Organized crime in Minneapolis

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Organized crime in Minneapolis first attracted national attention in 1903 when mobbed up Mayor Doc Ames (1842-1911) was exposed by Lincoln Steffens in the book, The Shame of the Cities. Steffens account and subsequent trials revealed a police department recruited from ex-felons shaking down the Minneapolis underworld on the Mayor's behalf. Ames later fled the State, spending a very short period as a fugitive before being arrested and extradited to Minnesota. He was convicted of receiving a bribe and sentenced to six years in prison. His sentence was later overturned on appeal.

In 1919, the 18th Amendment transformed the face of American crime forever, transforming small time hoodlums into major organized crime figures. In Minneapolis, the underworld was dominated by local gangs of the Irish mob, flanked by Jewish gangsters, dirty cops, and corrupt politicians from the Republican, Democratic, and Farmer-Labor Parties.

Romanian-Jewish immigrant Isadore Blumenfeld, alias Kid Cann, (1900-1981), was changed overnight from a nickel and dime pimp and bookmaker from the Northside, Minneapolis into a respected godfather with close ties to both the Chicago Outfit and the Genovese crime family. Assisted by his brothers Jacob and Harry, Kid Cann's "Minneapolis Combination" dealt in bootleg booze, trucking distribution routes, illegal gambling, and real estate deals throughout the American Sun Belt. He is by far the most notorious gangster in the City’s history.

Rival crime families were run by David Berman, Thomas W. Banks, and "Big Ed" Morgan. These gangsters tended to cooperate on business and avoid turf wars by appealing to the mediation of the National Commission. In the process, Minneapolis became a major center of bootleg booze, gambling, brothels and unbridled corruption.

Finally we have Deuce Casper(1936-2003), Baldy street gang founder and boss. Here over 1,000 thugs roamed the streets from 1955 – 1975 creating mayhem and fear. Deuce Casper himself robbed banks, jewelry stores and armored cars, while his cohorts robbed commercial businesses and ran massive drug dealing operations.

The most notable Baldy was Perry (The Scholar) Millik (1944 – 2003), who ran commercial burglary rings, drug manufacturing houses, was involved in massive real estate frauds, and was the front man for real estate purchases for the infamous Alexander Brothers (porn and prostitution kings).

Black and Hispanic drug gangs, along with the biker gangs like the Hells Angels, are also a problem for this metropolitan area of three million people.