Carmine G. Agnello Jr., the 39-year-old grandson of Gambino crime boss John J. Gotti Jr., was sentenced on Monday to 15 months in federal prison after admitting he fraudulently obtained COVID-19 relief loans and diverted the funds for personal use, a court and prosecutors said.
Fraud Scheme And Plea
A press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York says that between April 2020 and November 2021 Agnello applied for and received at least three Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) loans totaling roughly $1.1 million. He submitted the applications on behalf of Crown Auto Parts & Recycling, LLC, a Jamaica, Queens business he operated, and misstated employee counts and the intended uses of the proceeds.
Instead of using the funds for the business, Agnello admitted he diverted the money for personal purposes, including investing approximately $420,000 in a cryptocurrency venture. He pleaded guilty to defrauding the federal government and to wire fraud related to the scheme.
Sentence And Financial Penalties
United States District Judge Nusrat J. Choudhury sentenced Agnello to 15 months in federal prison, ordered restitution to the U.S. Small Business Administration in the amount of $1,268,302, and imposed two years of supervised release and 100 hours of community service. The court set Agnello’s surrender date to begin his sentence on July 20.
Prosecutors had sought a tougher penalty — about three years in prison and roughly $100,000 more in restitution — according to media reports.
Family Appeals And Courtroom Details
High-profile family members attended the hearing. Agnello’s mother, Victoria Gotti, filed a letter saying she has renal failure and that her son had offered to donate a kidney; she urged the judge to spare him prison time so he could recover if a transplant became necessary. In media remarks reported earlier, she said she would forgo the transplant rather than see her son recover from the surgery while incarcerated.
His uncle, John A. Gotti, and his father, Carmine "The Bull" Agnello, both previously convicted on federal charges, also appeared at the hearing. Uncle John submitted a letter asking for leniency and argued that intense media attention around the Gotti name contributed to a distorted sense of reality and pressure on Agnello.
On the record: Agnello told the court he regretted his conduct, calling his actions "wrong, selfish and criminal," and acknowledged the disappointment he caused his family.
Context And Sources
The case drew attention in part because of Agnello’s family history: his grandfather John J. Gotti Jr., once nicknamed "the Teflon Don," was convicted in 1992 of multiple crimes and died in federal custody in 2002. This proceeding, however, involved financial fraud rather than violent criminality.
Coverage and details in this piece are based on the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, reporting from The New York Times, TMZ, Long Island News 12, and Mediaite.
