victoria gotti movie review

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Victoria Gotti: My Father's Daughter

A revealing look at the life of Victoria Gotti, the daughter of notorious mob boss John Gotti. A revealing look at the life of Victoria Gotti, the daughter of notorious mob boss John Gotti. A revealing look at the life of Victoria Gotti, the daughter of notorious mob boss John Gotti.

• Catherine Cyran
• Victoria Gotti
• David Schneiderman
• Maurice Benard
• Chelsea Frei
• Andre Anthony
• 8 User reviews
• 3 Critic reviews
• 1 win & 2 nominations

Top cast 25

• John Gotti Jr.

• Hairstylist

• Butch Gotti

• Angel Gotti

• Prison guard

• Young Victoria

• John Favara

• Grade 2 Teacher

• Young Angel

• Frankie Boy
• (as Daxton Gujral)

• Young Doctor

• Checkout Girl
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia Victoria Gotti hand-picked Maurice Benard to portray her father, John Gotti.

Victoria Gotti : My father is the last of the Mohicans

Victoria Gotti : They don't make men like him anymore

User reviews 8

• Feb 12, 2019
• February 9, 2019 (United States)
• United States
• Mission, British Columbia, Canada (33186 7th Ave, Mission - Gotti Family Home)
• Releve Entertainment
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

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• Runtime 1 hour 26 minutes

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‘My Father’s Daughter’: Victoria Gotti on Why She Chose Maurice Benard to Play Her Dad

There have many stories told about late mob boss John Gotti, but now, his daughter, Victoria Gotti, is telling her version of what really happened and what the dynamic with her father truly was. Gotti both executive-produced the film and co-wrote the teleplay to get the story right. And who better to play her dad than Maurice Benard, who brings to life crime lord Sonny Corinthos on General Hospital ?

Actress Chelsea Frei ( Sideswiped ) plays Victoria in the film and the story covers what it was like constantly worrying about father, the tragic loss of her younger brother, and her rocky romance with the man who later became her husband. Read on to get Gotti’s views on what she wants people to learn about her father, and the legacy of her reality series Growing Up Gotti .

Maurice Benard on Playing Gotti & a Possible Sonny-Margaux 'Affair' on 'General Hospital'

Why did you want to tell this story?

Mostly because of the stories that are out there that have been about me. This isn’t the story we’ve seen before in the movies or on the HBO movie [ Gotti ]. This is my story and about [clearing up] all the untruths. This movie has been in development for four years. We got started twice and then we stopped. I didn’t like the script – not that [previous scripts] were offensive, it just wasn’t ‘right’ enough. I didn’t think anyone would want to watch it. I said let’s wait till the right script comes along. The writer we had did not do what we all expected so I ended up writing it. Thankfully, everyone liked it, but they said – and this is the joke – ‘the only problem is you’ve written a $30 million movie. That’s never going to happen.’ So, we cut it up.

I thought it was time to tell a story about things that years ago people didn’t deal with. Nobody talked about manic depressive disorders [which Gotti’s late husband, Carmine ‘the Bull’ Angello was diagnosed as having]. Things were kept quiet. Divorces aren’t something that people always talked about. Also, my kids would go to school and [hear things about their grandfather] and I’d say, ‘Oh, it’s not true. Keep your heads up high.’ I wasn’t thinking at the time that they’re [just] kids.

(L to R) Rhonda Dent, Zoey Siewert and Maurice Benard (Lifetime)

Did you do the story or dialogue for this movie? Or both?

I did both.

What did you learn about writing dialogue?

I had no clue when I started. DramaQueen [a scriptwriting program] helped teach me. I didn’t think I’d ever write. Writing a book is writing a book. Writing a screenplay is writing a screenplay. When people ask me for writing advice, I tell them about DramaQueen. I studied that program inside and out. It formats it all for you. You have to learn. It gets tedious, but a prompt will come up and tell you if you’ve made a mistake.

Christina Ricci & Josh Bowman on the Importance of Lifetime's 'The Nellie Bly Story'

Do you want to write more movies?

I’d love to. I love to write. I love being behind the cameras and when I wrote my column at the New York Post.

What was it about Maurice Benard that made you want him to play your dad?

I grew up on him, watching him on General Hospital where he plays Sonny Corinthos. That’s a character we thought was very parallel to what we needed. Whenever anyone would ask me, ‘Who in Hollywood do you see playing your dad?’ I could honestly not come up with anyone.  When one of the network heads brought up his name into the mix, I said, ‘That’s not a bad choice. That’s a good one.’ Other than [Maurice] I had no other name in my head. Then I saw him when we were on set in Vancouver. I had my executive producer hat on and we watched him do his thing for a couple of days. He was very good. I was like, ‘Wow, this is as good a match as we thought it would be.’

(L to R) Zoey Siewert and Maurice Benard (Lifetime)

How do you look at his performance and say, ‘We don’t see Sonny?’

I think it’s inevitable [that we do on some level]. I thought from the beginning that we would, but that might even help him getting into character. He’s played [Sonny] for years, consistently.

Throughout the film, you appear as yourself as a talking head, explaining certain parts of your life, expanding on scenes. It’s very effective. Why did you decide to do that?

After I wrote the first draft, I showed the script to [a magazine] editor friend of mine. He’s a gifted editor and he said, ‘This is good, but I know you’ve got more in you. I want you to write more of the voiceovers. Write three or four more into them and then send it to me.’ I took his advice and I went with it. And, now, here we are.

Marcia Gay Harden on Playing a Twisted Mom for Lifetime & Her Possible 'Law & Order: SVU' Return

Were there misconceptions about your father that you wanted to clear up?

Oh, yeah. One was that he came home for dinner and discussed the family business [in front of us]. You couldn’t even mention that in my house. My father felt if you weren’t present at Sunday dinner with the family you better have a darn good excuse. Whether you were single or partnered, you had to be there. This gave everyone a chance to let everyone know what everyone was up to. Before my father died, and he never said ‘die’ or ‘pass,’ he’d say, ‘once I go,’ he said, ‘Promise me, you’re never going to shy away from having or let go of the Sunday dinners.’ I said, ‘You think I’m worried about Sunday dinners?’ He said, ‘You don’t understand. If you [lose them] the whole family will splinter.’ So, I woke up on a Friday and said, ‘Saturday, I’m cooking all day, and I’m calling everyone and saying come over on Sunday.’ We started doing it again. We still do.

Did you ever miss a dinner?

No. I never missed one when he was alive. Nobody would unless they were very sick. And if you were, you’d come downstairs and make an appearance. If you were married and had your own children you had to be there, he’d get really upset if he didn’t see the grandkids.

Chelsea Frei (Lifetime)

How do you think your reality series, Growing Up Gotti , which aired in 2004-05, affected the reality TV landscape?

I’m not sure if we should get credit or be penalized. We did what a lot of people were afraid to do but wanted to. They weren’t daring enough. [After our show], suddenly, the floodgates opened up. Everyone was ‘Pick me, pick me [for a show].’

What would you like people to walk away with knowing about you, your dad, and your family that they might not have known before?

That as much as my father and I were alike, we also had a lot of conflict. I think about what he taught me. He taught me to be strong, to stay strong. I would use those words back at him [when I felt I needed to] and he didn’t like that very much. He’d tell me someone wasn’t good enough for me or ask why didn’t I see something a certain way, and I’d use that back at him. That was ironic. But I think he appreciated me for that.

Victoria Gotti: My Father’s Daughter , Saturday, February 9, 8/7c, Lifetime

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Take A Trip To The '80s In 'Victoria Gotti: My Father's Daughter'

When Victoria Gotti: My Father's Daughter premieres on Lifetime on Feb. 9, it promises to deliver a staggering array of wigs and 1980s fashion, not to mention more than a few New Yawk accents. Its title is likely a tipoff, but if you're unfamiliar with the history of Mafia families in the Tri-state area, then you might be wondering if Victoria Gotti: My Father's Daughter is a true story .

It absolutely is, and you can trust in its accuracy because Victoria Gotti went straight to the source when crafting its script. It's narrated by the real Victoria Gotti , much like recent Lifetime movie I Am Elizabeth Smart was narrated by its eponymous heroine. Gotti also served as executive producer. Since she'll be giving voice to her own story, viewers are guaranteed to get her point of view on growing up the child of mob boss John Gotti.

But who is John Gotti? Per the New York Times , he was the head of the Gambino crime family in New York City in the late 1980s. Victoria was one of his five children, and now she's telling her side of the story for Lifetime. The summary for Victoria Gotti hints at her conflicting upbringing: though her father's position brought glamour and excitement to the family, it also led to heartbreak and struggle.

Victoria will be portrayed by Chelsea Frei , with Maurice Benard playing the role of her father. It will span much of her life and familial relationships, focusing especially on the father she both loved deeply and occasionally clashed with. The film covers her younger brother Frank's tragic death, as well as Victoria's rocky romance with Carmine Agnello, a man her father disapproved of. Since it was adapted from Victoria's memoir This Family of Mine: What It was Like Growing Up Gotti, on top of having so much influence from her personally, it's sure to express her perspective on everything her family has dealt with.

Victoria told Page Six that she was hopeful the Lifetime movie would clear up some misconceptions about the Gottis, though she hadn't seen the final cut at the time. She felt it showed a new side of her father, one that wasn't entirely glowing; her conflict with John was depicted even though she still had affection for him. And she was aware that not everyone would share her interpretation of events.

"I think everyone has their own view on how things are played out," Victoria said. "I think at the end of the day it's interesting how each child or each person views their life or their relationship with different people."

Victoria Gotti is a true story in that it is based on real people and real events, but it's still filtered through one person's experience. That means it may be colored by how Victoria viewed things, though her insider knowledge means it's still a close and personal look at the Gotti family. It could offer a unique take on a story people might think they already know.

This article was originally published on Feb. 7, 2019

A Notorious Father, a Marriage Gone Wrong and a Whole Lot of Loss: Inside Victoria Gotti's Life in Her Own Words

The daughter of the infamous gambino crime family boss sets the record straight..

Victoria Gotti is setting the record straight. Again.

A decade after the daughter of the infamous mob boss John Gotti put paper to pen to tell her family's story as she saw it in her 2009 memoir This Family of Mine: What It Was Like Growing Up Gotti , she's gotten the chance to see the story come to life on the small screen with the Lifetime Original Movie Victoria Gotti: My Father's Daughter , which she both executive-produced and served as on-screen narrator.

And in both instances, the story that Gotti has sought to tell is one that flies in the face of the public's perception of her and her family. If you think being the daughter of a made man-turned-boss of New York City's Gambino crime family meant she was living like royalty, well, she'd like to dispel you of that notion. 

Rather, the life that Gotti presents is one with a hard-scrabble upbringing that's marked with several tragedies along the way. So, that mob princess image you've got of her? Fuhgeddaboudit.

Whether she liked it or not, the moment that Gotti was born in 1962 saw her immediately ensconced in a life of crime. As she explains in the film, her father John wasn't present when her mother, also named Victoria , went into labor and birthed their second daughter. (Their first, Angel , had arrived one year earlier.) And when he did show up at the hospital, he wasn't exactly intent on handling the whole process the traditional way.

"I've told this story a million times," Gotti explained. "About how my father stole me from the hospital since they didn't have money to pay the bill. It sets my father up as a noble criminal, a Robin Hood. I often joke that stealing me from the hospital was the most lucrative heist of Dad's life, but looking back on all of it, all I can think of is, ‘Kid, you were royally screwed.'"

Despite attempts at going legit, and despite the arrival of three more children—sons John Jr. , Frank , and Peter— Gotti's father couldn't stay resist the allure of the life of crime. And that meant that Dad wasn't around that much. By 1968, he'd been imprisoned three times. It also meant that life in the Gotti home for those he'd repeatedly left behind was challenging, to say the least.

"Now, I could describe it in a more intellectual manner and know what it was: hard," Gotti told E! News in an interview to promote the Lifetime film. "Then, I didn't. We were poor, we grew up most of my childhood without my father. My mother was holding down five children and struggling."

It wasn't all bad, though. The benefits of a big family meant that she had built-in best friends. "We loved each other and we were like, my siblings and I, we were our best friends," she told us. "We had friends on the block and all of that. Mom was strict. But we were loved, we knew we were loved. And even the visits to see dad, though not as many as we would've liked, we felt secure. We were told how much we were loved. I guess I didn't have much to compare it to."

Being poor meant that Gotti and her siblings had to be resourceful when it came to having fun. "It was the biggest deal when somebody on the block got a brand-new appliance for their home," she revealed. "We waited with bated breath until that truck pulled away and the put the box outside. That was our new fort. Or, when we got done with the fort playhouse...then we would use it to all get in and roll down the block. So, we had fun."

As Gotti explained, though, the unusual circumstances surrounding her father's chosen line of work and its consequences certainly took its toll on his young daughter. "I know now what made me a little bit neurotic, what made me painfully shy, what made me overly anxious as a kid into a teenager. I know now why I was always so quiet in a room with strangers, never let anybody in that wasn't someone i was very accustomed to," she explained. "And then everything else going on around me—Dad used to joke I was five going on 55. I was very perceptive."

When her father was "away" while she and siblings were young, the adults in the room went to great lengths to keep Gotti and her siblings in the dark about what was actually happening, but that perceptiveness always kept her questioning. "When you're being told over and over that this is what dad does for a living and you're going to a big prison to visit someone that you're told is building this facility," she told us, explaining the cover story for her dad's disappearances. "As a child, I remember looking around one day on one visit, and I had to be no more than five or six...and I happened to look up at this big tower and I'd never see it before all those visits prior. I don't think any of us did. And I saw this man, and it was kind of a weird moment...and he was by the top of the tower window, and he had this huge big gun that came out. It wasn't just like a shotgun or a rifle, it was a big gun. And I remember thinking, 'Wow, that's scary. Why would anybody have that at my father's work?'"

"That whole visit, my dad would try to talk to me. I was doubting things that were being told to me. Maybe I got a little angry and my way of showing it was quiet. I just grew quiet. I didn't speak, but I remember asking him twice about that man," she continued. But his answer, that the man was just protecting the work going on, combined with the size of the gun worked together to begin to open the young girl's eyes. "Things started to kind of add up and I grew, I think, more and more into myself."

By 1972, Gotti's father was allowed to return home on parole, though that didn't mean he was spending all his time at home. "He had business to attend to—with his other family," she explained in the film. By that time, John was an acting capo in the Gambino family's Bergin Hunt and Fish Club crew, spending a lot of time winning over underboss Aniello "Neil" Dellacroce at the Ravenite Social Club in Little Italy, his headquarters. "My mother was hoping that after he got out, they'd be able to spend time together as a couple. My father was never home, except to eat and sleep. And after a while, it started to take its toll on mom." So much so that she once stabbed her husband as Gotti watched.

Her father's rising in the ranks meant that life was getting a little bit nicer. Quickly, John moved his family out of Brooklyn. "For my siblings and me, moving to Howard Beach was like moving to Beverly Hills," Gotti said in the film. "Our modest, four-bedroom home seemed like a mansion. It was clear that we had left poverty behind. 

However, as she explained, "A nicer neighborhood didn't mean an easier life." John Jr. was shipped off to the New York Military Academy for his behavior and, soon, John was on the run again after a botched attempt at abducting another gangster in retaliation for a Gambino family murder. "Mom was left cleaning up the mess."

"After a year of evading the authorities, my father was arrested in a bar in Queens. Ironically, he had come back to defend a friend who turned out to be an informant. I think he was tired of hiding anyway," Gotti said. "After the trial and Dad went away, he officially earned his bones, a term used when a man becomes a wiseguy. To me, it was crushing, but I could still hear his voice. 'You only get so many tears in life. And don't waste them all up.'"

Identified by eyewitness and a police insider, John struck a plea bargain and received a four-year sentence for attempted manslaughter. He was released by summer 1977 after only two years. "And when he came back, it was a very different house," Gotti explained. "His baby girls weren't babies anymore."

"Being John Gotti's daughter was a mixed bag and anger towards my father started to fester. It only grew over the next few years. Don't get me wrong. Being John Gotti's daughter had perks that most people would relish," she said in the film, as her driver's test is depicted, with the test proctor passing her simply out of fear once he sees her last name. "Me? I just wanted to be normal."

So, when Carmine Agnello entered her life, that perfect storm festering anger and a desire to be normal made him the ideal love interest. He wasn't afraid of her father. And her father was adamantly against him. Why was he so against it? "I remember looking at my father dead on and saying, 'Dad, I don't know why you're so—what is it about you that you're so against him? He so reminds me of you,'" she said in the film. "And I thought that was a compliment. Wow. My father just blew up."

So, he tried to woo his daughter with the promise of a better life, taking her for a night out at the Ravenite to give her a taste of a world that he felt certain Carmine could never provide for her. "it was such a softer side of my father that I had never really witnessed before. We had such a wonderful time. I don't think I'll ever forget that night," she said. "But there was still that intrigue, that whatever that pulled me to Carmine."

By 1980, though, her secret relationship with Carmine and the mounting evidence that he might be more "rough around the edges" than she'd have preferred paled in comparison to the tragedy that rocked the Gotti family. On March 18 of that year, while he was riding a family friend's minibike, her little brother Frankie was run over and killed. He was only 12.

"Doctors were too afraid to tell my mother that Frankie had died. Dad had to tell her. He later revealed it was the hardest thing he'd ever had to do ever," Gotti explained in the film. "To further complicate matters, the man that ran over my brother was our neighbor, John Favara ."

The loss of one of her beloved children, understandably, broke Gotti's mother Victoria. She attempted suicide three times, was unable to take care of the house (forcing Gotti to step up in her place), and even tried to attack Favara with a baseball bat out of grief. "It was just something that was incomprehensible, I think, to my mother," she explained. "She'd walk around nights thinking he was still alive. My mother didn't get better, so my father took her to Florida to see her family for a couple of weeks. By the time Mom got back, people had started asking questions."

It turned out that, while the Gottis were away, Favara was abducted and presumed murdered. While no one could ever prove it, the presumption was that Gotti's father ordered the hit.

"What happened to John Favara is still a mystery, but most people assume he's dead," Gotti said. "Do I feel bad about it? If I'm being honest, no. After Frankie's death, my mother was never the same. Actually, nothing was."

In their time of grief, John began to come around on the idea of his daughter marrying Carmine. Not because he suddenly believed the guy was worthy of his little girl, but something a bit more practical. "Later I learned Dad had changed his mind because he thought we'd elope and he'd never see me again," Gotti explained. "That was his worst fear. I never said that to anyone. Not even Carmine."

His daughter's mounting health issues—which previously simply manifested as anxiety attacks—certainly played a part. Before Gotti and Carmine could tie the knot, trips to the emergency room became more frequent. Eventually, doctors discovered she had severe dysplasia, the presence of cells of an abnormal type within a tissue that may signify a stage preceding the development of cancer, and were recommending a full hysterectomy. 

"Family meant everything to my father. Everything else, he could control with money and power. But those things might not be able to help him now and that really scared him," Gotti explained. "Hearing the doctor tell me that I might need a hysterectomy by age 25, I was suddenly in a rush to start my family."

They were wed in 1984 at a ceremony that truly opened up Gotti's eyes. Up until that point, she'd avoided or written off stories about her father's criminal ways in the press. But the event that had people "actually selling their plus-one tickets," as she claimed in the film, felt like irrefutable proof. 

"My wedding did it for me. It really did it for me because I remember that day, and I remember thinking, 'Why are there so many people lining the streets? Why are there so many people outside this church where it was standing room only?' I wanted a Christmas wedding, so it would've been a cold day. We wound up having a nice day, but I'm saying, it would've been. It was in December. And there were so many people," she told us. "The wedding even, thousands of people. And I went, 'Wow.' And then all of these singers, performers coming out and everybody paying homage to Dad. I just remember being a very weary bride that night and my dad would say, 'Come stand next to me. Get your husband. Come stand here.' Most of the night, that's what we did. And we were greeting people I'd never laid eyes on before. Ever...After that, there was no denying. The stories were there all the time, constantly."

She couldn't concern herself too much with whatever her father was up to, though. Not after her disaster of a honeymoon in Las Vegas. "I was understandably a little nervous because I had never slept away from my parents' house before," she said in the film. And Carmine gambling away $30,000 on the first night and losing his temper when chastised about it certainly didn't help matters. 

"What I didn't know was Carmine suffered from manic depression," she revealed. "I knew before our honeymoon that being married to Carmine wasn't going to be a walk in the park, but I was determined to prove Daddy wrong. I was a stubborn woman. My father's daughter."

However, the honeymoon behavior was enough for her to throw in the towel—until, that is, another trip to the emergency room revealed that she was pregnant and had a congenital heart defect, making the pregnancy high-risk. "That night, I honestly was going to tell my father that he was right about Carmine, but the idea of divorce went right out the window with the news of a baby on the way," she explained.

In 1985, tragedy struck the Gotti family again when baby Justine arrived stillborn. "You know, when you bury a child, a daughter, it's so hard. It's just so hard. You don't understand why you've grown this child and then you go home with no prize," Gotti said. "You don't know what went wrong because it happened so quickly. You adjust to it. You never forget it. Every May, I celebrate her birthday. You always think God has this plan…Everybody's always under the guise that, you know, time heals all wounds." 

To help his wife heal, Carmine took Gotti away and by the time they returned, she was pregnant yet again. And it was then that the natural brunette made a major change and developed what's become her signature look. She went blonde. 

As she was, against all odds, building her family, son after son ( Carmine Jr. was born in 1986, followed by John in 1987, and Frank in 1990), her father was taking over his other family. In December 1985, John ordered the hit on Paul Castellano , head of the Gambino family, reportedly watching the murder from his car. By January, he was formally named the family's new boss.

"The change was not without bloodshed. Bodies seemed to drop everywhere around the five boroughs. From that point on, there wasn't a day that dad wasn't on the front page," Gotti explained. "The Gotti name sold papers. Andy Warhol painted Dad's image for the cover of TIME Magazine . Dad became larger than life. At times, it was unbearable. But was it all bad? Of course not. For a stretch, life was good."

While John was becoming The Dapper Don, a nickname bestowed upon him thanks to his sartorial style, Carmine's business, the largest steel-shredder in the country, was making millions. The Agnellos bought land on Long Island and built their dream home, while Gotti began her career as a columnist as the New York Post . And it couldn't have been easy for her to work there while her dad was making news day in and day out. He was hit with two major trials back-to-back—one for racketeering, in which he tampered with the jury, and the other for assault—both of which yielded him acquittals. "That same newspaper dubbed him "The Teflon Don" because the charges didn't stick," she explained. "In time, Dad became the people's king. He feared no one and nothing. The legend grew and grew."

"But these things don't last," she added. "How can they? When your rivals want you dead, the FBI wants you in jail, the President of the United States wants your head on a silver platter? I should've been able to predict it."

On December 11, 1990, FBI agents and NYPD detectives raided the Ravenite, arresting John. He was later charged with five murders, conspiracy to murder, loansharking, illegal gambling, obstruction of justice, bribery, and tax evasion. As he was driven away in the police car, he said, "I bet ya three-to-one I beat this."

He didn't. On April 2, 1992, after only 14 hours of deliberation, he was found guilty on all charges in the indictment and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. "The Teflon is gone," James Fox , Assistant Director In Charge of the FBI's New York Field Office, said in a press conference. "The don is covered with Velcro and all the charges stuck.

"Dad being in prison was heartbreaking, but with him away, Carmine working, and the kids in school, I turned my focus on my own career. It was far from easy, and I worked my ass off, but I wrote my first novel, The Senator's Daughter ," Gotti said. The mystery novel was released in 1997, two years after she'd published a medical journal entitled Women and Mitral Valve Prolapse , which documented her health woes. She had two more novels published in 1998 and 2000.

While her career was on the uptick, her personal life was imploding. In 1998, John was diagnosed with throat cancer. And tensions with Carmine over how legitimate his business might be—spoiler alert, it wasn't—were mounting in a dangerous way. In January 2000, after threats made to his wife over her desire to leave him, Carmine was arrested and charged with racketeering and arson. 

"I have been told to stay strong my entire life, but that day was too much for me. I didn't know where to begin. I never imagined myself raising three sons alone, and in my spare time, there was my career, by book contracts, my newspaper column. I fought to stay strong," she admitted.

By 2001, Carmine had pleaded guilty to receive a lesser sentence: nine years in federal prison with an order to forfeit $10 million in assets to the court. A year later, her father would die in custody, in a prison hospital in Springfield, Miss. "I still cry every night. I don't know why," she said in the film. "And when your father's dying and you can't be there and you can't touch him, you're watching through glass, it's very disturbing."

John was given a funeral in New York City the likes that are rarely seen, with an estimated 300 onlookers following the procession. And from there, Gotti began to try and rebuild her life. She divorced Carmine in 2003 on grounds of constructive abandonment. A year later, she and her boys were the stars of the hit A&E reality series Growing Up Gotti,  which ran for three seasons. And ever since, she's remained one of those pop culture fascinations, popping up in places like Celebrity Apprentice , The Real Housewives of New Jersey , and, yes, Lifetime movies.

She wrote her memoir in 2009, in part, to help clear her brother John's name. According to federal prosecutors, he'd been inducted into the Gambino crime family in 1988 and allegedly was made head of the operation when his father was put away for life in 1992. Since 1998, he's faced charges four times and served jail time twice. 

"The reason this book was born also, and the reason for this interview even, is that we're aware as a family that now, in order to save John's life, my brother, it's war. It's all out war," Gotti told CBS News in 2009. "And we are doing what we can, fighting like hell, to see that he gets a fair trial. That he gets a fair shot. It's about a life that he's left long behind him. More than a decade ago. And it's just something that we feel now should be addressed. And we want to just go on with our lives. We want to put this behind us." 

That trial, the last to come against her brother, was deemed a mistrial.

The picture that Gotti's painted of her father in both her book and the film is in step with the individual the FBI successfully made him out to be. And she says that's how he wanted it. "He said to me before he passed away, 'One day, you might write about this. Just make me one promise,'" she said in the film. "'Don't ever make me out to be an altar boy because I wasn't.'" 

"I saw him as, always, from a very young age until the day he died, as this strong lion," she told E! News about her father. "People asked me, 'What do you miss about him?' after his death. To this day, I think it's the protectiveness."

As she added in the film: "When he went, that went."

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‘gotti’: 9 of the film’s stars and their real-life inspirations.

The movie centers on one of New York's most notorious organized-crime bosses, his son and their involvement with the Gambino crime family.

By Courtney Idasetima

Courtney Idasetima

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Gotti delivers an account of John Gotti’s life, spanning three decades to show how he became the head of the Gambino crime family in New York, earning the nickname "Teflon Don" due to his ability to evade conviction.

The film, which will screen in Cannes on May 15, is a family affair for real-life husband-and-wife John Travolta and Kelly Preston, who plays his wife, as well as their daughter Ella Bleu Travolta, who portrays one of the Gottis' daughters.

The film, which Travolta has long pursued, has had a lengthy and complicated production history, encountering a number of false starts. While in development, Gotti cycled through multiple directors (Nick Cassavetes and Barry Levinson were each attached at one point) and stars (Lindsay Lohan was once reported to be part of the project). Lionsgate Premiere, a day-and-date theatrical and VOD label, had been set to distribute the pic, but, with the help of Sunrider Productions’ Edward Walson, producers bought it back and have arranged for a wider release on June 15 through Vertical Entertainment.

Keep reading to find out more about the cast and other real-life members of the Gambino crime family.

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Meet the designer behind john travolta's dapper don wardrobe in 'gotti', john gotti, portrayed by john travolta.

Trading one polished look — he played lawyer Robert Shapiro in FX's The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story last year — for another, John Travolta has different shoes to fill playing mob boss John Gotti in the new biopic.  

Gotti was born in Oct. 27, 1940, in the South Bronx, New York. He was the son of Italian immigrants and got involved in organized crime early on in life. Although he was heavily involved in crime and went through multiple arrests, he did not serve much jail time during the beginning. In his early twenties, he married Victoria DiGiorgio and tried his hand at legitimate work for a brief period of time to support his family.

Gotti once again got involved in crime, this time faster and harder. He earned the trust of the Gambino family after committing multiple crimes and gained control after he allegedly organized the murder of then-leader Paul Castellano. This made Gotti a local legend and gave him newfound fame. For his crimes, Gotti was finally sentenced to life in federal prison in 1992, where he developed throat cancer and died in Springfield, Mo., at age 61 in 2002.

in 2015, Travolta explained to The Hollywood Reporter his decision to stick with the film — directed by Entourage star Kevin Connolly — for years.

“Kevin presented his take to me, which is the vision I've always wanted, and I believe the vision John Jr. wanted," said Travolta. "It's a small character study of John Jr. and John Sr. that investigates the realness and grittiness of their rapport and the historical events of the Gotti family."

Victoria Gotti, portrayed by Kelly Preston

John Travolta and Kelly Preston have appeared in a handful of films together, including Battlefield Earth, and Preston plays the role of Travolta's character's wife in Gotti .

The Gottis married in 1962, when Victoria Gotti was 17 years old, and had five children together, though son Frank was killed by a car on March 18, 1980.

Victoria blamed her husband for their son John Gotti Jr.’s involvement in the mob, which is depicted in the film. Although her husband was in and out of jail, the couple remained married while he was convicted until John’s death in 2002.

On playing Victoria Gotti, Preston told ET Online , "I looked at [Travolta] and the way he looked at me was so completely … I felt like I was in John Gotti's arms. It sent chills."

John Gotti Jr., portrayed by Spencer Lofranco

John Gotti Jr., known as “Junior,” was John Gotti Sr. and Victoria Gotti’s eldest son. Canadian actor Spencer Lofranco plays Gotti Jr. in the film. Gotti Jr. became active in the mob scene due to his father’s involvement. He had some run-ins with the law, but went on to become the caporegime, which is an Italian word used to signify the head of a family in Sicily, but has now come to mean a ranking member, similar to captain or senior sergeant in a military unit, and acting boss of the Gambino crime family after his father was sent to prison in 1992. He disaffiliated from organized crime shortly before his father's death.

Aniello Dellacroce, portrayed by Stacy Keach

Aniello Dellacroce was an Italian-American member of organized crime. He was nicknamed Neil and has been reported to have entered the hospital under the alias Timothy O'Neil. For a period of time, he was an underboss of the Gambino crime family. Dellacroce served time behind bars for tax evasion and contempt of court.

Golden-Globe winning actor Stacy Keach plays Dellacroce in the film. 

Angelo Ruggiero, portrayed by Pruitt Taylor Vince

Angelo Ruggiero, portrayed by Pruitt Taylor Vince, was a friend of John Gotti until their falling-out later in life. He was also the caporegime in the Gambino crime family. 

Sammy Gravano, portrayed by William DeMeo

“Sammy the Bull” Gravano, portrayed by William DeMeo, is known as John Gotti’s former partner in crime and the man who brought down John Gotti and sent more than 30 mob workers to prison after exposing the truth about the mafia to the FBI. No stranger to organized crime prior, Gravano served as a hitman and underboss to the Gambino family.

In 2002, Gravano was convicted of operating a large drug ring. After serving 15 years in prison, he was released in September 2017.

Former members who cooperate and testify against the mob, like Gravano, are typically referred to as a certain word in the community. When asked about this in a 1997 interview with Diane Sawyer, Gravano said, “Are you trying to guilt me into the word? Rat. The word you’d like to hear? … I look at it as, I was betrayed. I betrayed him.” He added: “John’s a double-crosser, I’m a master double-crosser. We played chess, he lost.” 

Bartholomew "Bobby" Boriello, portrayed by Leo Rossi

Bartholomew "Bobby" Boriello, played by Leo Rossi in the film, was a member of the Gambino crime family serving as boss John Gotti Sr.’s bodyguard and chauffeur. Boriello also allegedly participated as a hitman in the 1990 murder of Louis DiBono, a Gambino crime family soldier, who was found dead inside a car that was parked inside the underground parking garage in the World Trade Center. 

Rossi is an actor, writer and producer with more than 100 credits to his name. 

Kim Gotti, portrayed by Megan Leonard

Kim Gotti is the wife of John Gotti Jr. The couple has been married since 1990 and share six children together. Megan Leonard plays Gotti in the film. 

Angel Gotti, portrayed by Ella Bleu Travolta

John Travolta and Kelly Preston’s daughter in real life plays their onscreen daughter, Angel. Angel Gotti is the oldest child of John and Victoria Gotti.

In 2016, the real Angel Gotti took to Twitter to praise John Travolta on his role as her father. In a photo of brother John Gotti Jr. and John Travolta, she posted: “My Brother John & John Travolta, John is doing an amazing job! The Life and Death of John Gotti. #JohnGotti”

Travolta and his wife and daughter also appeared together in the comedy Old Dogs with Robin Williams. Gotti marks her second acting role.

For his part, Travolta has noted the resemblance between his onscreen and offscreen wives and daughters.

“My wife looks like Victoria and my daughter looks like Angel. It’s really weird,” he told THR in 2015.

Added Connolly: “It’s uncanny. I looked at pictures and was thinking, 'This is too perfect.' Life is too short not to go to work with your family and friends.”

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Victoria Gotti: My Father's Daughter Reviews

No All Critics reviews for Victoria Gotti: My Father's Daughter.

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Victoria Gotti’s Lifetime Movie ”My Father’s Daughter” Plot & Cast Details

By: Caroline John - Published: February 11, 2019 at 9:58 am

Maurice Benard (L) and Victoria Gotti (R) attend the Lifetime Winter Movies Mixer (Photo:Rich Fury/Getty Images)

Victoria Gotti, the daughter of one of the most notorious crime bosses in modern times, John Gotti, has never made a secret of the difficult life she had growing up in a crime family. She’s now retelling her story in the much-talked-about Lifetime movie, Victoria Gotti: My Father’s Daughter ,  which premiered on February 9, 2019. Many are wondering if the movie is based on a true story. We’ve got the cast and plot details of Victoria Gotti’s Lifetime movie,   which will reveal all the facts,  here.

Victoria Gotti: My Father’s Daughter Plot

John Gotti, who passed away in 2002, and the infamous Gambino family have been immortalized on TV and in movies several times. But Lifetime Movies is retelling the dark story of the mob life through the woman who has grown up in it, John Gotti’s daughter, Victoria Gotti.

Victoria Gotti, 56, now an accomplished author and reporter, wrote and produced Lifetime Movies’ Victoria Gotti:  My Father’s Daughter . She also serves as the narrator of the movie that delves into her childhood, troubled teen years, and difficult married life.

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Victoria is one of four children born to John Gotti and his wife, Victoria DiGiorgio Gotti . Her father is one of the most infamous crime bosses in history, rising from poverty and turning to a life of crime to become the head of the Gambino family. When her father went to prison, Vicky’s brother, John A. Gotti, became the acting head of the Gambino family.

She was kept in the dark about the inner workings of the Gambino family. Though she didn’t know her father was a mob boss until her wedding day, she constantly struggled to reconcile her loving father with the man she read about in newspaper headlines.

This movie will explore Victoria’s hardships as a mob boss’ daughter, including the many life-changing events in her life. It will deal with her younger brother Frank’s tragic death and the disappearance of the man who accidentally struck him with a car.

But the biggest reveal of this movie is her romance with Carmine Agnello, the man who would go on to become her husband, and later ex-husband. Victoria and Carmine had a turbulent romance owing to the Gotti patriarch’s disapproval of Agnello. Agnello also rises in the mobster scene, cementing Victoria’s fears that she married a man exactly like her father.

This biopic will also go into the harrowing stillbirth of Victoria’s first child, Justine. She goes on to have three sons with Agnello before their 2003 divorce.

Also Read:  Interesting Plot Details of Lifetime Movies’ In Bed with a Killer

Victoria Gotti: My Father’s Daughter Cast

Victoria gotti, character: narrator.

John Gotti told his daughter that if she ever wrote about him, to not make him look like a saint. That’s something Victoria Gotti kept in mind during the seven years it took for her to write the script for  My Father’s Daughter .

Much like the recent Lifetime movie, I Am Elizabeth Smart, the titular heroine is also the narrator of the movie. Given that it’s straight from Victoria herself, you can expect this movie to be as factually accurate as it gets. Victoria’s narration is also detailed, giving a deeper insight into every scene.

This is not the first time Victoria’s family has been the subject of a TV production. Besides the many biopics on Gotti, Victoria has  starred in the reality show,  Growing Up Gotti,  with her three sons. She also authored an autobiography, Family of Mine: What It Was Like Growing Up Gotti .

https://www.instagram.com/p/BtgQiPOAfu2/

Maurice Benard

Character: john gotti.

Victoria was greatly involved in the casting decisions, with the Lifetime casting directors giving her final say. Finding the actor who would portray her father wasn’t easy—until she found daytime veteran, Maurice Benard.

Benard is best known as mobster Sonny Corinthos Jr. on General Hospital . He’s not unfamiliar with playing an on-screen mobster, but he wasn’t playing a fictional mob boss this time.

Many actors have stepped into The Teflon Don’s shoes in the past. What separates Benard’s Gotti from other on-screen portrayals before him is Victoria’s input.

“I needed to find something I could connect with. I connected with his loyalty. I connected with his love of family because I have four kids that I love to death. I could connect with his intensity because that was something I was born with. By talking with Victoria and seeing how sweet she is, I knew what John Gotti felt,” said Benard.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BtBv4Ihll4A/

Chelsea Frei

Character: victoria gotti.

Victoria felt it was too strange to look for the actor who would play her. So that was one casting decision she took a backseat on. Lifetime enlisted Chelsea Frei from the YouTube series  Sideswiped to portray the protagonist.

Frei got firsthand advice from Victoria herself, but it was also a nerve-wracking experience for her. Added to her excitement and pressure was acting alongside Benard, with her being a fan of him on General Hospital .

“I was just stressed about doing justice to somebody who is alive and well, and this is their story. I wanted to tell it in the most authentic and genuine way I can tell it,” said Frei.

Also Read:  Interesting Plot Details of Lifetime Movies’ Deadly Excursion

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Victoria Gotti: My Father's Daughter

A revealing look at the life of Victoria Gotti, the daughter of notorious mob boss John Gotti.

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Movie Score

February 9, 2019,

Catherine Cyran

Chelsea Frei, Victoria Gotti, Maurice Benard, Andre Anthony, Micaela Nyland, Tristan Lawrie

Crime, Drama, TV Movie

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Through the Shattered Lens

Where mainstream meets grindhouse, exploitation, otaku and gamers, lifetime film review: victoria gotti: my father’s daughter (dir by catherine cyran).

I have to admit that, for some reason, I’ve always had a weakness of Mafia movies.

For whatever reason, I just find them to be fascinating, as well as terrifically entertaining.  And when I say that I love mafia movies, I’m not just talking about the ones that everyone else loves, either.  I mean, sure, I love The Godfather films and Goodfellas and all of that.  I can’t wait for the Sopranos prequel to come out next year and I’m eagerly counting down the days until The Irishman drops on Netflix.  However, I also love the Mafia movies that everyone else seems to hate.  Some day, I’m going to get around to writing a stirring defense of Gotti .  Just you wait!

I’m half-Irish and fourth-Italian.  As far as I know, I don’t have any relatives involved with organized crime and, to be honest, I should probably be offended by all of the Mafia stereotypes that I’m exposed too whenever I turn on the television.  But, I have to be honest.  If my father had been in the Mafia, I totally would have used it to my advantage.  I would have been like, “You think you’re some sort of big shot, like Frankie Valli or somebody?  Do you know who my faddah is?  You want me to call him down here right now?”

The Lifetime film Victoria Gotti: My Father’s Daughter is all about being the daughter of a very powerful man.  Victoria Gotti herself even narrates the film and appears in cut-away scenes to discuss what it was like to grow up as the daughter of notorious mob boss, John Gotti.  At the same time, Chelsea Frei plays Victoria in dramatized scenes, showing her talking to her father (Maurice Benard) and dealing with her good-for-nothing husband, Carmine (Elijah Silva).  Because the film is told entirely from Victoria’s point of view, we only see John Gotti through her eyes. In this film, John Gotti is a loving father who is often away from his wife and daughters because he’s either in jail or hiding out from the authorities.  He’s fond of saying stuff like, “Nothing’s more important than family.”  Despite the fact that Maurice Benard gives a convincing performance as Gotti, you’re never quite sure what’s actually going on in his head.  Is he a ruthless murderer or is he just a blue collar guy looking out for his family?  The film isn’t sure but then again, Victoria seems to be unsure as well.  Undoubtedly, someone like John Gotti had to keep a lot of himself hidden away from even those closest to him.

Because of the film’s Victoria-centric structure, we don’t actually get to see any of the standard mafia action.  We hear about people getting taken out by the mob but we don’t actually see any of it happen.  Those hoping for a big mafia epic will undoubtedly be disappointed.  (The film is nearly over before John Gotti even takes over the Gambino Family.)  Instead, the film focuses on Victoria dealing with people judging her because of who her father is and her subsequent marriage to the worthless Carmine.  To be absolutely honest, there’s really not much going on in the movie, as most of the major action occurs off-screen.  However, Chelsea Frei gives a good performance as Victoria and the film occasionally does a good job of contrasting Gotti family life with Gotti crime life.  It’s not a classic mob film but it does provide just enough Cosa Nostra swagger to keep the viewer occupied until the release of The Irishman.

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Get gotti: what happened to john gotti's wife, victoria.

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• Despite her husband's involvement in the Gambino crime family, Victoria Gotti remained fiercely loyal to John Gotti until his death in prison in 2002.
• Victoria DiGiorgio, John Gotti's wife, came from a modest background but adapted to a life of privilege after marrying him and stood by him throughout his criminal activities.
• After John Gotti's death, Victoria inherited a significant amount of money and maintained her privacy, distancing herself from the public spotlight.

While Get Gotti chronicles the rise and fall of New York crime boss John Gotti, it may leave viewers wondering what happened to Gotti's wife, Victoria. Not to be confused with the couple's daughter of the same name, Victoria Gotti (née DiGiorgio) is a public figure by virtue of her husband, the so-called " Dapper Don " and former head of the Gambino crime family. As seen in Get Gotti , John Gotti kills Paul Castellano and takes his place as the head of New York's infamous crime syndicate. With the Gambinos being one of the Italian American Mafia's " Five Families, " Gotti came into a lot of power very suddenly in 1985.

However, while plotting Castellano's murder aligned Gotti with high-ranking Gambino associates like Anthony Ruggiano Jr. for the first time, one person was with the Dapper Don decades earlier: his wife, Victoria. Nicknamed the " Teflon Don " after he evaded a string of indictments in the '80s, John Gotti was eventually brought down by the feds and several Gambino turncoats in 1992. While the story has many movie-level twists and turns, Netflix's three-part docuseries doesn't linger too much on Victoria Gotti. However, it's clear that Victoria " DiGiorgio " Gotti was a hugely influential and important figure in John Gotti's life — until the very end.

John Gotti's Wife Supported Him Until His Death

If Andrea Giovino's connection to the Gotti family is the most complicated of John Gotti's relationships, then his dynamic with Victoria Gotti, his wife, is the most straightforward. Victoria DiGiorgio came from humble beginnings: her parents immigrated to the U.S. to work in factories and pursue better opportunities. Despite this, Victoria's mother inherited an ancestral home worth millions, which she later passed down to her daughter. Although she didn't live a life of luxury, Victoria DiGiorgio wasn't completely unaccustomed to money and privilege. That all began to change when she met John Gotti in 1958 and, just four years later, married him (via The U.S. Sun ).

After the couple's son, Frank, was killed in an apparent accident, Victoria couldn't escape her grief. While on a family trip, the man responsible for Frank's death vanished — and it certainly wouldn't be the last time John Gotti turned to a hired gun. Even though Gotti's deepening involvement with the Gambino crime family caused Victoria a lot of grief, she stood by her husband. In fact, even after Gotti received a life imprisonment sentence, they remained married until John's death in prison in 2002. While the Teflon Don's associates like Sammy " The Bull " Gravano helped take down John Gotti , Victoria DiGiorgio never publicly turned on her husband.

Where Is Victoria DiGiorgio Now?

Despite everything, Victoria DiGiorgio remained married to John Gotti for 40 years. While the couple had five children, only one of them, John Jr., followed in their father's footsteps and joined the ranks of the Gambino crime family for a time. The other Gotti children largely disassociated themselves from the so-called family business and, like their mother, stayed out of the limelight. Despite John Gotti's high-profile criminal charges, Victoria DiGiorgio has retained her privacy, though the release of Get Gotti has certainly piqued public interest. In the wake of Gotti's death, Victoria inherited a good chunk of change, boosting her reported net worth to roughly $2 million.

Sources: The U.S. Sun

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Victoria Gotti: John Gotti’s Daughter is a Proud Mother of Three Sons

‘ Fear City: New York vs the Mob ‘ is a Netflix miniseries wherein we learn how the FBI and federal prosecutors worked to dismantle the five mob families who ruled the city of New York and put terror in the hearts of the people back in the 1970s and 1980s. Although the series focuses on all the crimes committed by the mob bosses and families, there are a few instances where we saw just how normal and ordinary that can be, how human they can be. And, considering the fact that most of them had families to look after, it shouldn’t have surprised us this much.

We were introduced to John Gotti in the series as the man behind Paul Castellano’s murder, boss of the Gambino crime family, but what they didn’t mention is that Gotti became the boss two weeks after Castellano’s death and continued his life in the mob world to support his wife, Victoria Gotti (nee DiGiorgio) and their kids, including, John A. Gotti and Victoria Gotti.

Victoria Gotti’s Upbringing and Career Are Worlds Apart

Born November 27, 1962, in Brooklyn, New York City, Victoria Gotti is a writer and reality television personality. Raised in a two-story house in Howard Beach, New York, with her siblings, despite claims that state otherwise, Victoria says that her upbringing was sheltered and that they lived a lower-middle-class life with old-fashioned family values that hailed from their Russian and Italian ancestry. Her mother made all of their clothes and even cut the girls’ hair. Her father was protective of her and together, they always taught her to only believe what she saw.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Victoria Gotti (@victoria__gotti)

Victoria was so shy when she was little that her parents were worried that she had autism. Thankfully, that was not the case. The young Gotti daughter was an avid reader and a straight-A student in school. Skipping two grades, she got admission into St. Johns University in 1977, at the age of 15. She planned on studying law after her college graduation but dropped the plans once she realized that her shyness would hinder her from becoming a good attorney.

Despite the tragedy of losing her younger brother to an accident, having her father be sentenced to prison, and then losing him as well, Victoria continued to move on in life. She started working as a columnist at the New York Post and a reporter for WNYW. And, in 1995, she published her first book, “Women and Mitral Valve Prolapse,” inspired by her very own struggles with the illness. The success of that book led her to write more, and till now, she has published a total of 6 books across all areas- fiction, non-fiction, mystery, and memoir.

In 2004, Victoria became a television personality as well, starring in ‘Growing Up Gotti,’ a reality series on A&E. In 2012, she was a participant on ‘Celebrity Apprentice,’ following which, she made appearances on various other reality series’ as well, including, ‘The Real Housewives of New Jersey’ and ‘Mob Wives.’ She was even featured as the narrator in the film, ‘Victoria Gotti: My Father’s Daughter.’ Now, Victoria lives a seemingly lavish life in her home city.

Victoria Gotti is a Divorced Mom of 3

In 1984, Victoria Gotti married her “first real boyfriend,” Carmine Agnello, a mobster from the Gambino crime family, who ran a scrap metal recycling operation. She had known him since she was in high school, but even so, her parents disapproved of their union. Despite their wishes, however, she went ahead to tie the knot and built a family with him, in a mansion, in Westbury, New York. Together, the couple had three sons, Carmine, Frank, and John. They also had a stillborn baby daughter who they had named Justine.

Unfortunately, in the year 2000 things took a turn when her husband was arrested for using extortion and arson to frighten a Queens business competitor, who happened to be an undercover cop. A year later, he was convicted and sentenced to nine years in federal prison, along with an order to forfeit $10 million in assets to the court. In 2003, on grounds of constructive abandonment, Victoria divorced him. Apparently, as a part of the divorce, she got their mansion and received $12,500 a month in alimony in addition to the $12,500 per month for her sons. Her package is worth an estimated $7 million.

For years, she chose to live the single life to only concentrate on her kids and to manage the number of commercial properties that she owns in Queens, but now, she is ready to date again and come back into the spotlight. Victoria states that she has plans for a new TV series, one plot point of which would involve her quest to find true marital bliss with “the next Mr. Gotti.”

Read More: Where Is Donnie Brasco Now?

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The Victoria Gotti Story Reviews

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Victoria Gotti's Kids: All About Carmine, John and Frank

Victoria Gotti and her children starred in 'Growing Up Gotti'

Jessica Booth is a contributing writer at PEOPLE. She has been working at PEOPLE since 2022. Her work has appeared in Brides, Parents, What To Expect, Romper, The Knot and Forbes.

Kevin Mazur/WireImage

Victoria Gotti, the daughter of infamous mob boss John Gotti , is a mother herself to sons Carmine, John and Frank.

Sadly, nine months after Victoria wed Carmine Agnello in 1984, the couple experienced the death of their daughter, Justine, who was stillborn. They went on to welcome three sons before their divorce in 2003.

Around this time, Victoria and her kids starred in the A&E reality TV show Growing Up Gotti , which showed the former columnist's life as a single mom. However, since the series ended in 2005, Carmine, John and Frank have stepped out of the spotlight.

Victoria has spent years trying to clear up misconceptions about her family with projects like her Lifetime biopic, Victoria Gotti: My Father’s Daughter , which she wrote and produced. Speaking to CBS in 2009, she called her sons “three fine young men" and she sees “a new generation, a new lineage” in them.

"This is the real legacy John Gotti left in his wake. In the end, family is all anyone really has,” Victoria added.

In a 2019 interview with Glamour , she said her kids “a gift from God, explaining, “I look at my three sons as my greatest accomplishments in my life, and I’ll always say it. ... I feel like if people look at us and see that we’re human, then that’s all they need to know.”

Here’s everything to know about Victoria Gotti’s kids: Carmine, John and Frank.

Carmine Gotti Agnello Jr., 38

Victoria Gotti/Instagram

Victoria and Agnello welcomed their first child together, Carmine Gotti Agnello, on April 4, 1986.

Around the time Growing Up Gotti ended, Carmine had aspirations to become a recording artist, appearing on the VH1 show But Can They Sing? , where he performed Nelly’s “Ride Wit Me.”

During her 2009 conversation with CBS, Victoria said she saw “the promise of creativity” in Carmine. The following year, he announced a hip-hop album, a project he “spent three years working on this, three years of vocal lessons and choreography lessons," Carmine told Newsday .

Speaking to New York Daily News , he called his work “hip-pop,” explaining that he didn’t want to be seen as the same person he was on the reality show.

John Gotti Agnello/Instagram

“I’m matured, I was a kid when they saw me last time,” Carmine said. “I wanted to step away from that whole image ... I’m a young man now. I’m clean-cut.”

He also added that his album was a tribute to his grandfather, who he considered “more like a father figure."

Although the work was set to be released in the summer of 2010, there were no further details about the tracks. Fast forward, in 2014, Victoria gave Radar Online an update on Carmine's singing career, revealing that he had stepped away from it.

"He definitely misses it, and I catch him all the time when he doesn’t think anybody is looking or listening," she said. "I know he misses it, but it’s a tough, dedicated business. He just doesn’t have the patience."

Since then, Carmine has maintained a low profile.

John Gotti Agnello, 37

SGranitz/WireImage

Victoria and Agnello celebrated the arrival of their second child, John Gotti Agnello, on May 8, 1987.

After Growing Up Gotti concluded, John chose to stay out of the spotlight. In a 2012 appearance on The Rosie Show , Victoria talked about how MTV had approached her sons to be in their upcoming show, Jersey Shore .

She explained that, while in a business meeting with executives who proposed the idea to the three siblings, John stood up and said, “I think I can speak for my brothers ... this is not a show for us.”

Victoria recounted her son, explaining, "'To be quite honest, we can have the fun, the personalities and all, but the whole going out, getting drunk, partying ... over.’ It’s not them.”

In 2015, John married his longtime girlfriend , Alina Sanchez, at Oheka Castle on Long Island, N.Y. Page Six reported that it was a lavish affair, with a multi-course meal served at midnight and over 500 guests.

“I couldn’t be happier,” Victoria told Radar Online before the wedding. “As a parent you just want your child to bring home someone that you know loves them and that you know is going to make them happy.”

She revealed that they had met right before college and “kind of saw each other through all of the academic years and they were always good for each other.”

John is now the dad to two sons, Johnny and Mikey. He often shares photos of them and his wife on his Instagram , but doesn’t share many other details about his personal life. Most recently, John announced that he and Alina are expecting a baby girl in February 2025.

Frank Gotti Agnello, 34

Victoria and John completed their family with the birth of their youngest son, Frank Gotti Agnello, on April 12, 1990.

Of the three Gotti brothers, Frank was the most disinterested in fame: In 2014, he opted not to participate in the Growing Up Gotti: 10 Years Later reunion special.

About a year after the A&E show ended, Frank released a book called Gotti Diet: How I Took Control of My Body, Lost 80 Pounds, and Discovered How to Stay Fit Forever .

Dave Kotinsky/Getty

In a 2014 interview with Radar Online, Victoria said that Frank “looks fantastic,” adding that “he’s always in the gym."

Although he doesn’t share much about his private life, Frank does have a public Instagram, where he sometimes posts photos with his family . In honor of Victoria's birthday in 2023, he dedicated a heartfelt message to her alongside a photo of them.

"Happy birthday to the strongest woman in the 🌎 you devoted your life to raising all of us the right way. I love you mom," Frank wrote.

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Share: victoria, crime drama, the first is a documentary about victoria gottis life and the challenges she faced due to her fathers position in the mafia, while the second is a historical drama series that follows queen victorias rise to power and transformation into a strong monarch. victoria is a 2019 english-language crime drama show starring jenna coleman, tom hughes, peter bowles, catherine flemming, daniela holtz, nell hudson and daxton gujral. mammoth screen in association with masterpiece. were the production houses involved in the project along with executive producer(s) paul frift and david boulter. series originally aired on itv. itv studios acquired the distribution rights for the show. creator of the series is daisy goodwin. victoria was released on 9th february 2019 and takes a screen time of 46-89 minutes for each episode. the series made a box office gross of $28 million. the music was composed by martin phipps..

• Jini Score 3.8/10
• Critics Score 33%
• Rating 5.5/10
• Jini Score 3.8%
• Critics Score 33

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Victoria Reviews and Ratings

Average review rating : neutral, positive review rating : 33%, schipper doesnt really limit the ambitions of his genre effort to suit the unique shooting style. ( read more ), victoria is the cinematic equivalent of a person who memorizes the first thousand digits of pi, an odd accomplishment that is entirely pointless and tedious. ( read more ), litten, sensibly, didnt airbrush the show, but fondly disinterred its double entendres. ( read more ), similar to victoria.

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Victoria Counters Beckham With a Netflix Documentary Of Her Own

Victoria Beckham already stole the show in Netflix’s sweeping, tumultuous docuseries Beckham , with that viral moment in which she—admittedly after some goading from David—revealed what car she was driven to school in (answer: a Rolls-Royce, of course). But now, she’s doing one better: that is to say, taking center stage in her very own Netflix documentary series.

On August 21, the streaming giant announced that a new release centered on the designer, performer, and all-round icon would be coming to the platform soon. “Starting in her days as a Spice Girl in the ’90s, Victoria Beckham has been one of the most recognizable women in the world,” read the accompanying press release . “Her Posh Spice days may be behind her, but today Beckham is on a journey to build a fashion empire—and now, fans will be able to see the story behind it all.”

The new show, it continued, would focus on Victoria “and her fashion and beauty business. With exclusive access to [her], her family, and those closest to her, the series explores her time in the global spotlight. Following husband David Beckham’s doc series chronicling his rise to fame as a successful football player and pop culture icon, the upcoming doc promises to get up close and personal with the former pop star as she juggles her business and family life.”

While Fisher Stevens (a.k.a. Succession ’s beleaguered Hugo), the director of Beckham who brought an incredible warmth and humor to the aforementioned documentary, sadly doesn’t seem to be involved this time around, another Beckham alum is: the Emmy nominated executive producer Nicola Howson. Also alongside her will be producer Julia Nottingham, who has a track record of bringing the real stories of formidable, tabloid-harassed and frequently misunderstood women to the screen, having worked on the likes of Netflix’s Pamela: A Love Story and Hulu’s Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story .

As production kicks off, watch this space—and start your Beckham rewatch now.

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