SON OF A GUN
Mob-linked man shot weeks after dad was attacked
Their family crest just might be a bull’s-eye.
A reputed Bonnano crime family associate survived two bullets in a botched mob hit Wednesday outside his $2 million Bronx home barely a month after his father was targeted just 4 miles away, authorities said.
Alleged mobster Salvatore (Sally Daz) Zottola was leaving his home on Tierney Place in Throggs Neck when he was ambushed by a lone shooter at 6:40 a.m.
Zottola, 41, was hospitalized in serious but stable condition after he was shot in the chest and right hand. He also suffered a graze wound to the head, authorities said.
It was unclear if the shooting was related to a June 12 incident where Zottola’s dad Sylvester, 71, was arrested after squeezing off several shots at a man who pulled a gun on him around 7:30 a.m. outside his Bronx residence. Sylvester Zottola was arrested for weapons possession, reckless endangerment and other charges, and did not have a permit for the gun.
The family patriarch, identified in court papers as a Luchese family associate, also survived a Dec. 27, 2017, stabbing in the neck and back when he walked into his home to find three people burglarizing the place.
Both father and son were affiliated with former Bonanno family boss Vincent (Vinny Gorgeous) Basciano until the gangster was jailed for life after a 2007 murder conviction.
The gunman who targeted Salvatore Zottola fired four shots before climbing into a waiting getaway car and fleeing. No arrests were made in the shooting of the younger Zottola nor in either of the violent incidents with his dad.
“We want to thank everyone for their kind words, but you can go f--- yourself,” a Zottola family member said outside the Jacobi Medical Center, where Salvatore was hospitalized.
Salvatore Zottola and his relatives apparently own three pricey four-story homes on the street overlooking the water on the eastern tip of the Bronx. One of the homes near the Locust Point Marina is marked with a sign reading “Zottola Court.”
The street outside bore signs of the investigation, including discarded blue surgical gloves and small orange cones marking recovered shell casings. A folded yellow towel rested on the ground nearby.
Zottola was apparently home alone while his wife and their two children were down at the Jersey Shore, when the gunfire erupted.
Neighbor Joe Peloso, 78, described the younger Zottola and his relatives as good neighbors who often hosted parties for local residents in their beachfront backyard with its pier and his Jet Skis.
Back in 1999, Salvatore Zottola allowed Basciano’s mistress to stay in one of his Bronx homes — unaware a mob investigator had just moved in across the street and was monitoring his moves. The elder Zottola partnered with the owner of the Hello Gorgeous hair salon in running lucrative Joker Poker machines, court documents showed.