The son of murdered New York mafia partner Sylvester “Sally Daz” Zottola was convicted of hiring the hit men who killed him.
According to Sky News partner NBC New York, Anthony Zottola was convicted of plotting to kill his father and brother in an attempt to take over the family’s multi-million dollar real estate empire.
Zottola and Himen Ross, a co-conspirator, were convicted on Wednesday after a six-week federal trial for the 2018 killing of 71-year-old Sylvester at a McDonald’s drive-in in the Bronx area of New York City.
Both face life sentences once convicted.
Sylvester Zottola was shot multiple times in the head and body in the fast-food restaurant in what police initially described at the time as a possible Mafia coup.
Sylvester Zottola survived multiple attempts on his life before being assassinated in 2018
Prosecutors told jurors of a detailed conspiracy between Anthony and Bloods gang leader Bushawn Shelton to carry out a series of attacks on his father and older brother, Salvatore Zottola.
Ross was hired as the trigger after a previous gunfighter, Ron Cabey, tried to kill Sylvester Zottola.
On the stand, Cabey described at least six failed attempts to kill the businessman over a period of several months.
Sylvester Zottola controlled a portfolio of residential properties worth tens of millions of dollars at the time of his death.
His son Anthony helped run the business by keeping the properties, collecting rent, and helping run a maintenance company he owned along with his brother.
The court heard he wanted to take control of the family business, so he hired Bushawn Shelton to arrange the killing of his father and brother.
The defense team had argued that the heist could have been the work of Albanian gangsters in the Bronx who were trying to claim a piece of the illegal gaming machine racket that Sylvester Zottola allegedly ran.
Shelton pleaded guilty in August 2022 to conspiracy to commit murder and commission murder. He is awaiting sentencing.
