By FRANK ELTMAN, Associated Press Writer Frank Eltman, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 22 mins ago
GARDEN CITY, N.Y. – Growing up Gotti never included the threat of foreclosure — until now.
That's just what Victoria Gotti, daughter of the "Dapper Don," faces as the latest member of the infamous crime family to be called into court.
Deceased mob boss John Gotti earned the name "Teflon Don" after a series of acquittals before being sentenced to life in 1992 for racketeering and six killings. He died in prison in 2002.
There were also Victoria Gotti's uncles, who went to prison for various mob-related offenses. And more recently her brother, John "Junior" Gotti, is battling his latest racketeering indictment in a federal courtroom in Manhattan.
Now, Victoria Gotti is in another court, fighting the threat of foreclosure on her Long Island mansion, the same house used in the "Growing Up Gotti" reality show.
"I'm never going to lose the house — trust me," the 46-year-old author-turned-reality TV star told reporters this week after a federal court hearing.
The opulent estate in Old Westbury features two-story columns fronted by a large stone driveway and fountain. It was featured on the short-lived reality show featuring the curvy blonde and her three sons.
Now, an appeals court has ruled that JP Morgan Chase Bank should be allowed to seize the property because of nonpayment of a $700,000 loan.
Gotti blames her former husband, Carmine Agnello, with taking out the loan with the house as collateral without her knowledge. She says he left her holding the debt when he transferred his share of the estate to her in 2005. The couple divorced in 2003.
Gotti told a judge she intends to satisfy the debt if Agnello completes a planned $10 million property-forfeiture settlement with federal prosecutors from his own 2001 racketeering conviction. Gotti claims she is entitled to a portion of the proceeds from that settlement by virtue of her $7 million divorce settlement with Agnello.
But there is one problem: Agnello's 85-year-old mother, Marie. She apparently has ownership interests in three of the properties, and her permission is required for the sales to go through.
Agnello's lawyer, Scott Leemon, asked for time to sort out the mother's position and allow to hire her own lawyer.
The judge has given Marie Agnello until Wednesday to state any objection to the deal.
"I think we need to get this case resolved right away," U.S. Magistrate Robert Levy said.
"The only way I'm leaving is selling it," said Gotti, who has had the house on the market for several years. The asking price is over $3 million.
Victoria Gotti's legal skirmish comes only days after her mother, also named Victoria, made headlines by interrupting a hearing on her son's racketeering case by telling a federal judge that the government is trying to kill him before he even gets to trial.
"Why don't you just hang him now!" Victoria Gotti shouted from the spectator section of a room in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
Outside court she passed out copies of a lie detector test in which the younger Victoria Gotti said she never slept with the turncoat, John Alite, a Gambino organized crime family associate.
The elder Gotti also told reporters that the government was trying to ruin her daughter's reputation in pursuit of a conviction.
"This trial is rigged before he sets foot in it," she said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090516/...victoria_gotti
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