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Goodfella Henry Hill, Dead At 69

By April MacIntyre Jun 13, 2012, 15:29 GMT

Henry Hill, seen here in 1997, was played by Ray Liotta in \'Goodfellas.\'… (Derer/AP )

The mafioso-turned-FBI informant Henry Hill, half Sicilian, half Irish, whose life was dramatized in Martin Scorsese's 1990 mob film "Goodfellas," died on Tuesday at the age of 69.

According to TMZ, Hill's girlfriend confirmed that the outspoken gangster died after a long battle with an undisclosed illness, saying, "he had been sick for a long time ... his heart gave out."

Hill was an associate of the Lucchese crime family who became embroiled in drug trade, only to be ousted by the Mafia, leading him to become an FBI informant.

A frequent call in guest to Howard Stern's radio show, Hill ate up the attention received after the Oscar-nominated "Goodfellas" broke big, based on crime reporter Nicholas Pileggi's 1986 nonfiction work, "Wiseguys."

Ray Liotta won the role of Hill in Scorsese's film.

Born Henry Hill, Jr. on June 11, 1943, in Brownsville, Brooklyn, Hill was sucked into the life as a teenager, graduating to the infamous Air France robbery, where he and an associate stole $420,000 from a closet holding money from a cross-Atlantic airplane run.

Though he and his family were put into protective custody under the witness protection program, Hill later divorced his wife Karen and was booted from the program in 1990 after officials tired of his continued illegal activities.