The son of the Bronx mob affiliate known as Sally Daz has been sentenced to life in prison for planning the 2018 execution of his father at a McDonald’s drive-thru in New York City, pictured. Photo courtesy of Google Maps
April 15 (UPI) — The son of the Bronx mob affiliate known as Sally Daz has been sentenced to life in prison for planning the 2018 execution of his father.
Anthony Zottola, 45, was sentenced to a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment plus 112 years for his role in the murder of Sylvester Zottola, an associate of the Bonanno crime family who went by the name Sally Daz, the Justice Department said in a news release.
The elder Zottola, 71, was whacked in October 2018 while sitting in his car waiting to pick up coffee he ordered from a McDonald’s drive-thru in the Bronx borough of New York City after surviving numerous other execution attempts orchestrated by his own son hoping to take over his real estate business.
Zottola had also plotted to kill his brother, Salvatore Zottola, who helped their dad run his company A&S Maintenance.
Salvatore Zottola addressed his brother during the sentencing hearing, stating that Anthony “had everything in life.”
“What you did to dad, to myself and to this entire family is unimaginable,” Salvatore Zottola said.
People affiliated with the Metropolitan Detention Center, where Zottola has been housed since his arrest, wrote to the federal judge overseeing the case on Zottola’s behalf ahead of the sentencing hearing Friday.
William J. Sawicz wrote in his character letter that Zottola was “overwhelmed, scared and depressed” after arriving in custody at the federal pre-trial jail.
“Most adults in custody put on the tough guy bravado but Mr. Zottola wears his heart on his sleeve,” Sawicz wrote in his letter obtained by UPI.
“Mr. Zottola acts selflessly putting others before himself. He has a comforting air about himself. I find myself in awe of the amount of care he provides others.”
U.S. Attorney Breon Peace, however, characterized Zottola’s crime as “cold-blooded” and said that his “elderly” father was “stalked, beaten and stabbed” numerous times wither ever knowing who orchestrated the plot.
“It was his own son, who was so determined to control the family’s lucrative real estate business, that he hired a gang of hit men to murder his father,” Peace said.
Prosecutors also charged several other men in the murder-for-hire plot, including Herman “Taliban” Blanco, Arthur “Feddi Bossgod” Codner, Jason “The Hat” Cummings, Kalik “Dottkom” McFarlane, Himen “A Boggie” Ross, Bushawn “Shelz” Shelton, Julian “Bizzzy” Snipe, Alfredo Lopez and Branden Peterson.
Ross was also sentenced to life imprisonment plus 112 years for his role in the murder.
The saga began when Zottola hired Shelton to kill Sylvester and Salvatore in November 2017, according to the indictment obtained by UPI. Shelton recruited others to help with the murders — with their first attempt that month.
In December 2017, three men invaded Sylvester Zottola’s home and hit him in head with a gun, stabbed him multiple times, and slashed his throat. He was then shot in the head, chest and hand in front oh his home in July 2018 but survived the shooting as well.
Eventually, the men placed a tracking device on his car which led them to the Mcdonald’s where Zottola was shot dead by Ross.
Shelton previously pleaded guilty to charges of murder-for-hire conspiracy and murder-for-hire and is awaiting sentencing.
Blanco was sentenced to 240 months in prison while Codner was sentenced to 228 months in prison. Cummings and Peterson were sentenced to 204 months in prison and 192 months in prison respectively.
