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Detective Michael Corr, ESU (Ret.)

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The 1980 Attempted Murder of Six ESU Officers

“The murder of a NYC Police Officer, the attempted murder of six ESU officers—and that was only the beginning of this 45-year saga.”

Shortly after midnight on December 15, 1980, Officer Gabriel Vitale and his partner, Officer James Smith, had just turned out for the midnight tour at the 109th Precinct in Flushing, Queens. While driving east on Northern Boulevard, they stopped to question two suspicious men at 149th Place regarding a burglary call.

As the officers approached, both men fled. One ran north on 149th Place while the other was immediately caught by Officer Smith, who recovered a firearm from him. Officer Vitale pursued the second man north to 35th Avenue, where he apprehended him between 149th Place and 150th Street. As Vitale holstered his weapon to transmit a radio message, the suspect produced a .45-caliber handgun and shot him multiple times in the stomach and abdomen before fleeing.

Despite life-threatening wounds, Officer Vitale managed to transmit a 10-13 and relay his location. Responding officers carried him to their radio car and rushed him to Flushing Hospital.

The Manhunt Begins

Detectives quickly identified two prime suspects: brothers Michael and Darrell Bossett, who lived at 35-10 150th Street. Darrell was believed to be the shooter.

The Bossetts were well known to law enforcement. Members of a local street gang called The Family, they had escalated from petty crime to burglaries, auto theft, drug dealing, and eventually murder. In August 1980, the body of Donald McGirth was found in a wooded area off the Southern State Parkway in Babylon. Both brothers, along with Kenneth Walker, were later convicted of McGirth’s murder.

Another gang member, Kevin Lowry, had been arrested several times with the Bossetts before turning 18, though many charges were reduced, sealed, or dismissed. (More on Lowry later.)

Given the brothers’ violent history, detectives obtained a search warrant and requested assistance from the Emergency Service Unit (ESU).

ESU in 1980

In 1980, ESU was a fraction of its former strength. New York City’s 1970s fiscal crisis had gutted the unit. From more than 300 officers, staffing had been reduced to 150. Trucks 7 and 4 were eliminated, and Truck 9—formerly in the 106 Precinct—was reassigned to the 75. At that time, Truck 10 was the only ESU squad covering Northern Queens.

To execute the warrant, Officers Al Baker and Gene Moynihan of Truck 10, Sergeants Riley and Thoman, and Officers Lammens and Schlyer made entry under the supervision of SOD Duty Captain Ray Kelly (later NYPD Commissioner).

The Grenade and the Thompson

As Baker and his partner advanced into the apartment, a door suddenly flew open. Michael Bossett hurled a hand grenade at the officers and simultaneously opened fire with a Thompson submachine gun. The Thompson jammed when a round stovepiped in the ejection port—an event that almost certainly saved lives.

Officer Baker, armed with an Ithaca shotgun, charged and fired, striking Bossett in the right upper chest and shoulder. Bossett retreated into a rear bedroom guarded by a Doberman Pinscher. ESU officers tranquilized the dog and placed Bossett under arrest.

A search of the apartment recovered numerous weapons, heroin, and the safety pin from the grenade.

Officer Vitale’s Death

The manhunt for Darrell Bossett continued for 15 days until he was captured in a Times Square hotel.

On December 24, 1980—Christmas Eve—Officer Gabriel P. Vitale, a 42-year-old father of four, succumbed to his injuries after 15 years of NYPD service.

On December 21, 1982, Darrell Bossett was convicted of Officer Vitale’s murder and sentenced to 25 years to life. Michael Bossett was convicted of the attempted murder of ESU officers for throwing the grenade. Both brothers were later convicted in the Suffolk County murder as well.

Birth of “Ropes and Chocks

This incident underscored the need for ESU officers to control doors during entry operations. Sometimes the simplest ideas prove most effective. From that point forward, ESU officers carried six feet of rope with a triangular wooden chock tied to one end, usually stowed in the kangaroo pouch of the old clamshell vests.

The tool allowed officers to tie off inward-opening doors or wedge outward-opening ones to prevent them from being forced open.

This became the origin of the now-standard “ropes and chocks” technique.

The Kevin Lowry Twist

Kevin Lowry had left the gang years earlier when his family moved to another neighborhood in Queens. In October 1980, he ran into Michael Bossett at a party, and they agreed to catch up the following month.

In November 1980—one month before Officer Vitale was shot—Lowry visited Bossett’s apartment. Michael bragged about selling heroin and showed him an assortment of weapons. Lowry noticed a hand grenade and asked about it. Michael tossed it to him, assuring him it was a dud used to intimidate rivals while he armed himself or escaped.

Lowry left and never returned.

Years later, Lowry turned his life around. In 1982 he became a Nassau County Police Officer. While on the job, he attended St. John’s University School of Law, passed the bar, rose to the rank of three-star Chief, and served until retiring in 2010. He later taught criminal justice at Molloy College (2010–2020) and eventually wrote an autobiography, From Thief to Chief.

To ensure accuracy, he contacted Michael Bossett and other former gang members, even visiting Bossett in Dannemora in 2017. During that visit, Michael told him the attempted-murder conviction stemmed solely from throwing the grenade. When Lowry asked, “Was this the same inert grenade you showed me in 1980?” Michael replied yes.

“Then You’re innocent of attempted murder,” Lowry said. “I’ll draft an appeal.”

Lowry obtained trial transcripts and sought help from the Innocence Project, Harvard Law School, and the Queens DA Conviction Review Unit. All declined. Eventually, civil-rights attorney Ron Kuby agreed to take the case.

The 2025 Courtroom Twist

In a twist emblematic of modern New York jurisprudence, Kuby argued before the state appeals court in 2025 that because Bossett knew the grenade was inert, he could not have intended to injure or kill ESU officers.

On July 10, 2025, New York Supreme Court Judge Gia Morris vacated Bossett’s decades-old attempted-murder conviction related to the grenade. Although Bossett had also been convicted of an unrelated Suffolk County murder while incarcerated, Kuby argued he had already served 45 years and should be considered for immediate release.

Bossett is now scheduled for a new Parole Board hearing.

Officer Vitale’s family remains outraged. “It’s even worse that this criminal will now be unjustly eligible for parole,” said his daughter Cindy. “So many of us from line-of-duty families grew up without our fathers. Yet these killers are being set free to spend time with theirs.”

The final insult, they say, came when Kevin Lowry—Bossett’s childhood friend and now a retired police chief—appeared at the appellate hearing as a character witness.

PBA President Hendry and the Vitale family expressed deep anger that Bossett’s key witness was a former police officer.

As of December 1, 2025:

• Michael Bossett remains incarcerated at Clinton Correctional Facility, Dannemora, NY (DIN #82A2862).
• Darrell Bossett is serving life at Mohawk Correctional Facility, Rome, NY (DIN #81A4009).

Personal Note

I began working in NYC EMS in 1974 and continued until January 1982, when I entered the Police Department. On the night of December 14–15, 1980, I reported for the midnight shift at 11:30 p.m. at New York Hospital–Queens (formerly Booth Memorial) as a Paramedic assigned to Medic Unit 47-W. Our first job was a “Cop Shot” at 149th Place and 35th Avenue.

As we arrived, Officer Vitale was being loaded into a 109th Precinct radio car and transported to Flushing Hospital. We followed closely behind and assisted in transferring him from the car to a stretcher and into the ER. We remained on standby through the night in case he was to be transferred to NY Hospital–Queens, a designated Trauma Center. By 7:30 a.m., the decision was made not to transfer him, and I returned to the hospital to be relieved.

By chance, I switched tours that day and returned eight hours later for the 3:30 p.m. shift. Shortly after arriving, we responded to a confirmed man shot at 150th Street and 35th Avenue—only yards from where Officer Vitale had been shot. Multiple ESU units were on scene, carrying out a wounded suspect: Michael Bossett. We placed him on a stretcher and transported him to NY Hospital–Queens.

Six years later, after joining ESU, I mentioned the incident to Lt. Al Baker, explaining that as a Paramedic I had responded to both Officer Vitale’s shooting and Bossett’s. Only then did I learn that it was Al who had shot Bossett.

After speaking with Lt. Baker, I told him this was a story that needed to be told—hence this month’s REMA article.

Photo credits: New York Post

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