#michael bosko

[heat-1995]

At the beginning of the movie, Michael meets the grim reaper :

Michael Bosko has a meeting with Vincent, Michael Cerrito has a meeting with Waingro.

(Nearly 2 hours later, both Michael meet the same fate.)

[heat-1995]

Both Neil and Vincent have a Michael in their crew. These Michaels have the same fate - they're both killed during the bank shoot out.

(Vincent is there in their last moment, for both of them.)

[heat-1995]

When Vincent gets to the Venice Blvd crime scene, cops are already all over it. Namely, Vincent meets there a Division cop, and Bosko, his own subordinate.

The first thing said is Vincent asking if they found the ambulance (that Neil & co used to escape). The division officer answers "dumped four blocks from here". Bosko answers, cutting off the division officer, and gives a much more detailed information with the exact address.

A gap in knowledge and precision is shown.

The second question asked (that Vincent does not voice) is also answered by Bosko:

This is the "black-and-whites doing demolition derby" that he's refering to:

Division cops getting their tires blown out and crashing into each other.

With the first two lines, Bosko (and by extension, Vincent's crew) is shown to do better at their job than Division, while also looking down on Division. It's a subtle hierarchy, internal politics that are shown right at the beginning. Meanwhile, they never say anything bad about Neil & co, seeing them as professionals, unlike Division.

[heat-1995]

When Bosko dies, Vincent shares a moment with him. He gets a halo out of a manhole cover.

A manhole is a passage to the underground, the underworld, which, in mythology, is where the dead go. A manhole also leads to water; underground pipes, sewer system, etc. Finally, still in mythology, the common way to enter the underworld was to be brought across the river Styx by the ferryman of the dead, Charon.

Implication: Vincent is the one shouldering the burden of ferrying Bosko through life and death.