# FBI Vault, Abner Zwillman, Part 04: Newark requests for technical surveillance, 1958

Canonical: https://mobfiles.org/items/fbi-vault-zwillman-p04-surveillance-requests-1958/

Newark memoranda of 1958 asking FBI headquarters for a "confidential surveillance transmitter" in the car that carried Zwillman and for a microphone at a Newark beverage company, on the stated ground that his operations "are extremely circumspect."

The Vault viewer shows 68 pages. The stored image is page 1, an office memorandum of March 14, 1958 from the Special Agent in Charge at Newark to the Director, attention Electronics Section, subject "Confidential Surveillance Transmitter." It asks whether a transmitter could be installed "in a 1951, Series 60 Cadillac, 4-dr. Sedan," which "is driven by a chauffeur and is used for transportation by ABNER ZWILLMAN, a notorious racketeer and one of the most important top hoodlum figures in this division."

Later pages include an April 1958 check of the Essex County naturalization petition of his father, and a September 1958 request form for technical or microphone surveillance at the office and warehouse of the Supreme Beverage Company in Newark, operated by an associate the form says may be "a 'front'" for Zwillman. Asked to explain the prospects of getting the information by other means, the form says (page 58, OCR with the name corrected): "Very poor prospects to date. ZWILLMAN's operations are extremely circumspect. He has a highly organized operation and commands unusual loyalty and prestige among his associates." Headquarters memoranda of September 1958 follow.

"Notorious racketeer" and "top hoodlum" are the Newark office's words and the name of an FBI program, not findings. The request form gives a home address, which is not reproduced. The text is read from a poor OCR; the stored page was read from the image.

## Sources

- FBI Records: The Vault: https://vault.fbi.gov/Abner%20Zwillman/Abner%20Zwillman%20Part%2004/view