Isadore Blumenfeld (September 8, 1900 – June 21, 1981), who was commonly known as Kid Cann, was the most notorious mobster in Minneapolis from the mid-1920s to the early-1960s. He was a life-long criminal and he was reputed to be protected by corrupt politicians.
Before Prohibition, Kid Cann and his two brothers were considered to be small-time criminals. With the advent of Prohibition they established ties to Al Capone’s “Chicago Outfit” and to the Genovese crime family of New York City. Kid Cann came to oversee illegal activities in Minneapolis such as bootlegging, prostitution, extortion and labor racketeering.
He was arrested for killing taxi driver Charles Goldberg in a fight over a woman outside the Vienna Cafe on Nicollet Avenue in 1924. Kid Cann admitted to the shooting but claimed it was an accident and was never tried.
In 1936, Kid Cann was tried for the murder of Walter Liggett the founder and editor of a weekly paper called The Midwest American. Mr. Liggett had been threatened and offered bribes to stop reporting on organized crime figures and political corruption in Minneapolis. He was machine-gunned in the alley behind his home on December 9, 1935. His wife and daughter witnessed the murder as did several neighbors. All identified Kid Cann as the shooter. During the trial, Kid Cann’s barber provided an alibi and Kid Cann was acquitted of the murder.
At 4:00 am on February 23, 1928, Minneapolis Police Officers James H. Trepanier and Bernard Wynne responded to a call for help from one of Kid Cann’s hangouts. The call came from The Cotton Club which was located at 716 6th Avenue North. A fight had broken out amongst patrons. Upon entering the club, Officers Trepanier and Wynne ordered several patrons to line up against a wall to be searched for weapons. A few seconds later, five men in a corner overturned a table, hid behind it and started shooting.
Both officers were shot but were able to return fire and gain control of the room. When back-up arrived, 30 persons – including Kid Cann – were arrested and taken to the Minneapolis City Jail.
Officers Trepanier and Wynne were taken immediately to General Hospital. Officer Trepanier had been hit several times and was paralyzed from the waist down. Officer Wynne was hit in the leg. Kid Cann was arrested for the shooting of both officers and the attempted murder of Officer Trepanier but was released due to insufficient evidence. It is generally now accepted that the shooter of Officer Trepanier was not Kid Cann but was gangster Verne Miller.
In 1959, Kid Cann was tried along with several others for fraud in connection with Twin Cities Rapid Transit. He was the only defendant who was acquitted in the trial.
But then suddenly later that year, his luck ran out. Kid Cann was convicted of a Mann Act violation due to his long association with a prostitute and sentenced to two years in prison.
In 1961, Kid Cann was convicted of running illegal liquor operations in Minneapolis, and attempting to bribe a juror in the case. He was sentenced to eight years in Leavenworth.
After he was released from prison, Kid Cann moved to Miami Beach with his frIend Meyer Lansky where they focused on stock market fraud, money laundering and questionable real estate dealings.
Kid Cann died in Minneapolis of heart disease in 1981.
Material on Kid Cann is taken from Paul Maccabee in the article “Alias Kid Cann” from Minneapolis-St. Paul Magazine (November 1991), and the book John Dillinger Slept Here from Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1995
Material about the shooting of Officers Trepanier and Wynne is taken from Killed in the Line of Duty by Sergeant Tony Miranda, 1998
Photograph of Kid Cann handcuffed and being led into federal custody in 1961 (taken by Don Black of the Minneapolis Star Tribune) courtesy of Minnesota Historical Society