Carmine "The Bull" Agnello (born 1960) is a New York

mobster A gangster (informally gangsta) is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from '' mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level ...

of the

Gambino crime family The Gambino crime family (pronounced ) is an Italian American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the American Mafia. ...

who ran a scrap metal recycling operation.

Criminal career

On February 5, 1994, Agnello was charged with criminal mischief for damaging a police scooter. The officer was ticketing cars parked outside of Agnello's scrapyard. Agnello came out to argue with the officer, then started his

Ford Bronco The Ford Bronco is a model line of SUV, SUVs manufactured and marketed by Ford Motor Company, Ford. The first SUV model developed by the company, five generations of the Bronco were sold from the 1966 to 1996 model years. A sixth generation of ...

and rammed the police vehicle, pushing it down the street. In June 1994, Agnello and several Gambino members brawled with police outside the same location, again over parking tickets, and Agnello was again arrested. On June 6, 1997, Agnello was arrested on assault charges for beating a former employee with a telephone. The victim later dropped the complaint. On January 20, 2000, Agnello was charged with

racketeering Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercion, coercive, fraud, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. ...

and

arson Arson is the act of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, watercr ...

. Undercover

New York Police Department The City of New York Police Department, also referred to as New York City Police Department (NYPD), is the primary law enforcement agency within New York City. Established on May 23, 1845, the NYPD is the largest, and one of the oldest, munic ...

(NYPD) officers had set up a phony scrap metal business in Willets Point, Queens. Agnello then used firebombings and other illegal tactics to coerce them to sell their scrap to him at a below-market price. According to testimony, Agnello promised a cooperating witness $2000 to "buy glass bottles (and) fill them up (with gasoline) and throw them all around the truck" of a competitor. Defense documents claimed that Agnello was on medication for

bipolar disorder Bipolar disorder (BD), previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of Depression (mood), depression and periods of abnormally elevated Mood (psychology), mood that each last from days to weeks, and in ...

, which led him to bad judgment. On August 16, 2001, Agnello accepted a

plea bargain A plea bargain, also known as a plea agreement or plea deal, is a legal arrangement in criminal law where the defendant agrees to plead guilty or no contest to a charge in exchange for concessions from the prosecutor. These concessions can include a ...

in return for a reduced sentence. On October 26, 2001, Agnello was sentenced to nine years in federal prison and ordered to forfeit $10 million in assets to the court. He was released from federal custody on January 16, 2008. In July 2015, Agnello was arrested in Cleveland, Ohio on charges of theft, money laundering, and conspiracy, as well as drugging his own race horses with performance-enhancing drugs. He operated a $3 million stolen car and scrap metal scam at his scrapyard in Cleveland. In 2017, he accepted a plea deal that involved a large fine, but no prison time.

Personal life

In 1979, according to John Alite's 2007 court testimony, Gambino boss John Gotti retaliated against Agnello for assaulting his daughter, Victoria Gotti. Several Gambino associates ambushed Agnello, beat him with a baseball bat, and then shot him in the buttocks. In 1984, Agnello married Victoria despite her parents' disapproval. The couple had three sons, Carmine, John, and Frank. The family lived in a mansion in Old Westbury, New York, that was the location in 2004 for the reality television series, '' Growing Up Gotti''. In 2003, while Agnello was in jail, Victoria Gotti divorced him on grounds of constructive abandonment. On February 19, 2008, Agnello quietly married Danielle Vangar, the daughter of activist Mourad Topalian. Vangar met Agnello in prison when she was visiting her father. Agnello and Vangar have a son, who was born in 2009. Agnello and his second family lived in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

. He owned a business in Ohio that towed junk cars.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Agnello, Carmine 1960 births Living people Gambino crime family American gangsters of Italian descent Gangsters from New York City Criminals from Queens, New York People from Westbury, New York Gangsters from Cleveland People convicted of racketeering People with bipolar disorder