Bonanno Mobster Shot Multiple Times in the Bronx in Attempted Gangland Hit
Someone tried to whack a longtime Bronx-based Bonanno crime family associate early this morning.
Salvatore (Sally Daz) Zottola walked out of his Bronx home and into a hail of bullets at 6:40 a.m. this morning.
The shooter had pulled up in a dark-colored Nissan sedan and opened fire as Sally Daz walked to his car, shooting him multiple times – including once to the head and three times in his torso.
The gunman then leaped back into a waiting vehicle and sped away.
So far there have been no arrests.
Zottola remains heavily sedated at Jacobi Medical Center, but conveyed to law enforcement that he has no plans to help with the investigation.
It’s believed that Zottola knew his attacker however.
After Sally Daz yesterday, the most recent known gangland hit was the 2013 Michael Meldish murder, also in the Bronx. That execution, allegedly sanctioned by the Luchese crime family, may have been in response to Meldish's attempted effort to whack a Bonanno mobster. There's problems with the case, Jerry Capeci has reported on Gang Land News.
Police recovered four shell casings at the scene. A pool of blood was reportedly visible in the street a few feet from the curb.
Sally Daz's son also refused to cooperate with investigators, after FBI agents descended on Zottola’s home in Locust Point this afternoon. They were forced to take surveillance footage from a neighboring yacht club after Zottola denied them access to the houses’ cameras.
Zottola and his family reportedly own three pricey four-story homes on the street where the attempted hit occured, as Larry McShane reported, all of which overlook the water off the eastern tip of the Bronx.
Zottola as an associate of the Bonanno crime family with ties to former boss Vincent (Vinny Gorgeous) Basciano.
In 1999, he allowed Basciano’s mistress to stay in one of his Bronx homes — unaware that a mob investigator had unwittingly moved into a house across the street.
Vinny’s girlfriend Debra Kalb was a hairdresser at Vinny's “Hello Gorgeous" salon.
Retired NYPD detective Thomas Crowe had just moved into an apartment in Pelham Bay, the Bronx, when he spotted Basciano’s car blocking his driveway.
The detective, who worked for 17 years in the city’s organized crime division, realized he had unintentionally moved into a house neighbouring the mob boss’s mistress.
In Basciano's 2011 trial, Crowe testified that he took advantage of the situation and shot surveillance photos from his house.
Basciano made almost daily visits to the house to visit Kalb and their child during the year that Crowe lived there.
"I would see him routinely on a daily basis at some point," Crowe told Brooklyn Federal Court.
Crowe used his living room to monitor Basciano’s meetings with fellow mobsters on Kalb’s patio and front steps. He took photos of the meetings through his living room blinds.
"My wife was nervous about it, she told me to stop doing it," Crowe told the Daily News outside court. "I just kept a low profile."
Crowe said he photographed Basciano with several members of the Bonanno crime family.
Sally Daz's father was identified in a memo from Basciano's 2011 Eastern District trial as a Luchese associate who "maintained" Basciano's videopoker machines.
"Dominick Cicale and other Bonanno members and associates (were ordered by Basciano) to assault Frank Porco in response to a dispute that had arisen between Porco and... Zottola, a Luchese family associate who maintained Basciano’s joker-poker machines.”
Frank Porco was identified as a captain in the Bonanno crime family in a 2006 report that noted that Frank's great nephew had been murdered.
"Frank Porco later pleaded guilty to (racketeering and related) charges and was sentenced to 24 months in prison, which was what he faced under federal sentencing guidelines. He did not cooperate with authorities in the investigation, according to court records and attorneys in the case.
"Prosecutors said Frank Porco's case was deeply researched by a State Police investigator who determined his background had nothing to do with (the great nephew) Peter Porco's murder."
As for the 2011 Bonanno boss trial, Basciano's lawyers tried to keep the Porco assault out though the Fed's argued: "it is admissible for the following purposes: (1) to show the origins of the relationship between Basciano and Zottola (who allegedly participated in the joker-poker gambling offense together); (2) to corroborate Cicale’s testimony regarding one or more charged offenses; and (3) to show Basciano’s supervisory position in the charged enterprise.
"Basciano argues that evidence of the Porco assault “would appear to have minimal probative value” and is prejudicial because “its inclusion on the lengthy list of uncharged crimes of violence [ ] helps steer the jury down the road of Basciano’s violence propensity.”
"The court finds that the alleged Porco assault is admissible. The Government has identified numerous ways in which the assault is probative of Basciano’s participation in the charged joker-poker gambling offense and of Basciano’s position of authority within the enterprise. Further, in light of the seriousness of the charged conduct (including murder and murder soliciation) and the fact that uncharged murders are admissible, the Porco assault is likely to cause very little prejudice. ...
"In short, the alleged Porco assault is admissible. "
Basciano is serving life in federal prison.
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| Vinny B and Sally Daz as photographed by cop across the street. |
Salvatore (Sally Daz) Zottola walked out of his Bronx home and into a hail of bullets at 6:40 a.m. this morning.
The shooter had pulled up in a dark-colored Nissan sedan and opened fire as Sally Daz walked to his car, shooting him multiple times – including once to the head and three times in his torso.
The gunman then leaped back into a waiting vehicle and sped away.
So far there have been no arrests.
Zottola remains heavily sedated at Jacobi Medical Center, but conveyed to law enforcement that he has no plans to help with the investigation.
It’s believed that Zottola knew his attacker however.
After Sally Daz yesterday, the most recent known gangland hit was the 2013 Michael Meldish murder, also in the Bronx. That execution, allegedly sanctioned by the Luchese crime family, may have been in response to Meldish's attempted effort to whack a Bonanno mobster. There's problems with the case, Jerry Capeci has reported on Gang Land News.
Police recovered four shell casings at the scene. A pool of blood was reportedly visible in the street a few feet from the curb.
Sally Daz's son also refused to cooperate with investigators, after FBI agents descended on Zottola’s home in Locust Point this afternoon. They were forced to take surveillance footage from a neighboring yacht club after Zottola denied them access to the houses’ cameras.
Zottola and his family reportedly own three pricey four-story homes on the street where the attempted hit occured, as Larry McShane reported, all of which overlook the water off the eastern tip of the Bronx.
Zottola as an associate of the Bonanno crime family with ties to former boss Vincent (Vinny Gorgeous) Basciano.
In 1999, he allowed Basciano’s mistress to stay in one of his Bronx homes — unaware that a mob investigator had unwittingly moved into a house across the street.
Vinny’s girlfriend Debra Kalb was a hairdresser at Vinny's “Hello Gorgeous" salon.
Retired NYPD detective Thomas Crowe had just moved into an apartment in Pelham Bay, the Bronx, when he spotted Basciano’s car blocking his driveway.
 |
| Scene of this morning's shooting. |
In Basciano's 2011 trial, Crowe testified that he took advantage of the situation and shot surveillance photos from his house.
Basciano made almost daily visits to the house to visit Kalb and their child during the year that Crowe lived there.
"I would see him routinely on a daily basis at some point," Crowe told Brooklyn Federal Court.
Crowe used his living room to monitor Basciano’s meetings with fellow mobsters on Kalb’s patio and front steps. He took photos of the meetings through his living room blinds.
"My wife was nervous about it, she told me to stop doing it," Crowe told the Daily News outside court. "I just kept a low profile."
Crowe said he photographed Basciano with several members of the Bonanno crime family.
Sally Daz's father was identified in a memo from Basciano's 2011 Eastern District trial as a Luchese associate who "maintained" Basciano's videopoker machines.
"Dominick Cicale and other Bonanno members and associates (were ordered by Basciano) to assault Frank Porco in response to a dispute that had arisen between Porco and... Zottola, a Luchese family associate who maintained Basciano’s joker-poker machines.”
Frank Porco was identified as a captain in the Bonanno crime family in a 2006 report that noted that Frank's great nephew had been murdered.
"Frank Porco later pleaded guilty to (racketeering and related) charges and was sentenced to 24 months in prison, which was what he faced under federal sentencing guidelines. He did not cooperate with authorities in the investigation, according to court records and attorneys in the case.
"Prosecutors said Frank Porco's case was deeply researched by a State Police investigator who determined his background had nothing to do with (the great nephew) Peter Porco's murder."
As for the 2011 Bonanno boss trial, Basciano's lawyers tried to keep the Porco assault out though the Fed's argued: "it is admissible for the following purposes: (1) to show the origins of the relationship between Basciano and Zottola (who allegedly participated in the joker-poker gambling offense together); (2) to corroborate Cicale’s testimony regarding one or more charged offenses; and (3) to show Basciano’s supervisory position in the charged enterprise.
"Basciano argues that evidence of the Porco assault “would appear to have minimal probative value” and is prejudicial because “its inclusion on the lengthy list of uncharged crimes of violence [ ] helps steer the jury down the road of Basciano’s violence propensity.”
"The court finds that the alleged Porco assault is admissible. The Government has identified numerous ways in which the assault is probative of Basciano’s participation in the charged joker-poker gambling offense and of Basciano’s position of authority within the enterprise. Further, in light of the seriousness of the charged conduct (including murder and murder soliciation) and the fact that uncharged murders are admissible, the Porco assault is likely to cause very little prejudice. ...
"In short, the alleged Porco assault is admissible. "
Basciano is serving life in federal prison.
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