Victoria Gotti biography

She denied the court's allegations, and remained devoted to her father. "They don't make men like him anymore," she has said of the alleged mob-boss, "and they never will."

In 1995, Gotti wrote her first book, Women and Mitral Valve Prolapse. Inspired by her own struggle with the illness, the book documented her heart condition in relatable terms, and was critically acclaimed by patients and doctors alike. This non-fiction success led to her career in fiction writing, and in 1997,

her mystery novel The Senator's Daughter hit bookstores to solid reviews.

Husband's Imprisonment and Divorce

In 1999, Gotti published her second work of fiction, I'll Be Watching You, which also received high praise. But this same year, Victoria's family faced more hardship when brother, John "Junior" Gotti, pled guilty to extortion and bribery. He was sentenced to 77 months in prison.

The year 2000 was another emotional one for Gotti and her family. She published her third book, Superstar, and her husband was arrested for using extortion and arson to frighten a Queens business competitor. The "competitors" were actually undercover New York investigators, who had set up surveillance units to track Agnello. Victoria's husband faced up to 29 years in prison, and stood to lose his $4 million Long Island mansion, which he had put up in 1998 as bail for brother-in-law, Junior Gotti.

In addition to catching the scrap-metal magnate's illegal behavior, the videos captured Agnello's numerous infidelities with his bookkeeper. Victoria, angered by her husband's public betrayal, still stood by him, posting the royalties from her most recent book and the other half of the couples' mansion as bail money. A federal judge denied bail, claiming Agnello was a "threat to the community."

In 2002, Gotti's father passed away in a federal prison hospital after struggling with head and neck cancer. As the family's resident author, Victoria was asked by The New York Post to write an obituary for her father. The article hit papers on the same day as her father's funeral.

Reality TV

In 2003, Gotti and her husband finally reached their breaking point and Victoria filed for divorce, citing "constructive abandonment." Gotti received $12,500 a month in alimony and an additional $12,500 a month for her sons in a package worth an estimated $7 million. Agnello was released from prison in 2007, after serving a nine-year sentence.

In 2004, Gotti and her teenage sons became the subjects of a reality show on A&E called Growing Up Gotti. The boys quickly became celebrity heart-throbs, and were commonly referred to as "the hottie Gottis." The show was filmed in the family's seven-bedroom mansion on Long Island, and remained on the air until 2005.

In August of 2005, Victoria made headlines again when she announced she had breast cancer. The claim was later denied and her publicist, Matt Rich, whose mother passed away from the same disease, quit over the incident. Gotti later announced that tests had only discovered precancerous cells, and blamed media outlets for exaggerating her claims.