( CNN ) -- Al Goldstein , the foul-mouthed , cigar-chomping publisher of Screw magazine and pornography pioneer who helped move raunch into mainstream American life , died Thursday in New York . He was 77 . He is believed to have died of renal failure at a nursing home in Brooklyn , said his lawyer , Charles DeStefano . Throughout his life , Goldstein fought to push the porn trade into mainstream acceptance by challenging the legal barriers against pornography under the First Amendment . In 1968 , he published Screw magazine , a smutty , offbeat publication full of political satire , DeStefano said . The magazine caused an national uproar in 1973 when it printed nude photos of former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis . The issue sold more than 500,000 copies . Goldstein loathed authority and once published a doctored photo of a district attorney who was prosecuting a case against him along with the judge in the case . The pair was depicted in a sexually explicit manner even as the trial was ongoing , DeStefano said . In 1984 , Goldstein appeared before a congressional hearing on pornography . The late Sen. Arlen Specter ( R-Pennsylvania ) asked Goldstein whether it was the business of the state to stop pornographic pictures if those images caused the molestation of a child . `` I applaud your concern , '' Goldstein responded . `` But 51,000 people died in car accidents last year . Alcohol contributed to that . Are you going stop the manufacture of automobiles or the cessation of the sale of liquor ? What you 're going to do is monitor [ the sale ] of liquor to minors . If somebody misuses something -- whether a knife or a car or pornography -- there are laws on the books to satisfy those concerns ... But to deny those of us who handle it as an integrated part of our life is such a contradiction of the First Amendment and what we stand for that it 's horrendous and repugnant to me . '' For 30 years , Goldstein hosted his nude late-night talk show `` Midnight Blue . '' He had been described variously as arrogant , angry , gaudy and irreverent . He flipped the bird every chance he got . In fact , the back yard of his former Florida mansion was once adorned with an 11-foot statue of an extended middle finger . The Brooklyn-born publisher lived life in extremes . He once enjoyed a lavish lifestyle , owned multiple properties and hobnobbed with celebrities , DeStefano said . In his later years , he lost practically everything and ended up homeless in New York . Goldstein was sentenced to 60 days in jail in 2002 for threatening a former employee and leaving obscene messages on her answering machine . In 2003 , his business went bankrupt and he was later forced to sell an estate . At one point , Goldstein was working at a greeter at a deli while sleeping in a backroom , said DeStefano , also a longtime friend . The beginning of the end for Goldstein was a hip fracture two years ago , his lawyer said . He was obese and suffered from diabetes and mental health issues , according to DeStefano . `` He should be remembered as a man who had the guts to get in the face of his enemies , '' DeStefano said . `` He was fearless . '' People we 've lost in 2013 .
Porn king Al Goldstein dies at age 77 of apparent renal failure . He published Screw magazine and pushed pornography into mainstream America . Score: 6