United States v. Costello, 198 F.2d 200 (2d Cir. 1952)

Second Circuit opinion of July 3, 1952 on Frank Costello's conviction for contempt of the Senate crime committee. It reversed several counts and affirmed the counts based on his leaving the March 1951 hearings.

Date: 1952-07-03
Kind: court-opinion
Source: CourtListener (Free Law Project), text of the opinion
Retrieved: 2026-10-12
Docket: 22380
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.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, docket 22380, decided July 3, 1952. Frank Costello “was convicted of ten separate contempts of the United States Senate Crime Investigation Committee” and sentenced to eighteen months’ imprisonment and a $5,000 fine.

The contempts arose from the Kefauver Committee’s New York hearings of March 1951 (Senate Report 199; the hearings, Part 7). The court reversed several counts and affirmed those based on his walking out of the hearings of March 15 and 16, 1951.

The opinion is about contempt of Congress. It does not describe Costello’s role in any organization.

itemSenate Report 199: proceedings against Frank Costello (1951)Senate Report No. 199, 82d Congress, ordering printed the Special Committee's contempt proceedings against Frank Costello after the 1951 New York hearings.

itemKefauver Committee hearings, Part 7: New York-New Jersey (1950–1951)Printed hearings of the Senate Special Committee to Investigate Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, Part 7, New York-New Jersey: sessions in Washington and New York, July 1950 to March 1951.

itemFrank Costello testifying before the Kefauver Committee, 1951 (Library of Congress)New York World-Telegram & Sun staff photograph by Al Aumuller of Frank Costello seated behind a microphone while testifying before the Kefauver Committee. A copy is stored here.