Misdemeanor assault charges dismissed against Kimberly and Gianna Gotti

The misdemeanor assault case against the wife and daughter of John “Junior” Gotti, former acting boss of the Gambino crime family, for allegedly attacking a woman at a high school basketball game, has been dismissed on a legal technicality.

“I have concluded that the case should be dismissed due to violations of discovery requirements,” Nassau District Judge David Goodsell said at the brief hearing.

The Nassau County District Attorney’s office said that they would review their options after reading the judge’s written decision.

Daughter Gianna Gotti and her mother Kimberly were arrested and charged on Feb. 8 with kicking and beating Crystal Etienne at the Locust Valley High School gym during a game against rival Oyster Bay High School.

The alleged victim claimed that the Gotti women were yelling homophobic, misogynistic and racial taunts at the players and teenagers in the stands.

Etienne told police that when she approached the women to ask them to stop, they attacked her.

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

The lawyers for the Gottis said that the fans were bullying Joseph Gotti, Gotti Jr.'s son who plays for Oyster Bay, chanting “fee fie foe fum” because he is a large teen.

Defense attorney Gerard Marrone said that Etienne could be heard on a video of the fight yelling, “I will bury you.”

In the nine months since the case was brought, Marrone and lawyer Steven Christiansen said that prosecutors failed to turn over evidence for the Gottis' defense promptly.

They also charge that prosecutors did not disclose that Etienne, whose maiden name is Small, had a previous conviction in Nassau County for embezzling money from a Long Island car dealership.

Nassau County prosecutors disputed the lapse in sharing evidence and said that Etienne had not told them about the conviction.

“At best, this information was hiding in plain sight,” Marrone wrote in court records.

Under the now five-year-old state law on trial preparation, prosecutors must disclose information that could impeach a witness’s credibility and share evidence with defense lawyers within 20 days of the arraignment.

“It’s through, we’re happy, the case should have never been brought to begin with,” Gotti Jr. said after the hearing. He said that his daughter, a star high school basketball player who went on to play professionally in Eastern Europe, had been accepted to multiple law schools which rescinded their offers after news broke of the fight. He said she would now reapply.

Fredrick K. Brewington, who represents the Etienne family, said that the case is not over for them.

“Our clients are extremely disappointed that this case has been dismissed," he said in a statement. "Given the real violations and trauma our clients have experienced they will continue to pursue some level of justice in this matter."

Gotti Jr. took issue with the fact that prosecutors and police did not charge Etienne for what he said was an attack on his wife and daughter. He said Etienne’s allegations in an affidavit that the Gotti women made racial taunts were untrue.

“My daughter’s teammates are Black. Her best friends are all Black,” he said.

Gianna Gotti said that she looked forward to moving on with her life.

“It’s great news,” she said. “I can’t wait to go home and tell my mom.”

Kimberly Gotti could not attend the hearing because of a medical issue.

Gotti Jr., whose father John Gotti, the head of the Gambino crime family in the mid-1980s and early 1990s, was dubbed the “Teflon Don” for his ability to avoid conviction in several high-profile federal cases. He was convicted in 1992 and died in prison in 2002.

Gotti Jr. has also had numerous run-ins with federal law enforcement. Believed to be the former acting boss of the crime family during his father’s prison term, he was sentenced to six years in prison in 1999.

“This isn’t my first rodeo,” he said outside of the courthouse on Tuesday. “I’ve been on trial since I was 22 years old. I’ve had nine indictments in my life, eight trials in my life.”