Henry Hill, the man behind one of the most famous mobster stories in America, has passed away in a Los Angeles hospital at the age of 69 after a long illness.

Hill’s story as a Brownsville native turned gangster and drug runner who became a mob rat was immortalized by Ray Liotta in the classic mafia movie Goodfellas. But Hill’s real-life Lufthansa heist at Kennedy Airport in 1978 broke records, netting $5 million—an unheard-of number at the time.

“The government said a couple of hundred million dollars went through my hands. But I just blew it on slow horses, women, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll,” Hill told a newspaper in 2010—the 20th anniversary of the movie about his life.

In his later years, Hill had reformed from his criminal ways, selling his own spaghetti sauce, opening a restaurant called Wiseguys, and becoming a frequent guest on The Howard Stern Show. Hill had also recently reconnected with estranged family members, according to TMZ.