Richard Basciano, who fended off decades of legal challenges to preserve Show World as the last outpost of his vast New York pornographic empire, allowing him to reign for a time as the only surviving Times Square sultan of smut, died on Monday in Manhattan. He was 91.

His death was confirmed by his lawyer, Thomas A. Sprague.

A former boxer who pleaded no contest to a store coupon scam in his native Baltimore and who once peddled raunchy magazines in New York, Mr. Basciano made millions of dollars from the quarters that his customers deposited for peep shows and more interactive forms of entertainment.

While the internet and the availability of low-priced, high-quality videocassettes and DVDs were bad for his business, the long-delayed redevelopment of Times Square eventually made his property more valuable than pornography.

Mr. Basciano reaped a windfall estimated at $14 million in the late 1990s when his Times Square properties were condemned for new office buildings and refurbished entertainment venues.