Costello v. Immigration and Naturalization Service, 376 U.S. 120 (1964)

Supreme Court decision of February 17, 1964 holding that Frank Costello could not be deported under the two-crimes provision for convictions entered while he was a naturalized citizen.

Date: 1964-02-17
Kind: court-opinion
Source: CourtListener (Free Law Project), text of the opinion
Retrieved: 2026-10-12
Rights: Opinion of a United States court. Works of the federal judiciary are in the public domain in the United States. The text was read on CourtListener.

Supreme Court of the United States, decided February 17, 1964. The opinion gives the history: “The petitioner, born in Italy in 1891, was brought to the United States when he was four years old.” “He became a naturalized citizen in 1925. In 1954 he was convicted of two separate offenses of income tax evasion.” His citizenship was revoked in 1959 (365 U.S. 265), and deportation proceedings followed.

“The single question to be decided in the present case is whether this provision applies to a person who was a naturalized citizen at the time he was convicted of the crimes, but was later denaturalized.” The Court held that it does not, and reversed the order of deportation.

itemCostello v. United States, 365 U.S. 265 (1961)Supreme Court decision of February 20, 1961 affirming the revocation of Frank Costello's 1925 naturalization because he had concealed that his occupation was bootlegging.itemUnited States v. Costello, 221 F.2d 668 (2d Cir. 1955)Second Circuit opinion of April 5, 1955 affirming Frank Costello's conviction for attempting to evade income taxes for 1947, 1948 and 1949, proved on a net-worth theory.