GL NEWS 5/21/20

[Bklyn21]

This Week in Gang Land
By Jerry Capeci

Feds: Jailed Bloods Gangster Got Home Improvement Work For Sally Daz Rubout
Gang Land Exclusive!Bushawn SheltonOn October 11, 2018, a week after Bonanno associate Sylvester (Sally Daz) Zottola was shot to death, the feds arrested Bushawn (Shelz) Shelton and seized $45,000 they said was his payment for the gangland-style slaying in the Bronx. But two months later, while the accused Bloods gangster was cooling his heels behind bars, he allegedly received hundreds of thousands of dollars more for the execution murder, Gang Land has learned.

The additional blood money, say federal prosecutors, came in the form of major construction work that Anthony Zottola, who had not yet been charged with orchestrating his father's murder, paid for at Shelton's Brooklyn home.

The home, in East New York, had served as Shelton's base of operations during the conspiracy to murder Sally Daz and his other son, Salvatore, in 2017 and 2018, according to the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney's office.

Sylvester ZottolaProsecutors disclosed the allegation about the home improvement payoff in objecting to a bail motion in which Shelton offered to post his Kings County residence as partial collateral for a $2 million bail package. Like scores of others behind bars, Shelton was seeking release from jail due to the "untenable conditions" at the Metropolitan Detention Center amid the COVID-19 crisis.

Shelton, 35, "currently works cleaning and preparing food as an orderly on the intake tier of the MDC," his attorney Susan Marcus wrote in her legal brief, noting that was "the same tier in which the MDC's first known COVID-19 patient exposed other pre-trial detainees and guards alike for days before being isolated."

Zottola, 42, Shelton, and seven codefendants he allegedly recruited into the murder conspiracy, face the possibility of capital punishment if convicted. All nine are detained without bail waiting for a trial that is not expected to take place until next year due to a slowdown in pretrial work due to the deadly coronavirus pandemic.

Anthony ZottolaOpposing the motion, assistant U.S. attorneys Lindsay Gerdes and Kayla Bensing wrote that Shelton used "a contraband cell phone that he possessed in the MDC" to "monitor progress on renovations" at his home during conversations he had with his wife Takeisha who would then discuss the ongoing construction work with Zottola.

The address and the cost of the construction project isn't part of the court file. But according to various sources, including real estate records and city building permits, Zottola paid $253,000 for the major construction work at the attached two-family home on Ashford Street that Bushawn and Takeisha Shelton purchased in 2016.

"Telephone records reveal that (Shelton's wife) and Anthony Zottola were in contact in December 2018," the prosecutors wrote, "while around the same time, the defendant and his wife were in contact via (a) contraband cell phone" that was later seized from Shelton's cell.

"It bears emphasizing," the prosecutors wrote in asking Brooklyn Federal Judge Raymond Dearie to reject the bail motion, "that (Shelton) committed much of the conduct in this case from his home" and that "cell site records place (him) at his residence for a number of the acts or attempted acts of violence in this case."

Lindsay GerdesFrom September 2017 through October of 2018, with Zottola calling the shots, Shelton and his Bloods underlings took part in a failed ambush assassination of Salvatore Zottola and three failed attempts to murder Sally Daz before finally gunning him down in the parking lot of a McDonalds on Webster Avenue, according to court filings in the case.

The prosecutors also argued that Takeisha Shelton could not be counted on to "offer suitable moral suasion" to Shelz, noting that "text messages" the feds obtained "during the pendency of the conspiracy — and telephone records even after the defendant was incarcerated — suggest the defendant's wife knew of his activities."

After Shelton was arrested, prosecutors wrote, Takeisha "falsely claimed that at least one of the electronic devices lawfully seized by law enforcement belonged to her." Gerdes and Bensing maintain that it was "a cell phone used by the defendant — not his wife — in furtherance of the conspiracy."

Salvatore Zottola shooting"Like the defendant, his wife did not hesitate to lie to law enforcement in a failed attempt to minimize the consequences for the defendant. Moreover," they wrote, Takeisha Shelton "has contacted other co-conspirators on the defendant's behalf, including Anthony Zottola in December 2018."

According to the government, Mrs. Shelton continued to maintain secret unauthorized contact with her husband through the cell phone that he had smuggled into the MDC up until May of 2019. "Telephone records for the contraband phone revealed that the defendant placed a call to his wife just hours before the phone was seized," the prosecutors stated.

Prosecutors have long suspected that Takeisha Shelton, who married Bushawn in 2009 while he was serving a three year bid for a state weapons rap in the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, NY, was involved in her hubby's alleged criminal activity.

A week after Bushawn was charged with Sylvester Zottola's murder, prosecutors subpoenaed Takeisha to testify before a grand jury investigating the Sally Daz killing and the four attempted murders that are now part of the six-count murder-for-hire conspiracy indictment.

Claiming a spousal privilege that prevents prosecutors from forcing her to testify against her hubby, Mrs. Shelton moved to quash the subpoena. While the docket sheet indicates that the motion was denied, she was never called to testify. "They knew they were going to lose on the law so they just gave up," her attorney, Florian Miedel, told Gang Land.

Kayla BensingLawyer Marcus did not respond to Gang Land calls or emails regarding the alleged home improvement payoffs to Bushwan Shelton. In her court filing, the attorney wrote that those arguments were "inflammatory" noting that "the government itself points out a non-criminal context for Shelton's contacts with Anthony Zottola: the fixing of his house."

Even if Shelton used "a contraband cell phone" there was "nothing insidious about the substance of those contacts" since "all the government has argued" is that Shelton used the phone "not to commit crimes but to speak to his wife and try to ensure that she had a home to live in," the lawyer wrote. "This hardly shows dangerousness or risk of flight."

Since there was no allegation of "Shelton directing or encouraging criminal activity in his alleged cell phone contact with Zottola," Marcus argued that those "contacts were benign." They certainly don't amount to justification to keep him locked up in the MDC where, she stated, it is not "well-equipped to deliver care" or "prevent the transmission of COVID-19" to inmates.

Judge Dearie disagreed, and denied Shelton's motion for bail. There is "significant" evidence of the murder charges against Shelton, Dearie wrote, and "Shelton presents an obvious risk of flight, and clear and convincing evidence demonstrates that he remains a danger to the community."

And in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, Dearie wrote, "the aggravated circumstances of certain detainees and prisoners identified as medically at-risk" did call for a release from prison. "But Mr. Shelton is not one of them," the judge wrote. "An appropriate exercise of the Court's discretion and judgment does not permit his release."

Baldy Mike Spinelli's Early Prison Release After 28 Years Is Only A One-Month Furlough
Michael SpinelliThe early release from prison for Michael (Baldy Mike) Spinelli after nearly 28 years behind bars turns out to be a one-month furlough. The Luchese mobster was ordered to serve six more years for the attempted murder by ambush of an innocent mother of three who was gunned down in one of the low points in the history of the American Mafia in 1992.

In an hour-long, static-filled telephone re-sentencing during which the participants could only hear each other speaking and sighing, Brooklyn Federal Judge Raymond Dearie ordered Spinelli to begin the rest of his sentence on June 4. Overall, the new prison term is two years less than the old one.

Spinelli walked out of the Metropolitan Correctional Center on May 4 with high hopes that he'd seen the last of the place, thanks to his record of accomplishment behind bars — including becoming a master yoga teacher — over the past three decades. Now it turns out he had a round trip ticket back to prison.

Dearie meted out his sentence, which adds 17 years and seven months to a 22 year term that Baldy Mike received for a prior racketeering/murder conviction, after noting that it was "no secret" that he was "not a big fan in many cases of lengthy prison sentences." Then he added his proviso: "This case is certainly one of them that calls for significant punishment."

3-11-92 Daily News WoodSpinelli's lawyer, Mia Eisner-Grynberg, was seeking a "time-served" sentence for her client. She reminded Dearie that in the prior racketeering/murder case, Spinelli would have received "coverage" for his role in the March 10, 1992 shooting of Patricia Capozzalo, the sister of turncoat capo Peter Chiodo, if he had agreed to admit his guilt then, and would have been released from prison 13 years ago, in 2007.

"If the worst choices that Spinelli ever made in his life were the crimes themselves," Eisen-Grynberg said, "then the next worse choice was to accept the plea offer and reject the penalty for this shooting and insist on having a trial. He nearly doubled his sentence by that bullheaded choice."

As a result, the lawyer continued, "he was in prison when his father died in 2008, when his brother died in 2009, when his sister died in 2010."

"There is nothing to be gained by sending him back to prison now," Eisner-Grynberg pleaded, noting that his time behind bars had rehabilitated him and "done everything to him and for him that the prison system is supposed to do. I humbly submit that 27 and half years, at age 66, is sufficient, and that any day longer is greater than necessary to achieve the goals of sentencing."

Prosecutor Josh Hafetz countered that Dearie should mete out the same prison term he'd given Spinelli the first time. He argued that the case was "not just about Spinelli's rehabilitation and remorse," nor his commendable good work that he has done while doing his time or the pain and suffering that he and his family members endured because of his horrific crime.

Michael SpinelliIt was also, said Hafetz, about the pain and suffering Spinelli inflicted on Mrs. Capozzalo and her family and his willingness to help Luchese boss Vittorio (Vic) Amuso deliver a devastating message to government witnesses and their family members. The attempted hit on Mrs. Capozzalo, he noted, came after the crime family "failed to execute Chiodo after shooting him 13 times in a gas station."

Mrs. Capozzalo, whose health Dearie had asked about, "wanted nothing to do with being a part of this proceeding because it is so uncomfortable for her to talk about it," Hafetz said. "She began shaking when talking about the event itself," the prosecutor said, recalling that "she said that the devastation of the crime still continues, not just for her, but for her family."

Haftez noted that at the original sentencing, Dearie had acknowledged the "broader message" that Spinelli had sought to help deliver in gunning her down. It was a message, said the prosecutor, not only "to the Luchese family and to all of organized crime but to the entire justice system. The message was, and I'm not exaggerating here," said Hafetz, "Witnesses and their families who testify are not safe. That was the point."

Judge Raymond Dearie"This is not just about rehabilitation, it's about what this attack meant to the system at large," the prosecutor continued. "What the court described at the (first) sentencing: 'There are some rules that are just not broken, and this case involved one of them.' That is, preparing methodically to execute the relative of a government witness. Our criminal justice system cannot survive when witnesses, or their relatives are gunned down."

Several times before he announced his decision, Dearie, who had unexpectedly granted Spinelli bail to await his resentencing, indicated that he was not inclined to give the ex-gangster the "time served" sentence that his federal defender attorney had argued for eloquently.

Dearie said the resentencing provided an unusual opportunity to "rethink" a prison term he meted out in a case years later when he might be "more enlightened." But he said his first impression remained unchanged: It was "a case that I think in all my years involved the cruelest act in wanton violence that I have ever seen in a courtroom. I'm not going to repeat what I said back then on that day, but I stand by those remarks."

"To be honest with you Mr. Spinelli," he said a minute or two later, "When I was listening to Ms. Eisen-Grynberg make her remarks — Please don't take this personally — the thought that entered my mind is that you don't deserve such quality representation. But I'm glad you have her because that's how it should be under the rule of law."

Mia Eisner-GrynbergThe judge then removed any doubt about his intention to send Spinelli back to prison.

"But that's what the case is about," Dearie said. "We can't lose sight of the fact that this horrific crime was perpetrated to protect a criminal organization — in an effort to subvert the search for justice and truth. The nature of the crime makes it hard to forget the underlying motivation of the criminal organization. And your own personal motivation to advance in the crime family."

"I've taken a second look. I have read your letters, many times. They smack of sincerity and remorse, but frankly, who knows? Who knows? I've done my best to fashion a sentence, consistent with my judgments and concepts," Dearie said, before announcing his decision.

Following a long impassioned plea by Eisen-Grynberg to push back Spinelli's surrender date until the current COVID-19 crisis wanes because her client's failing health combined with the poor prison health care he will receive might kill him, the judge seemed to put an exclamation point on his decision to send Spinelli back to prison.

"The application is denied. He is to report on June 4," said Dearie.

In Compassionate Release Sweepstakes, Some Judges Duck & Run; Others Stand Up
Cathy SeibelBased on the many requests for "compassionate release" by sentenced inmates that Gang Land has seen due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it's become clear that success depends on the luck of the draw, that is, a judge with the courage and backbone to do the right thing, and not pass the buck, when he or she thinks you're right.

We begin our brief report with Luchese wiseguy Joseph (Big Joe) DiNapoli's bad luck. DiNapoli has a host of certified medical issues. But his appeal for needed relief came before White Plains Federal Judge Cathy Seibel, who conceded he has a need for relief, but passed the buck to the Bureau of Prisons to do what she has the power to do.

On Monday, Seibel decided that DiNapoli, 84, was a dyed in the wool mobster, who despite his medical issues, didn't deserve to have his 52 month sentence reduced to three months. It is his fifth federal conviction and tenth overall, she reasoned, and he was likely to return to his criminal ways even at his advanced and ailing age.

But the judge did say she "believes" that Big Joe's "health could be safeguarded" without threatening "the safety of the community by a brief temporary furlough." To grant him that furlough she "strongly" recommended that the BOP give "serious consideration to (a) temporary release" and have him serve his prison time when "the coronavirus is under better control."

Alvin Hellerstein"Or, better yet," Seibel wrote, the BOP could grant DiNapoli a "short furlough" and order him to "surrender himself to his designated facility," the prison hospital at Butner, North Carolina. This Seibel stated, "strikes the Court as the most fair and sensible balance of both the public interest and the risk to Defendant."

Only the BOP has the power to furlough an inmate. But if Seibel means what she said in her ruling, in addition to suggesting that the BOP issue a short furlough for DiNapoli, why couldn't the judge, in the interests of justice, restructure the sentence to three or six months home confinement followed by 46 or 43 months behind bars.

Or, Seibel could have done what a much more gutsy federal jurist recently did. Two months ago, Manhattan Federal Court Judge Alvin Hellerstein was confronted with a similar request from 60-year-old Luchese mobster Eugene (Boobsie) Castelle who was then serving a 77 month sentence he'd gotten for racketeering.

Over objections from the government, Hellerstein ruled that Castelle's ailing health, which is certainly not as bad as DiNapoli's, combined with the "concomitant risk" to it stemming from "the COVID-19 pandemic," was sufficient reason to order that Boobsie be released on the same $500,000 bond that he had before he went to trial and was convicted last year.

Seibel could also have reconsidered an earlier decision, and granted Big Joe bail pending his appeal, which like Castelle's is pending before the 2d Circuit Court of Appeals.

Edgardo RamosLast month, ailing 74-year-old labor racketeer Anthony Fazio, who had served more than 75% of his 151 month prison term, had the good luck to be recommended for compassionate release by his warden at the federal prison at Fort Dix. But that decision was negated by BOP bureaucrats who overruled the warden.The Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office also argued against his release.

But last week, Fazio had his own version of good luck. The hard-nosed judge who had sentenced him to twice as much time as he had agreed to accept in a plea deal, Katherine Forrest, Gang Land's Grinch Judge of 2018, had stepeed down from the bench.

And after the new judge in his case, Edgardo Ramos, heard attorney John Meringolo's account of his client's bout with his health and the government, Ramos said: "I think this is an easy one. I absolutely agree with the warden at Fort Dix," and ordered Fazio released immediately.

[bert]

The Mafia has had no luck with trying to use Black gangs to carry out work. Good gangland by the way. Thanks for posting it.

Dearie was a prosecutor before becoming a judge, and his main cases were mafia ones so Spinelli had no chance. His crime was fucked up, but he has also served a lot of time. I wonder what he made of things after seeing how the world has changed?
He'll have some stories to tell to some of the other guys locked up since the early 1990's.

I looked at the Gangland preview last night before going to sleep, when I saw the main photo that Capeci had up I was a bit surprised, even had to check to see if I was on Gangland.

[bert]

the feds arrested Bushawn (Shelz) Shelton and seized $45,000 they said was his payment for the gangland-style slaying in the Bronx. But two months later, while the accused Bloods gangster was cooling his heels behind bars, he allegedly received hundreds of thousands of dollars more for the execution murder, Gang Land has learned.

They are supposed to have soldiers to do it for free, things have really changed.

[Teddy Persico]

the feds arrested Bushawn (Shelz) Shelton and seized $45,000 they said was his payment for the gangland-style slaying in the Bronx. But two months later, while the accused Bloods gangster was cooling his heels behind bars, he allegedly received hundreds of thousands of dollars more for the execution murder, Gang Land has learned.

They are supposed to have soldiers to do it for free, things have really changed.

Anthony Zottola is a low level associate. He didn’t have a crew to call up.

[AntComello]

the feds arrested Bushawn (Shelz) Shelton and seized $45,000 they said was his payment for the gangland-style slaying in the Bronx. But two months later, while the accused Bloods gangster was cooling his heels behind bars, he allegedly received hundreds of thousands of dollars more for the execution murder, Gang Land has learned.

They are supposed to have soldiers to do it for free, things have really changed.

Anthony Zottola is a low level associate. He didn’t have a crew to call up.

Plus he was trying to wack his own father and brother...I doubt anyone with half a brain would have been okay with that lol

[bert]

the feds arrested Bushawn (Shelz) Shelton and seized $45,000 they said was his payment for the gangland-style slaying in the Bronx. But two months later, while the accused Bloods gangster was cooling his heels behind bars, he allegedly received hundreds of thousands of dollars more for the execution murder, Gang Land has learned.

They are supposed to have soldiers to do it for free, things have really changed.

Anthony Zottola is a low level associate. He didn’t have a crew to call up.

Plus he was trying to wack his own father and brother...I doubt anyone with half a brain would have been okay with that lol

There are associates who have other associates to use, or they do it themselves. A lot of money was involved too, if the amount is right. He was low level for a reason, obviously.

[SonnyBlackstein]

Zottola used his cell phone to call the wife of the hit man to discuss $250k in renovations he would pay for, AFTER Bushwan was caught.

What a fucking moron.

Don’t. Discuss. Shit. On. The. Phone.

Honestly. Not hard.

[AntComello]

Zottola used his cell phone to call the wife of the hit man to discuss $250k in renovations he would pay for, AFTER Bushwan was caught.

What a fucking moron.

Don’t. Discuss. Shit. On. The. Phone.

Honestly. Not hard.

Isn’t it amazing that we are in 2020 and these guys still can’t keep their big mouths closed on the phone. It’s honestly mind blowing...I understand if your running a huge gambling business it’s probably very hard to keep all your convos clean but when it comes to murder you gotta be crazy to talk over the phone.

[SonnyBlackstein]

Zottola used his cell phone to call the wife of the hit man to discuss $250k in renovations he would pay for, AFTER Bushwan was caught.

What a fucking moron.

Don’t. Discuss. Shit. On. The. Phone.

Honestly. Not hard.

Isn’t it amazing that we are in 2020 and these guys still can’t keep their big mouths closed on the phone. It’s honestly mind blowing...I understand if your running a huge gambling business it’s probably very hard to keep all your convos clean but when it comes to murder you gotta be crazy to talk over the phone.

And Bushwan was apparently organizing the hits from his house on the phone.

These two idiots have no one else to blame but themselves on this one.

Zottola’s up for dumbest hit in mob history over Nicodemo in my opinion.

[Fughedaboutit]

Zottola used his cell phone to call the wife of the hit man to discuss $250k in renovations he would pay for, AFTER Bushwan was caught.

What a fucking moron.

Don’t. Discuss. Shit. On. The. Phone.

Honestly. Not hard.

Isn’t it amazing that we are in 2020 and these guys still can’t keep their big mouths closed on the phone. It’s honestly mind blowing...I understand if your running a huge gambling business it’s probably very hard to keep all your convos clean but when it comes to murder you gotta be crazy to talk over the phone.

And Bushwan was apparently organizing the hits from his house on the phone.

These two idiots have no one else to blame but themselves on this one.

Zottola’s up for dumbest hit in mob history over Nicodemo in my opinion.

Nah, He lasted a little bit before he got arrested, Nicodemo didn't even have time to put his pajamas on

[SonnyBlackstein]

Nah, He lasted a little bit before he got arrested, Nicodemo didn't even have time to put his pajamas on

(Hope you and yours are well Fugh.)

[Fughedaboutit]

Nah, He lasted a little bit before he got arrested, Nicodemo didn't even have time to put his pajamas on

(Hope you and yours are well Fugh.)

lol, same to you

[Bklyn21]

Zottola used his cell phone to call the wife of the hit man to discuss $250k in renovations he would pay for, AFTER Bushwan was caught.

What a fucking moron.

Don’t. Discuss. Shit. On. The. Phone.

Honestly. Not hard.

He got alotta money for this hit . And rightfully since your such a POS lowlife Scum to hit your father and brother especially after the father set him up for life with all that real estate , The guy is loaded and thats how he repays his father . There's no words to describe this POS , If anyone was up for the death penalty he definitely should get it

[Bklyn21]

With all this Virus crap GL has been quite boring ! This is the best article in weeks

[Bklyn21]

Supposedly the families have been turning to Narcotics during the pandemic to right the ship , It'll be interesting to see what comes outta all this down the road. Will we see indictments for drug trafficking ? Should be an interesting year , And , If they are getting heavy into the Drug trade and doing well it'll also be interesting to see if they get greedy and continue on