1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:01,000
Who said it up?

2
00:00:03,500 --> 00:00:05,180
Telling you the truth about this.

3
00:00:09,100 --> 00:00:11,240
Everybody else is pointing their finger at me.

4
00:00:20,720 --> 00:00:22,100
Can we get a safe area?

5
00:00:22,760 --> 00:00:23,400
What do you got?

6
00:00:23,780 --> 00:00:24,500
Stop booking.

7
00:00:26,900 --> 00:00:28,140
He just missed?

8
00:00:28,340 --> 00:00:28,820
Get him, get him.

9
00:00:28,820 --> 00:00:31,980
This is a case that on its face

10
00:00:31,980 --> 00:00:37,260
looks fairly obvious

11
00:00:37,260 --> 00:00:41,340
as to who the shooter is.

12
00:00:42,100 --> 00:00:45,100
But what actually happened

13
00:00:45,100 --> 00:00:47,400
was so incredibly shocking

14
00:00:47,400 --> 00:00:50,320
that even detectives

15
00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:52,480
and seasoned journalists

16
00:00:52,480 --> 00:00:54,000
couldn't believe it.

17
00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:57,160
Who was behind

18
00:00:57,160 --> 00:00:59,220
this series of attacks

19
00:00:59,220 --> 00:01:01,000
of a neighborhood icon?

20
00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:02,960
He was punched.

21
00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:05,480
He was shot multiple times.

22
00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:07,600
He had a hood on?

23
00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:09,120
Yes, and a mask.

24
00:01:09,960 --> 00:01:10,900
He was stabbed seven times.

25
00:01:10,980 --> 00:01:11,920
I thought the car was here.

26
00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:14,740
The entire family was under attack.

27
00:01:15,120 --> 00:01:15,860
Fire medical.

28
00:01:15,860 --> 00:01:18,380
It was brutal and crazy

29
00:01:18,380 --> 00:01:20,140
and unanswerable.

30
00:01:20,700 --> 00:01:22,280
Somebody got shot in the parking lot.

31
00:01:22,380 --> 00:01:22,920
He's dead.

32
00:01:24,600 --> 00:01:26,080
We had looked at the mafia.

33
00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:28,040
Now, we don't know

34
00:01:28,040 --> 00:01:28,980
if they're not coming from us.

35
00:01:28,980 --> 00:01:34,700
There is somebody behind the scenes

36
00:01:34,700 --> 00:01:36,180
pulling the strings

37
00:01:36,180 --> 00:01:38,100
and that begs the question.

38
00:01:38,100 --> 00:01:39,920
No, no, no, no, no.

39
00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:41,100
We're going to find

40
00:01:41,100 --> 00:01:41,640
the scene.

41
00:01:41,640 --> 00:01:41,680
No, no.

42
00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:42,520
No.

43
00:01:42,520 --> 00:01:43,660
It's probably a bit of a bomb

44
00:01:43,660 --> 00:01:44,240
to go.

45
00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:44,420
No.

46
00:01:44,420 --> 00:01:44,620
No.

47
00:01:44,620 --> 00:01:45,020
No.

48
00:01:45,020 --> 00:01:45,400
No.

49
00:01:45,420 --> 00:01:46,920
No, no.

50
00:01:46,920 --> 00:01:47,960
You're not here.

51
00:01:47,960 --> 00:01:48,800
I'm sorry.

52
00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:49,300
No.

53
00:01:49,860 --> 00:01:50,680
No.

54
00:01:54,160 --> 00:01:55,280
No.

55
00:01:55,920 --> 00:01:56,800
No.

56
00:01:56,960 --> 00:01:58,260
No.

57
00:01:58,600 --> 00:01:58,980
No.

58
00:01:58,980 --> 00:01:59,280
No.

59
00:01:59,280 --> 00:01:59,780
No.

60
00:01:59,780 --> 00:02:00,440
No.

61
00:02:00,440 --> 00:02:01,020
No.

62
00:02:01,400 --> 00:02:01,740
No.

63
00:02:01,740 --> 00:02:02,120
No.

64
00:02:02,120 --> 00:02:02,480
No.

65
00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:05,240
No.

66
00:02:05,240 --> 00:02:05,780
No.

67
00:02:05,780 --> 00:02:06,460
No.

68
00:02:06,460 --> 00:02:07,080
No.

69
00:02:07,080 --> 00:02:07,620
No.

70
00:02:07,620 --> 00:02:17,540
in september 2017 officers respond to an incident the incident was recorded

71
00:02:21,620 --> 00:02:28,900
the victim of the crime was sylvester zetola commonly known as sally dad he was 70 years old

72
00:02:32,100 --> 00:02:36,500
he was merely standing outside when the video showed a male walk up to mr zetola

73
00:02:37,140 --> 00:02:42,420
engaged him in a short conversation and basically asked him about employment sally that says no

74
00:02:42,420 --> 00:02:49,380
there's no employment around here and he had turned around and started punching him several times

75
00:02:50,740 --> 00:02:54,820
and then all of a sudden he just started viciously beating him right to the ground

76
00:02:59,620 --> 00:03:03,060
he had some bruising and he had a broken rib it's heartless

77
00:03:06,500 --> 00:03:15,700
zetola tells police that the perpetrator was an african-american male didn't really know the

78
00:03:15,700 --> 00:03:22,820
age so it's a pretty basic description for a suspect so the detectives really didn't have

79
00:03:22,820 --> 00:03:28,180
anything kind of go on in this case who's walking up to an elderly gentleman you know and beating him

80
00:03:28,180 --> 00:03:39,140
like that zetola's backstory is interesting he was a guy who was also known in the community as

81
00:03:39,140 --> 00:03:45,460
a reputable businessman and a very successful businessman at that and his business was real

82
00:03:45,460 --> 00:03:55,700
estate eventually amassing more than 40 million of primarily residential buildings throughout new york

83
00:03:55,700 --> 00:04:04,100
city his wife died years ago so essentially he became a single father to his three children

84
00:04:04,100 --> 00:04:14,740
he had two boys and one girl deborah the daughter his eldest son salvatore and his younger son was

85
00:04:14,740 --> 00:04:24,740
anthony and also a plethora of grandchildren he would tell anybody who asked that his family was the most

86
00:04:24,740 --> 00:04:32,500
important thing in the world to him in fact his two sons were brought in to run portions of his business

87
00:04:34,340 --> 00:04:39,860
he was a fixture of that community he had been a supporter you know of the police and helped the

88
00:04:39,860 --> 00:04:45,540
precinct out a lot during his lifetime with security cameras you know outside his residence supplying

89
00:04:45,540 --> 00:04:51,700
video to the police and detectives for crimes that occur in and around the area he was like the

90
00:04:51,700 --> 00:04:56,820
godfather of that community it has been widely said that he was like santa claus without a beard

91
00:04:56,820 --> 00:05:03,300
he was a jolly old fellow he would be the type of guy who would wave to kids on the street corner

92
00:05:03,300 --> 00:05:08,900
everybody knew him so why is someone going after him a really a gem of the community

93
00:05:10,020 --> 00:05:15,700
you know we had a rash of old people getting sucker punched you know throughout you know uh new york

94
00:05:15,700 --> 00:05:20,420
city during that time as well so is it just someone who's following a trend it didn't look like it

95
00:05:20,420 --> 00:05:33,540
was a full attempt you know of his life other than an assault or maybe a possible attempted robbery

96
00:05:37,860 --> 00:05:44,340
november 2017 sally daz he comes into the precinct speaks to the desk officer telling him he was driving

97
00:05:44,340 --> 00:05:49,940
on the expressway and in front of him and a perpetrator wearing a mask gets out with a firearm

98
00:05:49,940 --> 00:05:54,020
and starts threatening him and tells the first officer he sees that somebody is either trying

99
00:05:54,020 --> 00:06:00,340
to carjack him or kidnap him because you know what else would there be what they do an area canvas

100
00:06:00,340 --> 00:06:08,500
which shows up negative for the perpetrator in the area at this time the two incidents are considered

101
00:06:08,500 --> 00:06:14,580
separate even though it's our same victim because it's a description sally daz gave is very vague

102
00:06:15,300 --> 00:06:19,940
really at this point both of these incidents are really like a dead end there's no other

103
00:06:19,940 --> 00:06:23,140
investigative information and all leads are exhausted

104
00:06:28,260 --> 00:06:33,780
so a little over a month later 911 has called for a break in at the zatola residence so when the

105
00:06:33,780 --> 00:06:36,580
officers respond to mrs zatola's home they find him

106
00:06:36,580 --> 00:06:45,940
he's bleeding profusely on the ground he's been stabbed multiple times and slashed across the neck

107
00:06:51,940 --> 00:06:56,580
somehow miraculously he survived this brutal attack

108
00:06:56,580 --> 00:07:10,900
he tells detectives the little bit that he knew that he's at home the next thing he knows there's a group

109
00:07:10,900 --> 00:07:12,020
of men in there

110
00:07:12,020 --> 00:07:20,900
and there wasn't small talk there wasn't a lot of threats or anything like that

111
00:07:25,460 --> 00:07:26,660
they went right after

112
00:07:30,020 --> 00:07:35,860
and he didn't get any great physical description with the exception of he believed

113
00:07:35,860 --> 00:07:38,740
that these were predominantly african-american men

114
00:07:47,700 --> 00:07:52,740
it doesn't appear that there's any fourth entry there's a code to get in how did he have that code

115
00:07:52,740 --> 00:08:03,860
and number two zatola has surveillance camera in his property but guess what there was no surveillance tape

116
00:08:03,860 --> 00:08:05,060
from that incident

117
00:08:07,940 --> 00:08:12,100
they stole the home video surveillance so this starts looking to us as

118
00:08:13,140 --> 00:08:16,340
this might be an inside job someone's definitely trying to kill this guy

119
00:08:18,020 --> 00:08:21,540
but wait a minute why did they want to kill him

120
00:08:23,860 --> 00:08:29,060
hi my name is frank damatio and i know sally true the vending uh business

121
00:08:30,020 --> 00:08:36,180
are there things that just stays amongst the family and just don't share

122
00:08:38,340 --> 00:08:42,180
mob world family they're not gonna tell nobody nothing the less people know

123
00:08:42,180 --> 00:08:43,940
the better it is because less people got killed

124
00:08:43,940 --> 00:08:52,020
what do you know about sally that's you know

125
00:08:53,060 --> 00:08:58,420
only we know about sally said he was a good guy he was affiliated with the bananos he had friends in

126
00:08:58,980 --> 00:09:06,260
for protection i was with a different family but that's how we got to know him at all because he was uh

127
00:09:07,060 --> 00:09:12,580
and that area was a it was a banano area so that's why uh we knew he had a friend up there

128
00:09:14,020 --> 00:09:16,180
in new york city there's five major crime families

129
00:09:18,820 --> 00:09:22,660
and the bananos really took a big chunk of the bronx area

130
00:09:24,420 --> 00:09:29,220
many people don't walk around with a name tag that says

131
00:09:29,940 --> 00:09:33,780
i'm in bed with a crime family that's just not how it works

132
00:09:35,780 --> 00:09:39,780
zetola was considered an associate of the banana family

133
00:09:41,380 --> 00:09:46,260
sally himself wasn't in the mafia but he had enough friends and a banana cool

134
00:09:46,900 --> 00:09:52,820
so what makes you a mobster because you you you got a friend that's a monster to be able to do that

135
00:09:52,820 --> 00:09:57,940
world doesn't make him a gangster not everybody i think because you know somebody you're a gangster

136
00:09:57,940 --> 00:10:04,660
it doesn't work that way only in maybe on tv or something like that or or but in the real world

137
00:10:04,660 --> 00:10:08,020
no if you're a moron you're a moron that knows a gangster

138
00:10:10,660 --> 00:10:16,980
this guy was a legitimate businessman on real estate and then he was involved with joker poker games

139
00:10:17,620 --> 00:10:20,020
that's how he got started which is a big business

140
00:10:20,020 --> 00:10:34,900
so joker poker is an extremely popular video gaming machine that is sold to and placed in

141
00:10:35,700 --> 00:10:42,900
social clubs and it is very very profitable because there's a lot of money in it

142
00:10:42,900 --> 00:10:52,020
that's not legal no it's not legal you can bring in millions you know yearly so and it's unrecorded

143
00:10:52,020 --> 00:10:57,460
it could be so lucrative i know guys got tons and tons and tons of money by doing that vending

144
00:10:58,180 --> 00:10:59,940
like i said it's all under the table so

145
00:11:02,660 --> 00:11:08,260
so sally dad had joker poker machines which he would run anywhere from a basement apartment building to the

146
00:11:08,260 --> 00:11:13,300
the back of the bodega to numerous different commercial locations where they have secret spots in the back

147
00:11:15,140 --> 00:11:19,380
the expectation of sally dad's was to bring food to the you know bring food to the family

148
00:11:20,900 --> 00:11:26,820
that's kind of like how they put it is bringing money kicking money up uh to the banana crime family

149
00:11:26,820 --> 00:11:34,180
to help support the banana crime family so at this point the mafia someone trying to whack him and

150
00:11:34,180 --> 00:11:40,660
bump him off from his own organization from one of the other families you know to gain all his profits

151
00:11:40,660 --> 00:11:46,020
and take over those joker poker machines or possibly even going into his real estate and trying to bump

152
00:11:46,020 --> 00:11:51,940
him out of real estate now we don't know for not coming from us you know it could come up from

153
00:11:51,940 --> 00:11:56,740
but i don't know want to take him out or some other family would try to move in on it we don't know

154
00:11:56,740 --> 00:12:11,380
they don't tell us so several months go by since the third incident he's off the grid sally lay low

155
00:12:11,380 --> 00:12:16,260
which is what you're supposed to do not being flashy he doesn't stay at the house anymore he has a

156
00:12:16,260 --> 00:12:25,380
separate apartment he really buttoned up his inner circle and that included his kids his grandkids and a

157
00:12:25,380 --> 00:12:32,980
couple of mob associates that he does most of his business with so i i know the bananas they would

158
00:12:32,980 --> 00:12:37,140
reach out in the street and see if we knew anything about it or anybody could find anything about it and

159
00:12:37,140 --> 00:12:46,100
they didn't that's what it threw everybody off at this point it's becoming urgent that if law

160
00:12:46,100 --> 00:12:52,980
enforcement doesn't figure out who is targeting this elderly man he will end up dead

161
00:12:55,380 --> 00:13:22,980
one day in june 2018 mr zetola was walking around in another section of the bronx he's been in hiding

162
00:13:25,380 --> 00:13:29,140
one day atinas

163
00:13:39,700 --> 00:13:41,540
some approaches with a hoodie

164
00:13:41,540 --> 00:14:00,280
on this day zetola's confronted outside of this new location somebody puts a gun into his face

165
00:14:00,280 --> 00:14:06,960
is going to shoot him at point blank range and kill him no doubt now luckily for sally daz

166
00:14:06,960 --> 00:14:15,040
the gun jams and sally daz has his own firearm on him and fires it at the fleeing perpetrator

167
00:14:15,040 --> 00:14:24,900
so when the police arrive you know the first thing they do is they see sally daz and his son

168
00:14:24,900 --> 00:14:32,520
anthony zetola can he go inside is that okay i'm not right now i'm not going to go inside right now

169
00:14:32,520 --> 00:14:38,980
mrs zetola is a wreck i was walking up 194th street yes i always turn around because i always

170
00:14:38,980 --> 00:14:44,420
think there's a car up there you follow me so i didn't see no car i turned around and see a black

171
00:14:44,420 --> 00:14:53,820
guy with a hood on he you know he walks across the street that way and he starts coming over to me

172
00:14:53,820 --> 00:15:01,080
like this okay and he had a hood on yes and a mask so after this attempt you know mrs zetola's kids

173
00:15:01,080 --> 00:15:18,060
deborah salvator and anthony they're all up in arms about what happened but at this point what's

174
00:15:18,060 --> 00:15:23,740
going through the detective's minds is he's relocated people who are behind this how do

175
00:15:23,740 --> 00:15:36,040
they know where he is right and that's what makes this attack in june that much more brutal and crazy

176
00:15:36,040 --> 00:15:43,280
and unanswerable because he's in a location where nobody is supposed to know where he is

177
00:15:43,280 --> 00:15:48,160
so what did you see when you saw him with a firearm what did you do

178
00:15:48,160 --> 00:16:06,060
he was returning fire you know to the perpetrator so in self-defense but he has an illegal firearm on

179
00:16:06,060 --> 00:16:12,240
how many shots did you find one and do you have a pistol permit no so this is interesting he ends up

180
00:16:12,240 --> 00:16:21,300
getting arrested for illegal gun possession and they they should be checking all these cameras

181
00:16:21,300 --> 00:16:27,940
so listen i can't i can't blame sally dance for carrying a firearm is it illegal yes is he getting

182
00:16:27,940 --> 00:16:35,680
arrested for it yes do i think a grand jury will ever indict him you know no why because there's four

183
00:16:35,680 --> 00:16:39,280
attempts on his life but um the law is the law

184
00:16:39,280 --> 00:16:42,820
okay

185
00:16:42,820 --> 00:16:46,060
he's a compensation connection

186
00:16:46,060 --> 00:16:48,340
let'sерт's say

187
00:16:48,340 --> 00:16:51,060
well it's true

188
00:16:51,780 --> 00:16:54,080
he's turned into 10

189
00:16:54,080 --> 00:16:56,080
well

190
00:16:56,080 --> 00:16:57,080
oh

191
00:16:57,620 --> 00:17:00,760
yeah

192
00:17:00,760 --> 00:17:02,760
yeah

193
00:17:02,760 --> 00:17:05,760
Yeah, so he's the one who's going to attack.

194
00:17:05,760 --> 00:17:06,760
Go, go, go!

195
00:17:10,760 --> 00:17:12,760
Get him, get him!

196
00:17:16,760 --> 00:17:18,760
Yeah, come on. You're still there?

197
00:17:32,760 --> 00:17:35,760
We're here.

198
00:17:35,760 --> 00:17:51,760
We're here.

199
00:17:51,760 --> 00:17:54,760
Finally, the custody.

200
00:17:54,760 --> 00:17:57,760
So really what happens is after this fourth incident,

201
00:17:57,760 --> 00:18:01,760
the perpetrator for that incident ends up getting arrested

202
00:18:01,760 --> 00:18:06,320
getting arrested a little while later in manhattan for criminal possession of a weapon because he

203
00:18:06,320 --> 00:18:10,640
has that illegal firearm i got the gun i got the gun you got the gun and where was the gun drive

204
00:18:10,640 --> 00:18:18,880
the gun was right he i saw him saw it over here okay yeah the problem is in the bronx we don't

205
00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:25,280
get that information that the arrest is made the arrest happened in manhattan and the attempted

206
00:18:25,280 --> 00:18:31,360
shooting was in the bronx and both shootings and gun arrests happen all the time in new york

207
00:18:31,360 --> 00:18:37,440
cities so neither really warrants any kind of city-wide action and so both jurisdictions are

208
00:18:37,440 --> 00:18:44,480
left in the dark about what the other had and i don't think anybody in law enforcement thought

209
00:18:44,480 --> 00:18:52,000
that these were the same group of perpetrators or at the very least the same group behind the planning

210
00:18:52,000 --> 00:19:00,960
of this at this point in the investigation now we start pulling jail phone calls to see who's

211
00:19:00,960 --> 00:19:08,640
calling talking to mr zetola to see if they have any idea who it is or is it them mr zetola had

212
00:19:09,520 --> 00:19:18,400
very strong ties with vinnie and vinnie bassiano was the head of the banana family and not only were

213
00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:26,240
they really close friends they were also really close business associates vinnie he's actually in jail

214
00:19:26,240 --> 00:19:33,840
during this whole incident and the sons had approached him during with a phone call see even if

215
00:19:33,840 --> 00:19:39,600
the mafia is involved with this vinnie they think we know who these people are unless we have no idea

216
00:19:41,600 --> 00:19:46,960
and vinnie gorgeous basically said right off the mark the crime families have no involvement with

217
00:19:46,960 --> 00:19:51,520
this this is something coming from outside there's nobody there you bother they should push you through

218
00:19:51,520 --> 00:19:56,080
this bullshit man come on man your father's a good person your father's the salt of the earth

219
00:19:56,080 --> 00:20:00,080
the salt of the earth he helped out everybody you know what i mean i don't know who's got this

220
00:20:00,080 --> 00:20:06,240
problem against them and vinnie loved sally daz and for years contributed to the family that's not

221
00:20:06,240 --> 00:20:10,960
somebody who they would want to get rid of it's something that he knows there's somebody that knows

222
00:20:10,960 --> 00:20:17,520
his routine all right bye bye i just don't know who it is and if it was you know another mafia

223
00:20:17,520 --> 00:20:22,080
organization another one of those five families you know vinnie gorgeous probably would have said

224
00:20:22,080 --> 00:20:36,080
something but we got nothing like that

225
00:20:43,120 --> 00:20:51,200
one day in july zetola's family vehicle stops and parks at the zetola family compound

226
00:20:53,040 --> 00:21:03,680
but it wasn't sal senior who got out of the car it was his son sal jr and all of a sudden

227
00:21:08,480 --> 00:21:20,080
somebody was targeting what appeared to be his entire family

228
00:21:22,640 --> 00:21:25,680
sal jr is shot multiple times

229
00:21:27,600 --> 00:21:33,280
it's rolling around on the ground it's a gruesome crime again in broad daylight

230
00:21:34,640 --> 00:21:40,160
it was a life-threatening wound you know when he was rushed to the hospital and lucky for him it was

231
00:21:40,160 --> 00:21:48,880
non-fatal and he survived it it was a big news we heard about it when it happened we found it strange

232
00:21:48,880 --> 00:21:54,400
it felt strange because the shooter was strange

233
00:21:56,960 --> 00:22:01,520
this guy's half running looking for him trying to shoot him i said that's how you do it

234
00:22:01,520 --> 00:22:11,120
as somebody who covered this case the mob gets it done on the first try and this was a case where

235
00:22:11,680 --> 00:22:19,920
it was almost like a bunch of bumbling idiots trying to kill somebody but always failing

236
00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:24,880
it was so just unprofessional you know the whole thing you know i'll take you three times go kill

237
00:22:24,880 --> 00:22:30,400
somebody takes you two minutes you get up close and kill the guy you know

238
00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:38,400
was it mistaken identity i think it was yeah 100 percent do you think

239
00:22:39,120 --> 00:22:43,600
this is the real target here that day yeah yes definitely

240
00:22:43,600 --> 00:22:52,160
so when i look at this incident you know a lot of people say maybe it's mistaken identity right

241
00:22:53,360 --> 00:22:58,240
he gets out and the perpetrator comes up and starts shooting at him maybe he mistakes it that

242
00:22:58,240 --> 00:23:03,360
it's his dad i never really looked at it that way the way i looked at it as is hey listen they're

243
00:23:03,360 --> 00:23:09,040
going after sally dads they can't get him right what's the next thing likely to do let's go after

244
00:23:09,040 --> 00:23:12,480
their family you know like they want his business they go after the kid too

245
00:23:17,760 --> 00:23:24,720
what this attack showed law enforcement was that it wasn't just the elder zatola

246
00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:36,160
the entire family was under attack and that begs the question who wants this entire family dead

247
00:23:36,160 --> 00:23:42,320
there are no leads cops aren't close to a suspect

248
00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:56,800
and everybody is waiting for the next shoe to drop

249
00:23:56,800 --> 00:24:05,440
i was a stringer a freelance reporter for the new york daily news the guy that goes to the scene to

250
00:24:06,080 --> 00:24:15,280
cover a story in person if it's a crime scene talk to people go to court talk to the cops things of that

251
00:24:15,280 --> 00:24:23,760
nature so that day the editor says well you might regret this but i have an assignment for you

252
00:24:25,680 --> 00:24:31,760
i'm working on a normal shift salvatore was done recovering and we get the call

253
00:24:31,760 --> 00:24:35,120
that there's a homicide over at the mcdonald's on webster avenue

254
00:24:35,120 --> 00:24:43,600
it's a kind of busy corridor in west bronx not a nice place to be honest with you fire medical

255
00:24:44,320 --> 00:24:49,040
hi can you send me down the ambulance right now somebody got shot in the parking lot somebody got

256
00:24:49,040 --> 00:24:56,640
shot yeah anybody know who shot him no the crime scene at mcdonald's and it was a an acura

257
00:24:56,640 --> 00:25:03,840
suv maroon collared car just next to the mcdonald's takeout window first breathing

258
00:25:05,360 --> 00:25:09,760
oh well to be honest with you i'm inside i'm one of the managers of mcdonald's and i was taking a

259
00:25:09,760 --> 00:25:16,480
hold of when i see the two probably shot the guy okay i don't know this man i was about to give him

260
00:25:16,480 --> 00:25:21,840
the food when everything happened anybody got a description of the person you know what he shot at

261
00:25:21,840 --> 00:25:26,000
all we know all we know is somebody we're just taking care of customers somebody just ran to the

262
00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:33,920
car and shot at him while we're en route they tell us right away that it's sally daz and someone

263
00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:40,320
had shot and killed him in the drive-through at the mcdonald's so he's in the in the car yes he's done

264
00:25:45,040 --> 00:25:51,040
as a department we have the duty to protect our citizens so when you turn around and you fail at it

265
00:25:51,840 --> 00:25:55,440
yeah you get emotional about it and you want to go out and find out who the murderer is

266
00:25:58,320 --> 00:26:04,000
when we get there i'm brought to the rear of the mcdonald's it appeared that the the vehicle is

267
00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:10,080
pressed up against the building where the call box is mr zatola is slumped on the steering wheel

268
00:26:12,240 --> 00:26:17,680
there's a fence around the mcdonald's perimeter and there's a big hole in the fence

269
00:26:17,680 --> 00:26:24,320
and as i learned the suspected killer at the time snuck into that hole

270
00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:33,520
the victim zatola is in his car and he's driving up to the drive-in window and he orders a coffee

271
00:26:34,160 --> 00:26:40,160
and he's boxed in there has a car in front of him and there's a car behind him so i can't move

272
00:26:40,160 --> 00:26:44,400
that's kind of like a funnel right there we're always taught as police officers don't drive

273
00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:48,880
through drive-throughs don't go through why it's the bottlenecks and now all of a sudden you're a

274
00:26:48,880 --> 00:26:58,960
target and so the killer when he gets close he just fires the shots and he hits him in the back and in

275
00:26:58,960 --> 00:27:08,320
the chest and we're shocked at that you know we're shocked at why why i always thought they were gonna

276
00:27:08,320 --> 00:27:13,680
rob him that's all we could shake him down and rob him you know and it just escalated to him getting

277
00:27:13,680 --> 00:27:23,520
killed got killed first thing i noticed walking around the vehicle was the cluster of bullet holes in

278
00:27:23,520 --> 00:27:31,680
the side window there was a very tight cluster so the person who turned around and fired this weapon

279
00:27:31,680 --> 00:27:38,240
had a very tight grouping which means he didn't just fire a weapon haphazardly into the vehicle hoping to

280
00:27:38,240 --> 00:27:44,800
strike he fired that weapon and those bullets through that vehicle and struck him with precision

281
00:27:45,600 --> 00:27:49,600
so that tells me you know that the shooter has used the firearm before

282
00:27:49,600 --> 00:27:56,240
that he's proficient with it and that he can stay on target even during a stressful situation like that

283
00:27:59,120 --> 00:28:05,840
so i started asking myself out of all these other attempts i can see a level of professionalism

284
00:28:05,840 --> 00:28:12,800
has increased and i kind of felt that this could be a different person from the last couple of attempts

285
00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:23,280
one of the other detectives interviewed the 911 caller he looks young he looks like a black kid

286
00:28:23,840 --> 00:28:28,160
but she took cover and wasn't able to see his face but he had retreated back up the hill

287
00:28:34,640 --> 00:28:41,680
a few days later i covered the the funeral the church was packed there were like maybe at least 300

288
00:28:41,680 --> 00:28:50,160
people in there packed and there was this beautiful photo of azotola and i'm just looking at him look

289
00:28:50,160 --> 00:29:00,480
at him it's like it's like my grandpa you know it could be my grandpa deborah and sal jr and anthony

290
00:29:00,480 --> 00:29:09,600
all gave touching eulogies about what this man meant to them and to this community they were devastated at

291
00:29:09,600 --> 00:29:17,120
the news that they had lost the man that they were closest to in their lives debbie the daughter

292
00:29:18,240 --> 00:29:24,480
i remember her in tears anthony too had some very nice words about his father he was like you were a

293
00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:31,760
wise man you were strong and he was saying you taught me everything in life i need to make you proud

294
00:29:31,760 --> 00:29:38,880
like i will do all i can not to disappoint the family you know my brother my sister especially

295
00:29:38,880 --> 00:29:40,640
you it was very touching

296
00:29:43,600 --> 00:29:47,920
there's something so mundane about all this right you're just ordering a coffee you're just like an

297
00:29:47,920 --> 00:29:53,600
average joe ordering a coffee and he loved to get his coffee there and that was his last coffee

298
00:29:53,600 --> 00:30:00,480
i don't believe in coincidences so i started asking myself okay how do they know where he is

299
00:30:01,840 --> 00:30:07,600
are they following him the vehicle ends up getting removed to really get processed

300
00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:15,200
we go over the entire vehicle they go from top to bottom you know from the from the front to the

301
00:30:15,200 --> 00:30:20,400
back when one of the things that we end up coming up with is a tracker on the vehicle

302
00:30:22,960 --> 00:30:29,200
a gps device that is in the wheel well it answers some questions like wow right that's how they've been

303
00:30:29,200 --> 00:30:34,800
tracking them and that's how they got them here so at this point this is like the real big solid

304
00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:40,480
piece of evidence that we had that could possibly bring us you know to a perpetrator i know how these

305
00:30:40,480 --> 00:30:46,240
things work and i know that this thing is talking to something so it's going to be talking to a cell

306
00:30:46,240 --> 00:30:54,560
phone or to some other device that's going to be able to be tracked we'd sent it to the lab and to

307
00:30:54,560 --> 00:31:03,440
get it broken down so once we start receiving that information back what do i do just like i have kids

308
00:31:03,440 --> 00:31:05,920
every time they get a new toy they want to play with it

309
00:31:05,920 --> 00:31:13,600
usually the first thing that they'll do is they'll activate this device near their home

310
00:31:14,400 --> 00:31:19,600
so i look at the first thing that's on that line of where it is and that leads me to topping avenue in

311
00:31:19,600 --> 00:31:27,840
the bronx is less than a half a mile from the crime scene at the mcdonald's so then i turn around

312
00:31:27,840 --> 00:31:34,080
and i start my video campus i go up and down topping avenue and i walk into this one building and i go

313
00:31:34,080 --> 00:31:42,240
and i start downloading video and reviewing video and i see the gps device being used looks like being

314
00:31:42,240 --> 00:31:48,880
tested by two males out in front of the address and all my other attempts they're master hooded but

315
00:31:48,880 --> 00:31:53,520
these guys are standing right out in plain view and i can see exactly who they are

316
00:31:53,520 --> 00:31:59,520
these aren't your mafia type

317
00:32:02,320 --> 00:32:09,600
at the same time a bloods member named ron kaby who was arrested in manhattan a few months earlier for

318
00:32:09,600 --> 00:32:13,760
discarding that firearm came forward and said to the police

319
00:32:13,760 --> 00:32:20,160
i've been seeing all these headlines i've been hearing all of this about the zatola murder

320
00:32:20,720 --> 00:32:26,720
i have information that you're going to want to know he feels that he's going to be wrapped up in

321
00:32:26,720 --> 00:32:32,240
this whole thing and he wants to get ahead of it and he wants to cut a deal and give up who everybody is

322
00:32:32,240 --> 00:32:42,160
he tells them that he was offered ten thousand dollars from a bloods associate to kill an older man

323
00:32:44,480 --> 00:32:54,800
he was given intimate details about the person that he was going after from security codes to where

324
00:32:54,800 --> 00:33:04,560
surveillance cameras were located in the residences to routines times of day that the victim might be home

325
00:33:06,400 --> 00:33:10,960
and when he went to shoot and kill an elderly man his gun jam

326
00:33:14,720 --> 00:33:21,200
now the light bulbs are going off okay now it's a murder for hire case and the people who are outside

327
00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:27,600
using that gps device they're just hired hitmen who's going out and employing them that's what i

328
00:33:27,600 --> 00:33:34,720
want to find out but ron kb does not know who the handler is he doesn't know who the mastermind

329
00:33:34,720 --> 00:33:41,120
behind this whole thing is he just knows that they were hired to kill sylvester zistola but ron

330
00:33:41,120 --> 00:33:48,000
kb tells us the names of the people using the gps that was used to murder sally daz

331
00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:53,920
that's that's person shelton and that's hyman ross

332
00:33:57,920 --> 00:34:02,800
i'm giving an opportunity to kind of explain what what happened that day

333
00:34:02,800 --> 00:34:06,880
test brain what why don't you tell us i don't have enough attention

334
00:34:11,760 --> 00:34:15,360
we established probable cause and now we're turning around we're arresting person

335
00:34:15,360 --> 00:34:23,520
shelton at his residence in brooklyn we tend to imagine killers of mobsters as just looking the

336
00:34:23,520 --> 00:34:32,160
way the mobster look but bushon shelton is just a regular guy from brooklyn went to college in the

337
00:34:32,160 --> 00:34:39,920
bronx i remember looking at shelton's linkedin page and i was thinking oh this is just like an average guy

338
00:34:39,920 --> 00:34:47,680
when we do the search of his residence we find a firearm which is not part of our crime but we also

339
00:34:47,680 --> 00:35:00,560
find cell phones sean shelton's cell phone revealed text messages between he and somebody else speaking in

340
00:35:00,560 --> 00:35:09,680
movie terms and movie vernacular for example shelton was referring to himself as the director

341
00:35:11,280 --> 00:35:18,960
and shortly after the murder was done he texted something to the effect of the movie is shot or the

342
00:35:18,960 --> 00:35:28,080
movie is over these are cold words about the murder and we start seeing all the messages that were going

343
00:35:28,080 --> 00:35:35,520
back and forth to an unknown number so that phone number is now submitted now they're going to find

344
00:35:35,520 --> 00:35:41,920
out in the subscriber information on who owns that phone and when i get that phone call it was probably

345
00:35:41,920 --> 00:35:51,120
one of the best phone calls i've ever gotten in my life it was the wow moment of this entire case

346
00:35:51,120 --> 00:35:57,840
and probably in my career as well to find out that his own son anthony azotolo organized the murder of

347
00:35:57,840 --> 00:36:10,000
his father i was like wait anthony the guy son was at the grieving at the funeral and just thought like

348
00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:18,320
who knew i think anybody covering this case knew that there was a part of this that was an inside job of

349
00:36:18,320 --> 00:36:32,560
some sort can he go inside is that okay everything started making sense i mean he knew where his father

350
00:36:32,560 --> 00:36:39,200
was all the time he knew that there was video cameras inside the residence he knew the code to get

351
00:36:39,200 --> 00:36:46,880
into the back of his house and through his kitchen he knew all that it's very very rare that organized

352
00:36:46,880 --> 00:36:55,040
crime will bring in somebody from the outside somebody from a street gang to do their dirty work

353
00:36:58,640 --> 00:37:07,040
but anthony had to go outside of their circle bushan shelton he's the guy or the subcontractor where

354
00:37:07,040 --> 00:37:12,640
you go to and you say i need this this and this and then he finds the people to do the job and who knew

355
00:37:12,640 --> 00:37:22,320
how to pull off violent attacks one thing i can say is i had a feeling you were coming when i don't know

356
00:37:22,320 --> 00:37:29,520
but i can thank you that it was after father's day and it was after all my kids breakfast anthony was arrested

357
00:37:29,520 --> 00:37:41,280
the day after father's day for his own father's murder he doesn't have remorse and that was the shocking

358
00:37:41,280 --> 00:37:51,680
throughout this entire ordeal anthony played the loving son while he was pulling all the strings

359
00:37:51,680 --> 00:37:57,120
i don't know for certain but i'm not sure that anthony has a soul

360
00:37:59,760 --> 00:38:07,040
so detectives are thinking what's the motive here once we make the arrest we look into anthony zotolo

361
00:38:08,880 --> 00:38:16,240
sally dad had multiple businesses from real estate to also joker poker machines anthony was running the

362
00:38:16,240 --> 00:38:26,080
real estate arm of this business but the eldest son salvatore was running the joker poker portion of

363
00:38:26,080 --> 00:38:33,760
this business and worked more closely with the mob associates and the folks within social clubs

364
00:38:34,640 --> 00:38:44,400
i think this was a case of anthony wiping out his brother and his father wanting dad's money wanting

365
00:38:44,400 --> 00:38:55,280
the brothers money as the only way to ascend in the family and become the god the only motive that is

366
00:38:55,280 --> 00:39:06,640
clear as day is the motive of greed sally just good just good guy man we would take it back our world

367
00:39:06,640 --> 00:39:11,360
usually doesn't happen over money to respect your father you're gonna kill him or your brother but you

368
00:39:11,360 --> 00:39:24,240
you got to be out of your mind to do something like that

369
00:39:28,240 --> 00:39:32,240
sean shelton tells the u.s attorney hyman ross is the guy that was a shooter

370
00:39:33,120 --> 00:39:38,800
prosecutors said hyman ross was a violent member of the blood street gang with a felony record

371
00:39:39,360 --> 00:39:55,680
i mean he was definitely someone capable of pulling off a targeted killing in a drive-through

372
00:39:55,680 --> 00:40:16,080
it took them over a year really to succeed because of the different players that they had involved

373
00:40:16,080 --> 00:40:22,240
and that's also what kind of threw us off during the days you went from guys who really had no experience

374
00:40:22,240 --> 00:40:28,960
trying to carry this out to at the end more experienced guys that were able to get the job done

375
00:40:29,920 --> 00:40:39,840
i think the most bothersome part about this case is that the elder zatola did everything for his children

376
00:40:39,840 --> 00:40:51,200
and yet it wasn't enough for anthony anthony anthony was still interacting with his father at birthdays at

377
00:40:51,200 --> 00:40:59,120
family events making money off of his father meantime secretly plotting his demise

378
00:40:59,120 --> 00:41:14,320
the house looked like something that a mad scientist would live in and he said who set it up the mastermind

379
00:41:14,320 --> 00:41:34,880
to me he was arrogant a fraudster sociopath for 40 000 gotten didn't lost his life