Gotti grandson Carmine G. Agnello wants to donate kidney to avoid prison in COVID funds fraud case

Federal prosecutors want the grandson of late mob boss John J. Gotti who pleaded guilty to fraudulently receiving about $1.1 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds meant to help struggling small businesses to serve 33 to 41 months in prison for "looting" a disaster aid program, newly filed court papers say.

But Carmine G. Agnello, 39, of Smithtown, is attempting to get out of going to prison, arguing in part that his plan to donate a kidney to a family member should exempt him from doing time — or at least lessen his sentence, prosecutors said in their memo.

"Defendant [Agnello] construes the circumstances of his relative's need for kidney transplantation as an extraordinary family circumstance warranting a non-custodial sentence," wrote Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles P. Kelly. "While certainly an unusual circumstance, it is not, based on the case law, a basis to impose a below guidelines sentence."

Agnello's sentencing memorandum, filed Feb. 19, is sealed. But the prosecution's memo said giving him anything less than the 33 to 41 months, which was also recommended by the probation department, would allow him to "escape" justice.

"Defendant has two brothers, both living on Long Island, and one of whom currently resides with defendant and their mother," Kelly wrote. "Moreover, should the surgery be scheduled for a near term date, BOP [the federal Bureau of Prisons] has assured the government that defendant's post-transplant medical needs can be handled once the transplant surgeon has cleared him. Thus, granting a non-custodial sentence where one is unnecessary would allow defendant to escape an appropriate prison sentence and frustrate the other sentencing factors."

They also want Agnello to pay more than $1.2 million in restitution, which reflects the loan amounts plus interest.

Agnello is the grandson of the Gambino crime family leader dubbed "The Teflon Don" for his ability to beat the feds, and is one of three sons of Gotti's daughter Victoria Gotti.

The prosecution's memo doesn't specify to which family member Agnello is seeking to donate a kidney, but a 2025 People magazine story said Agnello "insisted" he would donate a kidney to his mother, Victoria Gotti, who the article says has chronic kidney disease and is in need of a kidney transplant.

Agnello's longtime defense attorney James Froccaro Jr., of Port Washington, said he withdrew from the case when reached Friday on his cellphone. Agnello's new attorney Steven Alan Metcalf II, of Manhattan, did not respond to a message seeking comment.

In September 2024, Agnello pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud before U.S. District Judge Nusrat J. Choudhury after he received about $1.1 million in small business loans under false pretenses from the federal Small Business Administration's Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program.

At least 3 loans

Prosecutors said he received at least three loans on behalf of Crown Auto Parts & Recycling LLC, a Jamaica, 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; he was also convicted of disorderly conduct for possessing a gravity knife in 2009, prosecutors said.

He also misstated the number of employees at his recycling business and what he planned to use the loans for, prosecutors have said.

Agnello didn't use the loan proceeds for his business, but instead for his personal use, which included a $420,000 investment into cryptocurrency, prosecutors said.

Agnello, who starred in the 2004 A&E reality show "Growing Up Gotti" with his brothers and mother, "warrants a substantial sentence for looting the disaster aid programs," Kelly wrote in court papers.

"This was not an isolated event as the crime occurred for over a year and entailed multiple false statements and misrepresentations by the defendant using his business to secure fraudulent loans," Kelly said.

Agnello, according to the prosecution's filing, described having a "good, upper income childhood" and being raised mostly by his mother after his parents divorced.

Agnello graduated from high school but dropped out of college, the court papers said, but an online automobile parts business he owns makes $250,000 annually, from which he earns $150,000.

In that retelling of history, there’s no mention that his grandfather scored three acquittals against federal prosecutors before being convicted of multiple mob-related killings in 1992 and dying in prison in 2002.

Agnello is set to be sentenced March 13. 

By Nicole Fuller

nicole.fuller@newsday.com@NicoleFuller

Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.