SPRINGFIELD, Mo., Dec. 19 (UPI) -- Vincent "The Chin" Gigante, the New York mob boss whose crazy act earned him the nickname "The Oddfather," died in prison Monday.
He was 77.
The former driver for late Mafia boss Vito Genovese, Gigante rose to the head of the crime family that bears Genovese's name, Newsday reported.
"He was the last of the old-school bosses," said ex-NYPD organized crime detective Joe Coffey Monday.
Bureau of Prisons spokesman Al Quintero said Gigante died early Monday of apparent heart disease at the U.S. medical center for federal prisoners in Springfield, Mo. It is the same prison where mobsters John Gotti, Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno and Anthony "Tony Ducks" Corallo also died, the newspaper said.
Gigante was serving a 12-year sentence for a racketeering conspiracy conviction in Brooklyn in 1997 and was due to be released in June 2010.
He became a legend for pretending he was mentally ill as a way of escaping prosecution. Gigante would wander around Greenwich Village in his bathrobe, mumbling to himself.
In April 2003, Gigante plead guilty to charges he feigned mental illness in the 1990s, adding three years to his sentence.
