Gun fired from mobster’s basement, trial hears

Bullet aimed upward, tore through door on main floor, detective says

A bullet fired up from the basement of mobster Rocco Zito’s home tore into a door on his main floor the day he was shot dead, a murder trial heard.

Det. Const. Jeffrey Johnston used a series of complicated mathematical calculations and short videos to conclude that a bullet was fired from a basement flight of stairs upwards to where Zito stood on the main level of his North York bungalow.

The testimony came at the murder trial of Zito’s son-inlaw, Dominic (Mimmo) Scopelliti, 54, on Monday.

Defence lawyer Brian Ross has already conceded that Scopelliti shot Zito dead on Jan. 29, 2016, in his bungalow on Playfair Ave., near Caledonia Rd., and Lawrence Ave. W.

The circumstances of the shooting remain in dispute.

“That firearm position could be in line with the base of the stairs,” testified Johnston, a court-recognized expert on gunshot trajectory analysis.

Johnston stopped short of describing the position Scopelliti was in when he fired up the stairwell.

“They can stand up straight,” Johnston said of gunmen. “They can crouch. They can bend over.”

The actual bullet-torn door from Zito’s house was shown to the jury, as well as several short videos showing possible paths of the bullet up the basement stairwell.

Johnston referred to laws of trigonometry and something called “the azimuth angle” to conclude that a bullet was fired upwards from the basement.

Sgt. Mark Repa testified he arrived at the Zito house on Playfair Ave., at 5:20 p.m. on the day of the shooting, five minutes after getting the call.

By the time he got there, there were already other police, paramedics and firefighters at the scene.

Tactical officers were called since it wasn’t clear if the gunman was still in the basement apartment of Zito’s home, Repa testified.

The trial continues.