He was a rock.. After trying his hand at crime as a. Following the Frankie Fraser story is akin to re-tracing the history of gangland London throughout the 20th Century. I dont think people realise how close we came to all-out battles in London between Communism and Fascism, before WW2 brought the country together, Beezy said. Born 1920s. Afraid of being heavily medicated for bad behaviour, Fraser stayed out of trouble and was released in 1955. The comments below have not been moderated. As an adult she was beaten by one of her boyfriends and the father of five of her seven children, Chris Hawkins, who was a fruit and vegetable seller in Hoxton. He had been shot in the face. It was a thief's paradise, Gor blimey! His mother was of Irish and Norwegian descent, while his father was halfNative-American. At the age of five, Fraser, running in the road to beg for cigarette cards, was knocked down, and from his injuries he developed meningitis. Together they set up the Atlantic Machines fruit-machine enterprise, which acted as a front for the criminal activities of the gang. 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. 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. 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. Such were the criminal opportunities during the war, Fraser joked in a television interview years later, that he had never forgiven the Germans for surrendering. [14] According to Fraser, it was they who helped him avoid arrest for the Great Train Robbery by bribing a policeman. Please enter your username or email address to reset your password. At signing sessions of his books he was always willing to be photographed pretending to extract a tooth with pliers brought by the fan. For latest book news including updates on the forthcoming film Mad Frank and Sons please like my page Beezy Marsh. His greatest moment of national notoriety came during what was known as the 'torture trial' of the Richardson gang in 1967, which became . His gangster boss Charles Richardson remembered him as one of the most polite, mild-mannered men Ive met but he has a bad temper on him sometimes. 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. Photograph: Crime and Investigation network. When shoplifting she used a number of techniques including: wearing different wigs, putting stolen items under her skirt and the use of barrier bags lined with tin foil to prevent the detection of security tags. It was almost as if the biggest thrill of all was the act of stealing itself. pre order Queen of Thieves now for just 2.99. View the profiles of people named Frankie Fraser. This site is part of Newsquest's audited local newspaper network. This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. He then worked for legendary Soho crime boss Billy Hill in the 1950s, earning the nickname razor Fraser for his attacks on those who crossed him, before becoming embroiled in protection rackets in the 1960s, rising to the position of the Boss of Soho. Frankie Fraser belonged to a bygone era of crime and was cut from a different cloth than so many other gangsters of his generation. She operated out of Walworth, South East London and her home was called an 'Aladdin's cave of loot'. Born inLambeth, south London, Frankie committed his first crime at the age of 13, when he stole a packet of cigarettes and was sent to an approved school. Hughes was famed for her red hair, a love of drink and a violent temper. When caught by police she replied: 'I don't know anything about it.'. Eva Brindle formerly Fraser. On his release, Fraser joined Richardsons brother Eddie in a company called Atlantic Machines, installing fruit machines at some of Sohos most profitable sites, with Sir Noel Dryden recruited as the respectable frontman. During World War 2 he was a deserter - escaping from his barracks on several occasions. During the 1950s, Fraser's main criminal occupation was as bodyguard to well-known gangsterBilly Hill. Fraser was acquitted but received five years for affray. Tue 11 Jun 2013 11.55 EDT He may be in his 90th year but "Mad" Frankie Fraser is still causing mayhem. His mother was of Irish and Norwegian descent, while his father was half Native-American. The publisher also decided to include a glossary for the reader. Fraser was part of Britain's Underworld between the 1940s-1960's. He was a known associate of gangster Billy Hill throughout the 1950s. Yet they fiercely guarded their right to 'earn' their own money. Mad Frank. "From there he goes on to burgle, and she goes onto shop lifting with a famous female gang called The 40 Thieves. Because of Frasers behaviour in jail over the years, he forfeited almost every day of his remission. They enjoyed buying nice things with the money and putting on the posh. Newsquest Media Group Ltd, Loudwater Mill, Station Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. With Warren at his heels, Fraser ambushed Spot in a Paddington street, knocking him to the ground with a shillelagh. In 1945, when he was 21, he assaulted the governor at Shrewsbury prison with an ebony ruler snatched from the governors desk, for which he received 18 strokes of the cat. Her wartime experience was spent on the switchboards during the Blitz. Join Facebook to connect with Frankie Fraser and others you may know. His first conviction was for stealing cigarettes, and with the second he was sent to an approved school. But the victory was pyrrhic in many senses, because by the time he finally left prison the in mid 1980s, the world had changed and gangland had moved on. But by the 1930s, the breeding ground for its recruits was South London. Fraser also appeared as East End crime boss Pops Den in the feature film Hard Men, a forerunner of British gangster movies such as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and had a documentary made of his life, Mad Frank. There was also quite a comeuppance for both Patrick and David who both served their time. He also ran a coach tour pointing out to a spectrum of customers the old criminal London. 'It was incredibly subversive to go against the class system and steal furs and luxury items and swan about like they were rich - but that is exactly what they did. 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'. The raids seem often to have been left to chance, and he was particularly unfortunate with cars. He appeared on pop records and in television documentaries, toured his one-man show of criminal reminiscences (flexing a pair of gilded pliers), and found himself invited into bookshops to sign copies of his memoirs. "Hill paid by the stitch if you put 50 stitches in a man's face, you could expect 50," says James Morton, Fraser's biographer. Members of The Forty Thieves, whose mugshots were captured by the Police Gazette ahead of regular stays at Holloway Prison, often wore beautifully designed hats, coats and dresses in order to fit in - known as 'putting on the posh'. Ms Marsh said it 'was time to reappraise London's gangland' when she wrote The Queen of Thieves. inaccuracy or intrusion, then please 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. 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. He chose the latter because they had taken sides on behalf of his sisters husband, Tommy Brindle, who had received a heavy beating by the Rosa brothers from the Elephant and Castle. A bucket boy would offer to clean the bookies' blackboards with a sponge, for which they were obliged to pay the Sabinis. This website and associated newspapers adhere to the Independent Press Standards Organisation's When Mason demurred, Fraser buried a hatchet in his skull, pinning his hand to his head. Her brother was the notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser, who joined turf wars between London gangs in the sixties. News reports were checked to see how much was owing. ", A deserter during the war he pretended to be mad to avoid the call-up Fraser was certified insane three times and spent time in Broadmoor secure hospital. 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. ", The new documentary returns to this theme, suggesting he had a hard time in prison because there were no criminals in his family. During the 1940s it was not unusual for 'hoisters', a historical term for shoplifters, to be paid a hundred pounds a week - out earning men's average wages ten-to-one. 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. 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. Frankie Fraser was a notorious torturer and hitman for the Richardson gang of south London criminals in the 1960s. Reporters claimed she was 6ft tall - despite police records from 1919 putting her at 5ft9in. Not long after being released, Hughes was involved in the Lambeth riot of Christmas 1925, when the home of Bill Britten was stormed. 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. She was an alcoholic and onceran out of a jeweller with a tray of 34 diamond rings and bumped straight into a policeman. Frankie Fraser was born on Cornwall Road in Waterloo, London. Peggy stayed out of crime and worked for the Post Office. Editors' Code of Practice. 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. He later joined the notorious Richardson gang, formed by brothers Eddie and Charlie, and began carrying out more criminal activities. What officers didn't know then was that his crime spree would continue over a career spanning seven decades, and his offences only worsened. [9] He had 10 years added to a sentence he was serving in 1967 along with The Richardson Brothers in the Torture Trials which were the longest trials in British criminal history. 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. "Maybe he was bored with going to prison," Ronnie Richardson, Charlie's widow, tells the programme. Francis Davidson Fraser, criminal, born 13 December 1923; died 26 November 2014, Gangland criminal and in later life a minor media celebrity, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, Frankie Fraser in 2002. 'I felt it was time for their story to be told and it inspired my novel, which is the first in a planned trilogy for Orion about the gang, stretching from the 1920s to the 1950s.'. His parents were honest and hard-working, but Frankie and his big sister Eva, to whom he was closest, soon turned to crime. Nevertheless his campaigns and, on the outside, those of Eva, did bring the attention of the general public to the unpalatable conditions in which prisoners served then their sentences. Ms Marsh said: 'These women fought harder than the men and were feared by men and women in their communities. The Kray twins (pictured) held The Forty Thieves member Eva Fraser in high regard. He shot, slashed, stabbed and axed. Fraser himself was charged with pulling out people's teeth with pliers and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Data returned from the Piano 'meterActive/meterExpired' callback event. Part of his mouth was shot away in the incident. [16], Fraser's 42 years served in over 20 different prisons in the UK were often coloured by violence. Eva got into shoplifting, but had a heart of gold. For further details of our complaints policy and to make a complaint please click this link: thesun.co.uk/editorial-complaints/, 'Mad' Frankie Fraser was a notorious English gangster, Funeral of South London enforcer, FRANKIE FRASER at Honour Oak Crematorium, Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). Once he said he would do something, he did it, and he despised others who backed down. The criminal, who has spent almost half his life in prison, passed away earlier at King's. As her reign came to an end, Forty Thieves queen Diamondpassed on her 'wisdom' to a future queen, Shirley Pitts. [9] He was a resident at a sheltered accommodation home in Peckham. The Krays, according to Frank, were little more than thieves ponces.. "You name it, we nicked it," he says. After the war he was involved in a smash-and-grab raid on a jeweller's and was given a two year prison sentence. Monty Python sketch featuring the Piranha brothers, Doug and Dinsdale. I saved myself from Royal life, Harry says & insists 'sharing's an act of service', Love Island's Olivia Hawkins breaks silence as she returns to the UK, Loose Women star lined up to be Strictly's first contestant in wheelchair, Coronation Street fans horrified as Amy Barlow is raped in disturbing scenes, News Group Newspapers Limited in England No. Frankie Fraser, who has died aged 90, was a notorious torturer and hitman for the Richardson gang of south London criminals in the 1960s; 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. Eva was a leading light in the gang in the thirties and forties, having risen through the ranks of the gang after joining in the 1930s. The gang probably had its roots in the Victorian slums around Seven Dials, near Covent Garden, infamous in Dickens's day. Fraser was placed into an induced coma, but just five days later, on November 26, 2014, Fraser passed away after his family made the decision to turn off his life-support machine. At his funeral, one of his old prison friends summed him up: Whether he has gone upstairs or downstairs, I cant say, but wherever he is, you can be sure of this: he will be protesting about the conditions.. In 1969 Fraser led the Parkhurst prison riot on the Isle of Wight and found himself back in court charged with incitement to murder. They would go through Selfridges department store in the West End and steal furs and expensive clothes. In 1996, he played (his friend) William Donaldson's guide to Marbella in the infamous BBC Radio 4 series A Retiring Fellow. Frankie Fraser was a notorious torturer and hitman, who worked as an enforcer for some of London's most feared gang leaders, including Billy Hill in the 1950s and the Richardson gang in the 1960s. His decision to join the Richardsons rather than their rivals, the Krays, has been described as "like China getting the atom bomb". The family was hard-working and kept themselves clean [out of crime].. I just waited, caught up with him, knocked him about and strung him up with his dog, Fraser remembered. They set up a fruit machine enterprise, which they would sell to pub landlords, to cover up their crimes. A constant troublemaker in prison, attacking governors and warders over perceived injustices which inevitably resulted in floggings, bread and water and the loss of remission, Fraser had by this time been certified insane on three occasions. Jewellery was a favourite target, as it was easy to hide up a sleeve - rings could be switched for worthless fakes. You understand the choices that lay ahead of you if you were a working-class girl. 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. in development with Fraser's endorsement. They bought fur coats, jewellery and went dancing in West End nightclubs. He was said to have pulled out the teeth of one of the victims with a pair of pliers. She got six months in jail, for stealing stockings from Bentalls in Kingston upon Thames. Fraser was defended by a young solicitor called James Morton, who later became an author and wrote a history of Londons gangland in 1992. Mothers would hide hoisted clothes in their prams and move them to pubs, where they were sold on. He spent more than 40 years in prison. 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. Jack 'Spot' Comer showing the scar on his face left by Frankie Fraser and Alf Warren (GETTY), By 1956, Fraser had racked up 15 convictions and had twice been certified insane. 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. It will only make me a worse villain!'. "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. Frank Davidson Fraser (13 December 1923 - 26 November 2014), better known as 'Mad' Frankie Fraser, was an English gangster who spent 42 years in prison for numerous violent offences. The women were completely faithful to their leader, known as the queen, who doled out harsh punishments and carried strict rules including not helping police officers by informing. Its clear she still had to feed her family by acting on the wrong side of the law Beezy said. Diamond took her under her wing and showed her how to shoplift in 1947, when Pitts was just 12. Members of The Forty Thieves worked department stores including Selfridges in teams of three or four during hoisting trips up to three times a week. Keeping My Sisters Secrets was published on July 27 by Pan Macmillan. He claimed to have no regrets about his criminal life, apart from being caught. After another, the car ran out of petrol in the Rotherhithe tunnel. Eva was a chip off the old block and as well as being Franks first partner in crime, stealing sweets from the corner shop, she had a lucrative career in a daring gang of girl shoplifters, The Forty Thieves, which traced its roots back to Victorian London and cleared many a West End store for furs and luxury goods. Both Fraser and his sister, Eva, were also active juvenile thieves. Always well turned out and ineffably polite and punctual, he had a large and appreciative audience, and one woman was so impressed she named her son after him. [6] Fraser was the youngest of five children and grew up in poverty. The singer, 29, bared his chest and showed off his . The cells did not have a reforming effect on her character or on that of her gang leader Diamond, who was arrested on numerous occasions over the following decade. He was working all the hours he got sent, but he couldnt make ends meet. 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. Many of the Forty Thieves were noted for their beauty as well as their shoplifting skills, such as Madeline Partridge and her sister Laura (pictured left), whose mother was often used by Diamond to sell stolen goods. Fraser in 1997 with his then girlfriend Marilyn Wisbey, daughter Of Great Train Robber Tom Wisbey (REX FEATURES). She and her friends looked like film stars when they went out down the pub. Both Frank and his sister, Eva, whom he adored, inherited their fathers features and his jet-black hair. contact the editor here. The book upset some of those mentioned in it, and Morton was dismayed to arrive home one evening to find a message from Fraser on his answering machine, demanding to speak to him urgently. She liked to earn her own money and paid her own way quite something for a young woman in the 1930s and 1940s. For other inquiries, Contact Us. In 1969, Fraser was one of the ringleaders of the major Parkhurst Prison riot, which resulted in him spending the six weeks in the prison hospital due to his injuries. He was a member of the Richardson gang or the 'torture gang', led by brothers Charlie and Eddie Richardson, and were widely feared in Londons underworld. Profile manager: Evelyn Wolff [send private message] [4] He was involved in riots and frequently fought with prison officers and fellow inmates. Their view on Hatton Garden was that the world had moved on and robbing banks now was akin to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid trying to get away on horseback, while the police gave chase in cars. Furs were rolled on the hanger and tucked into the women's undergarments when the store assistant was distracted, while jewellery and watches were swapped for fake versions and hidden under hats or in their hair. When she married the father of five of her seven children, Chris Hawkins, he subjected her to cruel beatings - but quickly stopped following a warning from the Kray Twins. Fraser was the youngest of five children and grew up in poverty. She also passed on her 'wisdom' to a future queen, Shirley Pitts. In 1941, Fraser was given his first taste of punishment when he was sent to borstal for breaking into a Waterloo hosiery store. 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. He was a deserter during the Second World War, escaping from his barracks . He also claimed to have been the first bandit to wear a stocking mask. Are you sure you want to delete this comment? Joining the Forty Thieves was something of a right of passage for Eva Fraser. Fraser, tried separately, was jailed for 10. At the same time Fraser was concerned to protect his West End business interests, chiefly the installation and operation (on an exclusive basis) in the clubs of Soho of one-armed bandits, or fruit machines, then growing in popularity. Aged seven, Ms Pitts was stealing milk and bread to provide food for her five siblings. 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. A witness changed his testimony and the charges were eventually dropped, though Fraser still received a five-year sentence for affray. 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. Police reveal more details, as man remains at large after brutal attack outside school, Interview with MP Neil Coyle after Commons suspension: Why the drinking has stopped having started in childhood, but the swearing wont, plus deliberately avoiding Labour leader Keir Starmer, Read our print products (Digital Editions). Please report any comments that break our rules. And I felt the same way,' she said. It wasnt that we chose to be thieves, said Patrick. AS is the case with so many crime families, the key to understanding the men came through getting to know the women who cared for them. 'It gave them a life they could never have afforded. His parents never knew about his illegal activities, and if they ever suspected him apparently turned a blind eye, a habit . ', The notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser's sister Eva had risen through the ranks of the gang after joining in the 1930s. Facebook gives people the power. The notorious English gangster turned to a life of a crime and before he knew it, he was behind bars. 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.
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