Gotti grandson Carmine Agnello no longer seeks sentence reduction for donating kidney to mom Victoria Gotti

The grandson of the late mob boss John J. Gotti who has tried to leverage his claims that he was going to donate a kidney to his ailing mother — in a bid to be spared prison time for a $1.1 million COVID-19 loan scheme — is now walking back that request in newly filed court papers.

Carmine G. Agnello, 39, of Oyster Bay, has hired a new lawyer, who's apologizing for his predecessor's legal maneuvers, just days before Agnello is scheduled to be sentenced by a federal judge on Monday.

Manhattan-based defense attorney Jeffrey Lichtman said in court papers that the surgery to provide Agnello's mother — Victoria Gotti, a daughter of the late leader of the Gambino crime family — with a kidney "has not yet even taken place" even though Agnello's previous attorney had told the presiding judge in court documents that the surgery was happening on March 30. The judge had postponed Agnello's sentencing in response to an "emergency request" so that he could donate a kidney to his mother.

"We apologize to the court for prior counsel's voluminous argument (some 37 pages of the brief and 203 pages of exhibits) for a variance based on 'extraordinary family circumstances' related to a surgical procedure — which has not yet even taken place," Lichtman wrote in a three-page letter that included blocks of redacted text. "Present counsel does not think that these facts alone fulfill the traditional 'family circumstances' downward departure/variance argument."

While noting that Agnello's "financial condition has continued to deteriorate" and he no longer owns a Mercedes S550 and lives at home with his mother in Oyster Bay, Lichtman wrote: "We simply ask that the Court recognize the defendant's offer to aid his mother and donate his kidney as an exceptionally good deed, with serious risks attached, warranting consideration as part of the ‘history and characteristics of the defendant.’ ”

It's unclear whether the kidney donation will still take place and what sentence Agnello's attorney plans to advocate for on behalf of his client when he's sentenced Monday by U.S. District Judge Nusrat J. Choudhury.

Prosecutors have recommended Agnello serve 33 to 41 months in federal prison for his crime.

Lichtman didn't respond to a message seeking comment Tuesday morning.

Agnello's previous attorney, Steven Metcalf, also of Manhattan, also didn't respond to a message.

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

Metcalf, in an attempt to secure a sentence of probation for his client, had said Agnello going to prison would "effectively foreclose the only viable path to preserving his mother's life," Newsday has reported.

Lichtman, in his letter to the judge Monday, also said Agnello "does not dispute" that his three loan applications "contained materially false" statements, after Victoria Gotti said in an earlier letter to the judge that she and her son didn't understand what he had done wrong.

In September 2024, Agnello pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud for illegally receiving about $1.1 million from the Small Business Administration's Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program. Prosecutors have said Agnello lied on the COVID loan forms, misstating the number of employees at his recycling business and what he planned to use the money for.

He also falsely said he didn't have a criminal record despite the fact that he was convicted of disorderly conduct for possessing a gravity knife in 2009 and pleaded guilty in 2018 to a misdemeanor for running an illegal auto recycling yard, prosecutors have said.

Agnello secured the COVID loans for his Queens-based business, Crown Auto Parts & Recycling, but used the funds for his personal use, including the purchase of cryptocurrency, prosecutors said.

Lichtman, in his Monday letter, wrote: "This was not a situation where the defendant outright stole $1,146,320 by using a dormant shell company to pose as a legitimate ongoing concern — Crown was an operating salvage yard with employees, equipment and expenses."

Lichtman also said a $242,728 civil judgment in state Supreme Court in the Bronx that is attributed to his client in a probation report is inaccurate. The judgment is against Agnello’s father, who shares the same name.

The elder Carmine Agnello is the former son-in-law of Gotti, the deceased Gambino crime boss dubbed the "The Teflon Don" because he beat multiple federal criminal cases before he was finally convicted.

The elder Agnello, a reputed Gambino mobster in his own right who is nicknamed "the bull," was previously married to Victoria Gotti and they had three children, including his namesake.

The elder Agnello was sentenced to 9 years in prison on an indictment charging him with extortion, racketeering and arson in 2000, Newsday previously reported. As part of a plea deal, he agreed to forfeit $10 million in his company’s scrap metal business, Newsday reported.

He also was charged and pleaded not guilty in 2015 in what Ohio authorities alleged was a multimillion-dollar scam involving scrap metal and stolen cars, The Associated Press reported.

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.