February 26, 1959
Abner Zwillman seems to be somewhat forgotten today. In his time, though, he was one of the most important mobsters in New York’s underworld and a member of the Syndicate. In fact Zwillman was referred to as the Al Capone of New Jersey.
Zwillman worked the rackets, going in for gambling, labour slugging and bootlegging, with some legitimate businesses such as night clubs thrown in for kicks. Reports say that he controlled about 40 percent of all the booze that was smuggled into the United States from Canada. Now that’s a lot of whisky. The Zwillman mob was making a bundle.
Zwillman also dabbled in the movie-making industry, partially running the Projectionist Union and also payrolling the overbearing movie mogul Harry Cohn. It’s fairly common knowledge that Cohn had mob connections, and Zwillman lent the mogul quite a hefty sum. But the money wasn’t without strings, of course. Expecting the loan to be repaid—and with plenty of interest—Zwillman also demanded that Cohn give his girlfriend a movie contract. Zwillman’s girlfriend at the time was no ordinary starlet, but the original platinum blonde herself—Jean Harlow. Zwillman reputedly gave the beautiful Harlow a jewelled bracelet and a red Cadillac, among other gifts. Now that’s travelling in style.
But when the 1950s came along, Zwillman, like so many other gangsters, began to feel the pinch. In mid-1950 he was called to testify at the Kefauver Hearings and from 1953 to 1956 he endured investigation, indictment and trial for tax evasion. The Feds were finally trying to get tough with organized crime, and Zwillman was one of their targets.
The heat was really on in 1959 when Zwillman was once more called to testify before a committee, this one the McClellan Senate Committee. Zwillman was reportedly despondent and there were those—Meyer Lansky for one—who feared that he would crack under the pressure and give the whole game away. Apparently Lansky went to the Syndicate.
On February 26, 1959, Zwillman was found in his basement hanging by a cord from the ceiling. The official ruling on his death was suicide—after all, Zwillman had been pretty low, what with the McClellan investigation and his recent tax troubles. But a ruling of suicide would definitely not explain the bruises that were found on his body, particularly his wrists. On the contrary, such marks seemed to indicate that the mobster had been bound prior to being killed and then strung up after death.
One story says that Lucky Luciano, now exiled and living in Italy, confirmed that Zwillman had been murdered. Maybe only Meyer Lansky could corroborate that statement, but murdered or not, Zwillman wouldn’t be testifying any time soon.