Abner Zwillman(1899-1959)
Abner "Longy" Zwillman was an organized crime boss, known as "the Al Capone of New Jersey", and a member of the "Big Six" Mafia Ruling Commission.
Born in 1899 to a poor family in Newark, NJ, Zwillman had to leave school after his father died in 1918 to contribute to the support of his family. After a series of low-paying jobs in a restaurant and selling fruits and vegetables in his neighborhood from a rented horse and wagon, he hit on a moneymaker--selling lottery tickets (aka the "numbers" racket) to housewives in the upper-scale neighborhood of Clinton Hill. He soon realized how much money could be made in the numbers game, and it wasn't long before he--with the help of some hired muscle--was running the numbers racket in Newark all by himself.
When Prohibition began, Zwillman--always on the lookout for new opportunities--began smuggling whiskey into the US from Canada, using several Army-surplus armored trucks he bought. This proved so profitable that he was able to expand into other criminal activities, such as gambling, prostitution and labor racketeering, in addition to buying into--whether the owners wanted to or not--legitimate businesses such as restaurants and nightclubs. New Jersey authorities estimated that by the late 1920s Zwillman was raking in approximately $2 million a year.
In 1929 Zwillman helped organize what became known as the Cleveland Conference, which was one of the first meetings between Italian and Jewish organized-crime gangs. He also helped to establish the Mafia's Ruling Commission and eventually aided in putting together the National Crime Syndicate, and in fact was admitted to the commission in 1930.
When mobster Dutch Schultz was murdered in Newark in 1935, Zwillman took over his territory and operations, and it was then that he was given the name "The Al Capone of New Jersey" by local crime reporters. Zwillman was probably one of the earliest gangsters to recognize the value of good publicity--he offered a reward for the return of the kidnapped baby of aviator Charles Lindbergh and contributed $250,000 to a project to clean out the Newark slums. He started to gain political power, and would became a force to be reckoned with in New Jersey politics for the next 20 years.
In 1959 the McClellan Senate Committee investigating organized crime subpoenaed Zwillman to testify before them about his activities in organized crime and politics in New Jersey. However, not long before he was to appear in front of Congress, Zwillman was found hanged in his home in West Orange, NJ, on Feb. 2, 1959. Although police ruled it a suicide, there were some major discrepancies--for example, a series of unexplained bruises on his wrists--that led some to think he had been killed by the mob to prevent him from testifying and/or becoming a government informant.
Born in 1899 to a poor family in Newark, NJ, Zwillman had to leave school after his father died in 1918 to contribute to the support of his family. After a series of low-paying jobs in a restaurant and selling fruits and vegetables in his neighborhood from a rented horse and wagon, he hit on a moneymaker--selling lottery tickets (aka the "numbers" racket) to housewives in the upper-scale neighborhood of Clinton Hill. He soon realized how much money could be made in the numbers game, and it wasn't long before he--with the help of some hired muscle--was running the numbers racket in Newark all by himself.
When Prohibition began, Zwillman--always on the lookout for new opportunities--began smuggling whiskey into the US from Canada, using several Army-surplus armored trucks he bought. This proved so profitable that he was able to expand into other criminal activities, such as gambling, prostitution and labor racketeering, in addition to buying into--whether the owners wanted to or not--legitimate businesses such as restaurants and nightclubs. New Jersey authorities estimated that by the late 1920s Zwillman was raking in approximately $2 million a year.
In 1929 Zwillman helped organize what became known as the Cleveland Conference, which was one of the first meetings between Italian and Jewish organized-crime gangs. He also helped to establish the Mafia's Ruling Commission and eventually aided in putting together the National Crime Syndicate, and in fact was admitted to the commission in 1930.
When mobster Dutch Schultz was murdered in Newark in 1935, Zwillman took over his territory and operations, and it was then that he was given the name "The Al Capone of New Jersey" by local crime reporters. Zwillman was probably one of the earliest gangsters to recognize the value of good publicity--he offered a reward for the return of the kidnapped baby of aviator Charles Lindbergh and contributed $250,000 to a project to clean out the Newark slums. He started to gain political power, and would became a force to be reckoned with in New Jersey politics for the next 20 years.
In 1959 the McClellan Senate Committee investigating organized crime subpoenaed Zwillman to testify before them about his activities in organized crime and politics in New Jersey. However, not long before he was to appear in front of Congress, Zwillman was found hanged in his home in West Orange, NJ, on Feb. 2, 1959. Although police ruled it a suicide, there were some major discrepancies--for example, a series of unexplained bruises on his wrists--that led some to think he had been killed by the mob to prevent him from testifying and/or becoming a government informant.