Two men were convicted for their roles in killing one defendant’s father in the Bronx back in 2018, prosecutors announced Wednesday.
Anthony Zottola, Sr., 44, of Larchmont, NY, and Himen Ross, 36, of the Bronx, were convicted of murder-for-hire conspiracy and murder-for-hire in connection to the death of Anthony Zottola’s father, 71-year-old Sylvester Zottola. A third defendant, Alfred Lopez, was acquitted on all counts.
“Over the course of more than a year, the elderly victim, Sylvester Zottola, was stalked, beaten, and stabbed, never knowing who orchestrated the attacks. 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,” stated United States Attorney Breon Peace. “For sentencing his father to a violent death, Anthony Zottola and his co-defendant will spend the rest of their lives in prison where they belong as a result of today’s verdict. I thank our prosecutors, the FBI Special Agents and NYPD detectives for their tremendous investigative work solving this cold-blooded crime and bringing the defendants to justice.”
According to trial notes, prior to his death, Sylvester Zottola controlled a residential real estate portfolio consisting of multifamily rental properties that was worth tens of millions of dollars. Anthony Zottola helped manage his father’s business by maintaining the properties, collecting rent and helping run A&S Maintenance, which Anthony owned with his brother Salvatore.
During the trial, it was revealed that Anthony Zottola plotted to kill his father and his brother so that he could take control of the family business. It was proven in the trial that Anthony Zottola hired Brooklyn resident Bushawn Shelton, 38, to kill his father and brother. Shelton then recruited others to commit the murders during a year-long conspiracy to carry out attacks against Sylvester and Salvatore Zottola.
Salvatore Zottola testified at trial that he and his father endured many violent attacks. On Nov. 26, 2017, Sylvester Zottola was menaced at gunpoint by a masked individual, and one month later on Dec. 27, 2017, three men invaded Sylvester Zottola’s residence, struck him on the head with a gun, stabbed him multiple times, and slashed his throat. Sylvester Zottola survived the attack. Then on July 11, 2018, a gunman shot Salvatore Zottola in the head, chest, and hand in front of his residence.
The co-conspirators placed a tracking device on Sylvester Zottola’s car, allowing Ross to track him to a McDonald’s on Webster Avenue in the Bronx on Oct. 4, 2018. Ross then proceeded to fatally shoot Sylvester several times.
Ross and Shelton texted each other immediately after the hit, and then Shelton and Anthony Zottola exchanged texts, in which Anthony was informed that his father had just been murdered. Shelton texted Anthony Zottola: “Can we party today or tomorrow?” Anthony Zottola assured Shelton that he would have Shelton’s payment for carrying out the murder ready soon: “I have the cases of water in a day or so.” A photograph later recovered from one of Shelton’s cellular telephones depicts a cardboard box of bottled water, as well as over $200,000 in banded currency. Shelton pleaded guilty in August 2022 to murder-for-hire conspiracy and murder-for-hire and is awaiting sentencing.
“Proven by evidence and testimony during trial, Zottola had not one, not two, but multiple chances to rethink his deadly intent to murder his own father. He and the others he recruited chose to continue with their savage plot and succeeded. Now, instead of living off his father’s millions, his only payday will be federal prison,” stated FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Michael J. Driscoll.
“Today’s convictions underscore the unwavering commitment of the NYPD, and its law enforcement partners, to deliver meaningful consequences for violent crimes – in this case against those who carried out a sustained plot to commit murder,” stated NYPD Commissioner Keechant L. Sewell. “For their effort to build a strong prosecution, I want to thank and commend our NYPD investigators, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District, the New York Field Office of the FBI, and everyone who worked to see this case through to a successful outcome.”
Both Anthony Zottola and Ross await sentencing and face mandatory life terms in prison.
