HispanicBusiness

Henry Hill, whose exploits as a top Mafioso who turned FBI informant inspired the hit film Goodfellas, has died in Los Angeles at the age of 69, celebrity website TMZ reported Wednesday.

Hill's girlfriend told the website that he died at a Los Angeles hospital Tuesday after his heart gave out.

Hill was played on screen by Ray Liotta in the film, which was based on the 1986 biography of Hill, Wise Guy. Hill was an associate of the Lucchese crime family in New York and was a mobster for 20 years, during which he participated in the famous Lufthansa heist in 1978 in which some 5 million dollars worth of jewels were stolen.

He turned informant in 1980 after being arrested on drug charges and spent 10 years in a federal witness protection program.