There isn't much info out there about Abner Zwillman.
Murder Inc. operated in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, where I grew up. Their HQ was Midnight Rose's candy store on Saratoga Avenue near Livonia Avenue. I had a job in what was Midnight Rose's when I was in high school (many years later).
While a member of the Mangano Family, Albert A. was the Mafia boss of Ocean Hill, a neighborhood just north of Brownsville. He was a customer of Murder Inc. and also supplied some of the Italian members. Lepke was the boss of Murder Inc.
Lepke was one of the wealthiest, most powerful gangsters of the Thirties. He was smart enough to partner with and share with various Mafia families. His base was the Garment District in Manhattan, which he shared with various Mafiosi. But, he needed muscle to enforce his will--that's why he formed Murder Inc. Here, too, he was really smart:
The gang that was the core of Murder Inc. started as a local bunch of thugs, controlling a lot of organized crime in the area and beyond. Lepke put them on retainer--paying them a certain amount each week and getting them to do his violence whenever he asked, instead of paying them by each job done. That way, they were free to pursue their local rackets while owing first loyalty to Lepke. Had he paid them for "piecework," they'd have jacked up the price for each hit.
It was a great strategy, but eventually, the number of hits done by Murder Inc. came to the attention of William O'Dwyer, the Brooklyn DA, and his assistant, Burton Turkus. They placed capital murder charges on Kid Twist and Tick-Tock. They ratted out the organization, and Lepke, too. He was the only major OC boss to die in the electric chair.
