The shots popped at 6:30 on the sunny morning of July 11, at the corner of a quiet street near the water in the Bronx. Just off Tierney Place in Throgs Neck, Salvatore Zottola, 41, was ambushed by a gunman, who sped off while Mr. Zottola, full of gunshot wounds, rolled on the pavement.

The attack lasted 17 seconds and was caught on a grainy security camera video released by the New York Police Department. As far as murder attempts go, it wasn’t much of one. The gunman was sloppy. Gravely injured but alive, Mr. Zottola was whisked to Jacobi Medical Center.

That same afternoon, his father, Sylvester Zottola, was in court for charges stemming from his own brush with death. In June, the elder Mr. Zottola had brandished an unlicensed gun at someone who threatened him outside his home, the police said. The unknown thug vanished, and the 71-year-old was arrested and charged with criminal possession of a firearm.

It all might be chalked up as a bizarre coincidence, had both Zottolas not kept company with reputed mobsters. The police say the father and son are noted associates of New York’s Bonanno crime family.