ABSTRACT
Martin Bosshart, age 31, was found dead, shot in the back of the head, on a street corner in Queens, New York. No motive or suspects were found, although Bosshart had been arrested more than a dozen times in the past for crimes relating to a stolen car ring. He was on parole after serving five years in prison. Police say he once ran one of the largest Mafia-owned chop shops in Queens, where cars were stolen, dismantled, and parts were sold illicitly. 1
Bosshart’s case is typical of how we hear about the Mafia. It appears to be the result of a feud among gangsters. But how are they organized? How do individual events like this fit into the larger picture of the Mafia and organized crime? The answers to these questions are imperative if an accurate understanding of organized crime is to be established. This chapter examines the origins of the “Mafia” link to organized crime in America and separates myth from reality on the basis of firsthand investigations of the historical record.
