The man who wrote "Drugstore Cowboy," an autobiographical crime novel that led to an acclaimed 1989 film starring Matt Dillon, has died at age 75.
A state corrections spokeswoman says James Fogle died Thursday at a prison in Monroe, Wash., where he was serving time for holding up a pharmacy in a Seattle suburb in 2010.
The Snohomish County Medical Examiner's office on Friday says Fogle died of probable malignant mesothelioma.
The Seattle Times reports that Fogle had already spent half his life in prison when he wrote "Drugstore Cowboy," based on his experiences in a band of addicts who roamed the Pacific Northwest robbing pharmacies to feed their addictions. Filmmaker Gus Van Sant turned the novel into the acclaimed 1989 film.
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