WHY is Homo sapiens such a murderous species? Mayhem among gangsters crests periodically, like seasonal floods, to settle grudges or to clarify title to racket real estate. Less organized killing is random and constant--and more difficult to pin down. Our cover story and Essay this week discuss both kinds; analyzing the skein of gang murders in New York and the deep-seated psychology of violence that has no home town.

Correspondents James Willwerth and Sandy Smith reported from the New York firing line, and from their own experience as thug watchers. Willwerth's first brush with the Mob dates back to 1969, when an anonymous phone call took him from Manhattan to Tucson, Ariz., and a three-hour interview with a confidant of Family Man, Joe Bonanno. His article appeared with our cover story on the Mafia (TIME, Aug. 22, 1969). Last summer Willwerth reported on the shooting of Joe Colombo.

Last week Willwerth again, found himself in unusual company. On his way to the funeral of Joseph Gallo, he maneuvered a small rented car into the cortege of black limousines. Then a carload of Gallo's associates came alongside and ordered Willwerth off the road. He made it to the cemetery anyway. Visiting the scene of the Gallo killing, Umbertos Clam House, he was warned in gruff terms by the hefty proprietor to avoid any use of his name. "Then," says Willwerth, "he took my name for future reference."

Resident Mobologist, Sandy Smith is a thoroughly practiced observer of gangsters' weddings, wakes, and other rituals. He has spent 20 years following his specialty and building up contacts on both sides of the badge. Smith believes that reporting on the underworld is less hazardous than covering labor disputes and not very different from other kinds of reporting. "You're only as good as your sources of information," he says. "In this particular field, the sources are just more difficult to come by." Smith dug hard to find out what was going on among the contending hostiles and where it might lead. From his and Willwerth's reports, Lance Morrow wrote the cover story.

The Essay, written by Virginia Adams, deals with the broader aspects of violent behavior. To examine this peculiar--and seemingly growing--pathology, she drew on the views of psychiatrists, psychologists and other experts. "Our aim," says Senior Editor Leon Jaroff, "is to place the gang killings in their proper perspective, as a dramatic but small part of a much larger phenomenon."

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