| In EDNY Murder For Hire
Trial Guilty Verdicts On Zottola
and Ross As Lopez Acquitted
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
book
BBC -
Honduras
- CIA
Trial book - NY
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EDNY COURTHOUSE,
Oct 19 – In a large courtroom
in the U.S. District Court for
the Eastern District of New
York, Anthony Zottola, Alfred
Lopez and Himen Ross are
standing trial for the October
4, 2018 murder-for-hire of
Mafia associate Sylvester
Zottola, a.k.a. “Sally Daz,”
at a McDonalds drive-through
in the Bronx.
Inner City Press, now covering
the EDNY courthouse albeit
still not approve to bring in
phone and laptop, is covering
the trial, before District
Judge Hector Gonzalez.
For the
entire week, FBI Special
Agent Michael Zoufal has been
testifying on direct
examination about calls and
text messages. Anthony Zottola
allegedly orchestrated and
financed multiple attacks on
his father and Anthony’s
brother Salvatore Zottola
prior to the
murder.
On
September 30, it finally
turned to cross examination.
Defense lawyer Henry E.
Mazurek, whose SDNY work Inner
City Press has covered in a
number of live-reported trial,
asked Zoufal if he thought the
defendants were communicating
in code.
The FBI agent
resisted, saying that the
texts spoke for
themselves.
Mazurek
shifted to analogies, about
communications about tacos, or
one's mother. Each time the
AUSA objected, and Judge
Gonzalez said, I'll allow
it.
On October 4,
Inner City Press now covering
the EDNY with a pass (for now
for US v. Barrack) covered
this case again. A cooperator
was on the stand, describing
his first arrests for
burglary, then joining the
gang in prison, slashing
faces, identifying defendants
in the case.
On October 19,
the EDNY jury convicted
Anthony Zottola, Sr. and Himen
Ross of murder-for-hire
conspiracy and murder-for-hire
in the October 4, 2018 killing
of 71-year-old Sylvester
Zottola as he waited to pick
up a cup of coffee at a
McDonald’s drive-thru in the
Bronx. The jury also found the
defendants guilty of causing
Sylvester Zottola’s death
through the use of a firearm
and unlawful use and
possession of firearms. They
face mandatory life terms when
sentenced by United States
District Judge Hector
Gonzalez. A third defendant,
Alfred Lopez, was acquitted on
all counts. Watch this
site.
***
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