A gang leader was sentenced to 37 years in prison Thursday for stalking and assisting the killing an elderly man for money in October 2018 while he sat in a McDonald’s drive-thru, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York.
Bushawn Shelton was sentenced in federal court June 8 after pleading guilty for his leading role in the attack of 71-year-old Sylvester Zottola at the bidding of Zottola’s son, Anthony, who also requested Shelton murder his brother, Salvatore, the press release from the attorney’s office read. (RELATED: 45 Gang Members Hit With Federal Charges As Prosecutors Seek To Classify Gang Violence As Organized Crime)
Bloods Gang Leader Sentenced to 37 Years in Prison for Murder-for-Hire Committed at McDonald’s Drive-Thru https://t.co/moGhnbEaSw
— US Attorney EDNY (@EDNYnews) June 8, 2023
In the murder-for-hire conspiracy, Shelton recruited multiple individuals to assist in carrying out the murders, resulting in a year-long series of attacks against the victims beginning in November 2017, the press release stated. In one such attack, carried out Dec. 27 of that year, three men broke into Sylvester’s home, beat him, stabbed him and slashed his throat. Despite the brutality of the attack, however, the elderly man survived, the press release stated.
After a gunman attacked Salvatore in front of his own home in July 2018, Shelton, a Bloods gang leader, arranged for a tracking device to be placed on Sylvester’s vehicle. While sitting in the drive-thru of a McDonald’s restaurant, Sylvester was fatally shot multiple times by Himen Ross, a fellow Bloods gang member of Shelton’s, the Attorney’s Office stated.
Afterwards, Ross sent a text to Shelton confirming he had successfully killed Zottola at which point Shelton texted the victims son, Anthony, asking him if they should “party today or tomorrow?” the press release stated. In the subsequent exchange, Anthony promised an exchange of $200,000 in banded currency hidden within a cardboard box of bottled water, the release stated.
After law enforcement officials caught up with Shelton and his conspirators, he plead guilty in August 2022 for the October 4, 2018, killing of 71-year-old Sylvester Zottola and the July 11, 2018, attempted murder of Salvatore Zottola, the release stated.
“For more than a year, the defendant led the charge in stalking, beating, stabbing, and eventually shooting an elderly man purely for money,” United States Attorney Peace stated in the release. “The lengthy sentence meted out brings an end to the brutality of this violent group. The community is safer as a result.”
For their part in the conspiracy Anthony Zottola and Ross were sentenced to life in prison after an earlier trial in April 2023. Additional conspirators who previously pleaded guilty were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 16-22 years, the release stated.