Power-hungry Brooklyn mobster, 44, is found guilty of orchestrating killing of his mob boss dad, 71

A power-hungry Brooklyn mobster was found guilty Wednesday of orchestrating a plot to kill his mob boss father and older brother. 

Prosecutors have claimed in a month-long trial that Anthony Zottola, 44, colluded with Bloods gang members and hired a hitman to carry out the murder of his father, Sylvester Zottola, 71, in an attempt to take over his father’s $45million real estate empire.

They have described the younger Zottola as a power-hungry and ruthless man who joked with Bloods gang member Brushawn ‘Shelz’ Shelton after he and his associates completed the $200,000 killing. 

He was also accused of making botched attempts on the life of his brother Salvatore, and was found guilty by a jury in Brooklyn Federal Court on Wednesday for the 2018 slaying at a Bronx McDonald’s drive-through.

His co-defendant, 36-year-old hitman Himen Ross, was also found guilty of carrying out the shooting, while a third-co-defendant, Alfred Lopez, the accused getaway driver, was acquitted of all charges.

‘Over the course of more than a year, the elderly victim, Sylvester Zottola, was stalked, beaten and stabbed, never knowing who orchestrated the attacks,’ US Attorney Breon Pearce said in a statement.

‘It was his own son, who was so determined to control the family’s lucrative real estate business that he hired a gang of hitmen to murder his father.

‘For sentencing his father to a violent death, Anthony Zottola and his co-defendant will spend the rest of their lies in prison, where they belong, as a result of today’s verdict.’

Zottola is scheduled to be sentenced on February 2. 

Anthony Zottola, 44, was found guilty on Wednesday of orchestrating a plot to kill his mob boss father, Sylvester, 71, in 2018

Zottola’s co-defendant, 36-year-old hitman Himen Ross, left, was also found guilty of carrying out the shooting, while a third-co-defendant, Alfred Lopez, right, the accused getaway driver, was acquitted of all charges

Zottola hired Bloods gang member Brushawn ‘Shelz’ Shelton to carry out the hit. Shelton pleaded guilty to the crime before the trial started last month

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