SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) – Reputed organized crime boss Anthony Delevo has died while serving a three-year sentence for racketeering and money laundering, a prison official said.

Delevo, 65, of Westfield, was a dominating figure in the city’s underworld for two decades, his niche being the illegal numbers game. He died in a hospital near the federal prison in Ayer, where he was serving his sentence.

He had jockeyed for the top spot in Springfield area organized crime following the death five years ago of Francesco J. “Skyball” Scibelli at the age of 87.

“He’s what we’d call the reigning boss for a period of time, a few years after Skyball’s death,” FBI supervisory agent Michael O’Reilly told The Republican newspaper in Springfield.

Delevo’s chief rival, Al Bruno, was gunned down leaving a Springfield social club in November 2003. The next day, Delevo, who had pleaded guilty, was sentenced in federal court on the racketeering charges.

No arrests have been made in Bruno’s killing.