One of the Mafia’s most powerful bosses has died after serving 33 years of a 139-year prison sentence.

Carmine Persico, 85, known as "The Snake" for double-crossing other mob bosses, died from diabetes-related complications.

He leaves a wife, two children and 15 grandchildren.

He is thought to have continued running his New York gang from jail.

Persico was born in Brooklyn in 1933, the son of a law firm stenographer.

The high school dropout became the leader of a street gang and was 17 when he was arrested for murder but the charges were dropped.

He advanced in the Colombo organisation, one of five crime “families” in the Italian-American Mafia in New York at the time, and eventually reached leadership in the 1970s.

He was jailed in 1986 for extorting millions from unions in a case led by Rudy Giuliani, who is now ­President Trump’s lawyer.

Mr Giuliani, who at the time was the US Attorney for Manhattan, also jailed seven others on racketeering charges.

Persico represented himself in court but was found guilty of being the leader of the Colombo family and extorting millions of dollars from unions and construction companies.

“He was the most fascinating figure I encountered in the world of organised crime,” a former federal prosecutor said.

“Because of his reputation for intelligence and toughness, he was a legend by the age of 17, and later as a mob boss he became a folk hero in certain areas of Brooklyn,” Edward A McDonald said.

Persico is reported to have been involved in more than 20 murders, either carrying out the killings himself or by giving the order.

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