Mobster Rocco Zito was pointing a gun at his son-in-law when he was shot dead in his North York bungalow, a murder trial heard Thursday.“Did you shoot Rocco Zito…?” defence lawyer Brian Ross asked Domenic Scopelliti, 54, in University Ave. court.“Yes I did,” Scopelliti replied.Read more: Rocco Zito was shot three times, court hearsDefendant said he would never have married mobster’s daughter if he’d known who he was getting for a father-in-law‘My father was a family man,’ mobster Rocco Zito’s daughter testifies at murder trial of her ex-husband“Why?” Ross asked.“Because I feared for my life,” Scopelliti said. “My life was in danger. He had a gun pointed at me.”Zito, 87, was shot three times in the chest shortly after 5 p.m. on Jan. 29, 2016 in his home at 160 Playfair Ave. in North York, near Caledonia Rd. and Lawrence Ave. W. The circumstances of the shooting are at issue.Scopelliti paused to cry at a couple points during his testimony, as he described life with Zito. Scopelliti and his wife — Zito’s daughter Laura — and four children lived in the basement of Zito’s home.Scopelliti and his wife have divorced since he shot her father to death.As Scopelliti testified, his elderly mother made loud, repeated gasping noises in the back of the courtroom, causing Madam Justice Faye McWatt to pause proceedings to check if she was all right.Testimony resumed when she regained her composure.Scopelliti described his former father-in-law as a loan shark who demanded repayment of debts but didn’t pay back money he owed, even to his own family.“He didn’t like to pay people but he liked to collect,” Scopelliti said.Scopelliti said Zito boasted about killing Toronto photographer Rosario Sciarrino, who was one of his loan shark customers.“He was very aggressive,” Scopelliti said. “He wouldn’t forget anything.R ...
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