Carmine Agnello begins 15-month prison term after failed transplant deferral

Carmine Agnello, the grandson of former mob boss John Gotti, has begun serving a 15-month federal prison sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution Fairton in New Jersey. Agnello, a former reality TV personality, had previously sought to delay his incarceration on fraud charges by claiming he intended to donate a kidney to his mother, Victoria Gotti, who suffers from chronic kidney disease.

U.S. District Court Judge Nusrat Choudhury had previously granted a deferral to allow time for the surgery and recovery. However, the judge ordered Agnello to surrender immediately after finding no concrete evidence that a transplant would be scheduled before the previously extended deadline.

Agnello’s legal team argued that the delay was necessary because his mother’s doctors were still treating her for recurring infections, which would prevent a transplant from occurring. Prosecutors countered that the medical reports indicated the surgery was not imminent, as the underlying cause of the infections had yet to be determined.