Carmine Agnello, John Gotti's grandson, pleads guilty to COVID-19 relief funds fraud

The grandson of mob boss John J. Gotti pleaded guilty Thursday to fraudulently receiving about $1.1 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds meant to help struggling small businesses during the pandemic, money which he instead used for personal expenses including investing in cryptocurrency, prosecutors said.

Carmine G. Agnello, 38, of Smithtown — the grandson of the late Gotti, "The Teflon Don" who helmed the Gambino crime family, and one of three sons of Gotti's daughter Victoria — pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Nusrat J. Choudhury in federal court in Central Islip to wire fraud in connection with his receipt of approximately $1.1 million in small business loans under the federal Small Business Administration’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program, prosecutors said.

"The defendant shamefully used the public health and economic crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to line his pockets with stolen funds," Breon Peace, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a prepared statement. "The reality is, those who engaged in blatant theft of taxpayer dollars intended to assist legitimate businesses and their employees during the COVID-19 pandemic should know that despite the passage of time, there is no free pass for their crimes and they will be vigorously prosecuted by the Office.” 

Agnello's Port Washington-based attorney James Froccaro declined to comment Thursday.

From April 2020 and November 2021, Agnello applied for and received at least three EIDLP loans totaling approximately $1.1 million on behalf of Crown Auto Parts & Recycling LLC, a Jamaica, Queens-based business that he operated, prosecutors said.

According to prosecutors, Agnello submitted documentation to the Small Business Administration and the financial institution responsible for disbursing the funds that falsely claimed he had no criminal record and misstated the number of employees that worked for Crown and the intended use of the loan proceeds.

Agnello diverted the loan funds for his personal use, according to prosecutors, including investing approximately $420,000 into a cryptocurrency business.

And to the assertion that he had no criminal record, Agnello pleaded guilty in state court to a misdemeanor in 2018 for running an illegal auto recycling yard in Queens.

Agnello, who starred with his brothers and mother on the 2004 A&E reality series "Growing Up Gotti," faces up to 30 years in prison, as well as restitution totaling more than $940,000 and a fine of up to $2.2 million.

John Gotti was convicted in 1992 in connection with a slew of mob killings. He later died in prison.

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.