Suvechha Sarkar
On the quiet evening of October 4, 2018, Sylvester Zottola, affectionately known as Sally Daz, was picking up his order from a McDonald’s drive-through in the Bronx, New York area. However, his life came to a sudden halt when he was shot dead in his car. Investigation Discovery’s ‘Who Hired the Hitman?: A Hard Man to Kill’ focuses on the heartbreaking case that revealed a murder-for-hire plot and led the investigators much closer to home. It also features interviews with the officials who worked tirelessly on the case to bring the killers to justice.
Sylvester Zottola Was Fatally Shot at a McDonald’s Drive-Through
The parents of Sylvester Zottola were overjoyed when they welcomed him into the world on April 17, 1947. He was born in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up to be a kind-natured person. His parents often affectionately called him Sally Daz. There is very little information available on his early life. However, we do know that his loved ones described him as a person who always made others laugh. Over time, Sylvester dedicated himself to building a multi-million-dollar portfolio of multifamily rental real estate properties in the Bronx, New York region. By the late 1900s and early 2000s, he also operated an amusement machine business, including jukeboxes. According to reports, Sylvester also ran Joker Poker gambling machines for bars, restaurants, and clubs.
According to prosecutors and court records, Sylvester had business dealings with members of the Bonanno crime family. His personal life changed forever when he met his soulmate, Maria Assunta Zottola. It wasn’t too long before they tied the knot in the presence of their loved ones. Over the following years, they welcomed their two sons, Anthony Sr. and Salvatore, and their daughter, Deborah, into their lives. However, Sylvester’s world came crashing down on June 20, 1976, when Maria unfortunately passed away. He began raising his children as a single father and once again found joy when his grandchildren came into his life. Although life returned to a normal pace, the 71-year-old soon faced turmoil, as there were several attempts to kill him from 2017 to 2018.
Sylvester survived the first four attempts, but it wasn’t the case on October 4, 2018. On that day, he was in McDonald’s drive-through to purchase his coffee. Shockingly, a gunman ran up to his car and shot him through the glass of the passenger side. Witnesses called 911 immediately, and when the officials arrived at the scene, they found him dead in the vehicle. He had been shot in the back and chest, and investigators noted a cluster of bullet holes in the window. They reportedly discovered that a nearby fence had a big hole in it. It made them consider that the killer might’ve entered from there. Further forensic tests of Sylvester’s vehicle revealed a secret location-tracking device. Since the gunshots were precise, the detectives believed it was the job of an expert. The autopsy revealed that Sylvester’s cause of death was the fatal gunshot wounds.
A String of Near-Fatal Attacks on Sylvester Pointed to a Betrayal From an Insider
The murder attempts on Sylvester reportedly first began on September 8, 2017, when an African American man suddenly approached him and attacked him. According to reports, during that time, he suffered multiple bruises and a broken rib. Just one month later, a person threatened him with a firearm. In November 2017, another break-in happened at his home, and he was reportedly stabbed several times. Fortunately, officials arrived on time, and he survived after he was rushed to the hospital. Although there were no leads the first two times, during the break-in incident, investigators noted that the perpetrators knew the code to his front door, as there was no forced entry. Reports further state that those individuals were aware that Sylvester had a surveillance system set up at his home because it was missing after the break-in.
It led the detectives to deduce that the person or people responsible for those planned attacks were someone from Sylvester’s inner circle. Although he reportedly changed his home and cut down his inner circle to just his family and his close mob connections, another African American man threatened him with a gun in June 2018. Thankfully, Sylvester had a gun with him, and he shot at the individual to scare him off. According to police records, in July 2018, his son, Salvatore, was also shot at multiple times, and he survived the attack after he was rushed to the hospital. All of those attempts made it clear that those attacks were made by someone close to Sylvester’s family. Days passed without any leads, leading up to the fateful day of October 4, 2018.
A GPS Tracker and Phone Records Unraveled the Murder-for-Hire Conspiracy
After the tracker was discovered in Sylvester’s car, forensic experts used it to trace the device back to an address on Topping Avenue on the day it was activated. CCTV footage from that area revealed two men, Bushawn Shelton and Himen Ross, installing the tracking device on the car. When Himen Ross was brought in for questioning, he denied having any involvement in the case. In the meantime, an inmate named Ron Cabey, who was arrested in Manhattan while discarding a gun, contacted the authorities. According to official records, he confessed to being a member of the Bloods gang. Reports state that he admitted to attacking Sylvester in June 2018 and was allegedly given $10,000 by a Bloods associate, Bushawn, turning it into a murder-for-hire case.
When Bushawn was arrested, officials discovered several phones from his home. Upon checking the phones, forensic experts reportedly discovered he was in contact with an unknown number and discussing the attacks using coded, movie-style language. Shockingly, the number belonged to Sylvester’s son, Anthony. Prosecutors argued that Anthony was the architect of the plot and sought to take control of his father’s real estate business. Ultimately, he was also arrested along with the other associated individuals. Anthony was charged with murder-for-hire conspiracy and murder-for-hire on June 17, 2019. Himen and Bushawn were indicted on the same charges, while the former faced an additional charge of use of a firearm that caused the death.
Anthony Zottola Sr., Himen Ross, and Bushawn Shelton Are Incarcerated at Federal Prisons Today
Ron reportedly entered into a cooperation agreement with the prosecution against the co-conspirators. The joint jury trial of Anthony and Himen began in September 2022. During the six-week trial, the prosecution presented the overwhelming forensic evidence. They emphasized how Anthony had been involved in a year-long conspiracy against his own father, which led to several murder attempts. Court records specify that the prosecution reportedly pointed out Himen’s role as the triggerman who followed Sylvester to McDonald’s. Anthony’s defense reportedly raised other motives by the mob and questioned the credibility of several witnesses, including Ron’s.
Himen’s defense raised issues about prejudice from gang-related testimony. Ultimately, Anthony and Himen were found guilty of the murder for hire charges on October 19, 2022. They were also convicted of death through the use of a firearm and unlawful use and possession of firearms. On April 14, 2023, both of them were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus 112 years in prison for the weapon-related charges. Unlike them, Bushawn avoided a jury trial by entering into a guilty plea on August 22, 2022. He pleaded guilty to murder-for-hire and murder-for-hire conspiracy for his leadership role in recruiting and coordinating the attack.
Bushawn was reportedly sentenced to 37 years in prison on June 8, 2023. According to official records, four other co-conspirators, namely, Jason Cummings, Arthur Codner, Herman Blanco, and Branden Peterson, pleaded guilty. They received long prison terms, ranging from 16 to 22 years. As of writing, while Anthony is serving his time at the United States Penitentiary (USP), Hazelton in Bruceton Mills, West Virginia, Himen is incarcerated at the USP Atwater in Atwater, California. Currently, Bushawn is serving his sentence at Federal Correctional Institution, Schuylkill, in Minersville, Pennsylvania.
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