1. Abner "Longie" Zwillman was a Jewish-American mobster who was based primarily in North Jersey.
25 Facts About Abner Zwillman
1. 2.
Abner Zwillman was a longtime friend and associate of mobsters Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky.
3.
Abner Zwillman was the founder of the New Jersey Minutemen, a militant anti-fascist group which operated in Newark, New Jersey from 1933 to 1941.
4.
Abner Zwillman was forced to quit school to support his family after his father's death.
5.
Abner Zwillman first began working at a Prince Street cafe, the headquarters of a local alderman in Newark's Third Ward.
6.
However, in need of more money, Abner Zwillman was eventually forced to quit, later selling fruits and vegetables in his neighborhood with a rented horse and wagon.
7.
Abner Zwillman was unable to compete with the cheaper Prince Street pushcarts so he moved to the more upper-class neighborhood of Clinton Hill, where he began selling lottery tickets to local housewives.
8.
Abner Zwillman observed that much more money was made selling lottery tickets than produce, so he concentrated on selling lottery tickets through local merchants.
9.
At the start of Prohibition, Abner Zwillman began smuggling whiskey into New Jersey through Canada, using several World War I armored trucks.
10.
Abner Zwillman later joined a syndicate headed by Joseph Reinfeld to smuggle liquor from Canada using ships.
11.
Abner Zwillman used this revenue to greatly expand his operations in illegal gambling, prostitution, and labor racketeering, as well as legitimate businesses, including several prominent night clubs and restaurants.
12.
Abner Zwillman dated actress Jean Harlow at one time and got her a two-picture deal at Columbia Pictures by giving a huge cash loan to studio head Harry Cohn.
13.
Abner Zwillman bought Harlow a jeweled bracelet and a red Cadillac.
14.
Abner Zwillman referred to her in derogatory terms to other mobsters in secret surveillance recordings.
15.
Abner Zwillman married Mary de Groot Mendels Steinbach in 1939.
16.
Abner Zwillman was the only daughter of Eugene Mendels, whose father, Emanuel S Mendels, was a founder of the American Stock Exchange.
17.
Shortly after taking over Schultz's operations, Abner Zwillman became involved in local politics, eventually controlling the majority of local politicians in Newark for over twenty years.
18.
In 1951, Abner Zwillman's activities were a major focus of the Kefauver Committee's investigation of organized crime.
19.
Several associates of Abner Zwillman were subsequently arrested and charged with bribing two of the jurors.
20.
Abner Zwillman was found hanged in his West Orange, New Jersey residence on February 26,1959, shortly before he was to appear.
21.
Abner Zwillman was buried at B'nai Abraham Memorial Park, a Jewish cemetery in Union, New Jersey, after a funeral attended by 1,850, including celebrities and his 80-year-old mother, Ella.
22.
Abner Zwillman's death was ruled a suicide, attributed to intractable income tax and health problems.
23.
However, police found bruises on Abner Zwillman's wrists, supporting a theory that Abner Zwillman had been tied up before being hanged.
24.
The theory that he was hanged was supported by deported mobster Charles "Lucky" Luciano, who allegedly told journalist Martin Gosch in Italy that the suicide theory was nonsense, and that before hanging him, Abner Zwillman's killers had trussed him up like a pig.
25.
Abner Zwillman's widow remarried three years later, to sports figure Harry Wismer.