Man gets life in prison after hiring hitman to kill mob-linked father

NEW YORK — A man on Friday was given life in prison plus 112 years after a murder-for-hire plot ultimately led to his father’s death.

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Anthony Zottola Sr. was sentenced to life in prison after he had hired a hitman to kill his father, according to The Associated Press. Prosecutors claimed Anthony Zottola Sr. had created a scheme in order to take control of a real estate empire that was created by money from the mob.

Officials said Zottola had managed multiple properties for his father’s real estate business that were worth tens of millions of dollars, according to the AP.

Last fall, Zottola and an accomplice, Himen Ross, were both found guilty in a murder-for-hire plot, according to the AP. Prosecutors said that the plot went wrong multiple times before Sylvester Zottola, 71, was killed.

Sylvester Zottola had survived half a dozen assassination attempts in over a year and was gunned down while ordering a coffee at a McDonald’s drive-thru in the Bronx in New York, WABC reported. The elder Zottola reportedly had mob affiliations.

“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 in a news release from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. “For sentencing his father to a violent death, Anthony Zottola and his co-defendant will spend the rest of their lives in prison. I commend 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.”

“It was a hit, there’s no doubt about it. It’s a unique case in the fact that it overtly looks like a mob-related case and it wasn’t.” said retired NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce, according to WABC.

Zottola had no idea his son was behind the assassination attempts and murder, the news outlet reported.

Prosecutors claimed that Anthony Zottola Sr. also tried to have his brother Salvatore Zottola, 41, killed but was unsuccessful, the AP reported.

Anthony Zottola Sr. and Ross were both given mandatory life sentences and were reached sentenced to another 112 years. According to the AP, 112 years comes from the combined ages of Sylvester Zottola and Salvatore Zottola when they were shot.

“Today’s sentence justly punishes Mr. Zottola and Mr. Ross to life imprisonment for their roles in the heartless murder of Sylvester Zottola. The FBI and the NYPD worked relentlessly to investigate this case and ensure the defendants paid the price for their senseless actions. Today’s result is a direct reflection of their effort, as well as that of the skilled and dedicated professionals from the Eastern District of New York who prosecuted the case,” stated Assistant Director-in-Charge Michael J. Driscoll in the news release.

In the murder-for-hire plots, six other men had pleaded guilty. Four of them were given sentences of 16 to 20 years in prison. The others are awaiting sentencing, the AP reported.