John Gotti Jr.'s wife and daughter charged with assault after Long Island high school brawl

The wife and daughter of the former acting boss of the Gambino crime family, John Gotti Jr., were arraigned on assault charges Friday after they got into a brawl with a woman at a high school basketball game.

Kimberly Gotti, 55, and her daughter Gianna Gotti, 25, both of Oyster Bay Cove, were charged in Nassau District Court with third-degree assault stemming from a fistfight that broke out just after 8 p.m. on Thursday in the gymnasium at Locust Valley High School.

The fight erupted after the victim said she asked the Gotti family to stop cursing at students in the bleachers at the game.

“I asked the two persons to stop calling the kids [expletives],’ “ the alleged victim said in her affidavit.

That’s when the woman said both Kimberly and Gianna Gotti punched her and grabbed her hat off her head, court papers say.

“At that point I felt my hair being pulled and felt my wig come off, which was held on by three clips and Velcro,” she said in her complaint. “I allowed my head to go back because I felt as if my scalp was going to be ripped off and I observed the lady in the gray jacket pulling my hair.”

The woman said the assault continued and more people joined in, knocking her to the ground. She said that Gianna Gotti shouted at her that she had pulled off her wig, the court papers say.

“I’m 25 and me and my mother already snatched your [expletive] off,” the alleged victim quoted her saying.

Police finally arrived and broke up the fight.

After the arraignment, Gotti disputed some of the woman’s account.

“She assaulted my wife first,” he said. “That’s the only reason why we’re here. She threw a punch that hit my wife in the head. My wife and my daughter will not press charges against anybody else. That’s the only reason why we’re here.”

The women were released on their own recognizance and Judge Madeleine Petrara-Perrin ordered them to stay away from the alleged victim.

The Gottis are due back in court March 6.

“Junior,” as he is often called, is the son of late Gambino crime family boss John J. Gotti, often referred to as the “Teflon Don” for the repeated acquittals he won to federal racketeering charges. The father was eventually convicted in 1992 and “Junior” ran the crime family while his father was serving his life sentence. Gotti Sr. died in 2002 of throat cancer behind bars.

The son served six years for racketeering and extortion in 1999. He endured four other federal trials in Manhattan from 2006 through 2008, when he was acquitted of all the charges.

Gianna Gotti has been a basketball star since her days as leading scorer as a guard for Oyster Bay High School. Last year, she was named to the All-Met Division III first team by the Metropolitan Basketball Players Association for her stellar play for the Brooklyn College Bulldogs. She averaged nearly 22 points per game. 

With Anthony M. DeStefano