Credit: Shutterstock/Kathy Hutchins, Instagram
Victoria Gotti‘s son, Carmine Agnello, is claiming that prison time could cost his mother her life as he prepares to be sentenced in a $1.1 million case over fraudulent COVID-19 relief funds.
After pleading guilty to wire fraud linked to $1.1 million in small business relief loans in September 2024, Carmine, 40, a former star of Growing Up Gotti and grandson of the late Gambino crime boss, John Gotti, has signaled his mother’s upcoming life-saving kidney transplant in court documents.
In newly unsealed court documents obtained by Greater Long Island on March 11, it was noted that Carmine would be donating a kidney to Victoria, 63, and that potential prison time could interfere with that, leading Victoria to be faced with permanent paralysis or even death.
“Mr. Agnello’s incarceration would effectively foreclose the only viable path to preserving his mother’s life,” Carmine’s attorney, Steven Metcalf II, explained via a Newsday crime report.
According to the report, Victoria suffers from end-stage kidney failure, and dialysis requires hours-long treatments multiple times each week. It also comes with a grim 40 percent chance of living five more years.
While prosecutors recommended Carmine serve 31 to 44 months in prison to U.S. District Judge Nusrat Choudhury, his defense stated that Victoria’s condition should impact the decision, and added that Carmine shouldn’t be sent to prison soon after the surgery, as he would be “medically vulnerable.”
In her own letter in the case, Victoria said, “I am a mother, absolutely sick and devastated my son is in this position. This is NOT the way he was raised!”
Despite Carmine’s guilty plea, Victoria, who also suffers from a mitral valve prolapse and previously had surgery to remove precancerous breast cells, insisted he did not knowingly commit a crime. Instead, she alleged that a professional filled out the loan application with Carmine answering questions via text.
Carmine is expected to be sentenced next month.