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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. The pair were the only ones of the children to embrace a life of crime. At the age of five, he moved with his family to a flat on Walworth Road, Elephant and Castle. His mother was of Irish and Norwegian descent, while his father was half Native-American. Another of Fraser's grandsons, James Fraser, also spent a short time with Bristol Rovers. 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. 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. Dubbed 'The Most Dangerous Man in Britain' by two Home Secretaries, Francis Davidson Fraser was born on the 13th of December 1923, and grew up in Waterloo, London.He and his sister, Eva started their life of crime at a young age, stealing from handbags and pickpocketing. 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. Fraser himself was accused of pulling out the teeth of victims with a pair of pliers. 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). View our online Press Pack. After three years in jail she tookpart in the Lambeth riot at Christmas 1925. Monty Python sketch featuring the Piranha brothers, Doug and Dinsdale. Author Beezy Marsh said: 'These women fought harder than the men and were feared by men and women in their communities. 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. 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. According to Fraser, it was they who helped him avoid arrest for theGreat Train Robberyby bribing a policeman. Their loot would be stuffed into these 'hoister's drawers', allowing the women to leave the stores undetected. Frankie Fraser was born on Cornwall Road in Waterloo, London on December 13, 1923. At the age of five, he moved with his family to a flat on Walworth Road, Elephant and Castle. Mother of [private daughter (1940s - unknown)] Died 2000s. 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. 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. Many started as child lookouts. "My father was the most honest man I've ever come across," says Fraser, who also refers to his Native American antecedents, saying that his grandmother was "a Red Indian", According to his sons, Fraser has no regrets: "He said, 'No, I wouldn't have done my life any other way. 'Any girl worth her salt in South London in those days was a hoister because they could outearn us men two to one,' he said. 'In fact, she was one of the people who spotted his talent for stealing after he pinched a cigarette machine from a hotel as a small boy. Young Frankie attended local schools, captained the football team, and acted as bookies runner to one of the teachers. Fraser was part of Britain's Underworld between the 1940s-1960's. He was a known associate of gangster Billy Hill throughout the 1950s. "Maybe he was bored with going to prison," Ronnie Richardson, Charlie's widow, tells the programme. He was a rock.. Notorious 1930s West End girl gang who hid stolen jewellery in As a subscriber, you are shown 80% less display advertising when reading our articles. Fraser owed his success in the fruit machine business to Billy Hill, whose patronage Fraser courted when he attacked and almost killed Hills gangland rival Jack "Spot" Comer. 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. Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription you will not receive any updates until your subscription is confirmed. Eva knew the Krays well and they treated her with reverence, although she saw them as little more than naughty boys. Fraser treated his various brushes with death as an occupational hazard: his thigh bone was shattered by a bullet fired during the melee in Catford, and part of his mouth was shot away in an incident in May 1991 when someone botched an attempt to assassinate him outside a nightclub in Farringdon. Joining the Forty Thieves was something of a right of passage for Eva Fraser. Had her first criminal conviction aged 14 and went on to become Diamond's accomplice. Harry Styles bares his impressively toned torso and body art at gig And involvement in such activities often led to his sentences being extended. Mad Frank (1994), which went on to sell around 100,000 copies, was the first in a successful series. Join Facebook to connect with Frankie Fraser and others you may know. Updated November 28, 2014 2.43pmfirst published at 2.41pm Save Share 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. 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. [9], Fraser was an Arsenal fan, and his grandson Tommy Fraser is a professional footballer. Questioned by police, Fraser reportedly gave his name as Tutankhamen (gangland slang for shtum) and asked What incident?. Fraser, who was jailed for 10 years in the so-called "torture trial" in 1967, is now frail and in poor health. 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'. MAD FRANK and SONS - Home - Facebook 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. 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. Descendants . Reporters claimed she was 6ft tall - despite police records from 1919 putting her at 5ft9in. Both Fraser and his sister, Eva, were also active juvenile thieves. Who was 'Mad' Frankie Fraser? | The Irish Sun He also ran a coach tour pointing out to a spectrum of customers the old criminal London. 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. They didnt go to jail, they did bird or got a lagging. The singer, 29, bared his chest and showed off his . 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. She got six months in jail, for stealing stockings from Bentalls in Kingston upon Thames. Frank stole because he loved to have money yet when he had it, he gave it all away. 'Mad' Frankie Fraser dead aged 90 | Daily Mail Online With Frankie Fraser, Chris Keenan, Steve Box, Michael Boyd. 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. [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. 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. Mad Frank and Sons: Tougher than the Krays, Frank and his boys on 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. One such member was Lilian Goldstein, who was known as the Bob-Haired Bandit. She helped support her young siblings by taking milk and bread from neighbour's doorsteps. His fourth son, Francis, in Frasers joking words, let me down by having no criminal career at all. 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. 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. Born near Waterloo station, central London, he was the fifth child of a poor family. [11] In 1942, while serving a prison sentence in HM Prison Chelmsford, he came to the attention of the British Army. It will only make me a worse villain! 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. An unregenerate villain of the deepest dye, Fraser satisfied the public appetite for vicarious thrill-seeking with a series of self-exculpatory memoirs in the 1990s that launched him on a twilight career as a celebrity criminal. It is important that we continue to promote these adverts as our local businesses need as much support as possible during these challenging times. Richardson Gang - Wikipedia Fraser himself was charged with pulling out people's teeth with pliers and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Eva got into shoplifting, but had a heart of gold. Mad' Frankie Fraser and London's Most Notorious Gangsters His new career took off and he was in regular demand as a radio and television pundit. He was said to have pulled out the teeth of one of the victims with a pair of pliers. It has emerged that the former gangland enforcer, who has spent 42 years in prison for 26. The big question everyone has about Frank is Was he really mad? He was certified insane three times once by the Army, twice in prison and he was diagnosed as a psychopath but his family argue, and I tend to agree, that he played the system to suit himself. If you love GANGLAND and women in crime who rubbed shoulders with Frank and the Krays, you're going to QUEEN OF CLUBS my new book set in seedy 1950s Soho and inspired by the Forty Thieves hoisters gang including Frank's sister Eva Fraser and the notorious hoister Shirley Pitts from Walworth who grew up with his sons David and Patrick. Underneath glamorous ensembles the women wore specially-adapted petticoats with hidden pockets or baggy bloomers with elastic at the knee. She liked to earn her own money and paid her own way quite something for a young woman in the 1930s and 1940s. After another, the car ran out of petrol in the Rotherhithe tunnel. Mason was found, barely alive, wearing only his underpants and wrapped in a blanket, on the steps of the London Hospital in Whitechapel. 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. Family ways of 'Mad' Frankie | The Northern Echo 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. During the 1950s, Fraser's main occupation was as bodyguard to well-known gangster Billy Hill. 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. "From there he goes on to burgle, and she goes onto shop lifting with a famous female gang called The 40 Thieves. A ponce was someone who thieves looked down on, because they lived by taking a cut from someone elses earnings. [25] In June 2013, the 89-year-old Fraser was served with an anti-social behaviour order (ASBO) by police after a row with another resident. Pitts wore a school girl's outfit, complete with straw boater, to act as a decoy. 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. Ms Marsh said: 'These women fought harder than the men and were feared by men and women in their communities. [14] According to Fraser, it was they who helped him avoid arrest for the Great Train Robbery by bribing a policeman. 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. In August 1963, invited to take part in the Great Train Robbery, Fraser pulled out because he was on the run from the police. If you love GANGLAND and women in crime who rubbed shoulders with Frank and the Krays, you're going to QUEEN OF CLUBS my new book set in seedy 1950s Soho and inspired by the Forty Thieves hoisters gang including Frank's sister Eva Fraser and the notorious hoister Shirley Pitts from Walworth who grew up with his sons David and Patrick. Queen of Thieves, by author and journalist Beezy Marsh (published by Orion, November 4 2021, 8.99). A mugshot of Forty Thieves' Hughes, who was uncontrollable and dissipated by drink. [23] In 1991, Fraser was shot in the head from close range in an apparent murder attempt outside the Turnmills Club in Clerkenwell, London. He refused to discuss the shooting with the police. 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. 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. His mother was of Irish and Norwegian descent, while his father was half Native-American. 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. Diamond took her under her wing and showed her how to shoplift in 1947, when Pitts was just 12. Mad Frank. 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. 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. His greatest moment of national notoriety came during what was known as the 'torture trial' of the Richardson gang in 1967, which became . Former Northern Echo journalist Beezy Marsh has written a book about London gangster Mad Frankie Fraser. Profile manager: Evelyn Wolff [send private message] We'll never send you spam or share your email address. By 20 she was leader of The Forty Thieves and wore a row of diamond rings that acted as a knuckle duster. It was during this sentence that he was first certified insane and was sent to Cane Hill Hospital before being released in 1949. 42 years a lag She had died in. Its clear she still had to feed her family by acting on the wrong side of the law Beezy said. MAD FRANK & SONS, by David Fraser, Patrick Fraser and Beezy Marsh is published by Sidgwick and Jackson on June 2. Eva Brindle formerly Fraser. 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. 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. View the profiles of people named Frankie Fraser. The publisher also decided to include a glossary for the reader. 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. After one snatch, he and his companion were arrested when their car would not start. 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. Aged 17 she was convicted for stealing from a hat shop in Oxford Street. "If you play by the sword, you've got to expect the sword as well," says his son. At 17 he was sent to Borstal for breaking and entering a hosiery shop in Waterloo and was then given a 15-month prison sentence for shopbreaking. 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. 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 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. 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. 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. Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group. Fraser was just 13 when he was sent to an approved school for stealing 40 cigarettes. The years just after World War II were a boom time for the gang, as clothing was rationed until 1949. Francis Davidson "Frankie" Fraser, better known as "Mad" Frankie Fraser,was an English gang member and criminal who spent 42 years in prison for numerous violent offences. Charles Richardson was a criminal businessman who reputedly specialised in various tortures administered at secret courts at which he presided, sometimes robed like a judge, a knife or a gun to hand. Together they set up the Atlantic Machines fruit-machine enterprise, which acted as a front for the criminal activities of the gang. It was a thief's paradise, Gor blimey! Sometimes the hoisters' lives became entangled with those of underworld bosses through affairs, family ties or marriage. Tallymen, who sold goods door-to-door, would shift them across London. MAD FRANK and SONS - Home - Facebook If you are dissatisfied with the response provided you can He was released from prison in 1985.[17]. She was taught by Alice Diamond in the 1930s and a very senior member throughout the. 'Mad' Frankie Fraser: Sweet dapper. Queen of Thieves: The gangland women who made Peaky Blinders look like 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. From then on until the end of the 1980s, Fraser was more often in jail than not. Ancestors . His first conviction was for stealing cigarettes, and with the second he was sent to an approved school. What saved him I think was the branch; it was supple and it bent. Although Lawton survived, the dog died. Involvement in such activities often led to his sentences being extended. Notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser died in hospital today aged 90, relatives have revealed. 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. 'In fact, she was one of the people who spotted his talent for stealing after he pinched a cigarette machine from a hotel as a small boy. 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. Yet they fiercely guarded their right to 'earn' their own money. 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. [24], Fraser's wife, by whom he had four sons, died in 1999. Her wartime experience was spent on the switchboards during the Blitz. ", The new documentary returns to this theme, suggesting he had a hard time in prison because there were no criminals in his family. 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). During the 1950s, Fraser's main criminal occupation was as bodyguard to well-known gangsterBilly Hill. Notorious for high-speed getaways, she was eventually caught stealing lingerie and sentenced to hard labour in prison. [8] Although his parents were not criminals, Fraser turned to crime aged 10 with his sister Eva, to whom he was close. Frank's mother, Margaret, was a huge influence on him but his "best pal" and early partner in crime was his sister, Eva. Beezy a former Sunday Times journalist whose biography Mad Frank & Sons was published last year was given unprecedented access to interview the family and learn about the three bold women, who grew up in Howley Terrace, in Waterloo during the 1930s. 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. His parents were honest and hard-working, but Frankie and his big sister Eva, to whom he was closest, soon turned to crime. 'Speaking to relatives of some of the original gang members during my research for Queen of Thieves, I was struck by how secretive the gang had been about its methods, and how much of a career choice it was for working class girls. Bought stolen goods and sold them on in a role known as 'the fence'. ", 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. 'Mad Frank' the thug, hitman and enforcer Shortly afterwards, Fraser kidnapped Eric Mason, a Kray gang member, outside the Astor Club in Berkeley Square, with even direr consequences. As a young woman, Eva became an accomplished hoister (shoplifter). This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. In 1969 Fraser led the Parkhurst prison riot on the Isle of Wight and found himself back in court charged with incitement to murder. This website and associated newspapers adhere to the Independent Press Standards Organisation's The two Richardson brothers were convicted, and the elder, Charles, sentenced to 25 years. At signing sessions of his books he was always willing to be photographed pretending to extract a tooth with pliers brought by the fan. Fraser was the youngest of five children who were growing up in poverty - he first turned to crime at the tender age of 10, alongside his sister Eva. It was not that he thought he was Napoleon. Fraser was the youngest of five children and grew up in poverty. But by the 1930s, the breeding ground for its recruits was South London. Fraser died at the age of 91 on November 26, 2014. [8] Although his parents were not criminals, Fraser turned to crime aged 10 with his sister Eva, to whom he was close. The grim terraces of Waterloo and the tenements of Elephant and Castle provided plenty of girls desperate enough to join The Forty Thieves. Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription you will not receive any newsletters until your subscription is confirmed. 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. Born 1920s. They bought fur coats, jewellery and went dancing in West End nightclubs. News reports were checked to see how much was owing. 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 Richardson Gang was an English crime gang based in South London, England in the 1960s.Also known as the "Torture Gang", they had a reputation as some of London's most sadistic gangsters. He claimed to have no regrets about his criminal life, apart from being caught. This resulted in Fraser returning to prison once again - this time to serve a seven-year sentence. 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. 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 have a complaint about the editorial content which relates to The violent thugs, the Kray twins, held The Forty Thieves member Eva Fraser in high regard during the 1940s and 1950s. Diamond's second-in-command Maggie Hughes (right) 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! 'MAD' Frankie Fraser, was one of the most feared and respected West End crime lords of the 1960s. By the time of the Swinging Sixties, she was drinking champagne with the Krays. Once he said he would do something, he did it, and he despised others who backed down. The notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser's sister Eva had risen through the ranks of the gang after joining in the 1930s. Last seen in public in October at the funeral of his former boss, Charlie Richardson, Fraser is one of the few remaining members of a generation of "celebrity criminals". [10], In 1941, Fraser was sent to borstal for breaking into a Waterloo hosiery store, then given a 15-month prison sentence at HM Prison Wandsworth for shop-breaking. Whatever you nicked you could sell, they'd be queuing up to buy it off you.". ", Of the war years, when he was heavily involved in theft from bombed-out stores, he says: "You wanted to win the war but you wanted it to go on for ever. [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.