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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. 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. Joining the Forty Thieves was something of a right of passage for Eva Fraser. "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. The notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser's sister Eva had risen through the ranks of the gang after joining in the 1930s. She was taught by Alice Diamond in the 1930s and a very senior member throughout the. 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. It was not that he thought he was Napoleon. Newsquest Media Group Ltd, Loudwater Mill, Station Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. 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. Fraser was one of the ringleaders of the major Parkhurst Prison riot in 1969, spending the following six weeks in the prison hospital because of his injuries. HP10 9TY. During the 1940s it was not unusual for 'hoisters', a historical term for shoplifters, to be paid a hundred pounds a week - out earning men's average wages ten-to-one. Together they set up the Atlantic Machines fruit-machine enterprise, which acted as a front for the criminal activities of the gang. 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. 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. 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. 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. Peggy stayed out of crime and worked for the Post Office. 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. Frasers partner in this endeavour was Bobby Warren, an uncle of the boxing promoter Frank Warren. On 21 November 2014, Fraser fell critically ill whilst undergoing leg surgery atKing's College Hospital,Denmark Hill. [11] In 1942, while serving a prison sentence in HM Prison Chelmsford, he came to the attention of the British Army. This is Eva Fraser, sister of gangster " Mad" Frankie who was one of the leading lights in The Forty Thieves. "As I was growing up, I never had to buy a shirt Eva made sure she nicked them for me. His funeral took place on December 18, 2014. 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. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. Both Fraser and Warren received seven-year sentences. 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. contact the editor here. 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. [8] Although his parents were not criminals, Fraser turned to crime aged 10 with his sister Eva, to whom he was close. 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. 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. Fraser died at the age of 91 on November 26, 2014. His parents never knew about his illegal activities, and if they ever suspected him apparently turned a blind eye, a habit . In 1969 Fraser led the Parkhurst prison riot on the Isle of Wight and found himself back in court charged with incitement to murder. Fraser spent practically half his life behind bars. 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. According to one of his sons, David, Fraser was unharmed but he did not inform on his assailant. Facebook gives people the power. Mad Frank: Memoirs of a Life of Crime appeared in 1994, with two further volumes following in 1998 and 2001. [13], It was in the early 1960s that Fraser first met Charlie and Eddie Richardson of the Richardson Gang, rivals to the Kray twins. 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 publisher also decided to include a glossary for the reader. 'Any girl worth her salt in South London in those days was a. When the heat from the cops in London got too much, they headed off to the Costa del Crime to seek their fortunes there. Both Frank and his sister, Eva, whom he adored, inherited their fathers features and his jet-black hair. Mad Frank. 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. Here are some pictures of Eva Fraser of the Forty Thieves and her sister Kathleen. In 1938, she was sentenced for stabbing a policeman in the eye with a hatpin. The thieves' earnings allowed them to live like upper-class debutantes. According to Fraser, it was they who helped him avoid arrest for theGreat Train Robberyby bribing a policeman. Had her first criminal conviction aged 14 and went on to become Diamond's accomplice. He emerged from jail in 1989 and has not been back since. Jewellery was a favourite target, as it was easy to hide up a sleeve - rings could be switched for worthless fakes. Mother of [private daughter (1940s - unknown)] Died 2000s. Hughes was famed for her red hair, a love of drink and a violent temper. 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. 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. His decision to join the Richardsons rather than their rivals, the Krays, has been described as "like China getting the atom bomb". '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. They stole to put food on the table. Their loot would be stuffed into these 'hoister's drawers', allowing the women to leave the stores undetected. 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. [3][4], Frankie Fraser was born on Cornwall Road in Waterloo, London. View our online Press Pack. Bought stolen goods and sold them on in a role known as 'the fence'. By the 1950s, the gang were facing ever-present store detectives and had to rely more on disguises. 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. inaccuracy or intrusion, then please Although he was never convicted of murder, police reportedly held him responsible for 40 killings, but the bluster and bravado of a media-savvy gangland relic almost certainly inflated this tally, the actual scale of which remains unfathomable. 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. of James Fraser and Margaret Alice (Anderson) Fraser. Beezy reveals how the girls father would beat their mother a big influence on their outlook. 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. Fraser in 1997 with his then girlfriend Marilyn Wisbey, daughter Of Great Train Robber Tom Wisbey (REX FEATURES). Fraser was the. His fourth son, Francis, in Frasers joking words, let me down by having no criminal career at all. 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. It was during the war that he first became involved in serious crime. Data returned from the Piano 'meterActive/meterExpired' callback event. A bucket boy would offer to clean the bookies' blackboards with a sponge, for which they were obliged to pay the Sabinis. 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. 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. Nevertheless he was good at sports, captaining the football team at St Patricks school, Southwark, and boxing as an amateur. 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. Shortly afterwards, Fraser kidnapped Eric Mason, a Kray gang member, outside the Astor Club in Berkeley Square, with even direr consequences. However, according to a new documentary, he is clearly not going gentle into any good night. ", 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. During his time behind bars he was involved in violence and was a major instigator in the Parkhurst Prison riots in 1969. They enjoyed buying nice things with the money and putting on the posh. Because of Frasers behaviour in jail over the years, he forfeited almost every day of his remission. In the summer of 2013 it emerged that, at the age of 89, Fraser had been served with an Antisocial Behaviour Order (Asbo) after another incident, this time at his care home in Peckham, south London. Pitts wore a school girl's outfit, complete with straw boater, to act as a decoy. The Krays, according to Frank, were little more than thieves ponces.. After the war he was involved in a smash-and-grab raid on a jeweller's and was given a two year prison sentence. The violent thugs, the Kray twins, held The Forty Thieves member Eva Fraser in high regard during the 1940s and 1950s. Then theres Frankie himself, who makes a brief appearance. Fraser was part of Britain's Underworld between the 1940s-1960's. He was a known associate of gangster Billy Hill throughout the 1950s. After three years in jail she tookpart in the Lambeth riot at Christmas 1925. She got six months in jail, for stealing stockings from Bentalls in Kingston upon Thames. Eva got into shoplifting, but had a heart of gold. 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. He also claimed to have been the first bandit to wear a stocking mask. There were further language difficulties. "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. Monty Python sketch featuring the Piranha brothers, Doug and Dinsdale. 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. 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. The years just after World War II were a boom time for the gang, as clothing was rationed until 1949. 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 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. 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. He spent 42 years almost half his life in prison for 26 offences. 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 criminal, who has spent almost half his life in prison, passed away earlier at King's. During the 1950s, Fraser's main occupation was as bodyguard to well-known gangster Billy Hill. 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. I don't think they felt bad about it. Frankie Fraser was born on Cornwall Road in Waterloo, London on December 13, 1923. Born near Waterloo station, central London, he was the fifth child of a poor family. The family was hard-working and kept themselves clean [out of crime].. "Maybe he was bored with going to prison," Ronnie Richardson, Charlie's widow, tells the programme. She and her friends looked like film stars when they went out down the pub. But few would perhaps know about the equally incredible lives led by his three sisters. ', 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'. Pictured: The female cast of the hit BBC show Peaky Blinders. The reader is also introduced to the girls brother Jim, who became a sergeant in the army and fought in North Africa. 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. Frank's mother, Margaret, was a huge influence on him but his "best pal" and early partner in crime was his sister, Eva. Fraser was the youngest of five children and grew up in poverty. 'And they were the best fun for a night out.'. It will only make me a worse villain!'. 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! 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. While serving this sentence, Fraser received 10 years for his part in the so-called Richardson torture trial. Author Beezy Marsh said: 'These women fought harder than the men and were feared by men and women in their communities. The gang probably had its roots in the Victorian slums around Seven Dials, near Covent Garden, infamous in Dickens's day. 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. 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. 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. A Gannett Company. Her wartime experience was spent on the switchboards during the Blitz. Daughter. He spent more than 40 years in prison. 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. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. To see all content on The Sun, please use the Site Map. On the morning of Derek Bentleys execution at Wandsworth in 1953, he spat at the executioner Albert Pierrepoint and tried to attack him. When police visited she showed them ledgers to demonstrate her honest buying. She was one of the top thieves during the war. 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. ", 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. [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. 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. [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. Afraid of being heavily medicated for bad behaviour, Fraser stayed out of trouble and was released in 1955. Various members were eventually caught, though and served their time in Holloway prison, where rations were meagre and they slept on boards. Born 1920s. 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. 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. Fraser was jailed along with other members of the Richardson gang for violently punishing people whom the Richardsons believed owed them money. 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. 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 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. View the profiles of people named Frankie Fraser. Even decent folk were often only too happy to 'take a bit of crooked' to have something new. Women carried tools needed for burglaries so the police had no evidence if they stopped the men following the crime. They would go through Selfridges department store in the West End and steal furs and expensive clothes. She helped him sell on his loot. He was released from prison in 1985.[17]. He may be in his 90th year but "Mad" Frankie Fraser is still causing mayhem. 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. A ponce was someone who thieves looked down on, because they lived by taking a cut from someone elses earnings. Yet they fiercely guarded their right to 'earn' their own money. 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. [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. 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. "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. Frankie Fraser was tried at the Old Bailey for Harts murder, while six others, including Eddie Richardson, faced lesser charges. 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. 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 when her brother Frankie was in prison, she helped to run his protection rackets in Soho and even sent her daughters to collect payments, as the police would not stop a child. His mother was of Norwegian-Irish stock and his father was half Native American. Please enter your username or email address to reset your password. There was also quite a comeuppance for both Patrick and David who both served their time. Theres one account of one of Peggys colleagues pretending to still be single so she could carry on working as a Post Office manager. Whereas for Eva it was about her earning her own money on her own terms. His parents were honest and hard-working, but Frankie and his big sister Eva, to whom he was closest, soon turned to crime. [9] He was a resident at a sheltered accommodation home in Peckham. You understand the choices that lay ahead of you if you were a working-class girl. 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.