Jim Carroll, poet and punk rocker, dead at 60

A newspaper says that poet and punk rocker Jim Carroll has died at his home in Manhattan. He was 60.

The New York Times reported Carroll's death on Sunday on its Web site.

Carroll was the author of "The Basketball Diaries," which was made into a movie in 1995 starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

The author's former wife, Rosemary Carroll, says that he died Friday. She says that the cause of death was a heart attack.

Carroll was a fixture of the 1970s downtown Manhattan scene, where he mixed with artists such as Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe.

His life was equally shaped by drug use, which he wrote about extensively.

He published several poetry collections. His 1980 album, "Catholic Boy," has been hailed as a landmark punk record.