Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US Und.) to work as a pickpocket.

1925		H. Leverage ‘Dict. Und.’ in Flynn’s mag. cited in Partridge DU (1949).
1933		Ersine Und. and Prison Sl.
1947		N. Algren Neon Wilderness (1986) 131: You’re too small to cannon the street cars ’n too little to reach a damper.
1962		K. Orvis Damned and Destroyed 37: I’ve been rolled [...] Some crud of a lightfinger cannoned me while I was on the nod!