SYLVESTER ZOTTOLA WHACKED IN MOB STYLE HIT IN BRONX

If the Feds weren't all over this before, you can bet they are now.  The last year for the Zottola family has been horrific.  This is not the first attempt at the life of someone with the last name Zottola.  Not four months ago, Sylveter's son Salvatore Zottola was shot three times outside of his home in a botched hit of sorts.

Tonight at around 5pm, while sitting in a McDonald's drive through in Claremont neighborhood of the Bronx, Zottola, 71, was shot four times, the head, chest and shoulder being the major areas.  This is not the first incident with Sylvester Zottola.  In just the last 12 months, this is the third incident.

Back in September of 2017, he was attacked outside of his home and hit over the head.   The second incident took place in December of that same year, when he was stabbed in his neck in his own home in what the police called a home invasion.  In June of 2018, Zottola alleged a man threatened him with a gun outside of his home in the Bronx, and he fired his own weapon several times at his assailant.  For that he was arrest and charged with three felonies and a misdemeanor, with one of those charges being criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree.   He was due in court Oct 9, to face those allegations.

According to the FBI Zotolla was an associate of Vinny Basciano, having business ties with him into the joker poker machine industry according to court documents dating back to the racketeering trial of Vinny  Basciano. Allegedly there was an assault committed against Frank Porco, on behalf of Vinny Basciano on behalf of a disgruntled Sylvester Zottola.

What many have been speculating is that this was a mafia hit.  I don't believe that to be the case whatsoever.  There is several reasons for that.  If you look at the time line of everything that has happened, the mob typically doesn't botch a hit three times in a row.  To further that, this smells more of a person beef, one that could be over a million different issues, but my belief is that it's over something like narcotics.

The mob has an ebb and flow about it, and a hit in broad daylight doesn't sound like a mob event, but more of a personal issue and vendetta.  As repulsive as murder can be,  I just can't fathom this being an internal issue, or a separate family issue. 

This was pretty hard core, premeditated as it gets, and really brazen.  If you think in terms of a criminal here, the sheer amount of heat that this is going to bring down on the mob, do you really think, they would try this three times in broad daylight and attempt to kill his son?  The mob has a long history of getting the work in, without making a mockery so to speak when it comes to mob hits.  Just the heat alone, makes this almost a misnomer in every sense of the word.

There will be those who write that this was some internal issue, or a fight amongst criminal factions, but the fact is, it wasn't.  This was personal, very very personal. Think about the idea of walking up to a guy in broad daylight waiting online for McDonalds and firing into the car.  Think about how many witnesses you'd have.  Why not pop him outside his house at night?   Why not tail him outside of a well populated area?   What does make sense to me, is that this being a hit over money and narcotics.  Nobody would waste there time doing this sort of thing without having a serious beef.  You aren't going to keep trying to kill someone unless it's insanely personal.  I could be off of the narcotics thing, but using common sense tells me this was definitely not a mafia hit.

The FBI will now swarm the area, making this a scene from the Godfather, rather than what it really likely is, and you have to ask yourself is the mob who hasn't killed anyone publicly in a long long time going to risk the amount of heat?  No.