Late mob boss John Gotti's grandson has publicly attacked rapper Rick Ross for naming his new album Teflon Don and said permission should have been requested to use the convict's nickname.
According to Carmine Agenello, his late grandfather earned the right to be known as the "Teflon Don."
"He should have asked for permission. A standup, respectable guy would come and ask 'If I could use the nickname,'" Agnello, who is trying to launch a music career under the name Carmine Gotti, said of Ross. "I think he's a great artist, but you can't just start calling yourself that to sell records ...He wants to go for that whole image, but hey, be yourself. Only in America can you go from being a corrections officer to calling yourself Teflon Don."
John Gotti passed away in 2002 and was notoriously known for winning lawsuits.
John Gotti, the high-profile and sharp-dressing Mafia don who beat three criminal cases against him to earn the nickname "Teflon Don," died in a prison hospital in June of 2002 in Springfield, Missouri, while serving multiple life sentences. Gotti, after his 1992 conviction, was quickly shipped out to the maximum-security Marion Federal Penitentiary in Marion, Illinois, where he was destined to serve out his prison sentence.
Ex-drug kingpin Freeway Ricky Ross recently tried to sue Ross over using his name as a rap alias.
Ross has officially filed the suit in federal court in California to the tune of $10 million. He claims the Boss stole his name and identity and wants to stop the sale of his album. Along with Ross, the ex-con also names Jay-Z, Def Jam, Universal Music Group and Vivendi in the suit. Ricky reportedly asserts trademark and his rights of publicity in seeking an injunction that would prevent the rapper from using the "Rick Ross" name or releasing any albums using it. He also says that the U.S. Patent and Trademark office has refused to let the rapper trademark the name.
However, he later lost the suit in court but promised to request an appeal.
"We were putting a restraining order, we wanted the album to be stopped," Freeway said in an interview. "The judge ruled that we waited four years to do this and said while I was in prison I should have filed the suit so what we've done right now is we've [explained] the issue to him saying that while I was in prison I didn't have the money and these lawsuits are very expensive, I'm just lucky I got [my upcoming] movie started and had the money to start the suit. So what we're doing right now is mending it because [the judge] threw it out without prejudice meaning we could come back and ask him to do it again...That was the first round but you know -- we're going all the way with this. We spoke two weeks ago and he asked me my feeling on it and I told him it wasn't personal, it's just business and doesn't have to feel any personal threat or anything like that and I was going to handle it in court."
Check out Freeway Ricky Ross discussing Rick Ross below:
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