(AP) - Angela "Big Ang" Raiola from the reality TV series "Mob Wives" has died following a nearly yearlong battle with cancer.



Series producer Jennifer Graziano says the 55-year-old Raiola died early Thursday at a New York City hospital while surrounded by family and friends.



She had been diagnosed in March 2015 with throat cancer that spread to her brain and lungs.



Even as she fought the disease, the native New Yorker remained the candid, colorful figure that viewers came to know on VH1's "Mob Wives" and Raiola's two sequels.



Funeral arrangements are pending.