Robert Zappalorti shows a pine tree he planted 22 years ago near the scene where his brother James was killed on Jan. 22, 1990, in Staten Island.
A towering evergreen stands as a poignant reminder of a vicious hate crime that stunned a Staten Island neighborhood 22 years ago, as the remorseless killer vies for parole next month.The white pine, which stands nearly 30 feet tall along the bank of the Arthur Kill in Charleston was planted as a youngling by Robert Zappalorti in the blood-soaked soil where his brother was killed in 1990.
“That’s why it grew so tall,” said Zappalorti, 72. “This is Jimmy reincarnated.”
James Zappalorti — a Navy veteran who was honorably discharged from the Vietnam War after suffering a nervous breakdown — found solitude in a makeshift shed at the site when he was brutally murdered by two men because he was gay.
“It was beautiful here,” said his brother, who visited the site last week with the Daily News. “He had the place really fixed up nice. He called it his Beach House.”
Now a pile of broken timber, frayed couches and a decades-old television set are all that remains of Jimmy’s sanctuary, which lay tucked in the woods and offers an open view of the gasoline refineries in New Jersey.
But all Robert Zappalorti can see is the scene where his brother, a gentle soul who occasionally played piano for clubs in the West Village, was stabbed to death Jan. 22, 1990.
Jimmy, then 44, bought beer at a nearby deli and two local toughs — Michael Taylor and Philip Sarlo — followed him down the pebble-stoned trail to the Beach House.
The brutes later robbed him before Taylor stabbed Jimmy three times in the chest with a 5-inch folding knife.
The thugs — who had been arrested four years earlier for kidnapping another gay man — tossed Jimmy’s body in the water.
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| Michael Taylor, right, was found guilty in 1990 hate crime slaying of James Zappalorti. He is up for parole next month. |
They took his keys and ransacked his parents’ house, where he was staying, making off with his rosary.
The next day, Jimmy’s older brother, Michael, found the body on the beach, the wrists tangled in a rope tied to the dock.
Taylor and Sarlo were soon collared and were later convicted of murder. They were each given a 23-years-to-life sentence for the senseless attack.
Sarlo died in prison in 1997, but Taylor, 43, is up for parole next month.
“I obviously want him to stay in jail,” Robert said. “He’s never shown any remorse. He’s never reached out to the family in any way.”
His family visited Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan on Sept. 6.
The DA’s office has called on the Parole Board to keep Taylor behind bars.
“Everybody can be forgiven," said Robert, who lives in New Jersey. “But (Taylor) has to prove to me that he’s sorry.”
Robert said the family recently sold the land where the evergreen flourishes.
They hope the landowner will consider keeping the tree and placing two plaques, given by the Charleston Civic Association and the U.S. Navy, at the site for remembrance.
“We were a really close family,” he said. “It was really hard for us all.”
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