How do the two ideas in this sentence come together?


I have this sentence as part of a question in my JLPT practise book:

> スリのグループがボスの合図{あいず}で乗客{じょうきゃく}から金{かね}を盗{ぬす}むのを目{ま}の当{あ}たりにして恐{おそ}ろしかった。

Part of the sentence means, "the pickpocket group steals money from the
passengers from the signal given by the boss," and part of the sentence means
"being face to face is scary."

I presume it's the boss's eyes that are scary, but I can't make this sentence
come together.

What would be the best translation for this sentence? What is the underlying
structure that binds it together?




The sentence has the following structure

Xを目の当りにして恐ろしかった。

Which translates literally as

I saw X and I was scared.

The X in your example sentence is what is called a noun phrase. The sentence
translates as

I saw how a group of pickpockets stole money from a passenger at the sign of
their boss and I was scared.




The sentence has the following structure

Xを目の当りにして恐ろしかった。

Which translates literally as

I saw X and I was scared.

The X in your example sentence is what is called a noun phrase. The sentence
translates as

I saw how a group of pickpockets stole money from a passenger at the sign of
their boss and I was scared.

