Isadore Blumenfeld (September 8, 1900 – June 21, 1981), commonly known as Kid Cann, was a Romanian
Jewish-American organized crime
Jewish-American organized crime initially emerged within the American Jewish community during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It has been referred to variously in media and popular culture as the Jewish Mob, Jewish Mafia, Kosher Mob, K ...
enforcer based in
Minneapolis
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
,
Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
, for over four decades. He remains the most notorious
mobster
A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from ''mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level of organization and ...
in the history of Minnesota. He was associated with several high-profile crimes in the city's history, including the 1924 murder of cab driver Charles Goldberg, the attempted murder of police officer James H. Trepanier, and the December 1935 assassination of
investigative journalist
Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years rese ...
Walter Liggett
Walter William Liggett (February 14, 1886 – December 9, 1935), was an American journalist who worked at several newspapers in New York City, including the ''New York Times'', '' The Sun'', ''New York Post'', and the '' New York Daily News''.
...
. He is also thought to have participated in the fraudulent dismantling of the
Twin City Rapid Transit
The Twin City Rapid Transit Company (TCRT), also known as Twin City Lines (TCL), was a transportation company that operated streetcars and buses in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Minnesota. Other types of transpo ...
street railway during the early 1950s.
Blumenfeld was convicted of violating the federal
Mann Act
The White-Slave Traffic Act, also called the Mann Act, is a United States federal law, passed June 25, 1910 (ch. 395, ; ''codified as amended at'' ). It is named after Congressman James Robert Mann of Illinois.
In its original form the act mad ...
in 1959 and, after a short prison term, retired to
Miami Beach, Florida
Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and artificial island, man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the ...
, where he and
Meyer Lansky
Meyer Lansky (born Maier Suchowljansky; July 4, 1902 – January 15, 1983), known as the "Mob's Accountant", was an American organized crime figure who, along with his associate Charles "Lucky" Luciano, was instrumental in the development of the ...
operated a real estate empire. He was involved in organized crime in Miami Beach and
Havana, Cuba
Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center. , until his death.
Life
Early life
Blumenfeld was born in 1900 in the
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
n
shtetl
A shtetl or shtetel (; yi, שטעטל, translit=shtetl (singular); שטעטלעך, romanized: ''shtetlekh'' (plural)) is a Yiddish term for the small towns with predominantly Ashkenazi Jewish populations which existed in Eastern Europe before ...
of
Râmnicu Sărat
Râmnicu Sărat (also spelled ''Rîmnicu Sărat'', , german: Rümnick or ''Rebnick''; tr, Remnik) is a city in Buzău County, Romania, in the historical region of Muntenia. It was first attested in a document of 1439, and raised to the rank of ' ...
,
Buzău County
Buzău County () is a county ( județ) of Romania, in the historical region Muntenia, with the capital city at Buzău.
Demographics
In 2011, it had a population of 432,054 and the population density was 70.7/km2.
* Romanians – 97%
* Roma ...
, to an
Orthodox Jew
Orthodox Judaism is the collective term for the traditionalist and theologically conservative branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as revealed by God to Moses on M ...
ish family. According to U.S.
Immigration and Naturalization Service
The United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was an agency of the U.S. Department of Labor from 1933 to 1940 and the U.S. Department of Justice from 1940 to 2003.
Referred to by some as former INS and by others as legacy INS, ...
documents, his parents emigrated to America in 1902 via the port of
Duluth, Minnesota
, settlement_type = City
, nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior), Zenith City
, motto =
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top: urban Duluth skyline; Minnesota ...
. His father, a
Romanian Jew
Romanian may refer to:
*anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania
**Romanians, an ethnic group
**Romanian language, a Romance language
*** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language
** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...
ish
furrier
Fur clothing is clothing made from the preserved skins of mammals. Fur is one of the oldest forms of clothing, and is thought to have been widely used by people for at least 120,000 years. The term 'fur' is often used to refer to a specific i ...
named Phillip Blumenfeld, settled his wife Eva Blumenfeld (née Abromowitz) at 824 S. Seventh Street
Minneapolis
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
. During childhood, Isadore had to leave school and support his family by selling newspapers on Minneapolis' "Newspaper Row." At the time, the best selling locations had to be held by force against gangs of other boys. Blumenfeld would also tell stories of how he had made extra money picking up bus tokens and reselling them. Enraged by the poverty of his family, he turned to running errands for the pimps and madams of Minneapolis's
red light district
A red-light district or pleasure district is a part of an urban area where a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, and adult theaters, are found. In most cases, red-light districts are partic ...
.
Two tales are told of the origins of his famous nickname. According to one legend, he picked up the name during a brief attempt at boxing. Another story told by his fellow North Side Jews alleges that young Isadore Blumenfeld would always lock himself in the
outhouse
An outhouse is a small structure, separate from a main building, which covers a toilet. This is typically either a pit latrine or a bucket toilet, but other forms of dry toilet, dry (non-flushing) toilets may be encountered. The term may als ...
(that is, the "can") to avoid gang fights in the neighborhood. Kid Cann indignantly denied both versions. Journalist
Neal Karlen
Neal (Neil) is a given masculine name and surname of Gaelic and Irish language, Irish origin. The name is an Anglicisation of the Irish Niall which is of disputed derivation. The Irish name may be derived from words meaning "cloud", "passionate", ...
confirms that both stories were false, "Kid enjoyed not only fighting, but killing."
Prohibition
With the onset of
Prohibition
Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...
, Kid Cann and his brothers Harry Bloom and Jacob Blumenfeld (alias "Dandy" and "
Yiddy Bloom"), were transformed from small-time hoods into major organized crime figures in association with the
American Mafia
The American Mafia, commonly referred to in North America as the Italian American Mafia, the Mafia, or the Mob, is a highly organized Italian American criminal society and organized crime group. The organization is often referred to by its membe ...
.
By his 20s, Blumenfeld and his brothers held considerable power over criminal activities in Minneapolis and oversaw
bootlegging,
illegal gambling
Gaming law is the set of rules and regulations that apply to the gaming or gambling industry. Gaming law is not a branch of law in the traditional sense but rather is a collection of several areas of law that include criminal law, regulatory law, c ...
,
prostitution
Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...
,
extortion
Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, ...
, and labor
racketeering
Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercive, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit.
Originally and of ...
. Neil Karlen has described their organization as, "led by the Kid on machine gun and Harry and Yiddy Bloom on brains."
Their ties to the
Chicago Outfit
The Chicago Outfit (also known as the Outfit, the Chicago Mafia, the Chicago Mob, the Chicago crime family, the South Side Gang or The Organization) is an Italian-American organized crime syndicate or crime family based in Chicago, Illinois, tha ...
and
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
's
Genovese crime family
The Genovese crime family, () also sometimes referred to as the Westside, is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City and New Jersey as part of the American M ...
date back to the Prohibition period.
According to a later trial, they would legally import industrial grade alcohol from
Samuel Bronfman
Samuel Bronfman, (February 27, 1889 – July 10, 1971) was a Canadian businessman and philanthropist. He founded Distillers Corporation Limited, and is a member of the Canadian Bronfman family.
Biography
Samuel Bronfman was born in Otaci, So ...
s distillery in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
, which was shipped across the
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...
to
Duluth
, settlement_type = City
, nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior), Zenith City
, motto =
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top: urban Duluth skyline; Minnesota ...
, and then driven on souped up Ford automobiles to the La Pompoudor "perfume factory" in the Twin Cities. The brothers also ran illegal distilleries in the forests near
Fort Snelling
Fort Snelling is a former military fortification and National Historic Landmark in the U.S. state of Minnesota on the bluffs overlooking the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers. The military site was initially named Fort Saint Anth ...
.
According to historian Elaine Davis, Kid Cann and his brothers, like many other organized crime figures from the
Twin Cities
Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in statu ...
,
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
, and
Kansas City
The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...
, made frequent trips to
Stearns and
Morrison Morrison may refer to:
People
* Morrison (surname), people with the Scottish surname Morrison
* Morrison Heady (1829–1915), American poet
* Morrison Mann MacBride (1877–1938), Canadian merchant
Places in the United States
* Morrison, Colorad ...
Counties to purchase
Minnesota 13; a very high quality
moonshine
Moonshine is high-proof liquor that is usually produced illegally. The name was derived from a tradition of creating the alcohol during the nighttime, thereby avoiding detection. In the first decades of the 21st century, commercial dist ...
distilled locally by
Polish- and
German-American
German Americans (german: Deutschamerikaner, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. With an estimated size of approximately 43 million in 2019, German Americans are the largest of the self-reported ancestry groups by the Unite ...
farmers with the collusion of local politicians and law enforcement. Davis writes that the main go-between connecting local moonshiners with organized crime was
Melrose resident "Chick" Molitor, who lived with his family on a dairy farm near
Big Birch Lake. The Blumenfelds, with whom Molitor had a very close business relationship, visited the area so often that they allegedly owned property south of the Rock Tavern in Melrose.
According to
Twin Cities
Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in statu ...
crime reporter Paul Maccabee, Kid Cann's rivalry with Minneapolis's
Irish Mob
The Irish Mob (also known as the Irish mafia or Irish organized crime) is a collective of organized crime syndicates composed of ethnic Irish members which operate primarily in Ireland, the United States, Canada and Australia, and have been in ...
ended after he and Irish Mob bosses Big Ed Morgan and
Tommy Banks
Thomas Benjamin Banks (December 17, 1936 – January 25, 2018) was a Canadian pianist, conductor, arranger, composer, television personality and senator.
Television and musical career
Banks was the host of nationally - and internationally - s ...
divided the city with a handshake.
A number of deaths are attributed to Blumenfeld and his gang, including journalists who were killed after writing articles exposing the inner workings of his organization as well as his ties to corrupt politicians from several parties. A Jewish restaurant owner who recalls this era once said that the Blumenfelds were worshipped by several generations of neighborhood boys.
There was a high degree of political and civil corruption in the region in the 1920s and 1930s. The mainstream newspapers hardly mentioned what was going on, as any outlet that published articles critical of the status quo was threatened. Some small
tabloid newspapers attempted to report what was going on, but reporters and editors quickly became targets.
Howard Guilford of the ''Twin City Reporter'' was shot and killed on September 6, 1934.
Sports journalist
Sid Hartman
Sidney Hartman (March 15, 1920October 18, 2020) was an American sports journalist for the Minneapolis '' Star Tribune'' and the WCCO 830 AM radio station. For 20 years, he was also a panelist on the weekly television program ''Sports Show with ...
, who grew up in a poor
Russian Jew
The history of the Jews in Russia and areas historically connected with it goes back at least 1,500 years. Jews in Russia have historically constituted a large religious and ethnic diaspora; the Russian Empire at one time hosted the largest pop ...
ish family in North Minneapolis, was an eleven year old newspaper peddler when he was brought by ''
Minneapolis Tribune
The ''Star Tribune'' is the largest newspaper in Minnesota. It originated as the ''Minneapolis Tribune'' in 1867 and the competing ''Minneapolis Daily Star'' in 1920. During the 1930s and 1940s, Minneapolis's competing newspapers were consolida ...
'' street circulation manager Joseph Katzman into the upper room at Jack Doyle's restaurant on
Hennepin Avenue
Hennepin Avenue is a major street in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. It runs from Lakewood Cemetery (at West 36th Street), north through the Uptown District of Southwest Minneapolis, through the Virginia Triangle, the former "Bottleneck" a ...
between Fourth and Fifth Streets. At the time, the restaurant was downstairs and upstairs was one of the largest
sports betting
Sports betting is the activity of predicting sports results and placing a wager on the outcome. The frequency of sports bet upon varies by culture, with the vast majority of bets being placed on association football, American football, basket ...
operations in Minneapolis. Kid Cann, Tommy Banks, and the Berman Brothers were regular visitors and Hartman's decades long friendship with them began during those years.
From their headquarters at ''The Flame'' jazz club in Minneapolis' Washington Avenue Gateway District, the AZ Syndicate also committed many other crimes.
According to Hartman, "Kid Cann would bring in
Sophie Tucker
Sophie Tucker (born Sofia Kalish; January 13, 1886 – February 9, 1966) was an American singer, comedian, actress, and radio personality. Known for her powerful delivery of comical and risqué songs, she was one of the most popular entertaine ...
,
Cab Calloway
Cabell Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, conductor and dancer. He was associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he was a regular performer and became a popular vocalist ...
- entertainers like that - to appear at his club. Then, after hours, they would close the doors and the real show would begin. One time, the cops came barging in at 4am, took us all out, and put everyone in the Paddy wagon. If they had booked me with the rest of the people, I probably would have made the newspaper and lost my job at the ''Tribune''. I did some begging and the cops let me go."
On August 23, 1933, a Federal
grand jury
A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a pe ...
in
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...
indicted Blumenfeld for
money laundering
Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...
.
The $200,000 ransom
Machine Gun Kelly
George Kelly Barnes (July 18, 1895 – July 18, 1954), better known by his pseudonym "Machine Gun Kelly", was an American gangster from Memphis, Tennessee, active during the Prohibition era. His nickname came from his favorite weapon, a Thomps ...
had received following the kidnapping of oil man
Charles F. Urschel
Charles Frederick Urschel (March 7, 1890 – September 26, 1970) was an American oil business tycoon and kidnap victim of George "Machine Gun" Kelly.
Urschel eventually helped solve the crime himself by carefully noting every piece of evidenc ...
had been traced to Hennepin State Bank in Minneapolis. Blumenfeld was arrested and transported to Oklahoma City to await his trial. Minneapolis Police Chief Joseph Lehmeyer traveled down to Oklahoma City to testify in favor of Kid Cann and the charges were dropped.
In December 1933, the AZ Syndicate's accountant, Conrad Althen, who had become a secret informant for the
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory ta ...
and whom according to Paul Maccabee "knew where every penny and body was buried", was thrown out of a car into a
Dakota County Dakota County may refer to:
*Dakota County, Minnesota in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area of east-central Minnesota
*Dakota County, Nebraska
Dakota County is a county in the U.S. state of Nebraska. As of th2020 United States Census the populati ...
cornfield and shot to death with a
Thompson submachine gun
The Thompson submachine gun (also known as the "Tommy Gun", "Chicago Typewriter", "Chicago Piano", “Trench Sweeper” or "Trench Broom") is a blowback-operated, air-cooled, magazine-fed selective-fire submachine gun, invented by United Stat ...
.
After Prohibition
Following the end of Prohibition, Blumenfeld and his family continued to maintain control over the now legal liquor industry and owned, "all the big liquor stores; East Hennepin, Loring Liquors, and Lake Street. They monopolized the liquor business, and that's why they had so many enemies."
According to an internal FBI memo, "It is impossible to operate any place in Minneapolis without first getting permission from the Syndicate, and if a place is operated without obtaining such permission, the Syndicate sees to it that the new place is immediately closed."
The Liggett murder
The most notorious murder was that of
Walter Liggett
Walter William Liggett (February 14, 1886 – December 9, 1935), was an American journalist who worked at several newspapers in New York City, including the ''New York Times'', '' The Sun'', ''New York Post'', and the '' New York Daily News''.
...
, one of the founders of the
Farmer-Labor Party and the editor of a weekly newspaper called ''The Midwest American''.
As part of what was termed the "Ligget-Townley Revolt" against Farmer Labor Party leader and Minnesota Governor
Floyd Olson
Floyd Bjørnstjerne "Skipper" Olson (November 13, 1891 – August 22, 1936) was an American politician and lawyer. He served as the 22nd Governor of Minnesota from January 6, 1931, to August 22, 1936, dying in office of stomach cancer. Olson wa ...
, Ligget began reporting on links he found between Twin Cities Irish and Jewish
organized crime
Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...
and senior politicians from the Farmer-Labor Party. Beginning on June 29, 1935, every issue of ''The Midwest American'' printed ten reasons for impeaching Governor Olson, including
political corruption
Political corruption is the use of powers by government officials or their network contacts for illegitimate private gain.
Forms of corruption vary, but can include bribery, lobbying, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, parochialism, patronage, in ...
and collusion with organized crime.
Throughout September 1935, Liggett reported on "a wet-councilmanic ring" which allowed "The Syndicate", led by the Blumenfeld brothers, to dominate the newly legalized liquor trade in Minneapolis. During the same month, ''The Midwest American'' also published articles about Kid Cann's criminal history and how associate Meyer Schuldberg employed him as a "salesman" for ''La Pompadour'' perfume factory during Prohibition, which had switched since repeal to producing Chesapeake Brands Liquors. Liggett also alleged that the Blumenfelds had been so certain that the city council would grant them a license for Lake Street liquors, that they had begun buying advertisements ten days before the council's vote.
After announcing in print that he had refused offers of both bribes and paid advertisements by AZ Syndicate-controlled businesses, Liggett reported on October 2, 1935, that Minneapolis aldermen Henry Banks and Romeo Riley had both attended the
prizefight
Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...
between
Joe Louis
Joseph Louis Barrow (May 13, 1914 – April 12, 1981) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1934 to 1951. Nicknamed the Brown Bomber, Louis is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential boxers of all time. He rei ...
and
Max Baer Max Baer may refer to:
* Max Baer (boxer) (1909–1959), American boxing world champion
** Max Baer Jr.
Maximilian Adelbert Baer Jr. (born December 4, 1937) is an American actor, producer, comedian, and director widely known for his role as ...
as personal guests of Kid Cann. Liggett also reported that State Liquor Commissioner David Arundel had also attended the fight as a guest of Farmer-Labor fixer and Syndicate liquor lobbyist Fred Ossanna.
According to Neal Karlen, Kid Cann allegedly claimed to fellow members of Minneapolis' criminal underworld that Liggett was using ''The Midwest American'' to try and extort money from ''him''. Blumenfeld allegedly also believed that no journalist would ever dare to report Governor Olson's ties to the AZ Syndicate and was outraged when Liggett did so.
Liggett was beaten up, prosecuted for a non-existent rape incident, and finally died after being machine gunned in the alley behind his home on December 9, 1935. His wife and daughter witnessed the assassination as did several neighbors. All identified Kid Cann as the shooter. Kid Cann was indicted by a
grand jury
A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a pe ...
and, on January 29, 1936, his trial began, where he was prosecuted jointly by the Hennepin County Attorney and the State's Attorney's Office.
Meanwhile, Kid Cann's younger half-brother Jacob Blumenfeld, alias "Yiddy Bloom", whom many sources allege to have been the
acting boss
A crime boss, also known as a crime lord, Don, gang lord, gang boss, mob boss, kingpin, godfather, crime mentor or criminal mastermind, is a person in charge of a criminal organization.
Description
A crime boss typically has absolute or nearl ...
of the organization, resurfaced in Paris. In an interview with the ''
Washington Times
''The Washington Times'' is an American conservative daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., that covers general interest topics with a particular emphasis on national politics. Its broadsheet daily edition is distributed throughout ...
'', Jacob Blumenfeld called Liggett's murder, "a terrible extreme, but what the hell. Liggett persecuted the AZ Syndicate, which only wanted to live in peace with him. He was fiercely honest and became ridiculously inconvenient."
Poor investigative work and a careless trial, however, meant that Kid Cann was acquitted. Edith Liggett always believed that Minnesota Governor
Floyd Olson
Floyd Bjørnstjerne "Skipper" Olson (November 13, 1891 – August 22, 1936) was an American politician and lawyer. He served as the 22nd Governor of Minnesota from January 6, 1931, to August 22, 1936, dying in office of stomach cancer. Olson wa ...
and
Farmer-Labor Party fixer Charles Ward were responsible for setting up her husband's murder. Liggett had repeatedly accused the Governor in print of having links to organized crime.
Other crimes
Although indicted for shooting dead taxicab driver Charles Goldberg and arrested for the attempted murder of police officer James H. Trepanier, who was left paralyzed, Blumenfeld continued to avoid conviction for serious crimes.
According to Twin Cities crime historian Paul Maccabee, FBI files reveal that rival Minneapolis Jewish mob boss
David Berman contributed very heavily to
Marvin L. Kline
Marvin Lewis Kline (August 9, 1903 – April 9, 1974) was an architectural engineer, Republican politician, charity head, and criminal who served as the 34th mayor of Minneapolis.
Early life and career
Kline was born in Brunswick, Nebraska ...
's mayoral campaign under the understanding that Berman would receive a
monopoly
A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...
over
illegal gambling
Gaming law is the set of rules and regulations that apply to the gaming or gambling industry. Gaming law is not a branch of law in the traditional sense but rather is a collection of several areas of law that include criminal law, regulatory law, c ...
in Minneapolis. Therefore, during Kline's 1941–1945 term as Mayor, Berman briefly eclipsed the Blumenfelds and became the leader of the Minneapolis criminal underworld.
In 1942, FBI documents described Kid Cann as the, "recognized leader of
graft
Graft or grafting may refer to:
*Graft (politics), a form of political corruption
*Graft, Netherlands, a village in the municipality of Graft-De Rijp
Science and technology
*Graft (surgery), a surgical procedure
*Grafting, the joining of plant ti ...
and
racketeering
Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercive, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit.
Originally and of ...
in Minneapolis". They added that Blumenfeld was, "known to have corrupted City and County officials... and has been known to harbor criminals of various types." The files also report that Kid Cann often boasted that he had the Minneapolis City Council, "in the palm of his hand."
FBI files also allege that Kid Cann was involved with
Bugsy Siegel
Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel (February 28, 1906 – June 20, 1947) was an American mobster who was a driving force behind the development of the Las Vegas Strip. Siegel was not only influential within the Jewish Mob, but along with his childhood frie ...
in the running of the
El Cortez Hotel and Casino in
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
.
The December 1944 issue of the ''Public Press'', edited by Walter Liggett-style anti-corruption crusader
Arthur Kasherman, featured the headline ''Kline Administration Most Corrupt Regime in the History of the City''. A month later, on the night of Jan. 22, 1945, Kasherman was ambushed after eating dinner with a friend and shot dead on a sidewalk at 15th and Chicago avenues in Minneapolis. His murder made the front pages of newspapers across the Twin Cities, but few in Minneapolis were surprised when the police investigation was quickly shut down.
Public outrage over Kasherman's murder led, however, to the first term of
Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Horatio Humphrey Jr. (May 27, 1911 – January 13, 1978) was an American pharmacist and politician who served as the 38th vice president of the United States from 1965 to 1969. He twice served in the United States Senate, representing Mi ...
, who ran for the Minneapolis mayor's office promising to be a racket buster. According to historian Paul Maccabee, however, Humphrey succeeded only in shutting down the far more visible criminal operations of David Berman and leaving those of Tommy Banks and the Blumenfelds largely unscathed. Berman and his associates then moved their operations to
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
and left the Blumenfelds to take their place in Minneapolis.
According to journalists Neal Karlen and Bob Patrin, Blumenfeld and his brothers made three verbal requests to Frank Fietek, the owner of the ''Swing City''
jazz club
A jazz club is a venue where the primary entertainment is the performance of live jazz music, although some jazz clubs primarily focus on the study and/or promotion of jazz-music. Jazz clubs are usually a type of nightclub or bar, which is license ...
at 1682 Rice Street in St. Paul, to either pay
protection money
A protection racket is a type of racket and a scheme of organized crime perpetrated by a potentially hazardous organized crime group that generally guarantees protection outside the sanction of the law to another entity or individual from viol ...
to them or hand over control of his club. When Fietek allegedly refused the third time, he was abducted and was dumped with two broken legs on County Road D. When a permanently crippled Fietek still refused to pay, his club was the target of an arson attack in November 1945. In response to Fietek's continued refusal to sell, Kid Cann was allegedly responsible for Fietek's murder by strangulation on March 4, 1946. No one, however, was ever indicted or prosecuted.
As the electric
streetcar
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...
system, operated by
Twin City Rapid Transit
The Twin City Rapid Transit Company (TCRT), also known as Twin City Lines (TCL), was a transportation company that operated streetcars and buses in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Minnesota. Other types of transpo ...
, was being dismantled in the early 1950s and replaced with diesel buses, Blumenfeld owned a 16% stake in the company. He was later accused of allying himself with an
Italian-American
Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, w ...
Farmer-Labor Party fixer turned
corporate raider
A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and re ...
named Fred Ossanna, and using force to intimidate stockholders to selling. Then, following the success of their
hostile takeover
In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, in contrast to ...
and the company's transfer from streetcars to diesel busses, both Kid Cann and Ossanna received significant
kickbacks while disposing of the scrap metal from the streetcars. What remained of
Twin City Rapid Transit
The Twin City Rapid Transit Company (TCRT), also known as Twin City Lines (TCL), was a transportation company that operated streetcars and buses in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Minnesota. Other types of transpo ...
was taken over at the behest of Governor
Orville Freeman
Orville Lothrop Freeman (May 9, 1918February 20, 2003) was an American Democratic politician who served as the 29th Governor of Minnesota from January 5, 1955, to January 2, 1961, and as the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture from 1961 to 1969 unde ...
by noted Minneapolitan
Carl Pohlad
Carl Ray Pohlad (August 23, 1915 – January 5, 2009) was an American financier from Minnesota. Pohlad is best known as the owner of the Minnesota Twins baseball franchise from 1984 (succeeding Calvin Griffith) until his death in 2009.
In 2 ...
in 1960.
In 1954, the
Chicago Crime Commission The Chicago Crime Commission is an independent, non-partisan civic watchdog organization of business leaders dedicated to educating the public about the dangers of organized criminal activity, especially organized crime, street gangs and the tools o ...
named Kid Cann as involved with the
Chicago Outfit
The Chicago Outfit (also known as the Outfit, the Chicago Mafia, the Chicago Mob, the Chicago crime family, the South Side Gang or The Organization) is an Italian-American organized crime syndicate or crime family based in Chicago, Illinois, tha ...
in the
jukebox
A jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that will play a patron's selection from self-contained media. The classic jukebox has buttons, with letters and numbers on them, which are used to selec ...
racket.
As public interest in
organized crime
Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...
grew over the course of the 1950s, Twin Cities Federal Agents and Prosecutors became increasingly determined to put Blumenfeld and his associates in prison.
During the late 1950s, the
Immigration and Naturalization Service
The United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was an agency of the U.S. Department of Labor from 1933 to 1940 and the U.S. Department of Justice from 1940 to 2003.
Referred to by some as former INS and by others as legacy INS, ...
added Blumenfeld to the "
Denaturalization
Denaturalization is the loss of citizenship against the will of the person concerned. Denaturalization is often applied to ethnic minorities and political dissidents. Denaturalization can be a penalty for actions considered criminal by the state ...
and Deportation Program". In the hope of deporting Blumenfeld back to the
Socialist Republic of Romania
The Socialist Republic of Romania ( ro, Republica Socialistă România, RSR) was a Marxist–Leninist one-party socialist state that existed officially in Romania from 1947 to 1989. From 1947 to 1965, the state was known as the Romanian People ...
for
moral turpitude
Moral turpitude is a legal concept in the United States and prior to 1976, Canada, that refers to "an act or behavior that gravely violates the sentiment or accepted standard of the community". This term appears in U.S. immigration law beginning ...
, both the INS and the FBI launched an investigation between 1959 and 1960 of Kid Cann's sexual activities.
According to Blumenfeld's close friend
Sid Hartman
Sidney Hartman (March 15, 1920October 18, 2020) was an American sports journalist for the Minneapolis '' Star Tribune'' and the WCCO 830 AM radio station. For 20 years, he was also a panelist on the weekly television program ''Sports Show with ...
, however, the Federal Government's pursuit of "The AZ Syndicate" was motivated solely by
anti-Semitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
. Hartman wrote in his memoirs, "It was OK for the
Kennedy family
The Kennedy family is an American political family that has long been prominent in American politics, public service, entertainment, and business. In 1884, 35 years after the family's arrival from Ireland, Patrick Joseph "P. J." Kennedy be ...
in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
and for some of the families that are now among the wealthiest in the
Twin Cities
Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in statu ...
- families living off
trust fund
A trust is a legal relationship in which the holder of a right gives it to another person or entity who must keep and use it solely for another's benefit. In the Anglo-American common law, the party who entrusts the right is known as the "settl ...
s in
Wayzata
Wayzata ( ) is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. A western suburb of the Twin Cities, Wayzata is situated along the northern shore of Lake Minnetonka about west of Minneapolis. Known for its small-town character and lakeside lo ...
- to have made their money in
bootlegging. But it drove a lot of people nuts that the Jews were running Minneapolis and still making money in the liquor business."
Convictions and imprisonment
In 1959, Kid Cann was indicted on Federal charges for violating the
Mann Act
The White-Slave Traffic Act, also called the Mann Act, is a United States federal law, passed June 25, 1910 (ch. 395, ; ''codified as amended at'' ). It is named after Congressman James Robert Mann of Illinois.
In its original form the act mad ...
by transporting a
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
prostitute
Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penet ...
named Marilyn Tollefson across State lines to work for his prostitution ring in the
Twin Cities
Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in statu ...
. Although Blumenfeld's defense counsel read "smoky passages" from Tollefson's love letters to Kid Cann to suggest that, "it was not just money that lured her across State lines", in 1960 a Federal court found Blumenfeld guilty and sentenced him to two years imprisonment.
As this conviction was being appealed, a Federal grand jury indicted Kid Cann, Fred Ossanna, and six other executives of the
Twin City Rapid Transit Company
The Twin City Rapid Transit Company (TCRT), also known as Twin City Lines (TCL), was a transportation company that operated streetcars and buses in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Minnesota. Other types of transp ...
for
mail fraud
Mail fraud and wire fraud are terms used in the United States to describe the use of a physical or electronic mail system to defraud another, and are federal crimes there. Jurisdiction is claimed by the federal government if the illegal activit ...
,
wire fraud
Mail fraud and wire fraud are terms used in the United States to describe the use of a physical or electronic mail system to fraud, defraud another, and are Federal crime in the United States, federal crimes there. Jurisdiction is claimed by the ...
, and transporting fraudulently obtained property across State lines. All defendants were convicted at trial, except Blumenfeld, who was acquitted of all thirteen charges against him.
In another Federal trial in 1960, the
IRS
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory tax ...
used ownership forms to prove that Blumenfeld, his relatives, and other members of the "AZ Syndicate" continued to control the Minneapolis liquor industry. Blumenfeld offered a $10,000 bribe to one of the jurors, but was caught within hours. When charged with attempted
jury tampering
Jury tampering is the crime of unduly attempting to influence the composition and/or decisions of a jury during the course of a trial (law), trial. The means by which this crime could be perpetrated can include attempting to discredit potential ju ...
, Blumenfeld plead guilty.
In an interview with Paul Maccabee, FBI Special Agent Bill Lais recalled sitting with Blumenfeld as he awaited sentencing, "Isadore lit my cigarette for me, took off my coat for me, called me, 'sir'. He admitted that he'd tried to bribe a juror at his trial. Then he said he wanted to send a nice present to my wife. It was Cann's opening gambit to see if I could be bribed, too!"
In 1961, after being accused during sentencing of ordering rigged dice for use in his Twin Cities illegal gambling operations, of blowing up a business rival's house in Miami Beach, and of receiving a cut of the money skimmed from Las Vegas' ''
Sands Hotel and Casino
The Sands Hotel and Casino was a historic American hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada, United States, that operated from 1952 to 1996. Designed by architect Wayne McAllister, with a prominent high sign, the Sands was the sevent ...
'' through a "strawman" named Mr. Isaacs, Kid Cann was sentenced by Federal Judge
Edward Devitt
Edward James Devitt (May 5, 1911 – March 2, 1992) was a United States representative from Minnesota and a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota.
Education and career
Born in Saint Paul ...
to a second two-year sentence for attempted
jury tampering
Jury tampering is the crime of unduly attempting to influence the composition and/or decisions of a jury during the course of a trial (law), trial. The means by which this crime could be perpetrated can include attempting to discredit potential ju ...
.
Kid Cann served four years at
USP Leavenworth and was released in 1964, after his wife Lillian paid his $12,500 fine for violating the Mann Act.
Later years
After his release from prison, Kid Cann moved to
Miami Beach, Florida
Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and artificial island, man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the ...
with his brothers. They continued to make money through criminal activities, though they changed tack and focused instead on questionable real estate dealings. In 1967, Miami newspapers alleged that Kid Cann,
Meyer Lansky
Meyer Lansky (born Maier Suchowljansky; July 4, 1902 – January 15, 1983), known as the "Mob's Accountant", was an American organized crime figure who, along with his associate Charles "Lucky" Luciano, was instrumental in the development of the ...
, and their relatives either owned or had financial stakes in ten of Miami's best hotels. Blumenfeld and Lansky were also alleged to have set up a labyrinth of businesses, deeds, mortgages, leases, and subleases to conceal their involvement and evade Federal income taxes.
According to Neal Karlen, Lansky once said of Blumenfeld, "I wouldn't trust that ''momzer''", (bastard), "with my pocket comb." Karlen adds, however, that Lansky loved Blumenfeld's brothers Harry and Yiddy and could refuse them nothing.
Kid Cann frequently visited his family and friends in Minnesota. During an interview with a Minneapolis reporter in 1976, Blumenfeld denounced the Federal Agents and Prosecutors who had put him away as his "persecutors", and called his conviction under the Mann Act, a "trumped up charge", that involved, "a two-dollar whore." Blumenfeld added that he had recently turned down an offer to write his memoirs, saying "I have nothing to say, really."
In 1978, however, Blumenfeld and his brothers were allegedly responsible for manipulating
Magic Marker
A marker pen, fine liner, marking pen, felt-tip pen, felt pen, flow marker, sign pen (in South Korea), vivid (in New Zealand), texta (in Australia), sketch pen (in South Asia) or koki (in South Africa), is a pen which has its own ink source a ...
stock prices.
Personal life
Blumenfeld smoked
Parliament cigarettes and wore flashy clothes. His favorite outfit included a maroon suit, maroon suede shoes, a canary yellow shirt, and matching socks.
Blumenfeld reportedly hated his famous nickname and preferred to be called Dr. Ferguson, or "Fergie", especially by his many female lovers. He would also oddly enough ask his family to call him, "Fergie" as well.
According to Paul Maccabee, after the death of legendary Twin Cities madam Nina Clifford in July 1929, the AZ Syndicate assigned Blumenfeld's girlfriend, Lillian Lee, to run Clifford's brothel at 147 and 145 South Washington Street in St. Paul. City Directories confirm that Lillian Lee, described as a "saleswoman", ran the brothel between 1931 and 1934.
After several years of living together, Blumenfeld and Lillian Lee were married on August 25, 1936. They had no children and, following her death, Lillian Blumenfeld was buried next to her husband at Adath Yeshurun Cemetery in Edina.
Death
After allegedly returning home to die, Kid Cann died in Minneapolis'
Mount Sinai Hospital of heart disease on June 21, 1981. Blumenfeld's death was news from coast to coast.
At the time of his death, Isadore Blumenfeld's estate was conservatively estimated at $10 million. According to an
obituary
An obituary ( obit for short) is an article about a recently deceased person. Newspapers often publish obituaries as news articles. Although obituaries tend to focus on positive aspects of the subject's life, this is not always the case. Ac ...
in ''
Time Magazine
''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on Mar ...
'' which incorrectly listed his place of death as
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, Kid Cann was also a
philanthropist
Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...
and, although Jewish, had donated an estimated 10% of his estimated $10 million fortune to churches as well as to synagogues. When once asked why, Blumenfeld had replied, "I believe in playing all the angles. I'm superstitious."
Rabbi
A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...
Max Shapiro of
Temple Israel, "the leading rabbi at the largest congregation in the city", and "the city's most sought after eulogist", recited the graveside services and the ''
Kaddish
Kaddish or Qaddish or Qadish ( arc, קדיש "holy") is a hymn praising God that is recited during Jewish prayer services. The central theme of the Kaddish is the magnification and sanctification of God's name. In the liturgy, different version ...
'' in a driving rain before Blumenfeld's burial at the Adath Yeshurun Cemetery in
Edina, Minnesota
Edina ( ) is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States and a first-ring suburb of Minneapolis. The population was 53,494 at the 2020 census, making it the 18th most populous city in Minnesota.
Edina began as a small farming and mil ...
. Taxi driver Charles Goldberg, whom Blumenfeld shot dead in an allegedly accidental shooting during, "an argument over a girl", in front of Minneapolis' Café Vienna in 1924, lies buried only a few yards away.
In an onsite interview with ''Minneapolis Tribune'' reporter
Bonnie Miller Rubin, mourner Harry Horowitz said of Blumenfeld, "He was a wonderful fellow when a person needed something. He helped out many a person who was broke - who had absolutely nothing. He never forgot his friends and he always kept the family together."
Rabbi Shapiro later recalled,
After Kid Cann's funeral, I received a call from someone who asked how could I possibly officiate at the funeral of such a terrible human being? And I answered, it's my belief that every Jew at death, no matter what he did in life, deserves to have the Mourners Kaddish – the last prayer – said for him. So I said Kaddish for Kid Cann.
Folklore
In
Minnesota folklore Minnesota folklore, although its study and documentation has never been a priority among academics, is exceptionally rich. As the state has been the residence of such a wide variety of ethnic groups, Minnesota's folktales and folk songs are reflecti ...
, tales of Kid Cann and his rumored dark deeds may be considered to have made him a local
urban legend
An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family m ...
, similar to
Al Capone
Alphonse Gabriel Capone (; January 17, 1899 – January 25, 1947), sometimes known by the nickname "Scarface", was an American gangster and businessman who attained notoriety during the Prohibition era as the co-founder and boss of the ...
or
Whitey Bulger
James Joseph "Whitey" Bulger Jr. (; September 3, 1929 – October 30, 2018) was an American organized crime boss who led the Winter Hill Gang in the Winter Hill neighborhood of Somerville, Massachusetts, a city directly northwest of Bost ...
.
In later years, he was alleged to have installed bulletproof windows on his suburban house and to have been able to fix any problem with a single phone call. During his lifetime, Kid Cann bore a love–hate relationship with his legend, on one hand glorying in the attention and also feeling infuriated by the increased F.B.I. surveillance that it brought him beginning in the early 1950s. In a 1976 interview, he snapped, "Ninety percent of what was written about me is bullshit!"
In popular culture
* In October 2010, the "Minnesota Landmarks and Lakeshore Players" performed a
stage play
A play is a work of drama, usually consisting mostly of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and intended for theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Reading (process), reading. The writer of a play is called a playwright.
Pla ...
about Kid Cann's life and trials at Saint Paul's
Landmark Center, the historic
Ramsey County Courthouse
The Saint Paul City Hall and Ramsey County Courthouse, located at 15 Kellogg Boulevard West in Saint Paul, Ramsey County, in the U.S. state of Minnesota is a twenty-story Art Deco skyscraper completed in 1932. Built during the Great Depression ...
. The play was written and directed by
Joan Gill Elwell.
Kid Cann and the Blumenfeld Family
St. Louis Park Historical Society.
See also
*''Near v. Minnesota
''Near v. Minnesota'', 283 U.S. 697 (1931), was a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark decision of the US Supreme Court under which prior restraint on publication was found to violate Freedom of the press in the United S ...
''
References
Further reading
* Cohen, Rich, "Tough Jews - Fathers, Sons, and Gangster Dreams", Vintage Books (subsidiary of Random House), 1998, 1999
* Karlen, Neal, "Augie's Secrets: The Minneapolis Mob and the King of the Hennepin Strip", ''Minnesota Historical Society Press'', April 2013.
*Paul Maccabee, "Alias Kid Cann", ''Mpls. St. Paul'', (November 1991), pages 88–91, 160–162.
*Marda Liggett Woodbury, "Stopping the Presses; The Murder of Walter W. Liggett", ''Minnesota Historical Society Press.
* Almog, Oz,
Kosher Nostra
' Jüdische Gangster in Amerika, 1890–1980 ; Jüdischen Museum der Stadt Wien ; 2003, Text Oz Almog, Erich Metz,
"The Forgotten Crime Boss: Kid Cann, the Original Teflon Don, Reigned Over Minneapolis"
Brian P. Rubin, ''City Pages'', April 22, 2015.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cann, Kid
Jewish American gangsters
1900 births
1981 deaths
Criminals from Minnesota
Depression-era gangsters
Minnesota folklore
Romanian Jews
Romanian emigrants to the United States
American people of Romanian-Jewish descent
Organized crime in Minnesota
People from Râmnicu Sărat
20th-century American Jews