More arrests have been made in the murder of popular Pelham Bayite Sylvester ‘Sally Daz’ Zottola and the attempted murder of his son, Salvatore Zottola.
Police arrested Arthur (Scary) Codner, Himen (Ace) Ross and Kalik McFarlane on murder for hire charges on Tuesday, December 18.
Before that, NYPD also nabbed Zottola’s alleged killer, ex-con Bushawn ‘Shelz’ Shelton and accomplice Herman (Taliban) Blanco just a month after the fatal shooting on Thursday, October 4.
Shelton allegedly shot 71-year-old Sally DAZ to death while he was purchasing coffee at a McDonald’s drive thru lane at 1625 Webster Avenue.
Zottola was returning home from a scheduled court appearance for an incident involving the illegal discharging of a weapon during a self-defense incident that had happened two months earlier.
According to police, Shelton entered the McDonald’s property through a hole in a fence from an adjacent property, fired multiple 9-millimeter rounds at Zottola before escaping through the same fence opening, and fleeing in a gray sedan. Shelton faces six charges, murder for hire conspiracy being the most severe.
Days after the killing, Shelton was arrested by police with a .32 caliber Armi Tanfoglio Giuseppe semi-automatic pistol in his possession, court documents indicated.
The hit was allegedly ordered by an Albanian crew that was trying to muscle into Sal’s extensive Joker Poker video game and juke box business, according to police reports.
Each of the three new suspects are members of the notorious ‘Bloods’ gang, the Eastern District Court confirmed.
More than that, they are now suspects in Zottola’s murder. There’s now more of a case to be presented in the attempted murder of his son, also likely connected to the same crew.
According to court documents, the suspects began plotting the hits on or around Thursday, March 1.
Before the October 4 killing of his father, Salvatore survived a similar attempt on his own life on early Wednesday morning of July 11.
Prior to the recent arrests, that gunman had remained at-large.
The shooting happened outside of Zottola’s massive Locust Point compound on the corner of Tierney Place and Longstreet Avenue at approximately 6:40 a.m.
After taking bullets to the head, torso and hand, the 41-year-old rolled for cover behind a Chrysler mini-van as the attempted killers fled the scene.
At the time he was rushed to Jacobi Medical Center in ‘critical, but stable condition.’
Police recovered at least four bullet casings from that hit.
The father and son built a lavish multifamily waterfront complex in Locust Point, where that shooting occurred.
It was used primarily as a summer home for the family.
An investigation into the murder and attempted murder are still ongoing as police attempt to connect more suspects to the subsequent incidents.
Zottola’s daughter, Debbie Zottola, previously told the Bronx Times how in the advent of her father’s passing, she just wants him remembered as a caring gentleman.
“He was a good man not a goodfella and he was a wise man not a wiseguy,” she said.
