By Crispian Balmer
ROME, March 19 (Reuters) - Umberto Bossi, a gravel-voiced populist leader who pushed for independence for northern Italy and shook up national politics, died on Thursday at a hospital in Varese, in the north of the country, family and party sources told Reuters.
He was 84 years old. The cause was not immediately known.
"Umberto Bossi, with his political passion, marked an important phase in Italian history and made a fundamental contribution to the formation of the first center-right coalition," Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni reacted on social media platform X. "In this moment of great sorrow, I express my thoughts to his family and his political community."
Famous for his blunt language and political agility, Bossi founded the secessionist Northern League party in 1989, giving a voice to discontented taxpayers in the wealthy north.
"Thieving Rome" became a party rallying cry as Bossi railed against government corruption in the Italian capital.
But his own career was undone by allegations that he and his family had misappropriated party funds. He stood down as the head of the Northern League in 2012.
He was convicted of fraud in 2017 and sentenced to two years and three months in jail. But the verdict was annulled in 2019 because the high court ruled that the statute of limitations, which imposes time restrictions on legal cases, had kicked in.
To his often fanatical supporters, Bossi was the fearless protector of northern Italian rights. To his critics, he was a foul-mouthed, rabble-rousing racist.
"When I see the Italian flag I get bloody mad," Bossi said during a 1997 rally. "I wipe my arse with that flag."
It is illegal under Italian law to insult the national flag. He was given a 16-month suspended prison term for the slur.
Famous for addressing his followers in his vest while chomping on a cigar, Bossi forged an unlikely alliance with Silvio Berlusconi in 1994, helping to propel the billionaire media mogul into power just months after he entered politics.
'UNGUIDED MISSILE'
The often cantankerous Bossi swiftly pulled the plug on the government, but the two men later patched up their differences. They forged an electoral alliance which won them power in 2001, and again seven years later.
"He is an unguided missile," then-Deputy Prime Minister Gianfranco Fini told Reuters in 2004, urging then-Prime Minister Berlusconi to keep their provocative ally on a tight leash.
Bossi initially demanded independence for a place he called "Padania" - an ill-defined geographical area that encompassed wealthy regions around the Po River Valley from Turin to Venice.
But as it embedded itself in the fabric of national politics, the Northern League quietly dropped its secessionist ambitions and sought instead greater autonomy for its heartlands.
The party evolved still further when current leader Matteo Salvini took over as leader in 2013 and dropped "Northern" from its name in a push to turn the group into a fully fledged national force - a move that initially saw its support surge, but which was roundly condemned by Bossi.
Underscoring his disapproval, Bossi voted for Berlusconi's Forza Italia party at a 2022 parliamentary election, although he remained a member of the League.
Salvini, who is now deputy prime minister, stayed faithful to some old League battles. These included the fight against migrants, whom Bossi once called "bingo bongos", and the European Union, which he denounced as "a new form of fascism".
Bossi spearheaded a tough immigration law, passed in 2002, that included measures to fingerprint new arrivals and boost patrols of Italy's long shoreline. He suggested more extreme measures might yet be needed.
"Whether they're good or bad, one way or the other illegal immigrants have got to be chased away," he said in a newspaper interview. "The navy and the coastguard should defend our shores and use their cannons to do it."
Bossi suffered a debilitating stroke in 2004 which took him out of frontline politics for a while. He amazed many by returning to public life, and although his speech thereafter was slurred, he had lost little of his fire or aggression.
Despite his graft conviction, and falling-out with Salvini, he won re-election to the Senate in 2018. He was rarely seen in the chamber after suffering further heart problems in 2019.
(Reporting by Crispian Balmer; Additional reporting by Emilio Parodi; Editing by Gareth Jones, Andrew Heavens and Olivier Holmey)
