50 Photos of Real-Life Gangster Homes and Hideouts

Carmine Agnello’s Long Island estate

Agnello’s criminal activities eventually caught up with him, and he was sentenced in 2001 to nine years in prison for racketeering and arson. While he was in jail, his wife Victoria divorced him on grounds of constructive abandonment and was awarded the house. Together with her sons, Victoria went on to star in reality shows Growing up Gotti and Growing Up Gotti: Ten Years Later.

© Shawn Elliot Luxury Homes & Estates

Carmine Agnello’s Long Island estate

The mansion featured prominently in the shows and Gotti has gone on to become a best-selling author, columnist and reality star. She has described the home as “very warm, very woodsy, very comfortable yet very elegant”. As you can see, this opulent living room is covered in fine wood paneling and lined with bookshelves.

© Shawn Elliot Luxury Homes & Estates

Carmine Agnello’s Long Island estate

The bedrooms are just as luxurious, featuring ornate pillars and four-poster beds. Despite this, Gotti has made several attempts to sell the property. In 2008, it was listed for a pricey $3.5 million. The following year, the house was threatened with foreclosure when Gotti fell into arrears with her mortgage repayments. Since then it has been listed and taken off the market seven times.

© Shawn Elliot Luxury Homes & Estates

Carmine Agnello’s Long Island estate

It seems nobody is willing to pay Gotti’s ambitious asking price. The mansion was in the news again in 2016 when it was raided by the FBI in relation to a tax fraud investigation surrounding Gotti’s sons, Carmine Jr., John and Frank, but no charges were brought. However, Carmine Jr. was recently busted for operating an illegal scrap metal yard.

© Shawn Elliot Luxury Homes & Estates

Vincent Palermo’s Houston hideout

Mobster-turned-FBI-informant Vincent Palermo, AKA Vinny Ocean, was the de facto boss of New Jersey’s DeCavalcante crime family, inspiring the character of Tony Soprano in the award-winning HBO series. After grassing up his associates, Palermo was placed in the Witness Protection Program and snapped up a gated mansion in Houston under the pseudonym Vincent Cabella in 2003.

© Courtesy FBI/Houston Association of Realtors