Carmine G. Agnello can wait until Monday to start his 15-month prison term if he donates a kidney to Victoria Gotti by then. A federal judge ruled Thursday that he may delay surrendering for prison as the short medical window plays out.
The timing matters because the transplant was already set to happen earlier this week before the surgery was called off after Gotti developed an infection. Agnello's attorney, Robert V. Beltrani, asked for the delay so Agnello could turn himself in on Sept. 18 if the operation went forward on or before Monday, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles P. Kelly told the judge in a Wednesday letter that he had no objection.
U.S. District Judge Nusrat J. Choudhury said in her order that she had carefully considered the request. The ruling leaves Agnello with a simple choice: complete the kidney donation by Monday or begin serving his sentence that day.
The prison term stems from a 2024 wire fraud case in which prosecutors said Agnello took three Small Business Administration loans worth $1.1 million on behalf of Crown Auto Parts & Recycling LLC and submitted loan papers that falsely said he had no criminal record, even though they said he had two prior convictions. In April, he was sentenced to 15 months in prison, two years of post-release supervision and 100 hours of community service, along with a mental health evaluation and counseling, including for gambling addiction.
The kidney issue is separate from the later June arrest in East Norwich, where Agnello was charged with allegedly choking his girlfriend and later pleaded not guilty in First District Court in Hempstead to third-degree assault, criminal obstruction of breathing and criminal mischief. It also comes against the backdrop of his family name: Agnello is identified as a grandson of the late John Gotti. For now, the question is not whether he was sentenced, but whether the transplant happens in time to keep him out of prison for a few more days.
