VICTORIA Gotti says she is filing assault charges against the 17-year-old boy who beat up her sons, Carmine, 18, and John, 17, after they allegedly harassed the boy's sister at a Long Island mall.
Gotti told PAGE SIX she was going to the cops against her son's wishes because she believes the other youth's father, Frank Rossi, was behind our story about the beatdown at the Roosevelt Field Mall last week.
"I am not going to let these boys be defamed," Gotti said. "You have to prove you're right. You have to set an example."
Carmine and John, who appear on A&E's "Growing Up Gotti" with their famous mom, caught a beating from Rossi's two-fisted son, Frank, after one of the Gottis allegedly pinched his 15-year-old sister's butt. But Victoria says her sons swear they never laid a hand on the girl, and that young Rossi attacked them because he was jealous that Carmine had dated a girl he liked.
"This has been a festering feud for more than a year," Victoria said. "My children have sworn repeatedly that they have never seen his sister . . . Supposedly this feud started over a girl who chose to go out with Carmine and not [Rossi's] son. How convenient after that happened that [Rossi's] daughter gets her a pinched. I mean, come on. [Rossi] admitted to me that it never happened. I am trying to get the security tape of what happened from the mall.
"This is a crock. It was a no-win situation. If my son would have won, would he have been the animal or the hero? His son came off as a hero in your article. My sons could not have been more defamed."
But the elder Rossi, who helped break up the fight, called our story "absolutely accurate." He said he has contacted police after receiving several anonymous, threatening phone calls and an e-mail from Carmine to a friend of his son vowing vengeance. But he added, "We've [also] been getting calls from all over supporting my son a great deal."
He noted that he was initially willing to issue a statement to "clear" the Gotti boys, but changed his mind after Victoria went on "Access Hollywood" to say he had concocted the story and played snippets of a phone conversation with Rossi she had taped.
"I was willing to help to end this thing," Rossi said. "I was even willing to say, 'Maybe ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^this was a misunderstanding,' which was bull[bleep]. She never once asked about my daughter."