Victoria Gotti, daughter of late mob boss, could die if her son goes to prison before kidney donation, lawyer says

Victoria Gotti, the daughter of the late mob boss John J. Gotti, could face death if one of her sons is sent to federal prison for fraudulently getting about $1.1 million in federal coronavirus relief funds because a prison sentence would make it too risky for him to make an imminent kidney donation to his mother, according to recently unsealed court papers.

Carmine G. Agnello, 39, of Smithtown, is attempting to sway a federal judge that probation would be an appropriate sentence in his case, citing the risk to his own health if he goes to prison after donating the kidney to his mother, the court papers say. Federal prosecutors disagree and have said Agnello, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud in connection with the COVID-19 small business loans, should serve 33 to 41 months in prison.

"Mr. Agnello's incarceration would effectively foreclose the only viable path to preserving his mother's life," Agnello's defense attorney Steven A. Metcalf II wrote in the recently unsealed sentencing memorandum, which still includes multiple redactions.

"Medical experts have confirmed that without a transplant, Ms. Gotti faces a stark choice: permanent dependence on dialysis — a grueling regimen requiring three treatments per week, each lasting approximately four hours, with significant morbidity and a five year survival rate of only 40% — or death from end-stage renal failure," Metcalf wrote.

Agnello is apparently the only member of the Gotti family that can donate the kidney to Victoria Gotti, the only daughter of the infamous mafia boss knows as "The Teflon Don," the court papers say.

In a letter to U.S. District Judge Nusrat J. Choudhury, who's scheduled to sentence Agnello on Friday, Gotti described herself as a single mother who had "no regrets" for giving up her career as a newspaper columnist and a potential future as a lawyer to devote herself to her three sons.

"I am a mother, absolutely sick and devastated my son is in this position," Victoria Gotti wrote. "This is NOT the way he was raised!"

Despite Agnello pleading guilty to wire fraud before Choudhury in September 2024, Gotti said she and her son struggle to comprehend what he did wrong.

"My son, Carmine would never do anything he KNEW was wrong," wrote Gotti. "He did not fill out the application this seems to revolve around — a professional did it for him."

She said Agnello answered the form's questions via text message "to the best of his knowledge" and said there was "NO attempt to defraud anyone or any institution on his part."

Gotti said Agnello applied for the loans to do cement work and soil testing required by the Department of Environmental Conservation.

Gotti also claims that her son told was told by "the U.S." (she doesn't specify exactly who) that he could "pay back all the money and all will go away." But later that deal, which she said she had "proof" of, was rescinded. She also said her son didn’t fully understand what he was admitting to when he pleaded guilty.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office declined to comment.

Prosecutors have said Agnello received at least three loans on behalf of Crown Auto Parts & Recycling LLC, a Queens-based business he operated. Agnello submitted documentation as part of the loan application process that falsely said he had no criminal record, even though he had pleaded guilty in state court in 2018 to a misdemeanor for running an illegal auto recycling yard in Queens, and he also was convicted of disorderly conduct for possessing a gravity knife in 2009, according to prosecutors.

Agnello didn’t apply the loan proceeds to his business but instead spent them for personal use, which included a $420,000 investment into cryptocurrency, prosecutors have said.

The lawyer's memo says Gotti's other ailments — mitral valve prolapse, a chronic heart condition that she's treated with blood thinners since her 20s, and a 2005 surgery to address precancerous breast cells — "compound" the urgent need for a new kidney.

It would be a "huge risk" and potentially "life threatening" for Agnello to go into federal prison after the kidney donation because federal prisons don't provide adequate medical care, the lawyer argued. Being in federal prison "essentially equates to little or no medical treatment if needed" he wrote. 

Potential kidney donors go through a comprehensive screening process before being considered as a candidate, said Dr. Elliot Grodstein, a surgeon at the Northwell Transplant Institute at North Shore University Hospital. Recovery is usually two days in the hospital followed by a week of pain medication at home and six weeks of no heavy lifting. Most people have fatigue that lasts about three weeks, he said.

“Most donor surgeries are done minimally invasively,” Grodstein said.  “It’s either robotic or laparoscopic. It doesn't really involve any major incisions.”

During his time as a surgeon in Wisconsin years ago, Grodstein said he performed a surgery on an incarcerated patient who was donating a kidney.

“You really need the cooperation of the corrections facility,” he said. “There has to be a plan.”

Agnello, who was "born into one of the most scrutinized families in America," and who "became a fan favorite after 'Growing Up Gotti' aired," his lawyer wrote in the memo, adding that viewers "saw a charismatic, stylish, soft-spoken young man who treated his family with respect."

As an adult, "he remained close to his family, maintained dignity in public, and continued striving for a life built on his own choices rather than inherited expectations."

Agnello's grandfather died in federal prison in 2002 after he was convicted of multiple mob-related killings.  

Newsday's Lisa Colangelo contributed to this story.