Gotti grandson seeks prison delay for mom’s kidney transplant
Carmine Agnello wants 60 more days before prison to donate a kidney to Victoria Gotti, while prosecutors want a firm August 10 cutoff.
By Poppy Nakagawa · Culture Writer
2 min read
Carmine Agnello is asking a federal judge for more time before he starts a 15-month prison sentence, saying he needs the delay to donate a kidney to his mother, Victoria Gotti.
TMZ reports Agnello, the son of Victoria Gotti and grandson of Gambino family crime boss John Gotti, is currently due to report to federal authorities Monday. He was sentenced over a scheme that prosecutors said took $1.1 million in COVID relief funds from the federal government.
In his latest request, Agnello is seeking a 60-day delay so the kidney procedure can happen and so he can recover outside prison, according to TMZ. Victoria Gotti has chronic kidney disease, the report said.
Doctors’ notes point to an August surgery date
According to TMZ, Agnello’s filing includes notes from two doctors stating that a transplant is scheduled for August 3.
Federal prosecutors are not opposing a delay outright, TMZ reports, but they are asking the judge to attach a hard condition: Agnello must either donate the kidney by August 10 or surrender to authorities.
Prosecutors told the court they are wary because a transplant had also been set for March and did not happen, according to TMZ. Their position, as reported, is that another extension should not be granted if the August procedure also falls through.
The government’s response leaves the door open for a brief pause in the sentence, but only if the medical plan goes ahead. If Agnello does not undergo the transplant by the requested deadline, prosecutors want him sent in to begin serving his term.
A sentence already waiting
Agnello’s 15-month sentence stems from the COVID relief fraud case, with TMZ reporting that the loss to the federal government was $1.1 million.
The latest court fight is centered on timing, not the sentence itself. Agnello wants the surrender date moved so he can serve as his mother’s kidney donor first, while prosecutors are asking the judge to prevent the medical request from becoming an open-ended delay.
TMZ also reports Agnello was arrested last month after allegedly choking his girlfriend. That allegation is separate from the federal sentence, and no response from Agnello was reported in TMZ’s account.
The judge will now have to decide whether Agnello gets the requested runway to go through with the transplant, and whether the August 10 deadline proposed by prosecutors becomes the line between surgery and surrender.
This story draws on original reporting from TMZ.