Henry Hill, the mobster turned government informant portrayed in the book Wiseguy, and later in the movie Goodfellas, has died after a long illness, his fiancee's son said. He was 69.

Hill died at a Los Angeles hospital yesterday, Nate Caserta, son of Lisa Schinelli Caserta, told ABC News. "Henry was one of the most laid-back guys ever," Caserta wrote on his Facebook page.

Hill was a member of the Lucchese mafia family in New York from the 1960s through the 1980s. His most famous mafia heist netted $5-million in cash from Lufthansa at John F Kennedy International Airport in 1978.

After becoming an informant for the FBI and entering the government's witness protection programme, Hill testified against his former organised crime bosses.