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Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription you will not receive any newsletters until your subscription is confirmed. The first came when he was in the army during the second world war, the second time when he was sent to Cane Hill psychiatric hospital in Coulsdon, Surrey, and the third when he was transferred from Durham prison to Broadmoor. Eva knew the Krays well and they treated her with reverence, although she saw them as little more than naughty boys. This website and associated newspapers adhere to the Independent Press Standards Organisation's contact the editor here. But she was once caught stealing stockings and was sent to prison.. 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. 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. Frankie Fraser belonged to a bygone era of crime and was cut from a different cloth than so many other gangsters of his generation. Fraser was part of Britain's Underworld between the 1940s-1960's. He was a known associate of gangster Billy Hill throughout the 1950s. We'll never send you spam or share your email address. Who was 'Mad' Frankie Fraser? | The Irish Sun Frankie Fraser was born on Cornwall Road in Waterloo, London. Updated November 28, 2014 2.43pmfirst published at 2.41pm Save Share 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. Had her first criminal conviction aged 14 and went on to become Diamond's accomplice. It will only make me a worse villain!'. [13], It was in the early 1960s that Fraser first met Charlie and Eddie Richardson of the Richardson Gang, rivals to the Kray twins. In the 1950s he worked for underworld boss Billy Hill and carried out razor attacks on victims for 50 each. Born to criminal parents in Southwark, South London, in 1886, her first crimes were aiding and abetting men. Reporters claimed she was 6ft tall - despite police records from 1919 putting her at 5ft9in. Frankie Fraser Biography | HowOld.co If you have a complaint about the editorial content which relates to A witness later changed histestimony,and the charges were eventually dropped, though Fraser still received a five-year sentence for affray. It has emerged that the former gangland enforcer, who has spent 42 years in prison for 26. On the morning of Derek Bentleys execution at Wandsworth in 1953, he spat at the executioner Albert Pierrepoint and tried to attack him. 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. She had known their father, who was a fence (seller of stolen goods) or a 'thieves' ponce' - he would put up the money to finance criminal operations - which was a career on which she looked down. He stopped following a warning from the Kray Twins. Fraser was acquitted but received five years for affray. He was moved from prison to prison more than 100 times because he was virtually impossible to control. She was sentenced to five months. "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. 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. MAD FRANK and SONS - Home - Facebook Family ways of 'Mad' Frankie | The Northern Echo 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. 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. 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. She lived an unashamedly lavish lifestyle and splashed her money around. There were car chases and bank raids which would not have looked out of place in The Sweeney. In later life he would say that had there been an elder criminal member of the family to advise him, he would not have served his sentences in what was called the hard way. A ponce was someone who thieves looked down on, because they lived by taking a cut from someone elses earnings. After the war, Fraser was involved in a smash-and-grab raid on a jeweller, for which he received a two-year prison sentence, mostly served atHMP Pentonville. The notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser's sister Eva had risen through the ranks of the gang after joining in the 1930s. It was during the war that he first became involved in serious crime, with the blackout and rationing, combined with the lack of professional policemen due to conscription, providing ample opportunities for criminal activities such as stealing from houses while the occupants were in air-raid shelters. The Krays, according to Frank, were little more than thieves ponces.. 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. Fraser was released in 1988 and almost immediately served a two-year sentence for receiving. Frasers partner in this endeavour was Bobby Warren, an uncle of the boxing promoter Frank Warren. But his greatest moment of national notoriety came a quarter of a century earlier, during what the media billed as the Torture Trial (in fact a series of trials) in 1967 that became one of the longest in British criminal history. The Frasers were both contemporaries of the Hatton Garden heist gang members many of whom also came from south London and who operated on the same bank robbing scene and shared jail cells with the Fraser boys at some point. Fraser died at the age of 91 on November 26, 2014. Questioned by police, Fraser reportedly gave his name as Tutankhamen (gangland slang for shtum) and asked What incident?. Mad Frank and Sons: Tougher than the Krays, Frank and his boys on People shook his hand in the street, others kissed him or asked for his autograph and taxi drivers honked their horns. Possessed of a ready wit and good repartee, he followed this up with stage performances both in the East and West End, where he appeared with his then companion of 10 years, Marilyn Wisbey, the daughter of a Great Train Robber, Tommy Wisbey. 'Mad' Frankie Fraser: Sweet dapper. [21] In 1999, he appeared at the Jermyn Street Theatre in London in a one-man show, An Evening with Mad Frankie Fraser (directed by Patrick Newley), which subsequently toured the UK. [9] Author Beezy Marsh investigates criminal matriarchs of 1950s London Once again, he was sent toprison, this timefor taking part in bank robberies. She also passed on her 'wisdom' to a future queen, Shirley Pitts. As a solicitor, I defended him in the trial following the Parkhurst riot and as a result wrote a number of books with him. When Frankie was in prison, Eva helped to run his protection rackets in Soho and even sent her daughters to collect payments, as the police would not stop a child. Here are some pictures of Eva Fraser - MAD FRANK and SONS | Facebook Part of his mouth was shot away in the incident. It has emerged that the former gangland enforcer, who has spent 42 years in prison for 26 offences, has been issued with an asbo after an incident in his residential accommodation. In the second part, she reveals how Frank wasnt the only member of his family with a chequered past. 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. They didnt go to jail, they did bird or got a lagging. 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. Alice herself was famous for clouting three furs in one go: one down each leg and one under her gusset. 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. He really did live by a code of honour which he took with him to the grave. Involvement in such activities often led to his sentences being extended. She was one of the top thieves during the war. 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. He emerged from jail in 1989 and has not been back since. Before World War Two, if you got married you were expected to leave work and stay at home, Beezy said. He was full of contradictions: He hated authority but at the same time he understood the need for society to have rules and was against anarchy. But after shoving their stolen goods into waiting cars the women would head back to the grotty slums of Waterloo and Elephant and Castle - where their 'queen' exchanged the expensive items for a generous weekly wage. Editors' Code of Practice. They bought fur coats, jewellery and went dancing in West End nightclubs. When Mason demurred, Fraser buried a hatchet in his skull, pinning his hand to his head. ', The notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser's sister Eva had risen through the ranks of the gang after joining in the 1930s. 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. 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He was then then given a 15-month prison sentence atHMP Wandsworthfor shop-breaking - this was just the first of 20 prisons Fraser would be sent to. Although he was acquitted, a further five years were added to his sentence. However, according to a new documentary, he is clearly not going gentle into any good night. 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. "If you play by the sword, you've got to expect the sword as well," says his son. 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. He spent more than 40 years in prison. 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. By the time of the Swinging Sixties, she was drinking champagne with the Krays. He was released from prison in 1985.[17]. pre order Queen of Thieves now for just 2.99. The violent thugs, the Kray twins, held The Forty Thieves member Eva Fraser in high regard during the 1940s and 1950s. Fraser was defended by a young solicitor called James Morton, who later became an author and wrote a history of Londons gangland in 1992. [28], "Gangland enforcer sets the record straight about 'the bad old days': Rhys Williams meets "Mad" Frankie Fraser, once known as Britain's most violent man", "Find & contact The White Hart in Waterloo", "Local and community news, opinion, video & pictures - Southport Visiter", "Tories condemn prisoners' freedom to read criminal memoirs", "Gangland enforcer 'Mad' Frankie Fraser dies at 90", "Mad Frankie Fraser given Asbo at age of 89 after bust-up at care home", "Gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser dies at 90", "Mad Frankie Fraser dead: Notorious gangster dies in hospital aged 90 following leg surgery", Personal website with biography and details of gangland tours, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frankie_Fraser&oldid=1107726220, This page was last edited on 31 August 2022, at 15:09. In the early half of the 20th century one queen, Diamond, regularly appeared in the press where she was once described as a 'tall and commanding figure with a cool demeanour'. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused. On the night of March 7 1966 Fraser and Eddie Richardson were badly hurt in a brawl at Mr Smiths club in Catford, the incident that broke the Richardson familys grip on south London. 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. Eva knew the Krays well and they treated her with reverence, although she saw them as little more than naughty boys. The gang passed on their secrets from mother to daughter, aunt to niece, so whole generations of families saw crime as a way of life. He was working all the hours he got sent, but he couldnt make ends meet. Tue 11 Jun 2013 11.55 EDT He may be in his 90th year but "Mad" Frankie Fraser is still causing mayhem. After one snatch, he and his companion were arrested when their car would not start. But who were the gang's most brazen members? 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. The criminal, who has spent almost half his life in prison, passed away earlier at King's. For latest book news including updates on the forthcoming film Mad Frank and Sons please like my page Beezy Marsh. Then they were turned over to Fraser. When the heat from the cops in London got too much, they headed off to the Costa del Crime to seek their fortunes there. The business came to an end in 1966 when a fight in a Catford night club, Mr Smiths, left a Kray associate, Dickie Hart, dead, and Richardson and Fraser, who was charged with Harts murder, in prison. Descendants . Fraser was the youngest of five children and grew up in poverty. 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. '", 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. None of the gang were afraid to use razors on those who crossed them. If you weren't actually stealing, you were outranked by The Forty Thieves. He shot, slashed, stabbed and axed. There was also quite a comeuppance for both Patrick and David who both served their time. [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. She got six months in jail, for stealing stockings from Bentalls in Kingston upon Thames. Jewellery was a favourite target, as it was easy to hide up a sleeve - rings could be switched for worthless fakes. She had died in 2000 but her daughter Beverley, who shared Evas reticent nature, agreed to talk to me and that revealed that Eva had been leading criminal in her own right. Born 1920s. Fraser himself was accused of pulling out the teeth of victims with a pair of pliers. Following a trial at the Old Bailey in 1967, he was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment. In 1941, Fraser was given his first taste of punishment when he was sent to borstal for breaking into a Waterloo hosiery store. 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. [8] Although his parents were not criminals, Fraser turned to crime aged 10 with his sister Eva, to whom he was close. [5][6][7][8] His mother was of Irish and Norwegian descent, while his father was half Native-American. Despite this, or possibly because of it, newspapers of the day were tipping him as Spots natural successor. He was given an asbo, one of his sons told film-makers, after getting into an argument with a fellow-resident and is unrepentant about his life of crime. She operated out of Walworth, South East London and her home was called an 'Aladdin's cave of loot'. Her brother was the notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser, who joined turf wars between London gangs in the sixties. He refused to discuss the shooting with the police. Yet they fiercely guarded their right to 'earn' their own money. He also attacked various governors. At the age of five, he moved with his family to a flat on Walworth Road, Elephant and Castle. [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. Francis Davidson Fraser was born on December 13 1923 in Cornwall Road, a slum area of south London on the site of what is now the Royal Festival Hall. And I felt the same way,' she said. When he was 10, the pair stole a cigarette machine from a local pub, hauled it to some waste ground and jemmied it open. 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. His mother was of Irish and Norwegian descent, while his father was half Native-American. David had perfected the prison whisper talking very quietly, in case he was overheard by the guards. 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. Photos of Frankie "Mad" Fraser - Find a Grave Memorial The gang probably had its roots in the Victorian slums around Seven Dials, near Covent Garden, infamous in Dickens's day. He then became involved in serious crime - and the war provided a perfect backdrop with the blackout, rationing and a shortage of police officers. Fraser himself was accused of pulling out the teeth of victims with a pair of pliers. He later joined the notorious Richardson gang, formed by brothers Eddie and Charlie, and began carrying out more criminal activities. The youngest of five children, he grew up in poverty in the Elephant and Castle and Borough, areas teeming with moneylenders, prostitutes and backstreet abortionists. At signing sessions of his books he was always willing to be photographed pretending to extract a tooth with pliers brought by the fan. 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. 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. On this release, he determined to write his memoirs. Their alleged specialities included pulling teeth out using pliers, cutting off toes using bolt cutters and nailing victims to floors using 6-inch nails. Ancestors . After trying his hand at crime as a. To see all content on The Sun, please use the Site Map. 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. 'It was not just a man's world, despite the countless column inches still spent poring over the phenomenon that was the Kray Twins,' she added. Mink stoles and furs were the top prize, but some of the gang stole silverware and one even put on a maternity girdle to pinch an entire china tea set. She once stabbed a policeman in the eye with a hatpin, blinding him. A machine costing 400 could quickly recoup its cost if well-sited, and Frasers company offered club owners 40 per cent of the take rather than the standard 35 per cent as an inducement to install their machines. 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. During the 1950s, Fraser's main occupation was as bodyguard to well-known gangster Billy Hill. 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 imprisonment. 'Any girl worth her salt in South London in those days was a. [12], After the war, Fraser was involved in a smash-and-grab raid on a jeweller, for which he received a two-year prison sentence, mostly served at HM Prison Pentonville. A mugshot of Forty Thieves' Hughes, who was uncontrollable and dissipated by drink. Queen of Thieves: The gangland women who made Peaky Blinders look like 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 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. By Emer Scully and Beezy Marsh for MailOnline, Published: 10:41 GMT, 4 November 2021 | Updated: 13:07 GMT, 4 November 2021. After another, the car ran out of petrol in the Rotherhithe tunnel. [4] He was involved in riots and frequently fought with prison officers and fellow inmates. Following a trial at theOld Baileyin 1967, he was sentenced to ten years imprisonment. The violent thugs, the Kray twins, held Eva Fraser in high regard because of her role in the gang and during the 1940s and 1950s and the Soho gang boss Billy Hill - brother of the fiery Ms Hughes - was careful not to encroach too much on their territory because he respected their right to earn their own money, free from male interference. The following year, the British mobsterJack Spotand wife Rita were attacked on Billy Hill's say-so, by Fraser, Bobby Warren and at least half a dozen other men. Who was 'Mad' Frankie Fraser? | The Sun There was Eva, the naughty girl of the three, who became a key figure in the all-girl gang, the Forty Thieves, who targeted the West Ends big department stores. 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. They stole to put food on the table. Notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser died in hospital today aged 90, relatives have revealed. 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. She was taught by Alice Diamond in the 1930s and a very senior member throughout the. A bucket boy would offer to clean the bookies' blackboards with a sponge, for which they were obliged to pay the Sabinis. Old London Photographs | This is Eva Fraser, sister of gangster " Mad 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. The following year he was involved in a torture trial the Old Bailey, where members of the gang were charged with electrocuting, whipping and burning those disloyal to them. The thieves' earnings allowed them to live like upper-class debutantes. He was still serving his sentence for the Catford affray when he was handed a further 10 years for his part in the Richardson torture case. 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. 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.