The criminal, who has spent almost half his life in prison, passed away earlier at King's. Many started as child lookouts. [8] Although his parents were not criminals, Fraser turned to crime aged 10 with his sister Eva, to whom he was close. But by the 1930s, the breeding ground for its recruits was South London. As a solicitor, I defended him in the trial following the Parkhurst riot and as a result wrote a number of books with him. A Gannett Company. In 1938, she was sentenced for stabbing a policeman in the eye with a hatpin. [26] On 21 November 2014, he fell critically ill during leg surgery at King's College Hospital, Denmark Hill[27] and was placed into an induced coma. Frankie Fraser Biography | HowOld.co She was chauffeured in a Bentley and always wore a sable coat. Beezy said: "Frank's sister Eva was the one who led him into crime as a small boy. "You name it, we nicked it," he says. He was a deserter during the Second World War, escaping from his barracks . The years just after World War II were a boom time for the gang, as clothing was rationed until 1949. The publisher also decided to include a glossary for the reader. Even the gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser, whose sister Eva was a leading light in the gang in the thirties and forties, spoke with great reverence about Alice Diamond. Former Northern Echo journalist Beezy Marsh has written a book about London gangster Mad Frankie Fraser. Even the gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser, whose sister Eva was a leading light in the gang in the thirties and forties, spoke with great reverence about Alice Diamond. contact the editor here. Registered in England & Wales | 01676637 |. At her kitchen table, Alice would teach her girls how to roll furs on the hanger and shove them down their drawers, which the gang called 'clouting'. Fraser spent a lot of time in solitary confinement, tormented by prison officers who would spit in his food. Somehow Eva found herself in the opposite company of her eldest sister Peggy, whose boyfriend was heavily involved in the Communist Party, whom the Blackshirts fought in the famous Battle of Bermondsey, and the even more famous Battle of Cable Street. These recollections, while often disordered and jumbled, nevertheless shed light on Frasers shameless and unrepentant defiance of the liberal consensus. A mugshot of Forty Thieves' Hughes, who was uncontrollable and dissipated by drink. His mother was of Irish and Norwegian descent, while his father was halfNative-American. Richardson Gang - Wikipedia But who were the gang's most brazen members? Francis Davidson Fraser, known as "Mad" Frankie Fraser, was the scourge of prison governors and warders up and down Britain during the periods when he served a total of more than 40 years'. Prior to that he was a bodyguard to notorious gangland leader Billy Hill, where he took part in bank robberies and and carried out razor blade attacks - which earned him 50 a time. Fraser himself was accused of pulling out the teeth of victims with a pair of pliers. The singer, 29, bared his chest and showed off his . 'In fact, she was one of the people who spotted his talent for stealing after he pinched a cigarette machine from a hotel as a small boy. He undoubtedly had a wicked temper and a lack of empathy as seen in his capability for violence but he described that to me in terms of a soldier doing his job. Although he was conscripted, Fraser later boasted that he had never once worn the uniform, preferring to ignore call-up papers, desert and resume his criminal activities. She and her friends looked like film stars when they went out down the pub. So it was in January 1965, when a club owner called Benny Coulston was hauled before Richardson for swindling him out of 600 over a consignment of cigarettes. Frankie Fraser obituary | Crime | The Guardian The raids seem often to have been left to chance, and he was particularly unfortunate with cars. Charles Richardson was a criminal businessman who reputedly specialised in various tortures administered at secret courts at which he presided, sometimes robed like a judge, a knife or a gun to hand. A famous Monty Python sketch featuring the Piranha brothers, Doug and Dinsdale, has often been associated with Fraser and the Kray twins and some aspects of the new documentary may add to this impression. Though like Eva, she struggled to come to terms with the choice facing women to work or marry. 'It gave them a life they could never have afforded. Harts killing was avenged within 24 hours when Ronnie Kray shot George Cornell, the Richardsons chief lieutenant, at the Blind Beggar pub deep in Kray territory on the Mile End Road, using a 9mm Mauser semi-automatic pistol at point-blank range. Before then, Fraser had been involved in smash-and-grab raids and wages snatches. Frank had been active as a criminal from the 1930s and was given his first prison sentence at the outbreak of the Second World War. Frankie Fraser was a notorious torturer and hitman for the Richardson gang of south London criminals in the 1960s. Fraser received seven years. Old London Photographs | This is Eva Fraser, sister of gangster " Mad He also ran a coach tour pointing out to a spectrum of customers the old criminal London. Newsquest Media Group Ltd, Loudwater Mill, Station Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. Mad Frank and Sons: Tougher than the Krays, Frank and his boys on She was still hoisting well into her 70s.'. Born 1920s. The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. But she was once caught stealing stockings and was sent to prison.. With the help of Hill and mafia interests, Fraser and Eddie Richardson established Atlantic Machines, a successful business placing one-armed bandits in clubs throughout Britain. [14] According to Fraser, it was they who helped him avoid arrest for the Great Train Robbery by bribing a policeman. Having chronicled the life of old mad Frank, author Beezy Marsh has turned her pen to Peggy, Kathleen and Eva; in her new book Keeping My Sisters Secrets. Fraser was one of the ringleaders of the major Parkhurst Prison riot in 1969, spending the following six weeks in the prison hospital because of his injuries. As people facedblackouts, rationing and a lack of professional policing due toconscription, Fraser had ample opportunities for criminal activities, such as stealing from houses while the occupants were hiding for safety in air-raid shelters. From the time of Frankie Fraser's sister Eva and the gang of hoisters The Forty Thieves, comes a book which will have you gripped this summer. Ronald 'Ronnie' Kray and Reginald 'Reggie' Kray, were identical twin brothers who led an organised crime ring in East London from the late 1950s to 1967. A keen Arsenal supporter, Fraser had four sons, the first three of whom, Frank Jr, David and Patrick, followed to an extent in his footsteps. She helped him sell on his loot. [4] He was involved in riots and frequently fought with prison officers and fellow inmates. This is Eva Fraser, sister of gangster " Mad" Frankie who was one of the leading lights in The Forty Thieves. 'In fact, she was one of the people who spotted his talent for stealing after he pinched a cigarette machine from a hotel as a small boy. If you love GANGLAND and women in crime who rubbed shoulders with Frank and the Krays, you're going to QUEEN OF CLUBS my new book set in seedy 1950s Soho and inspired by the Forty Thieves hoisters gang including Frank's sister Eva Fraser and the notorious hoister Shirley Pitts from Walworth who grew up with his sons David and Patrick. '", Frankie Fraser's Last Stand will be broadcast on the Crime and Investigation network on 16 June at 9pm, New TV documentary shows ex-gangland enforcer is far from mellowing with age and has few regrets about his life of crime, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, Frankie Fraser has no regrets over his life of crime, which involved him being jailed for a total of 42 years for 26 offences. His mother was of Norwegian-Irish stock and his father was half Native American. [23] In 1991, Fraser was shot in the head from close range in an apparent murder attempt outside the Turnmills Club in Clerkenwell, London. He also attacked various governors. Mad Frank (1994), which went on to sell around 100,000 copies, was the first in a successful series. Photograph: Alex Segre/Rex. But few would perhaps know about the equally incredible lives led by his three sisters. The middle sister was Kathleen, who constantly aspired to make it as an actress, and make use of her striking good looks. Women carried tools needed for burglaries so the police had no evidence if they stopped the men following the crime. Frankie Fraser was born on Cornwall Road inWaterloo,London on December 13, 1923. Fraser, who was jailed for 10 years in the so-called "torture trial" in 1967, is now frail and in poor health. The grim terraces of Waterloo and the tenements of Elephant and Castle provided plenty of girls desperate enough to join The Forty Thieves. The Guardian, October 12 1980 Frank Fraser is a thorn in the Prison Department's side - a thorn so big that he is possibly the only British criminal who has become a legend simply by serving time. When the heat from the cops in London got too much, they headed off to the Costa del Crime to seek their fortunes there. But his criminal activities didn't stop when he was locked up. Because of the type of person I am, he wrote, in the life I led, you learn to shrug off adversity better than people whove worked hard all their lives.. Frankie Fraser's Last Stand: Directed by Matt Blyth. [10], In 1941, Fraser was sent to borstal for breaking into a Waterloo hosiery store, then given a 15-month prison sentence at HM Prison Wandsworth for shop-breaking. Had it all gone to plan, she could have inhabited a very different side of the West End to her little sister Eva. Fraser was the youngest of five children who were growing up in poverty - he first turned to crime at the tender age of 10, alongside his sister Eva. It has emerged that the former gangland enforcer, who has spent 42 years in prison for 26. Hughes was famed for her red hair, a love of drink and a violent temper. Both Fraser and his sister, Eva, were also active juvenile thieves. Frank Davidson Fraser[1] (13 December 1923 26 November 2014),[2] better known as "Mad" Frankie Fraser, was an English gangster who spent 42 years in prison for numerous violent offences. The following year, the British mobster Jack Spot and wife Rita were attacked, on Hill's say-so, by Fraser, Bobby Warren and at least half a dozen other men. The judge, Mr Justice Griffith-Jones, complained of attempts to nobble one of the jurors, but in the case of Fraser, who was tried separately, he directed the jury to return a verdict of not guilty. The Kray twins (pictured) held The Forty Thieves member Eva Fraser in high regard. Author Beezy Marsh said: 'These women fought harder than the men and were feared by men and women in their communities. View our online Press Pack. Her story has been told in The Queen of Thieves, written by author Beezy Marsh, which sheds a light on the lives of the girl gang that gained the respect of male criminals because of their lucrative and violent methods. His mother was of Irish and Norwegian descent, while his father was half Native-American. When police switched on to the gang's methods they branched out, with trips to Southend, Brighton, Liverpool and Manchester. Both Fraser and Warren were given seven years for their acts of violence. Notorious 1930s West End girl gang who hid stolen jewellery in Frankie Fraser's Last Stand (2013) - IMDb The granddaughter of a member of the gang, who said she was taught how to steal in the 1970s, told Ms Marsh: 'My nan was always beautifully turned out. "The Sun", "Sun", "Sun Online" are registered trademarks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited. He was very skilled at manipulating people and he played a long game, letting people believe he was mad, with the intention of winning in the end. 679215 Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF. 'Any girl worth her salt in South London in those days was a hoister because they could outearn us men two to one,' he said. Frankie Fraser | The Kray Twins Wiki | Fandom Fraser was part of Britain's Underworld between the 1940s-1960's. He was a known associate of gangster Billy Hill throughout the 1950s. There was also kind of respect for them locally because people could get a nice dress or a pair of stockings cheaply. According to one of his sons, David, Fraser was unharmed but he did not inform on his assailant. Fraser owed his success in the fruit machine business to Billy Hill, whose patronage Fraser courted when he attacked and almost killed Hills gangland rival Jack "Spot" Comer. [15] In 1966, Fraser was charged with the murder of Richard Hart, who was shot at Mr Smith's club in Catford while other Richardson associates, including Jimmy Moody, were charged with affray. In 1996 he was cast as the gangleader Pops Den in the film Hard Men, which premiered at the London film festival. I don't think they felt bad about it. He received a further five years when, in 1970, he was acquitted of incitement to murder but convicted of grievous bodily harm after he had led the Parkhurst prison riot the previous year. Their alleged specialities included pulling teeth out using pliers, cutting off toes using bolt cutters and nailing victims to floors using 6-inch nails. Together they set up the Atlantic Machines fruit-machine enterprise, which acted as a front for the criminal activities of the gang. She also passed on her 'wisdom' to a future queen, Shirley Pitts. Bought stolen goods and sold them on in a role known as 'the fence'. His first conviction was for stealing cigarettes, and with the second he was sent to an approved school. A witness changed his testimony and the charges were eventually dropped, though Fraser still received a five-year sentence for affray. Born to criminal parents in Southwark, South London, in 1886, her first crimes were aiding and abetting men. The Soho gang boss Billy Hill - brother of the fiery Maggie Hughes - was also careful not to encroach too much on their territory because he respected their right to earn their own money, free from male interference. Eric wasnt a bad fellow, Fraser later explained, but that particular night he was bang out of order.. It will only make me a worse villain! What saved him I think was the branch; it was supple and it bent. Although Lawton survived, the dog died. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. Ms Marsh said: 'These women fought harder than the men and were feared by men and women in their communities. Nevertheless he was good at sports, captaining the football team at St Patricks school, Southwark, and boxing as an amateur. His life of crime started aged nine when he worked for the notorious Sabini gang, which ran protection rackets at the racecourses at a time when off-course betting was illegal. We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. At signing sessions of his books he was always willing to be photographed pretending to extract a tooth with pliers brought by the fan. Notorious for high-speed getaways, she was eventually caught stealing lingerie and sentenced to hard labour in prison. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. And I felt the same way,' she said. He was so attired when, in 1951, he attacked the governor of Wandsworth prison, William Lawton, as he walked his pet terrier on Wandsworth Common. ', The notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser's sister Eva had risen through the ranks of the gang after joining in the 1930s. He spent 42 years behind bars before achieving a certain cult status in later life as an author, after-dinner speaker, television pundit and tour guide. Ancestors . He was still touring clubs and pubs in 2011. His fourth son, Francis, in Frasers joking words, let me down by having no criminal career at all. Photos of Frankie "Mad" Fraser - Find a Grave Memorial Joining the Forty Thieves was something of a right of passage for Eva Fraser. People shook his hand in the street, others kissed him or asked for his autograph and taxi drivers honked their horns. After one snatch, he and his companion were arrested when their car would not start. He was released from prison in 1985.[17]. Frank Davidson "Frankie" Fraser, better known as "Mad" Frankie Fraser was born on Cornwall Road in Waterloo, London, he grew up in poverty and was the youngest of five children, Fraser and his sister Eva, whom he was close too, turned to crime at the age of 10, on several occasions during World War 2, Fraser would escape his barracks and deserting many a times. The thieves' earnings allowed them to live like upper-class debutantes. [3][4], Frankie Fraser was born on Cornwall Road in Waterloo, London. Even decent folk were often only too happy to 'take a bit of crooked' to have something new. The Richardson Gang was an English crime gang based in South London, England in the 1960s.Also known as the "Torture Gang", they had a reputation as some of London's most sadistic gangsters. These adverts enable local businesses to get in front of their target audience the local community. However, it was in the early 1960s that Fraser began to take on even bigger crimes, when he first met Charlie and Eddie Richardson of the Richardson Gang - rivals to the Kray twins. Frankie Fraser Wiki & Bio - everipedia.org Please enter your username or email address to reset your password. His decision to join the Richardsons rather than their rivals, the Krays, has been described as "like China getting the atom bomb". Frankie Fraser: Died On This Day in 2014, Aged 90 - The NCS As he languished in jail, his sons David and Patrick and their older brother, Frank Jnr currently living quietly on the Costa del Sol carved their own careers as bank robbers and jewellery thieves in 1970s London. It was just what we knew and to be honest, we loved it.. When police visited she showed them ledgers to demonstrate her honest buying. [9] He was a resident at a sheltered accommodation home in Peckham. Mad Frankie Fraser - Everything2.com She operated out of Walworth, South East London and her home was called an 'Aladdin's cave of loot'. He was frequently punished for breaking prison rules or fighting prison officers: "I've done more bread and water than any man alive. There were further language difficulties. During the 1950s, Fraser's main occupation was as bodyguard to well-known gangster Billy Hill. Once again, he was sent toprison, this timefor taking part in bank robberies. A ponce was someone who thieves looked down on, because they lived by taking a cut from someone elses earnings. As her reign came to an end, Forty Thieves queen Diamondpassed on her 'wisdom' to a future queen, Shirley Pitts. Fraser spent practically half his life behind bars. It was not that he thought he was Napoleon. Petite shoplifter Bertha Tappenden stood just over 5ft 2in tall, but was convicted of inflicting grievous bodily harm on a man in Lambeth, after kicking down his front door and attacking him with razors and knives, to settle a score, aided by Diamond and another gang girl, Gertrude Scully. Photograph: Crime and Investigation network. Diamond took her under her wing and showed her how to shoplift in 1947, when Pitts was just 12. Those who had incurred Richardsons displeasure were wired up to a sinister black box with a wind-up handle that administered severe electric shocks to the genitals. "At the races, I'd be bucket boy," says Fraser in the documentary, Frankie Fraser's Last Stand, which will be broadcast on the Crime and Investigation network on 16 June at 9pm. When Mason demurred, Fraser buried a hatchet in his skull, pinning his hand to his head. Fraser served a total of 42 years in over 20 different prisons in the UK for numerous violent offences. What officers didn't know then was that his crime spree would continue over a career spanning seven decades, and his offences only worsened. MAD FRANK and SONS - Home - Facebook Both Frank and his sister, Eva, whom he adored, inherited their fathers features and his jet-black hair. 42 years a lag She had died in. Frankie Fraser - obituary - The Telegraph Fraser treated his various brushes with death as an occupational hazard: his thigh bone was shattered by a bullet fired during the melee in Catford, and part of his mouth was shot away in an incident in May 1991 when someone botched an attempt to assassinate him outside a nightclub in Farringdon. Born on Cornwall Road, Waterloo, Lambeth, South London, Fraser was the youngest of five children and grew up in poverty. A feature film production is currently[when?] The Forty Thieves, a London-based exclusively female gang whose exploits were worse than those depicted in BBC drama the Peaky Blinders, posed as wealthy housewives innocently browsing the rails of the UK's most luxurious clothing stores. Afraid of being heavily medicated for bad behaviour, Fraser stayed out of trouble and was released in 1955. Aged 17 she was convicted for stealing from a hat shop in Oxford Street. Fraser considered that Lawton had meted out cruel and vindictive punishment to him at Pentonville in 1948, and to avenge himself Fraser assumed the role of hangman. Physically slight at only 5ft 4in, and invariably wearing a smile and in retirement a sharp Savile Row suit, Frankie Fraser was nevertheless a ferocious and brutal hatchet man. Fraser was the youngest of five children who were growing up in poverty - he first turned to crime at the tender age of 10, alongside his sister Eva. It was during the Second World War that he was branded 'Mad' Frankie, after he feigned a mental illness to avoid being called up to the front line. To evade discovery they posted the stolen items back to London or depositing a suitcase of loot at the railway station's left luggage office, to be collected later. With Frankie Fraser, Chris Keenan, Steve Box, Michael Boyd. None of the gang were afraid to use razors on those who crossed them, Some of London's The Forty Thieves' antics made the Peaky Blinders look like choirboys. At least two home secretaries considered Fraser the most dangerous man in Britain, an image which, in old age, he only half-heartedly sought to dispel. They didnt go to jail, they did bird or got a lagging. pre order Queen of Thieves now for just 2.99. Following a trial at theOld Baileyin 1967, he was sentenced to ten years imprisonment. His enduring nickname Mad Frank derived from his violent temperament which caused him to attempt to hang the governor of Wandsworth prison (and the governors dog) from a tree, and to be certified insane on three separate occasions. Mother of [private daughter (1940s - unknown)] Died 2000s. Eva got six months for stealing stockings from Bentalls in Kingston upon Thames. Mason was found, barely alive, wearing only his underpants and wrapped in a blanket, on the steps of the London Hospital in Whitechapel. 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