John Gotti’s Grandson Sentenced To 15 Months In Prison For COVID Relief Money Scam

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Gen Z may not be familiar with the name John Gotti, but millennials and authorities certainly remember the infamous mob boss, who ruled New York City with an iron fist during the late 1980s. Now his grandson may be getting some of the blowback of being related to the “Teflon Don” as he faces prison time for a fraud case where he pocketed a pretty penny.

According to The New York Post, John Gotti’s grandson, Carmine Agnello, was sentenced to a 15-month prison bid for his role in a COVID relief scam in which he skimmed $1.1 million from Economic Injury Disaster Loans from the Small Business Administration meant to help struggling businesses during the COVID pandemic. Hoping to make bank, Agnello invested that money into cryptocurrency before ultimately landing behind bars.

Admitting to the crime in 2024, Agnello was facing up to three years in prison, but begged for leniency as he stated that his ailing mother, Victoria Gotti, was in need of his kidney and he wouldn’t be able to go through with the procedure from behind prison bars.

While that argument alone probably wouldn’t have helped the average conman from avoiding a lengthy prison stint, Judge Nusrat Choudhury actually decided to throw him a bone and sentenced Agnello to a little over a year in prison and ordered him to pay $1.2 million in restitution.

Still, Agnello’s lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman, feels that his client’s connection to the Gotti bloodline doomed him from the start as Agnello seemingly tried to follow in the footsteps of the men in the family before him.

Per The New York Post:

“There was really no male role models for Carmine — they were all in jail,” he told the judge. “He tried to live up to the family name. He didn’t have a childhood that would have led to anywhere besides here.”

Agnello grew up in the shadow of the mob, with 15 relatives, including his famous granddad, spending time in prison — and was hurled into the spotlight as a kid in his mom’s 2004 reality TV show, “Growing Up Gotti.” 

While some may feel Agnello was “discriminated” against because of his Gambino Crime Family Granddaddy, Federal prosecutor Charles Kelly says that’s just not the case.

“This case is not about John Gotti,” he said. “It’s about Carmine Agnello. At some point, his actions must become his own.”

Agnello’s lawyers argued that a hefty prison sentence would doom his 63-year-old mom, who is battling end-stage renal disease and has no chance without the procedure.

“He is giving me the GIFT OF LIFE,” the mob princess wrote to the judge last month, pleading for her son to be cut loose.

Though federal prosecutors argued that Agnello could indeed still donate his kidney from behind bars regardless, the judge took pity on the Gotti family and opted against the maximum sentence of three years behind bars and went with a 15-month sentence.

It looks like growing up a Gotti actually helped Carmine Agnello in this case as opposed to hurting him. Just sayin’.

What do y’all think about Carmin Agnello’s prison sentence? Did the Gotti name help or hurt him in this matter? Sound off in the comments section below.