“ They do not support an inference that his occupation was real estate. They show only that the petitioner invested his illicit earnings in real estate transactions with the hope of profit. But he was neither deriving his principal income from Koslo Realty Corporation, spending any appreciable time conducting its affairs, nor making it his central business concern. He himself admitted that he operated his bootlegging enterprises from the Lexington Avenue address. All of the witnesses who testified to activities at that address recounted bootlegging transactions and not one in real estate. ”

“ That Act authorizes revocation of naturalized citizenship 'on the ground that such order and certificate of naturalization were procured by concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation * * *.' [1] The petitioner, in 1925, swore in his Preliminary Form for Naturalization, in his Petition for Naturalization, and when he appeared before a Naturalization Examiner, that his occupation was 'real estate.' The District Court found that this was 'willful misrepresentation and fraud' and that 'his true occupation was bootlegging,' 171 F.Supp. ”

“ In contending that lapse of time should be deemed to bar the Government from instituting this proceeding, the petitioner argues that the doctrine of laches should be applied to denaturalization proceedings, and that in any event, the delay of 27 years before bringing denaturalization proceedings denied him due process of law in the circumstances of the case.
It has consistently been held in the lower courts that delay which might support a defense of laches in ordinary equitable proceedings between private litigants will not bar a denaturalization proceeding brought by the Government. ”

“ The Government built its case on a solid foundation of admissions made by the petitioner in several federal and New York State inquiries beginning in 1938. In that year he admitted to a Special Agent of the Bureau of Internal Revenue that he had engaged in the illicit liquor business from 1923 or 1924 until a year or two before the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1933. In 1939 he testified before a federal grand jury in the Southern District of New York that 'I did a little bootlegging. ”

“ The practice of the Immigration and Naturalization Service apparently treated 'fraud' under the older Acts as involving willful misrepresentation or concealment of material facts. See S.Rep. No. 1515, 81st Cong., 2d Sess. 756.↑ The petitioner makes reference to the opinion of the District Court rendered upon the dismissal of the first complaint. That opinion rested the conclusion that the affidavit of good cause and the evidence were infected with wiretapping partly upon wiretaps said to have been made in the 1920's. ”

“ The judgment of the Court of Appeals will be affirmed.
The Government carries a heavy burden of proof in a proceeding to divest a naturalized citizen of his citizenship. American citizenship is a precious right. Severe consequences may attend its loss, aggravated when the person has enjoyed his citizenship for many years. ”

“ He had told the New York grand jury in 1943, when asked what 'other occupation' besides bootlegging he followed during Prohibition, that 'I was doing a little leal estate at that time.' The Government put in evidence in this proceeding state corporate records and records from the Registries of Deeds in New York City. These show that petitioner was indeed identified with three corporations empowered to engage in the purchase and sale of real estate. ”

“ In arguing contra, the petitioner relies on cases which hold that a judgment of denaturalization resulting from a proceeding in which the affidavit of good cause was not filed is not open to collateral attack on that ground. ”

“ The Advisory Committee on Amendments to the Federal Rules recommended in 1955 the addition of another specific exception, for dismissals for 'lack of an indispensable party.' Although the proposal was not adopted, one commentator has written: 'Undoubtedly a dismissal for lack of an indispensable party should be a dismissal without prejudice since the dismissal proceeds on the theory that his presence is required in order that the court may make an adjudication equitable to all persons involved. ”

“ Mirsky, 17 F.2d 275, a denaturalization case, Judge Thacher of the District Court for the Southern District of New York, who had admitted Costello to citizenship less than a year earlier, said: 'One who deliberately violates the Eighteenth Amendment of the Constitution cannot be said to be attached to the principle declared by that amendment.' At page 275. ”

“ After the plaintiff has completed the presentation of his evidence, the defendant, without waiving his right to offer evidence in the event the motion is not granted, may move for a dismissal on the ground that upon the facts and the law the plaintiff has shown no right to relief. ”

“ United States, 355 U.S. 96, 78 S.Ct. 155, 2 L.Ed.2d 126, and that his admissions were therefore to be excluded from evidence as 'fruit of the poisonous tree,' on the reasoning in Silverthorne Lumber Co. v. ”

“ State officers had a tap on the petitioner's telephone during several months of 1943. Mr. Hogan made frequent references to the tapped conversations when questioning the petitioner. The petitioner claims that his admissions of bootlegging activities during Prohibition were impelled by the belief that Mr. Hogan had learned from the tapped conversations the information sought by the questions. It is argued that the wiretaps were illegal under our decision in Benanti v. ”