Defense Wants To Use Text Messages To Prove That Anthony Zottola Is 'Innocent' Of The Murder Of His Mob-Linked Dad
!Prosecutors are planning to play nearly 5000 text messages they obtained from the cell phone of Bloods street gang leader Bushawn (Shelz) Shelton to help make their case against Anthony Zottola at his murder-for-hire-trial that is slated to begin next week in Brooklyn Federal Court, Gang Land has learned.
Zottola's defense lawyers have their own game plan: They'll see the feds' 5000 texts and raise them by up to 112,000 other digital text messages that were exchanged by the two alleged plotters during the same time frame.
The government's text message evidence is already huge, taking up more than 200 printed pages. Prosecutors maintain that the texts, which read like plot twists in an action-packed movie, were coded to mask details of the plots. The so-called "coded text messages" make up the "centerpiece of the government's case" in the October 4, 2018 murder of Bonanno associate Sylvester (Sally Daz) Zottola and the attempted murder of his son Salvatore three months earlier, according to a defense court filing this week.
The lawyers for Anthony Zottola, who is accused of hiring Shelton to whack his father and to kill his brother, say the feds are cherry-picking the texts they need to make their argument. They argue the defense should be allowed to introduce other texts between Zottola and Shelton, who pleaded guilty last week to the murder charges, to "provide further, exculpatory context" to counter what prosecutors put into evidence.
The alleged gunman and getaway driver in the October 4, 2018 murder of Sally Daz in a Bronx McDonald's drive thru, Himen (Ace) Ross, 36, and Alfred (Aloe) Lopez, 39, will go to trial with Zotolla, 44. Jury selection is expected to conclude today. Trial is set to begin Tuesday.
In their filing with Brooklyn Federal Judge Hector Gonzalez, defense attorneys Henry Mazurek and Ilana Haramati state: "Many of Shelton's text message conversations occurring during and surrounding his coded conversations with Mr. Zottola's phone, address other transactions and plans, unrelated to alleged murder for hire."
Those text messages, the lawyers wrote, "provide an alternative context for Shelton's coded conversations with Mr. Zottola" and illustrate that the "government's interpretation of the coded Shelton-Zottola messages is by no means the only plausible interpretation based on Shelton's contemporaneous communications with many others."
Since the day that FBI agents arrested Zottola, the feds have maintained that he and Shelton used text messages designed to look like a discussion between a movie producer and a film director to plan and carry out a fiendish 14-month long murder plot against Sally Daz and his son Salvatore.
In a June 18, 2019 news release, authorities stated that Zottola and Shelton "referred to the planned murders as 'filming' a movie." In a court filing that day, prosecutors wrote that the duo used code words including "film, actor, filming, cast, and scene" in many texts while discussing their alleged plot to murder the father and son victims. And they noted that neither man was involved "in any actual movie production" during the same time frame.
But at trial, the defense team notes, prosecutors are barred from telling jurors what they believe the code words actually stand for. Neither will they be allowed to use an "expert" witness to testify about their meaning. As a result, the lawyers wrote, prosecutors are likely to support their "preferred interpretation of the coded messages" by using more than 100 conversations that Shelton had with others "discussing the incidents perpetrated against" Sally Daz and Salvatore Zottola.
Permitting introduction of only the government's hand-picked set of Shelton text messages would give the jury an inaccurate and incomplete view of the available evidence, and hamstring Mr. Zottola's ability to present a defense, the attorneys argued.
"The Court should permit Mr. Zottola to introduce additional text message conversations that Shelton had at the same time he was communicating with the Zottola phone to provide the jury with a more accurate and complete context from which the jury can evaluate whether the codes mean what the government will argue they do," lawyers Mazurek and Haramati wrote.
Since prosecutors will use "contemporaneous communications" that Shelton had with others in an effort to back up their contention that "the coded Zottola-Shelton messages" establish a murder plot, the attorneys argued that "Zottola should be able to" introduce "other text communications" by Shelton that "provide crucial evidence of Mr. Zottola's innocence."
In their filing, Zottola's lawyers submitted a number of texts and conversations they would like to use at trial under seal, so Gang Land was unable to check them out. Prosecutors are likely to argue that any conversations or texts that the defense wants to use are inadmissible hearsay statements made out of court that should be precluded.
Regardless, it's still hard to fathom how any texts or conversations that Zottola's lawyers are able to admit into evidence could explain away the relatively small number of text messages between Zottola and Shelton that prosecutors cited in the memo they filed three years ago in order to detain Zottola as a danger to the community.
As an example, Gang Land cites all 20 text messages between Zottola and Shelton that prosecutors are expected to introduce into evidence that the duo exchanged on November 26, 2017 regarding just one of the eight alleged assaults and murder attempts against Sally Daz and his son Salvatore that took place between August of 2017 and October of 2018.
They texted each other about 45 minutes after a masked gunman jumped out of a dark van and pointed a gun at Sally Daz when the van pulled in front of him and forced him to slam on his brakes. The quick-thinking Daz gunned his car in reverse, and drove away, frustrating the gunman and his driver.
"How are we looking with the filming," was the first text from Zottola, who added: "It has gotten real cold over here I hope you can get the actor to work"
Shelton replied: "I just hear the costar just got into it with the director about 15 minute ago and they had to call security."
The rest of the back and forth texts went like this, according to a government filing.
ZOTTOLA: What
ZOTTOLA: Nothing said
ZOTTOLA: Told you he is an ass
SHELTON: The star stormed off set and I think it spooked him
SHELTON: You should see it security checking everyone like they in the airport
ZOTTOLA: That is why we need to get the final secen (scene) before
ZOTTOLA: The star doesn't come back
ZOTTOLA: I need this bad that is why I am asking to because I can see the film taking a twist
ZOTTOLA: Got to figure a way quick. You think
SHELTON: Today was set to be the end finally until the actor wanted to do his own stunts and throw it in reverse in the middle of shooting a scene and drive in the opposite direction
ZOTTOLA: Ok. But we can still do the end I hope
SHELTON: Yes of
Zottola shootZOTTOLA: I just got back. This actor thinks he is god again
SHELTON: I'm putting together a new cast and changing the location of the last scene. We going to film in his dressing room Just gotta figure out if the new lights they put in are monitored by Con Ed or are they just being managed inhouse
ZOTTOLA: In house
SHELTON: Perfect
ZOTTOLA: I know that. He was riding in the trailer like he was Jesus walking on water. Have a good night see what happens next.
To back up their contention that the duo were talking about the failed attempt to whack Sally Daz, prosecutors plan to place into evidence the mask that was recovered later that day in a stolen van that was abandoned by the hit team, and inform the jury that Shelton's DNA was recovered from the mask, according to court filings in the case.
The prosecutors also plan to use testimony from a law enforcement official who obtained information about the incident from Sally Daz that mirrors the text message communications by his son and Shelton about the failed attack to prove that the duo was involved in a murder-for-hire plot against Sally Daz and his son Salvatore.
22 Years Later, Wiseguy Celebrates His Son's First Birthday With A 'Take-Out' Dinner
John (Bazoo) Ragano is a dyed-in-the-wool mobster who admits to the following wrongdoing: He was a "bad father." He spoke to his son just twice in his first 11 years of life. He missed his son's first twenty-one birthdays. But he has since sought to make amends. He helped his boy, who he had learned was homeless, get a job. Now, both men are trying to renew their relationship. Ragano's plan was to celebrate his kid's 22d birthday — their first ever together — with a decidedly modest affair. They would have dinner at a diner near his home. Father and son would spend four hours together at a local eatery near Bazoo's sister's Lynbrook home where he has been residing since December. They would do so on Saturday evening, from 5:30 PM to 9:30 PM.
This simple sounding plan struck Gang Land as a feel-good story worth reporting. But of course nothing is simple. As Bazoo is under house arrest and only allowed to leave home for work or to go to church, he needed permission.
Pretrial-services, which makes the rules, balked at going along with Ragano's "special occasion" request. Then they said that if the judge said it's okay, it's okay with them too. The judge did not say okay.
Over the years, lots of New York wiseguys and mob associates have received court-approved furloughs from their house arrest so they could attend Christmas, Thanksgiving and other holiday parties. Gang Land recalls one Bonanno crime family associate, Neil Messina, who was awaiting trial for a murder but was still given a holiday break from his confinement.
Prosecutors took no position on Ragano's motion. Pretrial Services initially objected because birthdays are "cyclical" events that occur year after year and do not qualify for release under their rules.
Ragano's attorney, Joel Stein argued on Friday that the event was a "special, one time occasion because it will be the first time he will celebrate his son's birthday with him." Ragano, "by his own words has been a bad father" to his son, Stein stated. But he had reconnected with his now grown son in the past two years.
Ragano, 60, was arrested a year ago and charged with fraud, conspiring to possess and distribute marijuana and loansharking. His crimes are part of the same indictment charging the late Colombo boss Andrew (Mush) Russo, and a gaggle of mobsters and associates with a 20-year-long shakedown of a construction workers union. Bazoo, who was seen meeting with Bonanno boss Michael (Mikey Nose) Mancuso during the Colombo probe, was initially detained but was released on a $1.5 million bond and ordered confined to his home in December.
Ragano , who's served nearly 17 years for racketeering, kidnapping, and extortion convictions since 1999, according to court records, had searched for and found his son "unemployed and living in the back of a truck" in Florida when the mobster's most recent supervised release restrictions ended in 2020, Stein told Brooklyn Magistrate Judge James Cho.
Stein stated that he "understood" the Pretrial Services policy but argued that "Ragano's history with his son" was "an important element" of his request to celebrate his son's 22d birthday with his son and asked Cho to override that technical prohibition since this was truly a "special occasion."
"Before he went to prison," said Stein, his client "had spoken to his son on two occasions, once when he was five and once (when the boy was) 11." But after "spending several hours with his son" when he found him in Florida, the lawyer continued, Ragano "re-established contact with his son," and helped him return to New York where he is now living and has a full-time-job.
He would like to go out to dinner on Saturday evening" when neither man is working, said Stein. "It is a special occasion for him."
Pretrial services officer Mallori Brady told Cho that "we had suggested that the defendant host the party or dinner in the home" since "we would not normally agree to let him attend an event that would take place the year after and the year after that." But if the Court approved it, she said, "we will accommodate what the court approves."
"It's not a party, it's just the two of them having dinner," said Stein, arguing that Ragano "looks at this as a special occasion, the two of them going out to dinner to celebrate (his son's 22d birthday) at actually a diner, not even a restaurant."
At the session Friday, the judge asked whether the son had visited his dad at his sister's home.
Ragano himself responded that, yes, his son had visited him. "We sat outside, once or twice, in the back yard, for a couple of hours and talked."
The judge was unconvinced. "I am denying the request given Pretrial Service's concerns that have been raised," said Cho. "There is nothing precluding you from having your son come to your home to celebrate his birthday." The newly reunited father and son could simply order a "take out" dinner, the judge said, adding: "Okay?"
"No problem," answered the dejected Ragano. And he did just that, celebrating his son's 22d birthday — the first one he had ever spent with him — with take out last Saturday night.
"He met with his son and is gratified that he was able to do so," said Stein.
On Monday, prosecutors and Pretrial Services okayed a request by a Colombo associate — a lesser defendant who is not under house arrest but who, like Bazoo, is charged with fraud and conspiring to possess and distribute marijuana — to spend four days in Pennsylvania next month to watch his daughter perform in a horse show, as he's done three other times since his arrest. Judge Cho said okay.
For The Mob-Tied Zottola Family, It's Game Of Thrones — Bronx-Style
Add one more case to the court docket of the Zottola family.
Unlike the murder-for-hire trial due to begin next week in Brooklyn Federal Court where Anthony Zottola is accused of plotting his father's shooting death , this one's a mere civil matter:
Anthony's brother, Salvatore Zottola, who miraculously survived a drive-by shooting that Anthony also allegedly plotted, is seeking in court to inherit all of their slain father's multi-million dollar real estate empire, Gang Land has learned..
Sally Daz Zottola, the slain family patriarch, wanted to leave his estate to all three children including daughter Deborah.
Now, in a Bronx Supreme Court lawsuit, Salvatore is seeking to oust sister Deborah as well as his brother Anthony from several family businesses that control 23 Bronx apartment buildings, primarily in the upper-middle class Pelham Bay section of the Bronx. Anthony is charged with killing Sally Daz and trying to kill Salvatore.
Based on conservative estimates by Property Shark, an online real estate database, the rental properties owned by the four Zottola family businesses are worth $15.6 million dollars. Property Shark pegged the most expensive one, on Hobart Avenue, as worth $1.6 million; one on Mayflower Avenue, worth $637,000 was the least expensive.
In the lawsuit that he filed last year, Salvatore alleges that Anthony and Deborah have each "breached" their partnership agreements by using "income and assets" of four companies they owned together for their own "personal use" and that they had withheld "books and records" of the joint holdings from him.
Salvatore devotes many more words about Anthony's alleged plots to kill him and their father than he does about his sister Deborah, but he argues that because the "acrimony and dissension" between the trio is so great that the court should oust Anthony and Deborah from the family businesses and entrust them to him.
According to court filings, Sally Daz left his holdings to his three children, and each sibling retains a one third ownership of the family companies.
Needless to say Anthony and Deborah say their brother's assertions are groundless and have asked the Court to dismiss Salvatore's lawsuit, which has a total of 186 court filings, so far. The lawyers for all parties in the case declined to comment or did not respond to Gang Land requests for comment.
In a murder-for-hire case filing this week, lawyers for Anthony Zottola objected to expected testimony from Salvatore that Anthony "wanted to accept" an offer of $27 million "to purchase (the) family real estate." Sally Daz ultimately rejected it, which is "among the government's motive theories" for the murder plots, the attorneys note.
From the discovery material they received from the government, the lawyers wrote, that testimony would be based on inadmissible hearsay and should be excluded since Salvatore claims to have "heard about this offer" from a "friend who works at the Marina Del Ray" catering hall that overlooks Long Island Sound.
The lawyers also asked Judge Gonzalez to exclude so-called "hearsay testimony" that Salvatore's wife Katherine claims her father-in-law told her: "The only people who would benefit from my death are my children."
Gangland 9/1/2022
Moderator: Capos
Re: Gangland 9/1/2022
Does jerry write the same Zottola article every week? Just changes some words here and there
Salude!
Re: Gangland 9/1/2022
Holding on for dear life.
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Ivan
- Full Patched
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- Location: The center of the universe, a.k.a. Ohio
Re: Gangland 9/1/2022
look up GPT-3 if you're not familiar, I'm pretty sure Capeci is just feeding detailed prompts into that thing now
EYYYY ALL YOU CHOOCHES OUT THERE IT'S THE KID
Re: Gangland 9/1/2022
Yeah I just skimmed it
But how dumb is this kid
How do you fuck up an inheritance like that coming your way
The dad seemed to be real sharp investor/ business man.
I wonder who took over his gambling business
But how dumb is this kid
How do you fuck up an inheritance like that coming your way
The dad seemed to be real sharp investor/ business man.
I wonder who took over his gambling business
Re: Gangland 9/1/2022
Texting about a murder. These guys are so dumb.
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Ivan
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- Location: The center of the universe, a.k.a. Ohio
Re: Gangland 9/1/2022
That's because it probably wasn't just about the money. Who has their own dad killed? There's something else going on here besides the money, something very weird.
EYYYY ALL YOU CHOOCHES OUT THERE IT'S THE KID
Re: Gangland 9/1/2022
Yeah
Smart old man flipping gambling to a near $30 million real estate business and I think staying out of prison. I wonder who did his construction work, 23 buildings is slot of work
Re: Gangland 9/1/2022
Thanks for posting.
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SonnyBlackstein
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Re: Gangland 9/1/2022
Don't give me your f***ing Manson lamps.