It was an offer they couldn’t refuse.
A family-owned business controlled by the Gotti family has agreed to pay at least $210,000 in fines and clean up toxic chemicals that spilled from a scrap yard in Queens. According to the settlement The announcement was made Tuesday by state Attorney General Letitia James.
LSM Auto Parts & Recycling (LSM), BGN Real Estate and two related companies have agreed to a remediation plan to remove hazardous sludge that has leached from their properties.
Carmine Gotti Agnello Jr., grandson of the notorious late Gambino crime family boss John Gotti, is one of the owners of Jamaica-based LSM Auto Parts & Recycling, located at 155-11 Liberty Avenue in Jamaica.
BGN Real Estate and Three Sons Real Estate Group, which own the scrapyard property, are owned by Victoria Gotti, John Gotti’s daughter and Carmine’s mother.
Under the settlement, LSM and its affiliates will be required to clean up the land under supervision of the state Department of Environmental Conservation and pay a $210,000 fine.
Companies could pay an additional $287,000 in penalties if they fail to meet cleanup requirements, bringing the total penalties to $497,000.
“LSM created environmental pollution and now they are responsible for cleaning it up,” Attorney General James said in a statement.
James’ lawsuit, filed in 2022, alleged that LSM ignored rules regarding the proper disposal of toxic auto waste.
The lawsuit alleges negligence caused large amounts of oil and antifreeze to leak from the site, contaminating groundwater and soil near the surrounding low-income neighborhoods.
“For too long, LSM has ignored basic laws and regulations about handling hazardous chemicals and exposed neighbors to toxic contaminants,” the attorneys general said. “LSM is finally cleaning up years of contamination, and we’re going to make sure they do it right.”
“This settlement sends a message to other companies: New York will aggressively prosecute polluters who ignore our environmental laws and regulations,” Sean Maher, interim administrator of the Department of Environmental Protection, which is responsible for enforcing the agreement, said in a statement.
Victoria Gotti signed the settlement as “Victoria Agnello,” using her ex-husband Carmine Agnello’s last name.
Lawyers for the Gotti family and their offices did not respond to The Washington Post’s requests for comment.
Carmine Gotti Agnello Jr., who appeared on the reality TV show “Growing Up Gotti” with his two brothers 16 years ago, was arrested in 2018 on charges of driving without a license, wrecking a vehicle and falsifying business records.
He had the same Teflon feel as my grandfather.
Carmine avoided prison time by accepting a plea deal to a reduced misdemeanor charge in exchange for a $1,000 fine and forfeiture of $4,605 in ill-gotten gains.
Mafia boss John Gotti, 61, was serving a life sentence without parole for a series of murders and died of throat cancer in prison in 2002.
