In September 2024, Carmine Gotti Agnello pleaded guilty to wire fraud worth $1.1 million related to federal small business relief loans during the COVID-19 pandemic. The 40-year-old reportedly channelled the money into cryptocurrency to fund his gambling addiction.
Now, a year and a half later, he is looking at 31 to 44 months in federal prison.
Carmine, 40, is the son of former tabloid columnist, bestselling author, and TV personality Victoria Gotti, best known as the daughter of the late Gambino crime family boss, John Gotti.
However, Gotti Agnello is requesting that federal judge Nusrat Chaudhury forgo his prison sentence as he is scheduled to donate a kidney to his mother. Victoria is currently suffering from end-stage renal failure and is undergoing permanent dialysis.
Carmine’s defense attorney, Steven Metcalf II, wrote in the sentencing memo filed at Central Islip federal court:
“Mr Agnello’s incarceration would effectively foreclose the only viable path to preserving his mother’s life.”
Metcalf also called Carmine the only viable donor within the family, adding that if he were sent to prison after donating the kidney, it could pose serious medical risks for his client.
Meanwhile, the prosecution has argued Carmine Gotti Agnello can proceed with the donation while being incarcerated, and the Bureau of Prisons is fully equipped to arrange the same.
All you need to know about Carmine Gotti Agnello
Victoria Gotti married Carmine Agnello in 1984. Nine months later, they lost their daughter, Justine, to stillbirth. Thereafter, the couple welcomed three sons, Carmine Jr, John, and Frank. After Gotti and Agnello divorced in 2003, she raised her sons as a single mother.
Carmine Gotti Agnello was born in April 1986. He pursued a career as a recording artist and appeared on the 2005 VH1 reality show, But Can They Sing? Later, he described his music as “hip-pop” during a conversation with the New York Daily News.
“I’m mature. I was a kid when they saw me last time. I wanted to step away from that whole image… I’m a young man now. I’m clean-cut,” he explained.
Carmine Gotti Agnello also called his new project (combining three years of vocal and choreography lessons) a homage to John Gotti. Although he was his grandfather, Carmine saw him “more like a father figure.”
The said project was scheduled to be released in the summer of 2010. But it never came out. Four years later, Victoria Gotti told Radar Online that her son was no longer into music, although she previously told CBS that he saw the “promise of creativity” in him.
“He definitely misses it, and I catch him all the time when he doesn’t think anybody is looking or listening. I know he misses it, but it’s a tough, dedicated business. He just doesn’t have the patience,” Victoria explained.
It is noteworthy that Carmine Gotti Agnello appeared on the A&E reality show, Growing Up Gotti, alongside his mother and two brothers. His current interests include bodybuilding, cars, and music, according to his lawyer. Carmine also mentors an eight-year-old boy in Harlem.
In 2009, Victoria Gotti told CBS how she raised “three fine young men” who were a “new generation, new lineage.” She added:
“This is the real legacy John Gotti left in his wake. In the end, family is all anyone really has.”
A decade later, Victoria sat down with Glamour and said that her children were “gifts from God” and her “greatest accomplishments.” She continued:
“I feel like if people look at us and see that we’re human, then that’s all they need to know.”
Not much is known about John, 39, except that he’s married to his college sweetheart, Alina Sanchez (since 2015), and is a father to two sons, Johnny and Mikey, and a daughter.
The youngest brother, Frank, 35, also maintains a low profile. He has previously authored the book, Gotti Diet: How I Took Control of My Body, Lost 80 Pounds, and Discovered How to Stay Fit Forever.
Now, in the wake of Carmine Gotti Agnello’s sentencing, Victoria Gotti, 63, wrote in a letter addressed to the court:
“I am a mother, absolutely sick and devastated that my son is in this position. This is NOT the way he was raised! He would never do anything he KNEW was wrong.”
Victoria also claimed that she believes her eldest son didn’t knowingly commit the fraud and is a “miracle child,” who is “kind and generous to a fault” and is giving her the “gift of life.”
Carmine Gotti Agnello’s sentencing is scheduled for Friday.
Edited by Pallavi K