Editing Frank Costello (section)

=== Investigation, prosecution and imprisonment ===
From May 1950 to May 1951, the [[United States Senate|U.S. Senate]] conducted a large-scale investigation of organized crime, commonly known as the [[United States Senate Special Committee to Investigate Crime in Interstate Commerce|Kefauver Hearings]], chaired by [[United States Senator|Senator]] [[Estes Kefauver]] of [[Tennessee]]. Costello attempted to minimize the impact of these hearings on his reputation when he was called as a witness, refusing to allow his face to be filmed during his questioning.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.historynet.com/encounter-frank-costello-vs-estes-kefauver/| title=ENCOUNTER: FRANK COSTELLO VS. ESTES KEFAUVER When a mobster tried to hide on live TV, his fingers did the talking | date=14 November 2016 | publisher=History.net | access-date=February 13, 2024}}</ref>

His demands had the opposite effect, as the news cameras focused instead on his hands as Costello fidgeted throughout the hearings, broadcasting his evasive answers and nervous gestures live to a huge nationwide audience. After sparring with the lawyers for the Committee for hours on the first day, he walked out of the hearing on the second day, claiming that he had a sore throat. When he returned to be questioned several days later he refused to answer questions about his net worth. Costello was eventually convicted of [[contempt of court|contempt]] of the Senate and sentenced to 18 months in prison for his refusal to answer questions.<ref name="costello coronary" />

The Kefauver hearings also led to the murder of Willie Moretti on October 4, 1951, on the orders of the [[The Commission (American Mafia)|Mafia Commission]]. The members of the Commission were concerned with Moretti's erratic behavior before the Senate Committee and worried that Moretti's advancing syphilis was affecting his brain and might lead him to talk to the press.<ref>{{cite book|title=A Man of Honor: The Autobiography of Joseph Bonanno|author= Joe Bonanno with Sergio Lalli|year=1983|publisher=St Martin's Paperbacks|isbn=0-312-97923-1|page=172}}</ref>  Costello appointed Genovese as the new underboss after Moretti's murder.<ref name="moretti buried">{{cite news|last=Conklin|first=William R.|title=Moretti is Buried in Gangster Style|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1951/10/09/87326536.pdf|access-date=14 January 2012|newspaper=New York Times|date=October 9, 1951}}</ref>

In 1952, the government began proceedings to strip Costello of his U.S. citizenship, and he was indicted for evasion of $73,417 in income taxes between 1946 and 1949 ($870,113 in 2024 dollars). He was sentenced to five years in prison and fined $20,000.<ref name="costello coronary" /> In 1954, Costello appealed the conviction and was released on $50,000 bail; from 1952 to 1961 he was in and out of half a dozen federal and local prisons and jails, his confinement interrupted by periods when he was out on bail pending determination of appeals.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1954/06/20/archives/costello-is-released-in-50000-bail.html|title=Costello Is Released in $50,000 Bail|date=June 20, 1954|work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref><ref name="costello coronary" />