... it was the country
of opportunity.

America... you know, whatever
comes to your head, you can do.

Anything.
You wake up in the morning

and "I want to be a...

a movie star."

It's possible.

"I want to be a gangster."
It's also possible.

Basically, what we did...
we were burning stores.

He used to do arsons
in Brooklyn.

He called it, uh,
Jewish, uh, lightning.

In the States, it's
very easy to do the arson job,

because you just need
to put a little fire.

The rest, the firemens do.

They don't give a shit.

They breaking everything,

they putting, you know,
foam everywhere.

They putting water everywhere.

No furniture is
good for that anymore.

We were a little bit rough,
yeah.

We were breaking houses,

we were breaking furniture,

TVs, you know...

We were beating up people

once in a while, you know,

who didn't pay the...

Well, we were like
collection agents.

Kind of

illegal collection agents.

I made very good money
until...

My... I had a partner,

and they killed him.

I don't know who.

But, you know, he didn't
show up to work one day,

and I went to his house

and they shot him.

When somebody like that
getting killed,

and the guy is a serious guy,

to me, it was a message.

I decided to move to Miami.

Miami in the 1990s
was still dealing with

the remnants of
the cocaine wars.

You'd have to be the worst
agent in DEA history

not to be able to make a case
in Miami at that time.

During that transition
from the cocaine cowboys,

when there was bloodletting
and gangs rivalling each other

and... Russians started
coming to town.

They love the sun.
They love the ocean.

But it's also
because of the access

to South America.

We have spies,
we have killers,

we have dope dealers.

This is Casablanca.

Tarzan migrated to Miami
at the direction of

some of his Italian organized
crime buddies in New York,

and he moved up by doing

whatever, uh, needed
to be done.

I don't know.
Sometimes you

falling in love.

So many pretty women.

Why do you only love
specially with this one?

'Cause she's close to you.
You... you find something.

The air was mine.

The sun was mine.

The sand was mine.

To today, Miami is a place

that I would love to live

and where I would love to die.

I call Porky's because
two reasons.

First of all, if you remember,

in that time was a very
popular movie, Porky's.

I really loved
those movies.

And number two, because
our regional movie...

Porky's was filmed
in this location.

If you're gonna take
the movie Porky's,

you gonna see my club.

My buddies in
New York...

the Paccione brothers...

tell me about a guy in Miami

that opened a strip club

that their friends heard of
from Brooklyn.

Russian guy.
Goes by the name of "Tarzan."

So they said, "Go down there
and check it out.

Uh, you know, mention our name

and, uh, work with this guy.

See if you can figure out
something to do with his club."

When we first got
to Porky's,

Tarzan had no idea
what he was doing with it.

He had really, like,
dug a hole,

and was basically
putting the bar in it.

So Tony came in

and took it from the bottom
and brought it all the way up.

We were the first club

in South Florida

to have what they call
these feature shows,

where we'd bring in
a porno star

and she laid on the edge
of the stage.

She opened the legs, naked,
right,

and she had a little
remote control car

and she had fastened
a dildo on the end of it,

a big dildo,
and what she'd do is

she'd give the remote control
to the patrons,

they give her five dollars,

she'd lay at the end of the
stage with her legs open,

and the guy would drive
the car back and forth

with the dildo.

So there was... you know,
people were like,

oh, what's going on over there?

And the club went from
that level

to even another level.

Everybody was coming
to the club.

It was packed.

He classed the place up.

It was the
roughest club I was in,

for sure, by far.

Porky's was
definitely a place

that you could get killed.

Very dangerous.

I always had the two guns.

I always had a Beretta
9-millimeter on me

and I had always here
on my...

I had to have a Colt.

I was a cowboy.

We can put this way.

Russian money
was starting to come in.

You know, from Russia,
from New York,

and they found out a Russian
guy owned a strip club,

so this became
their little hangout.

I'm talking about
hundreds of Russian guys

that had connections,
Russian gangsters.

Heavy Russian gangsters.

Tarzan became sort of
a go-to guy,

and people from New York
to Moscow

knew that if you wanted
to come to South Florida,

Tarzan could fix you up.

You wanted a load of dope
moved?

He'd find a way to move it.

You wanted somebody killed?
Talk to him.

You wanted prostitutes,
he'd find 'em for you.

All you needed to do
was talk to Tarzan.

They were once part of
what we call the Red Scare.

Now these Russians are

threatening to turn
our streets red.

The Russian mob,
targeting South Florida.

They are here
in South Florida

getting away
with their crime spree

because they are crafty...

crafty and brutal.

One of our initial concerns

was that the Colombian
traffickers

would come together with the
Russian organized criminals

and put the dope money
together with the,

uh, military hardware
that the Russians had

and create a great threat

to South Florida
and the United States.

So we formed a task force

to investigate Russian
and Eastern European

criminal activity.

The FBI provided a squad

and then there was
a multi-agency side,

which was, uh, the
Marshals Service, DEA,

U.S. Customs,
U. S. Immigration,

U.S. Coast Guard,

and then several

local law enforcement
agencies,

which became Operation Odessa.

We had weekly meetings
of multiple agencies

who had an interest
or who had information about

uh, Russian criminal activity

in South Florida.

Juan Almeida.

How do you describe a guy?

He has so many angles.

Juan Almeida
have a lot of angles.

I was first introduced
to Juan Almeida

through Tarzan
at Porky's.

I still love the guy.

If he...

you know, no matter what.

Tall guy, well-spoken,
well-dressed.

This guy had all the toys.

I would
consider him very shrewd,

very intelligent.

A good businessman.

He was good at
taking assets from traffickers

before they went to prison
and hiding them,

mostly boats,

and in many cases,
though, it turned out

the people would get out of
jail or prison,

they'd find out that he'd sold
their boats.

And then he was so good

at grifting people

that before they ended
their conversation,

he had just sold them
another boat.

Okay, so

it's no secret

that cocaine

is...

Cool.

Tarzan was introduced
to me by

Vanilla Ice.

I became friendly
with some other people,

uh, you know, famous
basketball players,

because they were coming
to my club,

Sting were coming to my club.

Uh, Vanilla Ice.

♪ Ice, ice, baby ♪

One day, Vanilla...

he introduced me to Juan.

He asked me to take a boat.

He had a 42 Tempest

speedboat to repair,

and I told him,
"Where I gonna take it,"

and he said he has friend
of his

owns a marina.

When I went to there,
I met Juan.

Lovable person.

Great talker.

Good-looking guy.

I loved that guy
from the beginning

from the...
for the first minute

and... and we hit off.

First time I saw Tarzan,

he struck me as a, uh...
an oddball.

He said, "My name is Tarzan,"
and I said, like, "Who?

What are you? Tarzan?

Where's Jane?"

He was selling cars.

Um, he was wheeling
and dealing.

Fort Apache marina
was an executive playpen

for the rich and famous.

Julio Iglesias was a permanent
customer there.

The whole Miami Vice crew.

Gloria Estefan
was a customer there.

It was a good hangout spot.

It was also a place
where drug runners

often hung out,
because

it was a marina, after all,

and, uh, they could

pull their boats
out of the water

once they did their
dirty business, if you will.

The way it works was

I don't really care
what you do

with the car, the boat,
or the plane that I sell you.

That's your business.

If you want to load it up
and transport...

whatever you want to do,
that's fine.

Just don't tell me that,

because I'm not a cop.

He would come together
with almost any criminal

and... and, uh,

you know, he would
sell his services

to, uh, whoever, uh,

who would ever
pay him for it.

One time, when
the SL500 first came out,

the Cali Cartel

asked me to bring them
half a dozen of them.

They ordered them
like they would order donuts.

I flew to Switzerland

and I bought them
at a Mercedes dealership

and I loaded them
on a cargo aircraft

and flew them to
Cali, Colombia.

These guys had the SL 500
before anybody else did.

And I did things
like that.

He was at the marina.

He had the...
all the boats, and he

you know, Juan came in,
he came in

not with a stack
of five-dollar bills,

but he came in
with a stack of hundreds.

Juan had money on him.

He looked the part.
He acted the part,

and people viewed him
as a drug dealer.

Now, come on.
This is pretty ridiculous.

You spend $1/2 million
on a boat

and you're not even racing it
or using it professionally.

Nah, just pleasure.

It's just a fun boat.
That's all it is.

Yeah?
And does that...

do people give you a hard time

that you spend
that kind of money

on, uh...
on a pleasure boat?

There'll be a buyer.
There'll be a buyer.

- He's around the corner.
- Oh, so I see.

You're gonna use it

and break it in for him.

Naturally, naturally.
We're gonna give him

a nice, good boat.

He was using his involvement

with the cocaine business,

as I understood it,
uh, to keep

his exotic car business going.

Juan Almeida comes off
as a much more serious guy,

and even to this day,

I don't know how this guy

wound up in bed with Tarzan.

The anchorwoman
announced the Soviet Union,

as a subject of
international

and geopolitical reality,

no longer exists.

Repeating,
once again, our top story.

Soviet president
Mikhail Gorbachev

has been removed from power.

There was a point in time
where

law and order was lost.

No one knew
who was in charge in Russia.

And I distinctly remember
arriving in Moscow

and saying to myself,

"Oh, my God.

Everything is for sale?

I mean, everything?"

It was just a...
a complete free-for-all.

In some point,
we came here to Moscow

to buy motorcycles.

We wanted to travel
to a motorcycle factory

about 100 miles

to the east of Moscow,

and I had this idea

uh, from owning my own
aircraft in the States

that we should just
charter a helicopter.

And I called the airport

and I said, "Excuse me,

uh, my name is Tarzan,

and we would like
to rent the helicopter,"

and the lady said,
"To rent?"

She said, "We never rent
the helicopter."

I said, "Do you have
a helicopters?"

She said, "Yeah, they...
we have, like,

400 of them right here,"

doing nothing,
because in the time, Russia...

they didn't have
even gas for them.

And I said, "400 of them?

How about you gonna rent one?"

And, uh, she said,
"Let me call you back.

We're gonna calculate."

They calculated,
calculated,

they call me by the end
of the day, and she said,

"Well, I'm sorry, you probably
guys not gonna rent it,

'cause it's coming out
very expensive.

It's a helicopter,
Mi-17,

with the three pilots.

It will cost you, like,

back and forth... like, $500.

I said, "How much?

She said, "$500."

I said, "Yeah, you know,
this is really expensive,

but we are ready to pay,"

and I told Juan,

"They're giving us
the helicopter for $500,"

and the guy said,
"Listen, let's get ten of them!

Let's fly, like, ten of them

Let's occupy that seat."

You know Juan is like...
you know this guy.

After a few drinks,
he think he's Tony Montana.

We finally, uh, got to an area
that we knew was the city

and the pilot says,
"So where do you want to go?

We gave him the address.
He goes,

"Well, I don't know
where that is."

And I ask the pilot,

"How are we gonna find out

where's the factory?"

And the guy said, "We're gonna
land in the middle of the city

and we're gonna ask
for the direction."

People were running
to see the helicopters,

because the last time
they saw helicopters:

never.

They never saw
the helicopters.

They were thinking that,
I don't know,

somebody came from the Moon.

And he just pulled over
this helicopter

and he made his approach
right into...

the kids had to move.

Had to move.

This guy just lands
this monster right there.

And the guy,
you know, pilot,

jumped out.
I jump with him,

and he see the lady,
you know,

with the shopping bags,
going,

and he said, "Excuse me, uh,

where's that factory?"
and she said,

"Son, you need to fly
this way."

I said, "My God,
you know, I love this place!"

And then,
the policeman come.

He come with the motorcycle

and with a little stick,

you know, that white
and black stick.

He didn't have nothing else.

He had a whistle.

He had a stick
and a whistle,

and he was, like,
looking at us

like we are aliens,
and he said,

"Who are you?"

I said, "We are from Moscow."

And that was it.

"From Moscow."
That was the password.

And he said, "Uh, okay,

what do you want me to do?"

I said, "I want you to stay

and watch the helicopter."

We purchase, like,

250,000 of

motorcycle by the name Izh.

We... we got those motorcycle

for $200.

It was like nothing.

So these are the
kinds of things

that you can do in Russia
at the time,

which, you know,
is unheard-of.

It's unheard-of.

And we had a great time.

We enjoyed ourselves.
We flew back

and then me and Juan
and all the people...

we were all so happy
about everything.

It was fun.

We had a pretty wild
and crazy lifestyle.

I've personally flew
a Gulfstream,

a Gulfstream II.

Sometimes we'd go to Zurich
for... for dinner.

You know, me and Juan
would go flying

in his helicopter

to buy cars in Orlando.

We're just flying with
a helicopter to buy a car.

We were landing in Orlando,
buying ten cars,

He was saying, "Give me
five Ferrari,

five Maserati,
five Lamborghini.

Ciao."

We lived really nice life.

Things worked out so well
for Tarzan

that he actually opened up
a, uh,

a restaurant

in the North Miami Beach area

and that was called
Babushka.

So between
his restaurant

and his strip club,

you know, he was getting

the bulk of the Russians

coming to South Florida.

Yeah.

You're asking
about Grisha Roizis?

You know, I'm always
getting touchy

when you mention this guy.

Really.

A good story of betrayal
of a friend.

Grisha Roizis is probably
the worst kind of thug

uh, that you could find
in Russian organized crime.

He could kill you
with his bare hands,

and he used to tell me
how to do it,

and, uh, I don't know
how many people he'd killed,

but I'm sure that
it's more than one.

You know, I really loved
that guy.

Really, the guy was like my

older brother,
like my father.

He knew me from
the childhood.

He were friend
of my parents.

His nickname is
"Cannibal."

He was arrested once
in New York,

and what he did... he was so
angry that he got arrested

and the officer
who arrest him,

he was putting the handcuffs,

and Gregory bite off his h...
his nose.

He bite... actually bite
part of his nose.

After that, he received
the nickname "Cannibal."

Grisha Roizis became

a major
heroin trafficker,

and, uh, the Feds, DEA,
and New York

finally nailed him,

and he was facing, probably,
near life in prison,

and so he got out on bail
and fled,

and through INTERPOL lookouts
and so forth,

he was found in Bulgaria

and arrested
and thrown in jail.

DEA heard about it
eventually

and sent a nice young agent
from Vienna, Austria,

to see Grisha in...
in jail,

and Grisha had no teeth
because he said

when he was arrested,

the cops had kicked
all of his teeth out

with their boots.

Well,
the agent from Vienna...

he said, "We know you're
associated with

some major, major
heroin traffickers,

not only in New York,
but internationally,

and if you want to help us,

we'll get you out of here,"

and he said, "I'll do anything
to get the hell out of here."

At that time, uh, Tarzan
was in debt with Babushka.

I mean, it was a fun club,

but it... it wasn't
turning a profit.

Somehow, he just
got there on vacation,

and, of course, he saw
my operation in Miami

and he really like it.

Tarzan, he said,

"I need somebody to run this
place,

but also,
I'm short of cash."

I didn't want him

as a partner in
the restaurant,

but I needed a little money,

extra money, and I thought,
you know,

he was gonna do...

he... he knew how
to run a restaurant.

So Grisha came to us,

and we were able to get him
70 grand,

and he... he, uh, gave that

to, uh, Tarzan, and, uh,

Tarzan was in love
with him then.

Grisha was the maître d'
and manager

and walking around
in a tuxedo,

and then started
walking around

with a camera,
taking photos of everyone

and having... having fun
in the club.

He was putting pictures
on the wall,

but he was also giving
copies of those pictures

to us and going through
those photos, saying,

"This is Joe Blow.
He does this.

This is John Doe.
He does this,

and he's important
in this area."

So one night,
at midnight,

a bunch of us went in,

DEA and the FBI,

and wired some of the booths
in Babushka for sound.

We gained a lot of
intelligence that way.

And Nelson Yester, who was

a fugitive
at that time,

and living in, uh...

in South America,

moving from location
to location,

was the closest conduit
to the Colombians,

and he was close to Almeida

and then Almeida was close
to Tarzan.

Nelson Yester,

Magnum,

he got caught with,
uh, 41 passports.

He had 41 names.

He was a Cuban
secret service agent.

He was a pilot in Miami

who was, uh, flying
the drug money,

and he...

is a fugitive from the United
States for many years.

Tonight, on
America's Most Wanted...

Marshals recently received

this picture of Nelson Yester.

Investigators believe Yester

has a British passport

bearing the name
Hector Santana.

He speaks Spanish,
German, and English.

If you've seen Nelson Yester,

call 1-800-CRIME-TV.

He's a brain.

If we did any kind
of operation,

he was the brain
of those operations.

I worked the case of
Nelson Yester for nine years.

I started in '94,

and we discovered that

this guy was an...
an international

uh, smuggler

and was a huge part of

helping the cartels
traffic in narcotics.

He had contacts
all over the world.

South Africa, uh, Russia,

Amsterdam, Venezuela,

and in Colombia.

He was a major player.

He's very connected
worldwide.

He knows who to call.

He knows exactly
how to maneuver

in that arena.

Tony had a relationship
with Pablo

and they worked together

for many years.

Pablo had a large network

of dealers, if you will,

and Tony was
within that network.

His reputation is

that he can be
extremely violent.

He deals with
cocaine dealers.

Uh, he deals with

weapons traffickers.

He's really a bad guy.

Tony can be extremely...

Dangerous,
if he needs to be.

If you cross him,
he will deal with you,

and he is very unforgiving.

He was a fugitive

from, uh, the FBI,
and he still is.

He's still a fugitive.

No.

I don't think so.

I'm pretty sure
Tony will not talk to you.

Tony will not talk

because Tony is very

serious guy,

he is very

secretive,

he is very cautious.

Never.
Never in a million years.

AO55, Tony interview,
take one.

Mark.

Quiet, please!

As you are running
the motor in this room,

you're watching your oil
and your fuel and everything,

- ...just like a boat.
- Right.

And then you're throttling it
here on the computer.

It gives you a print-off
of the horsepower

and the foot-pounds,
torque and temperature,

and that's how they actually
test a motor

before the motor's
actually released.

He knew how to vanish.

He used to travel extensively

and just when you were
getting that information,

you were already
three steps behind him.

One day,
I'm at the fort,

and I see these

very interesting characters

pull up in a...

in a Lamborghini
at the front gate.

They wanted two
very, very special,

highly specialized
cigarette boats,

and the requirements were
A, the speed,

and B, the distance,

and, uh, they were probably
going to be used

to smuggle large amounts
of coke.

So I made the sale,

and from there on,

um,

I started to build
the boats for them.

It was a total custom job,

and I discussed with them

the possibility
of putting turbines

in the cigarettes.

It's like an aircraft
on a boat.

In fact, the sound of it...
when it's approaching,

you have... you look up
to the skies

'cause you think something's
landing somewhere,

and you don't realize
it's the boat.

And so that elevated
the price of the boats

to a couple million dollars
apiece,

which was just outrageous,

completely outrageous,
at the time.

And so, um,

once I succeeded
at selling them the turbines,

uh, I had some brochures
on my desk

about some helicopters

that I'd been negotiating
turbines for,

and they inquired about
the helicopters

and that began

the, uh, sort of trajectory

to acquiring specialized
helicopters

for, uh, Colombia.

I loved him right away.

He definitely looked
like a movie star.

I hated to go with him
anywhere,

because all the girls
were looking at him.

I remember a story

when we went to
St. Petersburg,

and he, uh, hired
some prostitute

and he fall in love with her

and he bought her some
very expensive perfume,

and then when he left,
the girl approach me

and she said she liked me
more than him

and I was very happy
that he didn't hear that,

but as a friend,
I told him that,

"All right,
I'm dating your prostitute,"

and he told me
the first thing,

"You owe me the perfume."

Uh, he was serious about it.

The helicopters were known as,
uh, Kamov KA-32s.

Imagine it picking up
a container

and taking it for
200 or 300 miles.

It could pick up 5,000 kilos
of cocaine on a hook.

Uh, these helicopters
were very capable of that.

So we contracted to purchase

uh, two of those for Colombia,

and I told him that
I could buy those helicopters

for a million dollars.

And they said, "Well, if you

can buy them
for a million,

we'll give you $1.5 million."

So that was a no-brainer.

We came to Moscow, and, uh,

I said that, "Well, we would
like to buy helicopters,"

and I said,
"How many do you have?"

And they told me, "Well,

we have, like, 600 helicopters.

Go take any one you want."

So I succeeded in
negotiating the aircraft

from a million down to
$650,000.

The same helicopter
in the United States

were costing approximately
$10 million.

I chartered, uh,
an Antonov 124.

It's bigger than a 747

and larger than a C-5 Galaxy.

It's a military aircraft.

This thing is just humongous.

I chartered that airplane
for 250 grand.

I understand today

you could not charter it
for under $1 million.

And inside that bell mouth,

I just stuck these birds
in there,

together with motorcycles

and all kinds of other stuff.

So the Antonov 124

is leaving Moscow

from a military air base

loaded with the helicopters
and spare parts,

and as the plane pulls away
from the tarmac,

and it's headed down
the runway,

it's snowing, it's the...
you know, blizzard conditions.

And suddenly, some group of...

guys show up
with machine guns drawn

and they're pointing it
at the airplane

and they're not allowing
the plane to take off.

They point the guns
at the plane,

and they say, "You're not...

You're not going anywhere."

And these guys
are the mob, the Mafia,

and "Wait a minute.
And what are these aircraft

doing inside this plane

leaving this country

without our permission?

No way!
Not happening."

And then I saw

two humongous guys,

like a monkey's, monsters,

you know, with the necks
like that?

You know, with the gold chain
like that, here and here?

Huge.

And those guys
are leaders of the gang

who is looking
to collect money from us

for the helicopters
that we took

without their permission.

These guys are...
gun-wielding fucks.

They heard that there's
some helicopters leaving,

and nobody got paid
any money,

and what the fuck?
We're not gonna

allow them to do that,

so they... they pull
the plane back.

I see five, six, jeeps
are standing there,

and the guys are start
coming out of the jeep.

Each jeep has five, six people,

and each one of them
with the machine guns.

You know, with the Kalashnikov,
with the gun, with the pommel,

and the guys were rough,
they were loud,

they were screaming that

"You go... you gonna pay."

I say, "What the fuck?"

Those guys came to war.

And he tell me,
"We want money."

I said, "You know,

I'm not gonna
give you money,

but you know what?
I can give you cocaine."

I just came out of nowhere.

I was playing a game.

I didn't have no connection
to cocaine.

I didn't have nothing,
but I just needed to talk.

And he said, "What?"

You can get us cocaine?"

I said, "Yeah,"

and I told him, "Listen,

you know who is Pablo Escobar?"

And they said, "Whoa,

don't tell us that you know
Pablo Escobar."

I said, "Pablo Escobar?"

I said, "I'm working with him.

He's my partner.

I'm gonna make a phone call
right now

and the Pablo... I can put
him on the phone

and you're gonna
talk to Pablo."

I'm in Cali, Colombia

waiting for that airplane

and I get a phone call
from Tarzan,

and Tarzan says "Pablo,

we need to talk."

I said, "Pablo,

you get...

you get... need to get here
to Russia.

We do have a little problem,

and we need to solve this.

You get here in Russia

and get here please tomorrow.

Otherwise, I'm a dead man."

And I was like, "Okay.

All right.

What does that mean, exactly?"

And I was just...

Naive, I was stupid...
call me what you want...

but I actually boarded a flight

as if I was Pablo

and I showed up at

Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport.

And these goons all pick me up

in... in a Lamborghini jeep

as Pablo Escobar.

And you know,
Juan looked like Pablo.

I swear to God,
if you go to look picture,

if you gonna take picture
of Pablo,

and you gonna take picture
of Juan,

they... they like
twin brothers.

They drove down
that main boulevard,

when you leave the airport,

100 miles an hour.

There was no law,
there was no order,

there was nothing.
These guys

were actually holding guns.

They were impressing me,
is what they were doing,

and when we got there,

we stepped into this building

and we went into their offices

and when we got up,

there was a big boardroom,

a long table, maybe,

I don't know

14, 16 chairs,

and there was maybe
ten guys there,

and Tarzan, with the
very little corner.

He did not look like
the Tarzan I knew.

He looked like
a deflated balloon.

When he comes to grab me
and hug me, "Pablo,"

he whispers in my ear,
"Act tough.

Act tough.

Be mean."

And I was like,
"Man, this is the real deal.

Holy fuck.

What am I gonna do here?"

Well, I present myself
the way Pablo Escobar would,

you know?

Just... mean fuck.

Don't talk,
and whenever you talk,

just talk like you're...
fucking drug dealer.

We sit down

and we start to
talk about this.

"Pablo, listen.

So we know

that those helicopters
are yours,

and we know that you need

those helicopters
to aid your...

your shipments,
and all your...

Great.

And so we just want you
to know

that we're not kidnapping.

We're not holding them
against their will.

We want to partner up
with you.

We want to be your reps
in Russia."

Okay?

"Yeah, we want to handle

your cocaine distribution

here in Russia."

And I was like, "Okay,

what are your capabilities?"

He goes, "Well,

we'll take

something like 50 kilos."

And he's tell me,
"You're joking."

I looked at them, I said,

"Are you kidding me?

You... you brought me to Moscow

to talk about 50 kilos
of cocaine?

Are you serious?"

And I go, "Come on.

It takes me the same time
it takes me to pack 50

to pack 2,500 or 5,000.

50 is a joke.

Please, don't tell me
you brought me here for this.

Don't tell me I came to Russia
to talk about 50 kilos."

And Juan is telling them,

"You are stupid,

crazy,

or you have a big cojones."

"Tell you what we can do.

Get me a safe house.

I'll bring some Colombians.

We'll put them in the house,

and as you need,
as you get.

You pay, you get.

So you don't need to order

that m... that much,

but you need to move the stuff.

I can't keep it around
forever."

And they all looked at
each other, and they were like,

"Khorosho! Khorosho!
Good idea.

Good!
We can do that.

Na Zdrovie!

Pablo Escobar is here!"

And I fucking grab these...

this guy, he stood up
and he hugged me

and we got a deal.

I delivered the
helicopters in Cali, Colombia,

on or about April
of 1994,

and I remember being there

when the aircraft arrived,

and, uh, it parked
on the tarmac,

and... and it lowered...

it... it was, like,
on hydraulics

and the whole front end
started to lower like this

and then the whole nose gear

just opened up, like,
beautifully.

It was just perfect.

The whole thing was perfect.

♪ Come on ♪

Being able to
deliver on that deal like that,

you sort of create
a name for yourself.

Doors were opening.

Things were taking place,

and we got caught up in that.

I became wealthy, rich, known.

I could do anything
and everything.

I wanted a yacht,
I got a yacht.

I want a Ferrari,
I got a Ferrari.

Want a Mercedes,
got Mercedes.

I want the girls,
I was getting the girls,

and I bought a limo.

You know, I had the driver

was taking my little girl

to kindergarten.

It was very nice feeling
to live like that, you know?

Kind of, like, untouchable.

I said, "Look, you're bringing
a lot of heat here, man.

I said, "You're fucking driving

a Mercedes,

you've got a limo
picking your daughter up."

I'm driving a Honda Accord

because I was schooled

from the old guys
back in New York.

This is not how you...
how you act.

You know?
You walking around with

fucking, uh,
$2,000 leather jacket on,

a Versace.

You gotta look like
a regular guy.

I mean, this is...

you know, we're
making money here

doing things
we shouldn't be doing.

There were all kinds of stories

and allegations about
what he was really up to,

so we all decided to

get a undercover in to see

what he was really doing.

He was a DEA special agent
in Washington, D. C.

who grew up in Brighton Beach,

where both Grisha Roizis

and Tarzan also grew up.

His name was Alex Yasevich.

Growing up in
Brighton Beach area,

I knew Grisha Roizis
very, very well,

but I was never friends with,
uh, Ludwig Fainberg.

I seen him in the
neighborhood.

He saw me in the neighborhood,

as I discovered later on.

Both Alex and Tarzan

uh, thought the same way,
spoke the same way,

they had the same
ethnic values

and ethnic backgrounds,

and, uh, it was just perfect.

Alex and I sat down with Grisha

before first introduction,

and Grisha said, "I know you
from a kid, you know?"

Roizis said,

"Hey, Tarzan, do you remember?
This is Alex.

Uh, you remember him
from Brighton Beach?

You remember him
when he was young?

You remember?"

Roizis introduced me,
uh, to Tarzan as

"This is our trusted man
from New York."

And that's when
we figured out

we knew each other
from the old neighborhood,

kind of saw each other
all the...

so that kind of helped a lot.

For me, it was irrelevant,

uh, if I know him a lot,

or long time, not long time,

because he was friend
of Gregory,

and to me,
Gregory was as a family.

In Russian, we're saying

"Your friend is my friend,"

so yes, we should
automatically

become a friend.

So originally, it was more
"Let's get to know each other.

Then I'll tell you
what I can do, what I need,

and then we met in Babushka

and Porky's,
back and forth,

until one time

we walked outside Babushka,

and that's when
the decision was made,

"Let's tell him exactly
what I am."

Said, "Look, let me tell you
what I do.

I'm into heroin
and weapons trafficking,

but I want to expand

my operations to cocaine,

and that's why I'm in Florida."

"Okay."

He goes, "Let me see
what I can do."

With Yasevich,

he invited me to hotel.

I think it was Fontainebleau.

And he was telling me,
"Tarzan, uh,

why did you sit
in this chair?

You better sit in this chair.

And I said, "Why would...
do you want me

to switch the places?

Why... what, is it...

it's not comfortable

for you to see me this way?"

Alex couldn't have been

in a more precarious,
dangerous situation.

'Cause Tarzan was sitting there

in a armchair
with his legs crossed,

and he had a...
a .38 Special

in his ankle holster,
pointing right at me.

The camera was disguised
as a device in the hotel room.

It was a radio,

which was connected
to the wall, and...

I was sure it was a camera.

He looked right at it
and he pointed at it and said,

"There is a camera
inside this object.

Because me and Juan

in that time,

we were playing,
uh, spy games.

In downtown Miami,
we had a spy store,

and I saw
exactly the same camera

in the spy store.

And he said, "No,

it cannot be.
No, no, it's not a camera."

I said, "Alex, I swear,
this is a camera.

Of course,
he was 100% right.

It happened to be a camera.
I was right.

I said, "Look, if you...
you're full of shit.

If you think there's a camera
in there,

go take the... the
freaking thing apart.

You know?
Don't freaking insult me."

And he looked at it,
he thought about it.

And then he said,
"Ah, I guess I'm wrong."

That cost me about five years
of my life in stress.

After the meeting,
we met, as usual,

and I crawled into his car

and we're talking about it,

and he said, "You won't
fucking believe this."

He said, "They're getting ready
to purchase a Russian sub

and broker it to
the Colombian traffickers

so they can run dope
to the United States."

I mean, it just blew his mind.

Nelson Yester.

He was the man that, uh,
had the...

he was the conduit
to the money

that was financing this deal.

I had a friend of mine

living in St. Petersburg.

He was a general director
of a factory

and I said, "Misha,

tell me something.

I know it's gonna be
a strange question.

Is this possible,
to buy a military submarine?"

He called me in two days,

and he said,
"The answer is yes."

I called
immediately Juan,

and I said, "Juan,

we can get a submarine.

Prepare yourself for trouble.

We going to Russia."

We did meet, uh,

with the captain
of the submarine.

He did bring
some Navy admirals.

We had a talk in a restaurant,

and all of them said,
"Yes, no problem.

You can get a submarine."

Tony said, "Listen,

we're gonna be able
to get money

to finance this deal

only

if we can get on a submarine.

Almost any country

who has the submarine assets...

the submarine bases are

the most closely guarded
facilities.

Without permission,
you can't enter those bases,

even if you're a member of the
armed forces of that country.

And, of course, they said,
"You guys are welcome.

Let's get into the submarine."

He could not believe
that we in the submarine

in the secret Navy base.

When I was getting
out of the sub,

Tony told me,

"Tarzan,

we have to get a picture."

I said, "Tony, a picture
of what?"

He said,
"Picture of the submarine."

I said, "Tony, you crazy.

They're gonna kill us,"

and Tony said, "I don't care.

You take the picture.

We're not gonna
get the money.

We need the proof."

I came to the captain,
I said, "Captain, I'm sorry,

but I want to ask you

another stupid question.

Can I take the picture?"

and the captain said,

"The question is really stupid.

The answer is no."

Said, "You cannot.
It's a military base.

You cannot take
the pictures here."

I said, "We really need it."

I said, "How about $200?"

$200 was a lot.

A lot.

They were making,
probably a month,

$20, $30.

I offer him, right there
on a pier, $200.

And what do you think?

The guy agree.

I took the picture of Tony
of the submarine,

then I took the picture of
the captain of the submarine,

then somebody took
the picture of me

with the captain
of the submarine.

It was like we're buying a...
a car,

like we're buying a used car,
we're buying the submarine.

Everything was smooth,
beautiful.

Mission is accomplished.

Nice.

So for these
three individuals,

one with the Israeli passport,

one was, I believe,

a Cuban and a Venezuelan
passport...

They just walked into the base

and not only walked in
the base,

were given a tour
of the base...

this is drug traffickers,
criminals,

getting access
to a submarine base

to... to look and see and shop

for a boat

in the Russian base.

That's just unheard-of.

So, as Tarzan returns

from our trips to Russia,

he and Tony
were taking pictures,

just like tourists take
pictures of anything, right?

And they would come back...

Tarzan would come back
with his camera,

and Tarzan was leaving
these pictures on his desk.

And I start looking at them,

and it was pretty...

uh, pretty shocking.

Little did Tarzan know

that his buddy Yasevich,

Agent Yasevich...

he, of course,
helped himself

to all these pictures.

So that's when
we reached out to

the... the Navy, U. S. Navy,

and, uh, we had meetings
with some of their experts.

We had the
Department of Defense involved.

We had NATO involved.

We showed them the photos
and ask them,

"Can you please tell us

if these photos were, in fact,

taken on the Russian
submarine base?"

They told us,

"Yeah, they were."

NATO's concern was,

even though it was a noisy,

old-fashioned diesel sub,

but all diesel subs
can go electric,

because the diesel motors
charge up the batteries

for the electric motors,

and once it goes silent

and goes underwater,

it could disappear.

It can't be impossible,
because Tarzan's doing it.

He is crazy enough
to try something like this.

Detective Joe McMahon and I

went over to Almeida's house
in Doral,

and, uh, when we arrived,

the maid answered the door,

and we told her

that we wanted to talk
to Mr. Almeida.

They were all over me.

Michael McShane,

a U. S. Marshal.

He was a real prick.

They banged in the doors
at my home

while my family was there
with my children,

and they scared the
living daylights out of them.

The main topic of the...
the questioning

was his association with

Nelson Yester, "Tony" Yester.

We obviously wanted to know

what he knew about him,

but more so,
where we could find him.

We never knew
where Tony live.

One day, he lived in Panama,

one day, he lived in Ecuador,

one day, it was in Peru, one...

You know, we never knew
where's Tony.

We went to
extraordinary lengths

to try to lure him
to the United States.

So I mention to Tarzan

that I can have access
to clone phones.

He wanted one.
The clone phones would have

the capability to make calls
overseas, no problem.

He said, "I want that."

So we went to the
Secret Service,

and they provided us
with a clone phone

which the FBI was tapping,

so when he was calling
overseas,

or anywhere else,
for that matter.

He was using the crap
out of it.

The bills were pretty high.

We're recording
all the conversations.

Alex, in one of
his meetings with Tarzan,

said, "I've got a present
for you,"

and he gave him a cell phone.

They said, "Here's a phone.

Use it...
it calls international.

You know, free."

He takes it.
It's bugged.

We had a big wiretap room at

FBI headquarters in Miami

with, uh, Russian translators.

And, uh,
that's how the DEA

and FBI had, uh,

15,000 hours of wiretaps.

Believe me, 15,000 hours
of wiretaps is a lot.

We start focusing on Tarzan,

Tony, and the whole crew.

I was in Miami, running my

exotic car rental business,

and the phone call came.

Cali Cartel member.

"Where are you?

We'd like to meet with you.

Can you see us tonight?"

"Sure."

Guys flew into town

and next thing you know,
it's like,

"Let's go have a drink.

Let's talk."

We went out
and partied that night,

drank best wine,
best liquor.

We had women.
We had everything.

It was the greatest time.

The next day,

they woke up, like,
4:00 in the afternoon,

called me up.

"Can we meet?"
"Sure."

So they did it right,
'cause we had a great time.

You know, we broke bread
and we had...

we partied together.

They said, "Juan,

there's some things
we need to know.

We need your help."

"Okay."

"You know your friend Tony?

Suddenly, he's gone.

He's on the run.

He's not around anymore,

but we know where he is.

We just need your help."

I was like, "Really?

What do you mean?"

He goes, "Well, you can start
off by telling us

where his family lives.

Where's his wife
and where's his kids?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa.

What do you mean?
What are you talking about?"

They say, "Yeah, where
does his wife

and children live
here in Miami?

We know you know that."

"Why would you be asking?"

"Well, he's not around
anymore.

He's gone,

and he took our money."

"What?"

"Yes."

A lot of money."

And I'm like,
"You're kidding me."

Say, "Yeah.

You need to do this
for us."

"Okay."

I remember I had a white
Rolls-Royce at the time.

I jump in the Rolls.
Shoom.

I drove 'em, and right at
the front of the house,

they looked at the house
and wrote the numbers down.

They wrote the numbers down.

He says, "Okay, we can go."

He said to me,
"Here's the deal:

talk to him.

Talk sense into him.

Tell him we're watching him.

He's not going anywhere."

Juan got him on a line.

Uh, he said, "Tony, we have
to talk to you.

The situation is getting hot."

And I tell him, "Buddy,

you're in a heap of shit."

We were sure
they were gonna kill Tony.

We were
absolutely sure,

because that's what Juan
was told.

These guys are
the real deal.

They do business differently.

They've explained it,

and the way it works
is real simple.

If you cross them,

they have to do
what they have to do

to just earn the respect

that they need
in their business.

If word gets out
that you crossed them

and you're walking around,

then no one respects them.

Good morning, Miami.

It's sunny and 78,
another beautiful day

in the magic city.

One day, I woke up,

regular beautiful day in Miami,

sunny, stunning.

Woke up my daughter.

I, uh, give her a bath.

Uh, dress her beautifully.

Papa!
Father... your daughter?

- No.
- Dad? Father?

Took my two guns,
like always,

with me.

Um, put her in the car,

and I was driving quietly
with the music,

put a seat belt
on my daughter,

and holding her by the hand
and we were driving,

but inner feeling
was telling me

something is wrong.
I look left and right

driving slowly,
enjoying myself

kind of feeling that something
is in the air.

We thought that Tarzan
found out

that he was being investigated.

We're not sure how.

It... could it be a leak
somewhere?

So the decision was made
to arrest him.

We followed him
to drop off his daughter

at kindergarten.

I drop my daughter
in Aventura school,

and then, as soon as I
pull out of the kindergarten...

I see them in
the rearview mirror.

They were driving slow.

I say, "Oh, my God,
here we go."

I drove slow,

knowing that something
is gonna happen right now,

and, of course, I see
the woo-woo-woo.

Then we stopped him.

They placed him in my car

And then I said, um,

"Am I arrested?"

And, um, Brent Eaton said,

"Oh, no, no, no.
You're not arrested.

No, we're not arresting you."

I said, "Good, then I don't
want to come with you."

He said, "No, no, you need
to come with us."

I said, "But I don't want
to come with you."

They said, "You have to come
with us."

I said,

"Why do I have to come with you

if I'm not arrested?

I don't want to go with you.

You want to arrest me?"

"We're not arresting you."

I said, "I don't want to go."

"No, I think you need
to come with us."

I said, "Okay."

And we drove him
to the DEA office.

I was in Moscow,

um, closing a

$47 million deal

for the Helitaxi company,

and when I arrive there,

I was traveling with my lawyer,
who's Jewish,

and who wanted to visit

the synagogues in St. Pete,
which are...

...beautiful.

And so I called up
Tarzan's brother

and I said, "Do me a favor.

Can you take

my... my attorney

take him to visit
the synagogues?

Uh, and then we'll do...

we'll get business
knocked out."

He says, "What are you
talking about?

Do you not know
what's happened?"

Said, "What do you mean?"

He said, "My brother was just
picked up

yesterday morning in Miami

on a major cocaine

distribution case...

...Involving submarines."

"What are you talking about?"

He goes, "I'm telling you,

my brother has been arrested

and there's a manhunt
out for you."

Brent Eaton said to me,

"Hey, Tarzan, you're, like,
in deep shit."

I was saying things like,

"You're either gonna
go home today

or you're going to
go to jail.

It's up to you."

And he kept saying,

"Well, what did I do?

Explain to me
what I did."

I didn't sell nothing.
I didn't kill nobody.

I didn't steal from nobody.

I didn't do anything illegal

for them to arrest me.

They're not just
gonna arrest you

because you talk about it.

You have to do something

in furtherance
of the conspiracy,

and he did that.

He flew to Russia.

He did negotiate
for the submarine.

It made major headlines.

We were on the front cover

of every major newspaper
in the world.

From Vanity Fair magazine
to Playboy magazine,

you name it.
All of them.

When you make
The New York Times,

when you make
America's Most Wanted,

you're in deep shit.

There were very clever
prosecutors and agents

who knew what they were doing.

They threatened him,

they were taking his child,

and last minute,
they flipped him.

We did outsmart the FBI,
we did outsmart DEA,

we even did outsmart, uh,
the court.

You know, after all,

I was free and my partner Juan,

who received 40 years,

was free,

and basically none of us
in jail.

You know, one thing I guess

we never discussed between us.

Each one of us,

me, Tony Yester, and Juan,

we were planning to leave
the Colombians.

Eh, I didn't have
no access to the money.

Otherwise, I would already
be taking my...

Um, the, um...

We're still friends.

We're still doing business
together.

We're not buying submarines,
but...

we're still doing business.

Since that case,

in Colombia,
up in the mountains,

they found

a Russian submarine
being assembled.

I always wanted to know,

what is the difference
between the agent

and a special agent?

What was so special
about those guys?

I mean, they were
super good-looking?

What was special?

What... what was special?

Why he is special?

Why he's better than me?

I'm also, uh, special.

I didn't tell them

that I'm a super Tarzan.

You know, a special Tarzan.

I just was a regular Tarzan.

♪ Yo, VIP, let's kick it ♪

♪ Ice, ice baby ♪

♪ Ice, ice, baby ♪

♪ All right, stop,
collaborate and listen ♪

♪ Ice is back
with my brand new invention ♪

♪ Something grabs ahold of me
tightly ♪

♪ Flow like a harpoon
daily and nightly ♪

♪ Will it ever stop?
Yo, I don't know ♪

♪ Turn off the lights
and I'll glow ♪

♪ To the extreme,
I rock a mic like a vandal ♪

♪ Light up a stage and
wax a chump like a candle ♪

♪ Dance, go rush to
the speaker that booms ♪

♪ I'm killing your brain
like a poisonous mushroom ♪

♪ Deadly when I play
a dope melody ♪

♪ Anything less than the best
is a felony ♪

♪ Love it or leave it
you better gangway ♪

♪ You better hit bull's-eye
the kid don't play ♪

♪ If there was a problem,
yo, I'll solve it ♪

♪ Check out the hook
while my DJ revolves it ♪

♪ Ice, ice baby ♪

♪ Vanilla Ice, ice baby ♪

♪ Vanilla Ice, ice baby ♪

♪ Vanilla Ice, ice baby ♪

♪ The girls were hot
wearing less than bikinis ♪

♪ Rock men lovers
driving Lamborghinis ♪

♪ Jealous 'cause I'm out
getting mine ♪

♪ Shay with a gauge
and Vanilla with a nine ♪

♪ Ready for the chumps
on the wall ♪

♪ The chumps acting ill
because ♪

♪ They're full of eight ball ♪

♪ Gunshots ranged out
like a bell ♪

♪ I grabbed my nine
all I heard were shells ♪

♪ Ice, ice baby ♪

♪ Vanilla Ice, ice baby ♪

♪ Vanilla Ice, ice baby ♪

♪ Vanilla Ice, ice baby ♪

♪ Vanilla Ice ♪

♪ Yo, man, let's get
out of here ♪

♪ Word to your mother ♪

♪ Ice, ice baby too cold ♪

♪ Ice, ice baby too cold,
too cold ♪

♪ Ice, ice baby too cold,
too cold ♪

Subtitles by explosiveskull