Because of Frasers behaviour in jail over the years, he forfeited almost every day of his remission. 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. [13], It was in the early 1960s that Fraser first met Charlie and Eddie Richardson of the Richardson Gang, rivals to the Kray twins. 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. Born near Waterloo station, central London, he was the fifth child of a poor family. The gang probably had its roots in the Victorian slums around Seven Dials, near Covent Garden, infamous in Dickens's day. What Fraser invariably threatened was violence. Join Facebook to connect with Frankie Fraser and others you may know. 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 family was hard-working and kept themselves clean [out of crime].. While serving this sentence, Fraser received 10 years for his part in the so-called Richardson torture trial. The memoir KEEPING MY SISTER'S SECRETS, (Pan Macmillan 2017) tells the moving story of three sisters born into poverty in 1930s London and their fight for a survival through a decade of social upheaval. To inquire about a licence to reproduce material, visit our Syndication site. 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. Fraser earned his mad nickname during the second world war, when he managed to get himself out of military service by pretending to be mentally ill. To prove his unsuitability to the force, he assaulted a doctor before jumping out of the window at the Bradford assessment centre where he had been sent. On 21 November 2014, Fraser fell critically ill whilst undergoing leg surgery atKing's College Hospital,Denmark Hill. "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. Jewellery was a favourite target, as it was easy to hide up a sleeve - rings could be switched for worthless fakes. Frankie Fraser's Last Stand: Directed by Matt Blyth. It was not that he thought he was Napoleon. 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. Hughes was famed for her red hair, a love of drink and a violent temper. 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 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. Frasers partner in this endeavour was Bobby Warren, an uncle of the boxing promoter Frank Warren. 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. Mother of [private daughter (1940s - unknown)] Died 2000s. However, according to a new documentary, he is clearly not going gentle into any good night. Eva got into shoplifting, but had a heart of gold. 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. The Forty Thieves posed as wealthy housewives innocently browsing the rails of the UK's most luxurious clothing stores before shoving stolen items down their undergarments. The most famous 'queen', Alice Diamond (left), was the daughter of a docker and renowned for her row of diamond rings that doubled as a knuckle duster. It was a thief's paradise, Gor blimey! End-right girl on the back row is Eva.. Every old-school south Londoner knows the folklore of cockney criminal Frankie Fraser, whose violent tendencies were infamous on the streets of Walworth. This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. 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. On 26 November, Fraser died after his family made the decision to turn off his life-support machine. When Frank Sinatra came to London in the early 1970s, he made a special visit in his limo to Eva in her little terrace house in South London to pay his respects. He had been shot in the face. Then they were turned over to Fraser. Beezy said: "Frank's sister Eva was the one who led him into crime as a small boy. 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. of James Fraser and Margaret Alice (Anderson) Fraser. "From there he goes on to burgle, and she goes onto shop lifting with a famous female gang called The 40 Thieves. There was no evidence that Fraser had fired the fatal shots, and although he claimed to have been fitted up for the killing, he was convicted of affray and sentenced to five years imprisonment. Ms Marsh said: 'These women fought harder than the men and were feared by men and women in their communities. Fraser received seven years. Swathed in luxurious fur coats, wearing diamond rings as a knuckledusters and hats to hide their stolen wares, Britain's most notorious all-female gang ruledthe tenements of Waterloo and Elephant and Castle and earned the respect of Soho's most feared underworld bosses. He also attacked various governors. From then on until the end of the 1980s, Fraser was more often in jail than not. 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. Underneath glamorous ensembles the women wore specially-adapted petticoats with hidden pockets or baggy bloomers with elastic at the knee. 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. 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 Krays 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 Maggie 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. 'And they were the best fun for a night out.'. After the war he was involved in a smash-and-grab raid on a jeweller's and was given a two year prison sentence. 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. The Krays, according to Frank, were little more than thieves ponces.. Newsquest Media Group Ltd, Loudwater Mill, Station Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. Before World War Two, if you got married you were expected to leave work and stay at home, Beezy said. Fraser himself was accused of pulling out the teeth of victims with a pair of pliers. Fraser was acquitted but received five years for affray. 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. 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. Mad Frank. A Gannett Company. He was a deserter during the Second World War, escaping from his barracks . Tony Lambrianou, a one-time henchman of the rival Kray brothers, was also a fan. 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. [9] He was a deserter during the Second World War, escaping from his barracks on several occasions. After trying his hand at crime as a. In 1996, he played (his friend) William Donaldson's guide to Marbella in the infamous BBC Radio 4 series A Retiring Fellow. Mason was found, barely alive, wearing only his underpants and wrapped in a blanket, on the steps of the London Hospital in Whitechapel. contact IPSO here, 2001-2023. What saved him I think was the branch; it was supple and it bent. Although Lawton survived, the dog died. She helped support her young siblings by taking milk and bread from neighbour's doorsteps. Its clear she still had to feed her family by acting on the wrong side of the law Beezy said. Daughter. [22], Fraser gave gangland tours around London, where he highlighted infamous criminal locations such as The Blind Beggar pub. Aged 17 she was convicted for stealing from a hat shop in Oxford Street. 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. Photo taken in the late 1940s on a pub Beano (day out) in Walworth, before the group travelled to Margate On the back row: the girls mum, Margaret, next to daughter Kathleen. 42 years a lag She had died in. Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription you will not receive any updates until your subscription is confirmed. But she was once caught stealing stockings and was sent to prison.. Joining the Forty Thieves was something of a right of passage for Eva Fraser. [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. 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. Fraser has complained in the past that "I had no help from my family; my mother and father were dead straight so I had to make my own way. The two Richardson brothers were convicted, and the elder, Charles, sentenced to 25 years. And involvement in such activities often led to his sentences being extended. As a subscriber, you are shown 80% less display advertising when reading our articles. 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. The grim terraces of Waterloo and the tenements of Elephant and Castle provided plenty of girls desperate enough to join The Forty Thieves. Here are some pictures of Eva Fraser of the Forty Thieves and her sister Kathleen. When the heat from the cops in London got too much, they headed off to the Costa del Crime to seek their fortunes there. Descendants . The trial which became one of the longest in British criminal history. As a solicitor, I defended him in the trial following the Parkhurst riot and as a result wrote a number of books with him. 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Fraser was part of Britain's Underworld between the 1940s-1960's. ', As the photographs show, the women often wore beautifully designed hats , coats and dresses in order to fit in, known as 'putting on the posh'. 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. He built a reputation as an enforcer and strongman for various gang leaders, including Billy Hill, self-styled King of Britains Underworld in the 1940s and 1950s and, in the 1960s, the Richardson brothers. By 20 she was leader of The Forty Thieves and wore a row of diamond rings that acted as a knuckle duster. 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. 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. It was during the war that he first became involved in serious crime. As her reign came to an end, Forty Thieves queen Diamondpassed on her 'wisdom' to a future queen, Shirley Pitts. 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. 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. [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 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. It is important that we continue to promote these adverts as our local businesses need as much support as possible during these challenging times. On the morning of Derek Bentleys execution at Wandsworth in 1953, he spat at the executioner Albert Pierrepoint and tried to attack him. Please enter your username or email address to reset your password. 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. 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. 'MAD' Frankie Fraser, was one of the most feared and respected West End crime lords of the 1960s. 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.. 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. '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.'. For other inquiries, Contact Us. With Frankie Fraser, Chris Keenan, Steve Box, Michael Boyd. The Old Bailey jury heard, in grisly detail that still resonates 50 years on, how Frankie Fraser tried to pull Coulstons teeth out one by one with a pair of pliers. You understand the choices that lay ahead of you if you were a working-class girl. Many started as child lookouts. Though like Eva, she struggled to come to terms with the choice facing women to work or marry. Had her first criminal conviction aged 14 and went on to become Diamond's accomplice. Franks mother, Margaret, was a huge influence on him but his best pal and early partner in crime was his sister, Eva. The women, who carried razors wrapped in lace handkerchiefs, were known for violent outbursts - including one furore that resulted in a woman blinding a police officer by stabbing him in the eye with her hatpin. 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. The notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser's sister Eva had risen through the ranks of the gang after joining in the 1930s. 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. The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. Frankie Frasers wife Doreen, with whom he had four sons, died in 1999. Mad Frank: Memoirs of a Life of Crime appeared in 1994, with two further volumes following in 1998 and 2001. Frankie Fraser belonged to a bygone era of crime and was cut from a different cloth than so many other gangsters of his generation. 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. His parents never knew about his illegal activities, and if they ever suspected him apparently turned a blind eye, a habit . 'It gave them a life they could never have afforded. Fraser became a minor celebrity of sorts, appearing on television shows such as Operation Good Guys,[18] Shooting Stars,[19] and the satirical show Brass Eye,[20] where he said Noel Edmonds should be shot for killing Clive Anderson (an incident invented by the show's producers), and writing an autobiography. Author Beezy Marsh said: 'These women fought harder than the men and were feared by men and women in their communities. These recollections, while often disordered and jumbled, nevertheless shed light on Frasers shameless and unrepentant defiance of the liberal consensus. Following a trial at the Old Bailey in 1967, he was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment. Her brother was the notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser, who joined turf wars between London gangs in the sixties. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. 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. Despite this, or possibly because of it, newspapers of the day were tipping him as Spots natural successor. But few would perhaps know about the equally incredible lives led by his three sisters. MAD FRANK & SONS, by David Fraser, Patrick Fraser and Beezy Marsh is published by Sidgwick and Jackson on June 2. [8] Although his parents were not criminals, Fraser turned to crime aged 10 with his sister Eva, to whom he was close. Updated November 28, 2014 2.43pmfirst published at 2.41pm Save Share News reports were checked to see how much was owing. Notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser died in hospital today aged 90, relatives have revealed. But Hill was already an admirer: a picture taken at a party to launch Hills ghosted autobiography in 1955 shows Fraser draped artistically over a piano. 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. pre order Queen of Thieves now for just 2.99. In 1941, Fraser was given his first taste of punishment when he was sent to borstal for breaking into a Waterloo hosiery store. Shegot her first criminal record aged just 14 and, in 1923, she was jailed after running out of a jeweller's with a tray of 34 diamond rings straight into the arms of a policeman. They set up a fruit machine enterprise, which they would sell to pub landlords, to cover up their crimes. Whilst in Strangeways, Manchester in 1980, Fraser was 'excused boots' as he claimed he had problems with his feet because another prisoner had dropped a bucket of boiling water on them after Fraser had hit him; he was allowed to wear slippers. She would send her girls out in teams of three or four at least three days a week, to stores all over London and as far afield as Birmingham and Brighton. [9], Fraser was an Arsenal fan, and his grandson Tommy Fraser is a professional footballer. 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. I don't think they felt bad about it. Beezy reveals how the girls father would beat their mother a big influence on their outlook. Various members were eventually caught, though and served their time in Holloway prison, where rations were meagre and they slept on boards. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Prisoners and ex-prisoners all over Britain speak about him with undisguised admiration. 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). The gang's ringleaders appeared in a secret register of criminals, that is now kept by the National Archives, which then existed to help police track down the most persistent offenders. They enjoyed buying nice things with the money and putting on the posh. Sometimes the hoisters' lives became entangled with those of underworld bosses through affairs, family ties or marriage. But who were the gang's most brazen members? 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. But little by little, over weeks and months of interviews, cups of tea and chats, their life stories emerged and with that came a fascinating insight into the Fraser family history and what really made Frank tick. 'They didn't see anything wrong in it because these things were too expensive for most people to afford and shops had insurance. She and her friends looked like film stars when they went out down the pub. "As I was growing up, I never had to buy a shirt Eva made sure she nicked them for me. 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. 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. 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. The police were cozzers and a burglary was a screwer, hitting someone was a clump, while jewellery was tom as in Tom Foolery, in rhyming slang. He stopped following a warning from the Kray Twins. The most famous queen,Alice Diamond, was the daughter of a docker and renowned for her row of diamond rings that doubled as a knuckle duster. 'My gran liked to go for tea at the Ritz, especially if she could pinch someone's fur coat from the cloakroom on the way out. Fraser was part of Britain's Underworld between the 1940s-1960's. He was a known associate of gangster Billy Hill throughout the 1950s. He later joined the notorious Richardson gang, formed by brothers Eddie and Charlie, and began carrying out more criminal activities. After Frasers release from the Spot sentence, he was courted by the Kray Twins and the Richardson gang. The thieves' earnings allowed them to live like upper-class debutantes. Eva Brindle formerly Fraser. 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. In 1966 he was charged with the murder of Richard Hart, who was shot at a club in Catford, but the charges were dropped when a witness changed their testimony. 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. 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. Another grandson, Anthony Fraser, was being sought by police in February 2011 for his alleged involvement in an alleged 5 million cannabis smuggling ring. Profile manager: Evelyn Wolff [send private message] He was still touring clubs and pubs in 2011. He was also tried in court in the so-called 'Torture trial', in which members of the Richardson Gang were charged with burning, electrocuting and whipping those found guilty of disloyalty by a kangaroo court. Eva Fraser - the sister of notorious gangster Mad Frankie Fraser - was reputedly one of the last members of the Queens of the Forty Thieves shoplifting gang, which sold stolen goods from. Once again, he was sent toprison, this timefor taking part in bank robberies. There was also quite a comeuppance for both Patrick and David who both served their time. It will only make me a worse villain!'. After three years in jail she tookpart in the Lambeth riot at Christmas 1925. In 1996 he was cast as the gangleader Pops Den in the film Hard Men, which premiered at the London film festival. Beezy, from Ealing, explained that it was in prison that Eva met Diana Mosley, wife of Oswald leader of fascist Blackshirts who were a fearsome presence in London in the 1920s and 30s. She lived an unashamedly lavish lifestyle and splashed her money around. Although he was acquitted, a further five years were added to his sentence. Aged seven, Ms Pitts was stealing milk and bread to provide food for her five siblings. A Hoisters' Code of loyalty dictated rules such as having an early night before 'going shopping', handing over all they pinched to the Queen in return for generous weekly wages, and never stealing each other's boyfriends (bad for morale). But Beezy said: [Kathleen] experienced the slums of Waterloo as a place buzzing with excitement and the tight-knit community, with its Catholic Church parades, which gave her the chance to shine, though she instead works at the old Hartleys jam factory in Bermondsey.
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