At about 8 p.m. on December 15, 1980, following a stakeout, several police officers broke down the door of an apartment at 35-10 150th Street, in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens, New York. They were looking for 24-year-old Michael Bossett and his 25-year-old brother, Darrell Bossett. Both were suspects in the shooting of a police officer less than 24 hours earlier on December 14.
When the officers entered the second-floor apartment, Michael Bossett allegedly tossed a hand grenade at them and tried to flee toward the rear. The grenade did not detonate, and the officers opened fire. Bossett was struck in the shoulder by a blast of buckshot and captured. Darrell Bossett was not there.
Michael Bossett was taken to the hospital for treatment. Inside the apartment, police recovered several firearms as well as heroin. Officers described the apartment as a “heroin den.”
The brothers were suspects in the wounding of police officer Gabriel Vitale, who was shot while he and his partner, James Smith, were investigating a report of a burglary at a florist in Queens on the night of December 14, 1980.
The officers had inspected the shop, and found it secure. As they were leaving, they saw two men walking nearby. When the officers asked where they were going, the men ran.
The man that Officer Smith was chasing dropped a gun. When Officer Smith stopped to pick it up, he heard two gunshots. He ran to Officer Vitale, who had been shot twice, once in the chest and once in the back. Officer Vitale was not wearing his bulletproof vest, which was at the drycleaner.
The shooting was a block away from the apartment where Michael and Darrell lived. When the gun that Officer Smith picked up was linked to Darrell Bossett, police obtained parole violation arrest warrants for both brothers and commenced a stakeout of the apartment.
Michael was charged with five counts of attempted murder for tossing the grenade as well as illegal weapon possession and possession of heroin.
On December 24, 1980, Vitale died from his wounds.
On December 30, 1980, Darrell Bossett was arrested. He was charged with Vitale’s murder. Michael was not charged in Vitale’s shooting.
In July 1981, Michael and Darrell, along with Kenneth Walker, were charged with the murder of Donald McGirth, whose decomposing body was found in August 1980 along the Southern State Parkway near Babylon, Long Island. Police said the murder was in retaliation for the shooting of Michael Covington in June 1980 near a skating rink in Flushing. Covington was a friend of Michael Bassett, police said.
In October 1981, Michael Bossett went to trial on the charges of attempted murder and weapons and drug possession in Queens County Supreme Court in Jamaica, New York.
Police officers testified that after breaking down the door with a battering ram, they entered the apartment, which was dark. They said they spotted Bossett with a rifle in his hand and opened fire. According to the officers, they found the grenade after Bossett was shot.
Bossett’s attorney argued for acquittal, saying that no officer said they saw Bossett toss the grenade.
On October 21, 1981, after a five- day trial, the jury convicted him of all the charges.
The prosecutor, Queens District Attorney John Santucci, said he would seek the maximum sentence. “The pin was pulled and the safety armature on the grenade did not go off. Otherwise, many on the scene would have been killed or maimed.”
In December 1981, Queens Supreme Court Justice Arthur Lonschein sentenced Michael Bassett to the maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison. “This defendant declared war on society,” Justice Lonschein declared. Bossett was sentenced to a total of 12½ years on the remaining charges to be served concurrently with the 25 years to life.
In November 1982, Darrell Bossett was convicted of second-degree murder for the shooting of Officer Vitale. He was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
In February 1983, Michael and Darrell Bossett along with Kenneth Walker were convicted of second-degree murder in the death of McGirth. They were sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. Michael and Darrell’s sentences were to be served consecutive to the 25 years to life sentence they had received earlier in their separate cases.
Michael Bossett’s convictions in both cases were upheld on appeal.
About 40 years later, attorney Ron Kuby filed a motion seeking to vacate Michael Bossett’s attempted murder convictions. By that time, Bossett had completed his sentences imposed on the drug and weapons charges.
At a hearing on the motion, Kevin Lowry testified that he was about 12 years old when he came to know Michael. They lived in adjoining buildings in Flushing and became best friends. Lowry said they were part of a street gang in the 1970’s and called themselves “The Family.” They committed petty thefts such as stealing bicycles and damaging property as well as more serious crimes such as burglaries, car thefts, and illegal weapons possession.
Lowry said he was first arrested at age 15, and although he was arrested a few more times by the time he was 18 years old, he said he was able to graduate high school at age 16. Lowry said that a turning point in his life occurred when he was about 17 or 18. A fellow gang member handed him a gun and said they were going to look for someone. He testified that he recalled vividly being grateful they had not found the person. He said he realized then that if he remained in the gang would wind up dead or in prison. So he persuaded his parents to move out of the neighborhood into a different neighborhood in Queens. Lowry said he falsely told the gang members the family had moved to Hempstead, Long Island.
Lowry said he did not see Michael Bossett until 1978 when he attended the funeral for Bossett’s sister. Two years later, in October 1980, by which time Lowry was married, he and his wife attended a Halloween party at a roller-skating rink. He bumped into Michael who was there with a girlfriend and another couple. They took a group photograph, which was entered into evidence at the hearing. Lowry said he and Michael made plans to meet up again.
In November 1980, about a month before Vitale was shot, Lowry went to Michael’s apartment. Lowry testified he had decided to pursue a career in law enforcement, so he already knew this would be the last time he spent time with Michael. During the two hours they spent together, Michael bragged that he was selling heroin and showed Lowry multiple weapons he had in the apartment.
At some point, Lowry noticed what appeared to be a hand grenade on a shelf in the dining area. When he asked about it, Michael took it off the shelf, juggled it for a moment and then tossed it at Lowry.
Lowry testified at the hearing that he was freaked out and reacted in anger. He said that Michael assured him that it was a “dud” that could not explode. Michael said he kept it because he was dealing drugs and could use it to intimidate anyone trying to enter his apartment by tossing it, giving him time to get his guns or to escape.
In the ensuing years, Lowry earned a Bachelor’s degree in sociology from St. John’s University and a Master’s degree in criminal justice at the C.W. Post campus of Long Island University. Lowry said that in January 1981, he learned from his mother that Michael had been arrested after a “shootout” with the police. Lowry testified that he was not surprised and had no sympathy for Michael. Lowry testified that he did not learn until many years later that Michael had been convicted of attempted murder for throwing a hand grenade.
In 1982, Lowry was sworn in as a police officer in the Nassau County police department. He retired in 2010 as a 3-star Chief. While a police officer, he graduated from St. John’s Law School and was admitted to the New York Bar. He practiced law and taught criminal justice at Malloy College from 2010 to 2020.
He said that after retiring from the police department, he began writing an autobiography with the title “From Thief to Chief.” A copy of the book, which was self-published, was entered into evidence at the hearing.
Lowry said that to ensure accuracy, he reached out to Michael and other members of the gang. He said he visited Michael in prison in 2017 and at that time learned that the attempted murder convictions were not for shooting at the officers, as Lowry had assumed, but for throwing the grenade. Lowry said he recalled the night that he had been terrified and angry when Michael tossed the grenade at him. He testified that he realized Michael was innocent of the attempted murder charges.
Lowry said he contacted other attorneys looking for help, obtained a copy of the trial transcript, reached out to the Innocence Project and a group at Harvard Law School as well. He sought to persuade the Conviction Review Unit in the Queens County District Attorney’s Office to review the case. Those efforts were unsuccessful. Ultimately, Kuby, who had represented numerous individuals who had been exonerated, took up the case.
Michael testified at the hearing and recalled that Lowry was “like a brother” to him and that he was sad when Lowry moved away. Michael testified to seeing Lowry at the funeral as well as at the roller-skating rink. He recalled seeing Lowry at his apartment not long after and specifically recalled tossing the grenade at Lowry who reacted angrily until Michael assured him it was a “dud.”
Michael testified that he had gotten the grenade from a friend of a friend in the summer of 1980.
On July 10, 2025, Queens County Supreme Court Justice Gia Morris issued a 12-page ruling vacating the attempted murder convictions and dismissing them.
Justice Morris noted that the transcript from Michael’s trial showed that a detective reported picking up the grenade after he entered the apartment on the night of the raid. The police bomb squad had recovered the grenade about two hours later from where it was sitting on a dining room table. The bomb squad had determined at that time that the grenade contained no explosive material.
Justice Morris ruled that the prosecution was required at the time of Michael’s trial to prove that he intended to cause the death of the police officers and that his act of throwing the grenade was capable of killing them. Lowry’s testimony, Justice Morris concluded, was credible.
“[T]he defendant’s intent in throwing the inert hand grenade at the officers was not to harm or kill them, but instead was designed to intimidate or distract them,” Justice Morris ruled. “[T]he defendant has met his burden of showing his actual innocence on the five counts of Attempted Murder in this case by clear and convincing evidence.”
Defense attorney Kuby said that the ruling cleared the way for Michael to seek release on parole. With the attempted murder convictions vacated and dismissed, and having completed his sentences on the weapons and heroin charges, he only faced the 25 years to life sentence in the McGirth murder. By the time of Justice Morris’s ruling, Michael had served more than 42 years in prison since his conviction in the McGirth murder case.
– Maurice Possley
Posting Date: 10-14-2025
