June 5, 1964 - Frank Costello, the underworld figure, spent five minutes before a Federal grand jury in New York City today and was told to return in two weeks.
He had been subpoenaed last Wednesday as he was having lunch at Dinty Moore’s with a bookmaker suspect, but the Government has not indicated why it is interested in Costello at this time.
The dapper, 73-year-old Costello was uncommunicative and seemingly unimpressed today by the hubbub his appearance created in the U.S. Court House in Foley Square.
When pursuing newsmen asked him if he felt he was being harassed by the authorities, he tightened his lips. His attorney, Harold Frankel, quickly interposed: “Of course he’s being harassed. They’re picking on him.”
“Uncle Frank,” as Costello is known to intimates, had been subpoenaed when IRS agents arrested the bookmaker suspect, Jerry Kelly, in Dinty Moore’s. Two other luncheon companions also got subpoenas.
The luncheon was further interrupted by city detectives who arrested Costello on a vagrancy charge. This charge was later dismissed in Criminal Court.
The New York Civil Liberties Union has since criticized the police for picking him up on such a charge.
Support this project at patreon.com/realtime1960s