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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. '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. He was frequently punished for breaking prison rules or fighting prison officers: "I've done more bread and water than any man alive. ", 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. The cells did not have a reforming effect on her character or on that of her gang leader Diamond, who was arrested on numerous occasions over the following decade. 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. Ms Marsh said it 'was time to reappraise London's gangland' when she wrote The Queen of Thieves. They worked department stores including Selfridges in teams of three or four during hoisting trips up to three times a week. 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. [9] He was a deserter during the Second World War, escaping from his barracks on several occasions. Another grandson, Anthony Fraser, was being sought by police in February 2011 for his alleged involvement in an alleged 5 million cannabis smuggling ring. 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. Notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser died in hospital today aged 90, relatives have revealed. At the age of five, he moved with his family to a flat on Walworth Road, Elephant and Castle. 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. In 1996 he was cast as the gangleader Pops Den in the film Hard Men, which premiered at the London film festival. 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. 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. 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. Eva Brindle formerly Fraser. The granddaughter of a member of the gang, who said she was taught how to steal in the 1970s, told Ms Marsh: 'My nan was always beautifully turned out. The two Richardson brothers were convicted, and the elder, Charles, sentenced to 25 years. This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. Their view on Hatton Garden was that the world had moved on and robbing banks now was akin to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid trying to get away on horseback, while the police gave chase in cars. What saved him I think was the branch; it was supple and it bent. Although Lawton survived, the dog died. 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. Family ways of 'Mad' Frankie | The Northern Echo '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. But few would perhaps know about the equally incredible lives led by his three sisters. Who was 'Mad' Frankie Fraser? | The Sun Two people were left dead. In August 1963, invited to take part in the Great Train Robbery, Fraser pulled out because he was on the run from the police. He was still touring clubs and pubs in 2011. Mad Frankie Fraser - Everything2.com Joining the Forty Thieves was something of a right of passage for Eva Fraser. [9], Fraser was an Arsenal fan, and his grandson Tommy Fraser is a professional footballer. Together they set up the Atlantic Machines fruit-machine enterprise, which acted as a front for the criminal activities of the gang. 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. By Emer Scully and Beezy Marsh for MailOnline, Published: 10:41 GMT, 4 November 2021 | Updated: 13:07 GMT, 4 November 2021. During the 1950s, Fraser's main occupation was as bodyguard to well-known gangster Billy Hill. 'And they were the best fun for a night out.'. Ancestors . Fraser was jailed along with other members of the Richardson gang for violently punishing people whom the Richardsons believed owed them money. 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. 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. Richardson Gang - Wikipedia 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. 'MAD' Frankie Fraser, was one of the most feared and respected West End crime lords of the 1960s. Fraser was just 13 when he was sent to an approved school for stealing 40 cigarettes. 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. 'You name it, we nicked it,' he tells the . ', The notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser's sister Eva had risen through the ranks of the gang after joining in the 1930s. 'Mad' Frankie Fraser handed Asbo at the age of 89 | Metro News "From there he goes on to burgle, and she goes onto shop lifting with a famous female gang called The 40 Thieves. But few would perhaps know about the equally incredible lives led by his three sisters. 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 later joined the notorious Richardson gang, formed by brothers Eddie and Charlie, and began carrying out more criminal activities. Eva got six months for stealing stockings from Bentalls in Kingston upon Thames. A mugshot of Forty Thieves' Hughes, who was uncontrollable and dissipated by drink. "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. This site is part of Newsquest's audited local newspaper network. She got six months in jail, for stealing stockings from Bentalls in Kingston upon Thames. 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'. In the second part, she reveals how Frank wasnt the only member of his family with a chequered past. The publisher also decided to include a glossary for the reader. A Gannett Company. . During World War 2 he was a deserter - escaping from his barracks on several occasions. 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. Not long after being released, Hughes was involved in the Lambeth riot of Christmas 1925, when the home of Bill Britten was stormed. Data returned from the Piano 'meterActive/meterExpired' callback event. Before World War Two, if you got married you were expected to leave work and stay at home, Beezy said. But by the 1930s, the breeding ground for its recruits was South London. in development with Fraser's endorsement. Following the Frankie Fraser story is akin to re-tracing the history of gangland London throughout the 20th Century. 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. "You name it, we nicked it," he says. 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. 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. 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. When caught by police she replied: 'I don't know anything about it.'. 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. "If you play by the sword, you've got to expect the sword as well," says his son. In 1991, while emerging from Turnmills nightclub in Clerkenwell, London, he was shot at by an unidentified gunman. Frankie Fraser's Last Stand: Directed by Matt Blyth. [11] In 1942, while serving a prison sentence in HM Prison Chelmsford, he came to the attention of the British Army. 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. For other inquiries, Contact Us. '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. This resulted in Fraser returning to prison once again - this time to serve a seven-year sentence. Pictured: The female cast of the hit BBC show Peaky Blinders. 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. He was released from prison in 1985.[17]. Shortly afterwards, Fraser kidnapped Eric Mason, a Kray gang member, outside the Astor Club in Berkeley Square, with even direr consequences. He may be in his 90th year but "Mad" Frankie Fraser is still causing mayhem. 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. 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. Once he said he would do something, he did it, and he despised others who backed down. The comments below have not been moderated. [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. Frankie Fraser was born on Cornwall Road in Waterloo, London on December 13, 1923. '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. The reader is also introduced to the girls brother Jim, who became a sergeant in the army and fought in North Africa. Beezy said: "Frank's sister Eva was the one who led him into crime as a small boy. Harry Styles bares his impressively toned torso and body art at gig We are no longer accepting comments on this article. Even decent folk were often only too happy to 'take a bit of crooked' to have something new. [13], It was in the early 1960s that Fraser first met Charlie and Eddie Richardson of the Richardson Gang, rivals to the Kray twins. Part of his mouth was shot away in the incident. The gang probably had its roots in the Victorian slums around Seven Dials, near Covent Garden, infamous in Dickens's day. 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. 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. Are you sure you want to delete this comment? '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.'. 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. 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. From then on until the end of the 1980s, Fraser was more often in jail than not. 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. 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. For further details of our complaints policy and to make a complaint please click this link: thesun.co.uk/editorial-complaints/, 'Mad' Frankie Fraser was a notorious English gangster, Funeral of South London enforcer, FRANKIE FRASER at Honour Oak Crematorium, Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). One such member was Lilian Goldstein, who was known as the Bob-Haired Bandit. He was working all the hours he got sent, but he couldnt make ends meet. Whatever you nicked you could sell, they'd be queuing up to buy it off you.". 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). Because of Frasers behaviour in jail over the years, he forfeited almost every day of his remission. It was just what we knew and to be honest, we loved it.. However, according to a new documentary, he is clearly not going gentle into any good night. In the 1950s he worked for underworld boss Billy Hill and carried out razor attacks on victims for 50 each. They stole to put food on the table. 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 Sun", "Sun", "Sun Online" are registered trademarks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited. 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. Although he was acquitted, a further five years were added to his sentence. 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. After Frasers release from the Spot sentence, he was courted by the Kray Twins and the Richardson gang. View our online Press Pack. 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. His greatest moment of national notoriety came during what was known as the 'torture trial' of the Richardson gang in 1967, which became . Getting them to relive their exploits had its own difficulties at the start the only time they had ever been interviewed was by the police and they were used to keeping their own counsel. [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 raids seem often to have been left to chance, and he was particularly unfortunate with cars. [8] Although his parents were not criminals, Fraser turned to crime aged 10 with his sister Eva, to whom he was close. Women carried tools needed for burglaries so the police had no evidence if they stopped the men following the crime. She was chauffeured in a Bentley and always wore a sable coat. A ponce was someone who thieves looked down on, because they lived by taking a cut from someone elses earnings. But who were the gang's most brazen members?
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