(ANSA) - Parma, January 10 - Mafia hitman Stefano Ganci died in the prison wing of a Parma hospital in late December, Italian police said on Wednesday.

Ganci, 55, reportedly died of a heart attack.

The trusted killer of bloody late boss of bosses Totò Riina, Ganci was serving life in the Emilian city. Among his victims were top Sicilian judge Rocco Chinnici, and deputy Palermo police chief Ninni Cassarà.

He was also part of the Cosa Nostra hit squad that blew up magistrate Paolo Borsellino two months after the murder of his friend and colleague Giovanni Falcone.

Riina died on November 17 in the same special section for inmates at Parma hospital, having turned He had turned 87 on Thursday.

Riina, who was still considered head of Cosa Nostra despite spending 24 years under the 41 bis tough jail regime, had been in a coma since the second of two operations and had been badly ill for a long time.

Nicknamed The Beast for his ferocity, he was serving life for a slew of crimes including the assassinations of anti-Mafia magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino 25 years ago.

Other infamous assassinations were those of Carabinieri General Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa, who had recently appointed prefect of Palermo, in 1982; and of Sicilian Governor Piersanti Mattarella, the brother of Italian President Sergio Mattarella, in 1980.

photo: Riina's arrest in January 1993