Man Charged In Baseball Bat Attack Over $40 Debt

A Wyckoff man has been arrested for allegedly beating two men with a baseball bat over a small debt he failed to pay, according to Wyckoff police.

Police contend that earlier in the evening, the two 18-year-old victims – one from Wyckoff, the other from Oakland – had gone to the home of 18-year-old Ralph Zocco IV on Madison Ave. to collect a $40 debt he's alleged to have owed the pair. They were quickly shooed from the property by Zocco's mother.

It's then that Zocco, armed with a "small baseball bat," went looking for the pair at the Boulder Run Shopping Center sometime around 12:45 a.m., according to Wyckoff Police Chief Benjamin Fox.

Zocco confronted the group and reportedly swung it at a vehicle, police said. He's then alleged to have moved on to human targets, reportedly striking the Oakland man in the head and wrist, and then the Wyckoff man in the head and elbow.

One victim required ten stitches to his head while the other needs arm surgery, police said. Police say Zocco then fled the scene.

He was arrested in his home and charged with two counts of aggravated assault, criminal mischief, and two counts of possession of a weapon with intent to use it unlawfully.

Judge Russel B. Teschon set bail at $25,000. Zocco was committed to the Bergen County Jail in default of bail.