He received AIDS as his compensation for willful homosexual behavior, specifically oral sex with other men. After he was diagnosed with AIDS he concealed it for six years before acknowledging the disease. I wonder how many other people he infected.
He never said how he contracted AIDS, but I do know he regularly went to Thailand during the seventies and eighties. I remember him speaking about it when he was on WHDH and later WRKO. Draw your own conclusions.