Zito’s 11-year-old grandson discovered the victim’s body upon returning home from school. Before leaving, Pandrella also swiped expensive, foreign-made watches that Zito had been holding as collateral for a loan.
26, 2018, Pandrella paid a visit to Zito’s Sheepshead Bay home and shot him in the back of the head at close range, authorities said. But when Zito, 77, later tried to collect the six-figure sum, Pandrella refused to give it up, according to prosecutors, who described the two men as friends of more than 30 years. Believing that he was under law-enforcement investigation, victim Vincent Zito, who ran an illegal loansharking business, asked Pandrella to hold on to $750,000 for him until the heat died down, authorities said.
