Peter Gotti just can’t win.

The older brother of the late mob boss John Gotti lost his appeal yesterday of a 2004 conviction for crimes linked to the Gambino family’s domination of the Brooklyn waterfront. A federal appeals court did find that Gotti might be entitled to a lesser sentence — but that was no major victory, since he still faces 25 years on another conviction.

And there was more bad news for the 67-year-old former garbage man turned head of the organized crime family once headed by his brother and his nephew: The court upheld a $3.7 million forfeiture order imposed as part of his sentence.

Two of Gotti’s co-defendants in the case also had their convictions upheld by the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals. “We have considered all of the defendants’ contentions on these appeals and have not found any basis for reversing their convictions,” the three-judge panel said in its decision.

Gotti’s attorney, Joseph Bondy, was optimistic that Gotti could win a significant sentence reduction from U.S. District Court Judge Frederic Block.

“This allows the judge to take into account certain things under a relaxed sentencing standard,” Mr. Bondy said. “The judge gets to view him with a different lens. Maybe now Peter’s lens is a little more rosy.”