Gambino wiseguy killed Luchese loanshark over money dispute, Brooklyn Federal Court jury says

A Gambino wiseguy was convicted Tuesday of murdering an associate of the Luchese crime family in a feud over $750,000 in loansharking cash.

A Brooklyn Federal Court jury took 90 minutes to deliberate its guilty verdict in the case of Anthony Pandrella, 62, who was charged with killing loanshark Vincent Zito, 78, in Zito’s home.

Pandrella had agreed to hold on to $750,000 of illicit cash from Zito’s loanshark business because Zito was nervous that he was under investigation by law enforcement.

But when Zito asked for the money back, Pandrella said it had mysteriously disappeared from his basement.

Zito was murderously mad and threatened to kill Pandrella at a dinner the two attended at Battista, a restaurant in Brooklyn, just weeks before the killing, prosecutors said.

But Pandrella got to Zito first.

The day Zito was murdered, Pandrella had said he was going to pay up the $750,000 debt.

He went to Zito’s Sheepshead Bay home on the morning of Oct. 26, 2018 — but instead of returning the money, which earlier he had claimed disappeared, Pandrella killed his longtime friend in by shooting him in the back of his head.

Pandrella then stole expensive watches that Zito possessed, and fled the scene. Pandrella “is a cold-blooded killer who shot his elderly friend in his home, execution-style ... to avoid returning a large sum of money he was holding for the victim,” Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement.

Zito’s body was discovered by his 11-year-old grandson.

Pandrella audaciously returned to the home after the murder and spent time with Zito’s grieving family and friends, and asked about the police homicide investigation.

The Gambino associate was found guilty of robbery, murder and unlawful use of a firearm.

He faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced.