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. [5][6][7][8] His mother was of Irish and Norwegian descent, while his father was half Native-American. Fraser spent a lot of time in solitary confinement, tormented by prison officers who would spit in his food. 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. There were car chases and bank raids which would not have looked out of place in The Sweeney. She helped him sell on his loot. She was chauffeured in a Bentley and always wore a sable coat. 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. 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. Tue 11 Jun 2013 11.55 EDT He may be in his 90th year but "Mad" Frankie Fraser is still causing mayhem. Fraser was acquitted but received five years for affray. She once stabbed a policeman in the eye with a hatpin, blinding him. He later joined the notorious Richardson gang, formed by brothers Eddie and Charlie, and began carrying out more criminal activities. He was frequently punished for breaking prison rules or fighting prison officers: "I've done more bread and water than any man alive. 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. A bucket boy would offer to clean the bookies' blackboards with a sponge, for which they were obliged to pay the Sabinis. '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. After Frasers release from the Spot sentence, he was courted by the Kray Twins and the Richardson gang. 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. Part of his mouth was shot away in the incident. 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.. 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 seven, Ms Pitts was stealing milk and bread to provide food for her five siblings. 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. 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Then theres Frankie himself, who makes a brief appearance. In 1996, he played (his friend) William Donaldson's guide to Marbella in the infamous BBC Radio 4 series A Retiring Fellow. Sister of Frankie Davidson Fraser. These recollections, while often disordered and jumbled, nevertheless shed light on Frasers shameless and unrepentant defiance of the liberal consensus. 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. Frankie Fraser was born on Cornwall Road in Waterloo, London. 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. Eva knew the Krays well and they treated her with reverence, although she saw them as little more than naughty boys. 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. The following year, the British mobsterJack Spotand wife Rita were attacked on Billy Hill's say-so, by Fraser, Bobby Warren and at least half a dozen other men. 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". 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. Eva got six months for stealing stockings from Bentalls in Kingston upon Thames. 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. Keeping My Sisters Secrets was published on July 27 by Pan Macmillan. 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. News reports were checked to see how much was owing. 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. They enjoyed buying nice things with the money and putting on the posh. ", 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. [21] In 1999, he appeared at the Jermyn Street Theatre in London in a one-man show, An Evening with Mad Frankie Fraser (directed by Patrick Newley), which subsequently toured the UK. On the morning of Derek Bentleys execution at Wandsworth in 1953, he spat at the executioner Albert Pierrepoint and tried to attack him. Hughes was famed for her red hair, a love of drink and a violent temper. In 1941, Fraser was given his first taste of punishment when he was sent to borstal for breaking into a Waterloo hosiery store. The gang probably had its roots in the Victorian slums around Seven Dials, near Covent Garden, infamous in Dickens's day. [8] Although his parents were not criminals, Fraser turned to crime aged 10 with his sister Eva, to whom he was close. 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. "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. A mugshot of Forty Thieves' Hughes, who was uncontrollable and dissipated by drink. As a solicitor, I defended him in the trial following the Parkhurst riot and as a result wrote a number of books with him. After trying his hand at crime as a. 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. The two Richardson brothers were convicted, and the elder, Charles, sentenced to 25 years. [13], It was in the early 1960s that Fraser first met Charlie and Eddie Richardson of the Richardson Gang, rivals to the Kray twins. When the police arrived, they found Hart lying under a lilac tree in a nearby garden. '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.'. 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. "The Sun", "Sun", "Sun Online" are registered trademarks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited. 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. 'Any girl worth her salt in South London in those days was a. When he was 10, the pair stole a cigarette machine from a local pub, hauled it to some waste ground and jemmied it open. From the time of Frankie Fraser's - MAD FRANK and SONS | Facebook If you have a complaint about the editorial content which relates to Born 1920s. Fraser considered that Lawton had meted out cruel and vindictive punishment to him at Pentonville in 1948, and to avenge himself Fraser assumed the role of hangman. 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). 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. Newsquest Media Group Ltd, Loudwater Mill, Station Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. Who was 'Mad' Frankie Fraser? | The Irish Sun '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. Facebook gives people the power. Fraser was just 13 when he was sent to an approved school for stealing 40 cigarettes. Eva Brindle formerly Fraser. Descendants . 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. This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. Eva was a chip off the old block and as well as being Franks first partner in crime, stealing sweets from the corner shop, she had a lucrative career in a daring gang of girl shoplifters, The Forty Thieves, which traced its roots back to Victorian London and cleared many a West End store for furs and luxury goods. According to Eddie Richardson, Fraser had Alzheimer's disease for the last three years of his life. 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. He regularly led conducted tours of East End crime scenes, invariably ending up in the Blind Beggar pub where Ronnie Kray shot George Cornell dead. It wasnt that we chose to be thieves, said Patrick. Murdaugh is heckled as he leaves court, Missing hiker buried under snow forces arm out to wave to helicopter, Pavement where disabled woman gestured at cyclist before fatal crash, Fleet-footed cop chases an offender riding a scooter, Two Russian tanks annihilated with bombs by Ukrainian armed forces, Alex Murdaugh unanimously found GUILTY of murder of wife and son, Isabel Oakeshott clashes with Nick Robinson over Hancock texts, Insane moment river of rocks falls onto Malibu Canyon in CA, Do not sell or share my personal information. Frank Davidson Fraser[1] (13 December 1923 26 November 2014),[2] better known as "Mad" Frankie Fraser, was an English gangster who spent 42 years in prison for numerous violent offences. The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. [23] In 1991, Fraser was shot in the head from close range in an apparent murder attempt outside the Turnmills Club in Clerkenwell, London. She lived an unashamedly lavish lifestyle and splashed her money around. People shook his hand in the street, others kissed him or asked for his autograph and taxi drivers honked their horns. Comments have been closed on this article. When she married the father of five of her seven children, Chris Hawkins, he subjected her to cruel beatings - but quickly stopped following a warning from the Kray Twins. View our online Press Pack. Despite this, or possibly because of it, newspapers of the day were tipping him as Spots natural successor. Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription you will not receive any newsletters until your subscription is confirmed. 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. 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. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. 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. [24], Fraser's wife, by whom he had four sons, died in 1999. 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. '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. As a reward, he was shown his examination answers, and thats how I come top, he later boasted. MAD FRANK & SONS, by David Fraser, Patrick Fraser and Beezy Marsh is published by Sidgwick and Jackson on June 2. [22], Fraser gave gangland tours around London, where he highlighted infamous criminal locations such as The Blind Beggar pub. Together they set up the Atlantic Machines fruit-machine enterprise, which acted as a front for the criminal activities of the gang. 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. The Kray twins (pictured) held The Forty Thieves member Eva Fraser in high regard. Fraser was jailed along with other members of the Richardson gang for violently punishing people whom the Richardsons believed owed them money. 'Mad' Frankie Fraser handed Asbo at the age of 89 | Metro News 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. Frankie Fraser - obituary - The Telegraph 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. Fraser, he recalled, was more than capable of doing what he threatened. Mothers would hide hoisted clothes in their prams and move them to pubs, where they were sold on. Once again, he was sent toprison, this timefor taking part in bank robberies. Profile manager: Evelyn Wolff [send private message] In later life he would say that had there been an elder criminal member of the family to advise him, he would not have served his sentences in what was called the hard way. The trial which became one of the longest in British criminal history. Nevertheless his campaigns and, on the outside, those of Eva, did bring the attention of the general public to the unpalatable conditions in which prisoners served then their sentences. 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! He was working all the hours he got sent, but he couldnt make ends meet. Peggy stayed out of crime and worked for the Post Office. 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. 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. 'It gave them a life they could never have afforded. His major stretch in prison came at the end of the Swinging Sixties, shortly before his rivals, the Krays, were jailed, but he was so badly behaved behind bars that he lost every day of remission and even had five years added to his sentence for one of the worst riots in prison history at Parkhurst in the Isle of Wight. 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. 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. He may be in his 90th year but "Mad" Frankie Fraser is still causing mayhem. Many started as child lookouts. Before then, Fraser had been involved in smash-and-grab raids and wages snatches. 'They didn't see anything wrong in it because these things were too expensive for most people to afford and shops had insurance. He was given an asbo, one of his sons told film-makers, after getting into an argument with a fellow-resident and is unrepentant about his life of crime. Fraser himself was accused of pulling out the teeth of victims with a pair of pliers. After trying his hand at crime as a. Frank Davidson Fraser (13 December 1923 - 26 November 2014), better known as 'Mad' Frankie Fraser, was an English gangster who spent 42 years in prison for numerous violent offences. A witness changed his testimony and the charges were eventually dropped, though Fraser still received a five-year sentence for affray. 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. "If you play by the sword, you've got to expect the sword as well," says his son. Who was 'Mad' Frankie Fraser? | The Scottish Sun 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). These adverts enable local businesses to get in front of their target audience the local community. '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 the 1950s he worked for underworld boss Billy Hill and carried out razor attacks on victims for 50 each. Mad Frank: Memoirs of a Life of Crime appeared in 1994, with two further volumes following in 1998 and 2001. Author Beezy Marsh said: 'These women fought harder than the men and were feared by men and women in their communities. 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. He also attacked various governors. Franks mother, Margaret, was a huge influence on him but his best pal and early partner in crime was his sister, Eva. As a young woman, Eva became an accomplished hoister (shoplifter). 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. While serving this sentence, Fraser received 10 years for his part in the so-called Richardson torture trial. Beezy said: "Frank's sister Eva was the one who led him into crime as a small boy. 'Mad Frankie' Fraser - a legend in his own gaol time An early nickname Razor Fraser reflected his penchant for shivving his enemies faces with a cut-throat blade. His mother was of Norwegian-Irish stock and his father was half Native American. 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. New biography of notorious Frankie Fraser promises to reveal the late She is thought to have killed herself in the 1970s. Pictured, Marble Arch and Oxford Circus in the 1920s, Petite shoplifter Bertha Tappenden (right) stood just over 5ft 2in tall, but was convicted of inflicting grievous bodily harm on a man in Lambeth, after kicking down his front door and attacking him with razors and knives, to settle a score, aided by Diamond and another gang girl, Gertrude Scully (left). However, according to a new documentary, he is clearly not going gentle into any good night. 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. 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. It was during the war that he first became involved in serious crime, with the blackout and rationing, combined with the lack of professional policemen due to conscription, providing ample opportunities for criminal activities such as stealing from houses while the occupants were in air-raid shelters. Although he was acquitted, a further five years were added to his sentence. She operated out of Walworth, South East London and her home was called an 'Aladdin's cave of loot'. David had perfected the prison whisper talking very quietly, in case he was overheard by the guards. According to Fraser, it was they who helped him avoid arrest for theGreat Train Robberyby bribing a policeman. If you are dissatisfied with the response provided you can One such member was Lilian Goldstein, who was known as the Bob-Haired Bandit. From the time of Frankie Fraser's sister Eva and the gang of hoisters The Forty Thieves, comes a book which will have you gripped this summer. As her reign came to an end, Forty Thieves queen Diamondpassed on her 'wisdom' to a future queen, Shirley Pitts. Ms Marsh said it 'was time to reappraise London's gangland' when she wrote The Queen of Thieves. Alice herself was famous for clouting three furs in one go: one down each leg and one under her gusset. 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. As a subscriber, you are shown 80% less display advertising when reading our articles. Fraser himself was accused of pulling out the teeth of victims with a pair of pliers. Both Fraser and Warren received seven-year sentences. He emerged from jail in 1989 and has not been back since. They would go through Selfridges department store in the West End and steal furs and expensive clothes. Had her first criminal conviction aged 14 and went on to become Diamond's accomplice. But who were the gang's most brazen members? Frankie Fraser, born December 13 1923, died November 26 2014, Frankie Fraser at Repton Boxing Club in 2005, Rishi Sunak to host Coronation Big Lunch at Downing Street, Erik ten Hag: Man Utd were a mess with no rules Casemiro has helped sort them out, How Ollie Lawrence became England's missing piece, Harlequins set attendance record but rampant Exeter spoil Twickenham party, Marcus Smith sends England message to Steve Borthwick with man-of-the-match performance, Super-sub Reiss Nelson completes thrilling Arsenal fightback. Fraser died at the age of 91 on November 26, 2014. The grim terraces of Waterloo and the tenements of Elephant and Castle provided plenty of girls desperate enough to join The Forty Thieves. ', The notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser's sister Eva had risen through the ranks of the gang after joining in the 1930s. 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. Notorious 1930s West End girl gang who hid stolen jewellery in 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'. Harry Styles put on an animated display as he took to the stage for a second night at the Accor Stadium in Sydney's Olympic Park on Saturday.. 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! You understand the choices that lay ahead of you if you were a working-class girl. Many of the Forty Thieves were noted for their beauty as well as their shoplifting skills, such as Madeline Partridge and her sister Laura, whose mother was often used by Diamond to sell stolen goods. 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.

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