Fireworks a Day Early

For gangsters William Cannon, George Collins and Mike Stitzel, 4th of July fireworks went off a day early in Detroit. Both Cannon and Collins were Motor City desperadoes who had moved to Chicago, probably for their own safety.

Cannon was shacking up with a woman named Julia Kuffell, who was the widow of a North Side gangster named Henry "Hoops-a-Daisy" Connors. He borrowed her car at the end of June and said he and Collins had to go to Detroit on business. She took this to mean, picking up booze.

July 3, 1930, found Cannon, Collins and Stitzel shooting pool. The trio left the pool hall and walked to Cannons sedan, which was parked in front of the Lasalle Hotel's entrance on Adelaide Street. As the men walked to the car they noticed two men following them. One poorly dressed, the other in a blue suit and panama hat.

"Who are those guys?" Stitzel asked Cannon.
"I don't know. I've never saw them before," Cannon replied.

At the car, which was parked between a cab and another auto, Stitzel climbed into the back seat. Collins the passenger seat and Cannon behind the wheel. Initial reports stated that, as the latter worked to get the car out of it's tight parking spot, the man wearing the panama hat walked out of the Lasalle and up to the car.

"They dropped Collins first and then Cannon," Stitzel would tell the police, "I knew what was coming so I slumped in the back seat, all doubled up. But they got me anyhow."

Police inspect the death car

The following day however, it was reported the the gunman actually jumped on the running board and swore at Cannon in Italian and shot him before turning the gun on Collins. Both versions ended up with Stitzel getting it last.

Following the shooting, the gunman placed the gun in his pocket and entered the Lasalle Hotel through the Adelaide Street entrance and exited out on Woodward Avenue.

Cannon and Collins were both 28 and each had fifteen arrests under their belts. They each had badges provided by Stitzel and it was believed that they were murdered for shaking down speakeasy owners. Though it was initially reported that gangster Fred "Killer" Burke was possibly the gunman, Stitzel, who said he knew Burke, stated it wasn't him.

William Cannon                George Collins