Over the last decade or so he was on the cabaret circuit and ran gangland tours of the East End, taking in such sights as the Blind Beggar pub, where Ronnie Kray shot dead George Cornell, one of the Richardson gang, in 1966. She got six months in jail, for stealing stockings from Bentalls in Kingston upon Thames. 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. 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. The gang probably had its roots in the Victorian slums around Seven Dials, near Covent Garden, infamous in Dickens's day. Fraser, tried separately, was jailed for 10. Fraser himself was charged with pulling out people's teeth with pliers and sentenced to 10 years in prison. 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. 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. He later joined the notorious Richardson gang, formed by brothers Eddie and Charlie, and began carrying out more criminal activities. 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. 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. After trying his hand at crime as a. In 1969 Fraser led the Parkhurst prison riot on the Isle of Wight and found himself back in court charged with incitement to murder. Mad Frank. The comments below have not been moderated. "As I was growing up, I never had to buy a shirt Eva made sure she nicked them for me. Fraser, he recalled, was more than capable of doing what he threatened. 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. 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. 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. His new career took off and he was in regular demand as a radio and television pundit. Registered in England & Wales | 01676637 |. Peggy stayed out of crime and worked for the Post Office. Are you sure you want to delete this comment? 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. Frankie Fraser was born on Cornwall Road in Waterloo, London. '", 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. She lived an unashamedly lavish lifestyle and splashed her money around. Updated November 28, 2014 2.43pmfirst published at 2.41pm Save Share 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. 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. Throughout his life he denied the justice of this conviction, but he was happy to trade off it. She once stabbed a policeman in the eye with a hatpin, blinding him. 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. [9], Fraser was an Arsenal fan, and his grandson Tommy Fraser is a professional footballer. They would go through Selfridges department store in the West End and steal furs and expensive clothes. Both Frank and his sister, Eva, whom he adored, inherited their fathers features and his jet-black hair. In 1938, she was sentenced for stabbing a policeman in the eye with a hatpin. Frankie Fraser was known anotorious torturer and hitman, who worked as an enforcer for some of London's most feared gang leaders. There was also kind of respect for them locally because people could get a nice dress or a pair of stockings cheaply. 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. 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. Fraser was acquitted but received five years for affray. 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. 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. End-right girl on the back row is Eva.. VIEWS Every old-school south Londoner knows the folklore of cockney criminal Frankie Fraser, whose violent tendencies were infamous on the streets of Walworth. Fraser in 1997 with his then girlfriend Marilyn Wisbey, daughter Of Great Train Robber Tom Wisbey (REX FEATURES). The trial which became one of the longest in British criminal history. These recollections, while often disordered and jumbled, nevertheless shed light on Frasers shameless and unrepentant defiance of the liberal consensus. [9] 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. contact IPSO here, 2001-2023. In the second part, she reveals how Frank wasnt the only member of his family with a chequered past. 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. Ms Marsh said: 'These women fought harder than the men and were feared by men and women in their communities. His wife, Doreen, whom he married in 1965, and who with Eva loyally toured the prisons to visit him, died in 1999. His mother was of Irish and Norwegian descent, while his father was half Native-American. After the war, he worked for underworld boss Billy Hill, for whom he carried out razor attacks. Franks mother, Margaret, was a huge influence on him but his best pal and early partner in crime was his sister, Eva. He also claimed to have been the first bandit to wear a stocking mask. On this release, he determined to write his memoirs. [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. This resulted in Fraser returning to prison once again - this time to serve a seven-year sentence. He claimed to have no regrets about his criminal life, apart from being caught. Please enter your username or email address to reset your password. 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. After Frasers release from the Spot sentence, he was courted by the Kray Twins and the Richardson gang. Each incident added more time to his sentence. 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. Profile manager: Evelyn Wolff [send private message] He spent 42 years almost half his life in prison for 26 offences. Both Fraser and Warren were given seven years for their acts of violence. 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. If you weren't actually stealing, you were outranked by The Forty Thieves. Frank stole because he loved to have money yet when he had it, he gave it all away. It spent six weeks in the Sunday Times top ten and held the coveted #1 Globe and Mail chart slot in Canada for three months. As a subscriber, you are shown 80% less display advertising when reading our articles. 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. 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. They also spoke, as Frank did, using the prison slang of a bygone era, which they had to translate for me. 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. His mother was of Norwegian-Irish stock and his father was half Native American. 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. Born 1920s. There was American Indian blood in him; his grandfather had emigrated to Canada in the late 19th century and married a full-blooded American Indian woman. 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. However, it was the during the 'torture trial' of the Richardson gang in 1967, that Frankie Fraser become notorious nationally. 'You name it, we nicked it,' he tells the . The two Richardson brothers were convicted, and the elder, Charles, sentenced to 25 years. 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.. She was an alcoholic and onceran out of a jeweller with a tray of 34 diamond rings and bumped straight into a policeman. The thieves' earnings allowed them to live like upper-class debutantes. He had been shot in the face. 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. They didnt go to jail, they did bird or got a lagging. Frankie Fraser was a notorious torturer and hitman for the Richardson gang of south London criminals in the 1960s. Diamond took her under her wing and showed her how to shoplift in 1947, when Pitts was just 12. [13], It was in the early 1960s that Fraser first met Charlie and Eddie Richardson of the Richardson Gang, rivals to the Kray twins. Fraser was part of Britain's Underworld between the 1940s-1960's. 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. Facebook gives people the power. 42 years a lag She had died in. Eva knew the Krays well and they treated her with reverence, although she saw them as little more than naughty boys. 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 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. By the 1950s, the gang were facing ever-present store detectives and had to rely more on disguises. inaccuracy or intrusion, then please Her wartime experience was spent on the switchboards during the Blitz. There were further language difficulties. 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. 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. Shortly afterwards, Fraser kidnapped Eric Mason, a Kray gang member, outside the Astor Club in Berkeley Square, with even direr consequences. [8] Although his parents were not criminals, Fraser turned to crime aged 10 with his sister Eva, to whom he was close. 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. Tue 11 Jun 2013 11.55 EDT He may be in his 90th year but "Mad" Frankie Fraser is still causing mayhem. Fraser was part of Britain's Underworld between the 1940s-1960's. He was a known associate of gangster Billy Hill throughout the 1950s. At the age of five, he moved with his family to a flat on Walworth Road, Elephant and Castle. 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. 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. 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. He refused to discuss the shooting with the police. But she was once caught stealing stockings and was sent to prison.. 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. 'Any girl worth her salt in South London in those days was a. The middle sister was Kathleen, who constantly aspired to make it as an actress, and make use of her striking good looks. [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. of James Fraser and Margaret Alice (Anderson) Fraser. Borstal was followed by prison, where in 1943 he met the influential London villain Billy Hill, for whom he worked on and off for more than a decade, culminating in his slashing of Hills rival Jack Spot in 1956 after the self-styled kings of the underworld had fallen out. What Fraser invariably threatened was violence. Following a trial at the Old Bailey in 1967, he was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment. Aged seven, Ms Pitts was stealing milk and bread to provide food for her five siblings. 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. She helped him sell on his loot. But few would perhaps know about the equally incredible lives led by his three sisters. 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. Fraser had no problem dealing with rival operators whose business was dented as a result. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. After trying his hand at crime as a child, Fraser then continued into his later life. 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. Nothing ever got to Frankie, wrote Charlie Richardson. The notorious English gangster turned to a life of a crime and before he knew it, he was behind bars. Underneath glamorous ensembles the women wore specially-adapted petticoats with hidden pockets or baggy bloomers with elastic at the knee. Their loot would be stuffed into these 'hoister's drawers', allowing the women to leave the stores undetected. If you are dissatisfied with the response provided you can From then on until the end of the 1980s, Fraser was more often in jail than not. 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. 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. After one snatch, he and his companion were arrested when their car would not start. 'And they were the best fun for a night out.'. He has been part of the most infamous criminal gangs of the past 100 years, while maintaining his South London roots and deep devotion to his family. Beezy said: "Frank's sister Eva was the one who led him into crime as a small boy. Fraser spent a lot of time in solitary confinement, tormented by prison officers who would spit in his food. One such member was Lilian Goldstein, who was known as the Bob-Haired Bandit. Bought stolen goods and sold them on in a role known as 'the fence'. '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 himself was accused of pulling out the teeth of victims with a pair of pliers. 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. '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. "If you play by the sword, you've got to expect the sword as well," says his son. The criminal, who has spent almost half his life in prison, passed away earlier at King's. The pair were the only ones of the children to embrace a life of crime. The notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser's sister Eva had risen through the ranks of the gang after joining in the 1930s. 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. Aged 17 she was convicted for stealing from a hat shop in Oxford Street. Then theres Frankie himself, who makes a brief appearance. He was a rock.. 'They didn't see anything wrong in it because these things were too expensive for most people to afford and shops had insurance. Afraid of being heavily medicated for bad behaviour, Fraser stayed out of trouble and was released in 1955. 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 not just a man's world, despite the countless column inches still spent poring over the phenomenon that was the Kray Twins,' she added. in development with Fraser's endorsement. Had her first criminal conviction aged 14 and went on to become Diamond's accomplice. Eva knew the Krays well and they treated her with reverence, although she saw them as little more than naughty boys. 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. It sounds like the worst days of Prohibition in Chicago rather than London in 1956, complained Mr Justice Donovan, but words were wasted on Fraser. After the war he was involved in a smash-and-grab raid on a jeweller's and was given a two year prison sentence. 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. A witness later changed histestimony,and the charges were eventually dropped, though Fraser still received a five-year sentence for affray. His mother was of Irish and Norwegian descent, while his father was halfNative-American. 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. A Gannett Company. Fraser, who was jailed for 10 years in the so-called "torture trial" in 1967, is now frail and in poor health. While still a teenager, in the spring of 1943, he took part in a daring raid to free an Army deserter from a squad sent to collect him from Wandsworth Prison. 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. Diamond's second-in-command Maggie Hughes was known as 'Babyface' for her sweet looks and made a habit of cheekily shouting back at the judge when she was sentenced to jail: 'It won't cure me! [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. Mother of [private daughter (1940s - unknown)] Died 2000s. Photograph: Alex Segre/Rex. 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. 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. Pictured: The female cast of the hit BBC show Peaky Blinders. He then became involved in serious crime - and the war provided a perfect backdrop with the blackout, rationing and a shortage of police officers. 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. 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. By 20 she was leader of The Forty Thieves and wore a row of diamond rings that acted as a knuckle duster. Mad Frank: Memoirs of a Life of Crime appeared in 1994, with two further volumes following in 1998 and 2001. 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. During the 1950s, Fraser's main occupation was as bodyguard to well-known gangster Billy Hill. 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. His decision to join the Richardsons rather than their rivals, the Krays, has been described as "like China getting the atom bomb". Moment brazen thieves jump behind counter at Chicago Drug baron, 58, who 'hid 198MILLION fortune from police' is Isabel Oakeshott receives 'menacing' message from Matt Hancock, Dozens stuck in car park as staff refuses to open gate for woman, Incredible footage of Ukrainian soldiers fighting Russians in Bakhmut, Pro-Ukrainian drone lands on Russian spy planes exposing location, 'Buster is next!' 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. 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. 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. After being sent to HM Prison Durham for taking part in bank robberies, he was again certified insane and this time was sent to Broadmoor Hospital. His parents were honest and hard-working, but Frankie and his big sister Eva, to whom he was closest, soon turned to crime. 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. Indeed, his criminality was closely bound up with what one criminologist described as an overt almost Samurai vindication of violent action in pursuit of inverted honour.

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