Bushawn Shelton, known as “Shelz” to some, was apprehended on Oct. 11, and charged with conspiring to murder two men—one of whom was shot dead while inside his car in a drive-through at a McDonald’s in the Bronx on Oct. 4.
Sources said the hit was ordered by Albanian gangsters who desire the illegal gambling scheme that Zottola ran; the second man they wanted murdered was Salvatore Zottola, 41, the elder Zottola’s son.
Salvatore Zottola was shot in July but survived.
In addition to the two shootings, they were repeatedly robbed, assaulted, and threatened with guns this year, according to court papers.
Conspiracy to Kill
According to law enforcement officials and court documents, Shelton, 34, hired a hitman this spring to kill Salvatore Zottola, in a bid to “lure out” the father and murder him as well, reported the Wall Street Journal.That hitman turned out to be a cooperator for the FBI.
That hitman told police that Shelton told him he would get more money if he murdered the elder Zottola in addition to the son. Officials said Shelton planned the killings with the cooperator and to multiple places the Zottolas frequented. He also provided the firearm used in the shootings.
The cooperator’s account “has been corroborated by physical evidence, telephone records, cell-site records, video surveillance and other evidence,” according to federal officials, reported the Post.
Brooklyn federal prosecutor Lindsay Gerdes said in court that police executed a search warrant on Shelton’s home after the arrest on Thursday and discovered $45,000 in cash and a loaded gun. Shelton’s grandmother told law enforcement officers that her grandson had brought the cash home recently, “notably since the murder,” Gerdes said, according to the Journal.
Shelton told his grandmother the cash was from his T-shirt business.
Shelton served jail time from 2009 to 2012 for criminal possession of a weapon. His record also includes a gang assault on a man and his pregnant girlfriend.
