"From there he goes on to burgle, and she goes onto shop lifting with a famous female gang called The 40 Thieves. 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. When he was 10, the pair stole a cigarette machine from a local pub, hauled it to some waste ground and jemmied it open. 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. An early nickname Razor Fraser reflected his penchant for shivving his enemies faces with a cut-throat blade. 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.
'Mad Frank' the thug, hitman and enforcer New biography of notorious Frankie Fraser promises to reveal the late In the 1950s he worked for underworld boss Billy Hill and carried out razor attacks on victims for 50 each. During World War 2 he was a deserter - escaping from his barracks on several occasions. [16], Fraser's 42 years served in over 20 different prisons in the UK were often coloured by violence. 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.
In the second part, she reveals how Frank wasnt the only member of his family with a chequered past. Whatever you nicked you could sell, they'd be queuing up to buy it off you.". 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. Aged seven, Ms Pitts was stealing milk and bread to provide food for her five siblings. He saw himself as an innovator, claiming to have invented the Friday gang, robbing wages clerks carrying money from banks; he would use a starting handle to beat his victims and to deter any watching have-a-go heroes in the street. Each incident added more time to his sentence. 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. 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. Please enter your username or email address to reset your password. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. 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. '", Frankie Fraser's Last Stand will be broadcast on the Crime and Investigation network on 16 June at 9pm, New TV documentary shows ex-gangland enforcer is far from mellowing with age and has few regrets about his life of crime, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, Frankie Fraser has no regrets over his life of crime, which involved him being jailed for a total of 42 years for 26 offences. Fraser spent practically half his life behind bars. 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. 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. Nevertheless he was good at sports, captaining the football team at St Patricks school, Southwark, and boxing as an amateur. 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. [13], It was in the early 1960s that Fraser first met Charlie and Eddie Richardson of the Richardson Gang, rivals to the Kray twins. 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. [24], Fraser's wife, by whom he had four sons, died in 1999. Ms Marsh said: 'These women fought harder than the men and were feared by men and women in their communities. Newsquest Media Group Ltd, Loudwater Mill, Station Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. According to one of his sons, David, Fraser was unharmed but he did not inform on his assailant. Nothing ever got to Frankie, wrote Charlie Richardson. Aged seven, Ms Pitts was stealing milk and bread to provide food for her five siblings. Eva Brindle formerly Fraser. 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. Fraser was the. She was chauffeured in a Bentley and always wore a sable coat.
Queen of Thieves: The gangland women who made Peaky Blinders look like Morton was relieved that, rather than remonstrating, Fraser wanted him to write his life story.
From the time of Frankie Fraser's - MAD FRANK and SONS | Facebook Though like Eva, she struggled to come to terms with the choice facing women to work or marry.
Frankie Fraser - obituary - The Telegraph Although his parents were not criminals, Fraser turned to crime aged 10 with his sister Eva, to whom he was close. His parents never knew about his illegal activities, and if they ever suspected him apparently turned a blind eye, a habit .
Notorious 1930s West End girl gang who hid stolen jewellery in Fraser served a total of 42 years in over 20 different prisons in the UK for numerous violent offences. While serving this sentence, Fraser received 10 years for his part in the so-called Richardson torture trial. 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. Fraser was acquitted but received five years for affray. 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. Had her first criminal conviction aged 14 and went on to become Diamond's accomplice. This website and associated newspapers adhere to the Independent Press Standards Organisation's Alice herself was famous for clouting three furs in one go: one down each leg and one under her gusset. Ronald 'Ronnie' Kray and Reginald 'Reggie' Kray, were identical twin brothers who led an organised crime ring in East London from the late 1950s to 1967. Their alleged specialities included pulling teeth out using pliers, cutting off toes using bolt cutters and nailing victims to floors using 6-inch nails. 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 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. According to Eddie Richardson, Fraser had Alzheimer's disease for the last three years of his life. 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. After one snatch, he and his companion were arrested when their car would not start. 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. Another of Fraser's grandsons, James Fraser, also spent a short time with Bristol Rovers.
Frankie Fraser obituary | Crime | The Guardian 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. A witness changed his testimony and the charges were eventually dropped, though Fraser still received a five-year sentence for affray. They set up a fruit machine enterprise, which they would sell to pub landlords, to cover up their crimes. Tony Lambrianou, a one-time henchman of the rival Kray brothers, was also a fan. When police switched on to the gang's methods they branched out, with trips to Southend, Brighton, Liverpool and Manchester. As he languished in jail, his sons David and Patrick and their older brother, Frank Jnr currently living quietly on the Costa del Sol carved their own careers as bank robbers and jewellery thieves in 1970s London.
Frankie Fraser Wiki & Bio - everipedia.org 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. Ms Marsh said it 'was time to reappraise London's gangland' when she wrote The Queen of Thieves. During his time behind bars he was involved in violence and was a major instigator in the Parkhurst Prison riots in 1969. 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.
Who was 'Mad' Frankie Fraser? | The Irish Sun [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. He refused to discuss the shooting with the police. A ponce was someone who thieves looked down on, because they lived by taking a cut from someone elses earnings. The notorious English gangster turned to a life of a crime and before he knew it, he was behind bars. He really did live by a code of honour which he took with him to the grave. Fraser himself was accused of pulling out the teeth of victims with a pair of pliers. Mad Frank. ', 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'. This resulted in Fraser returning to prison once again - this time to serve a seven-year sentence. Join Facebook to connect with Frankie Fraser and others you may know. 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. contact the editor here. I just waited, caught up with him, knocked him about and strung him up with his dog, Fraser remembered. Born inLambeth, south London, Frankie committed his first crime at the age of 13, when he stole a packet of cigarettes and was sent to an approved school. Fraser was defended by a young solicitor called James Morton, who later became an author and wrote a history of Londons gangland in 1992. He also claimed to have been the first bandit to wear a stocking mask. 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. On his release, Fraser joined Richardsons brother Eddie in a company called Atlantic Machines, installing fruit machines at some of Sohos most profitable sites, with Sir Noel Dryden recruited as the respectable frontman. 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. She was sentenced to five months. After trying his hand at crime as a child, Fraser then continued into his later life. But Beezy said: [Kathleen] experienced the slums of Waterloo as a place buzzing with excitement and the tight-knit community, with its Catholic Church parades, which gave her the chance to shine, though she instead works at the old Hartleys jam factory in Bermondsey. 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.. [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. In 1996, he played (his friend) William Donaldson's guide to Marbella in the infamous BBC Radio 4 series A Retiring Fellow. At his funeral, one of his old prison friends summed him up: Whether he has gone upstairs or downstairs, I cant say, but wherever he is, you can be sure of this: he will be protesting about the conditions.. [6] Fraser was the youngest of five children and grew up in poverty. 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 regularly led conducted tours of East End crime scenes, invariably ending up in the Blind Beggar pub where Ronnie Kray shot George Cornell dead. [5][6][7][8] His mother was of Irish and Norwegian descent, while his father was half Native-American. As a subscriber, you are shown 80% less display advertising when reading our articles. [4] He was involved in riots and frequently fought with prison officers and fellow inmates. A Gannett Company. He was frequently punished for breaking prison rules or fighting prison officers: "I've done more bread and water than any man alive. Tallymen, who sold goods door-to-door, would shift them across London. As her reign came to an end, Forty Thieves queen Diamondpassed on her 'wisdom' to a future queen, Shirley Pitts. When the police arrived, they found Hart lying under a lilac tree in a nearby garden. 'You name it, we nicked it,' he tells the . However, it was the during the 'torture trial' of the Richardson gang in 1967, that Frankie Fraser become notorious nationally. [22], Fraser gave gangland tours around London, where he highlighted infamous criminal locations such as The Blind Beggar pub. Fraser was part of Britain's Underworld between the 1940s-1960's.
Old London Photographs | This is Eva Fraser, sister of gangster " Mad However, according to a new documentary, he is clearly not going gentle into any good night. 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. inaccuracy or intrusion, then please As a young woman, Eva became an accomplished hoister (shoplifter). Involvement in such activities often led to his sentences being extended. But few would perhaps know about the equally incredible lives led by his three sisters.
MAD FRANK and SONS - Home - Facebook In 1991, while emerging from Turnmills nightclub in Clerkenwell, London, he was shot at by an unidentified gunman. 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. 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. By the time of the Swinging Sixties, she was drinking champagne with the Krays. From then on until the end of the 1980s, Fraser was more often in jail than not.
'Mad' Frankie Fraser handed an asbo aged 90 - the Guardian He had an ungovernable temper and an inability to think through the undoubted consequences of his proposed actions. They enjoyed buying nice things with the money and putting on the posh. The Krays, according to Frank, were little more than thieves ponces.. The Guardian, October 12 1980 Frank Fraser is a thorn in the Prison Department's side - a thorn so big that he is possibly the only British criminal who has become a legend simply by serving time. He was still touring clubs and pubs in 2011. A mugshot of Forty Thieves' Hughes, who was uncontrollable and dissipated by drink.
'Mad Frankie' Fraser - a legend in his own gaol time 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. He stopped following a warning from the Kray Twins. 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.
'Mad' Frankie Fraser handed Asbo at the age of 89 | Metro News She is thought to have killed herself in the 1970s. Fraser was just 13 when he was sent to an approved school for stealing 40 cigarettes. 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.
'Mad' Frankie Fraser dead aged 90 | Daily Mail Online Frankie Fraser was known anotorious torturer and hitman, who worked as an enforcer for some of London's most feared gang leaders. She operated out of Walworth, South East London and her home was called an 'Aladdin's cave of loot'. Are you sure you want to delete this comment?
Author returns with book about the fascinating lives of notorious 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. David had perfected the prison whisper talking very quietly, in case he was overheard by the guards. But his criminal activities didn't stop when he was locked up. "As I was growing up, I never had to buy a shirt Eva made sure she nicked them for me. Eva was a leading light in the gang in the thirties and forties, having risen through the ranks of the gang after joining in the 1930s. View the profiles of people named Frankie Fraser.
Shortly afterwards, Fraser kidnapped Eric Mason, a Kray gang member, outside the Astor Club in Berkeley Square, with even direr consequences. They also spoke, as Frank did, using the prison slang of a bygone era, which they had to translate for me. [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. Eric wasnt a bad fellow, Fraser later explained, but that particular night he was bang out of order.. Mother of [private daughter (1940s - unknown)] Died 2000s. For a time he was engaged to Marilyn Wisbey, daughter of the Great Train Robber Tommy Wisbey, with whom he briefly ran a massage parlour in Islington, in which Fraser made the tea. of James Fraser and Margaret Alice (Anderson) Fraser. Jewellery was a favourite target, as it was easy to hide up a sleeve - rings could be switched for worthless fakes. 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.
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. Women carried tools needed for burglaries so the police had no evidence if they stopped the men following the crime. If you are dissatisfied with the response provided you can
MAD FRANK and SONS - Home - Facebook The middle sister was Kathleen, who constantly aspired to make it as an actress, and make use of her striking good looks. He also attacked various governors. Frankie Fraser belonged to a bygone era of crime and was cut from a different cloth than so many other gangsters of his generation. 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. 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. Before then, Fraser had been involved in smash-and-grab raids and wages snatches. Pictured: The female cast of the hit BBC show Peaky Blinders. 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). Monty Python sketch featuring the Piranha brothers, Doug and Dinsdale. The raids seem often to have been left to chance, and he was particularly unfortunate with cars. 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. ', The notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser's sister Eva had risen through the ranks of the gang after joining in the 1930s. The gang probably had its roots in the Victorian slums around Seven Dials, near Covent Garden, infamous in Dickens's day. 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. They bought fur coats, jewellery and went dancing in West End nightclubs. While the award-winning TV show Peaky Blinders was inspired by the all-male Brummagem Boys gang from the same period, the Forty Thieves make some of even their escapades seem tame by comparison. View our online Press Pack. But the victory was pyrrhic in many senses, because by the time he finally left prison the in mid 1980s, the world had changed and gangland had moved on. ", 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. 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. None of the gang were afraid to use razors on those who crossed them. If you weren't actually stealing, you were outranked by The Forty Thieves. Fraser received seven years. These adverts enable local businesses to get in front of their target audience the local community. In 1938, she was sentenced for stabbing a policeman in the eye with a hatpin. 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. This site is part of Newsquest's audited local newspaper network.
Photos of Frankie "Mad" Fraser - Find a Grave Memorial Descendants . Fraser became a minor celebrity of sorts, appearing on television shows such as Operation Good Guys,[18] Shooting Stars,[19] and the satirical show Brass Eye,[20] where he said Noel Edmonds should be shot for killing Clive Anderson (an incident invented by the show's producers), and writing an autobiography. His greatest moment of national notoriety came during what was known as the 'torture trial' of the Richardson gang in 1967, which became . 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. 'It gave them a life they could never have afforded. Fraser was seen kicking Richard Hart, a Kray associate, as he lay on the pavement outside. 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. Beezy reveals how the girls father would beat their mother a big influence on their outlook. Both Fraser and Warren received seven-year sentences. 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.
Who was 'Mad' Frankie Fraser? | The Sun '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. 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. She once stabbed a policeman in the eye with a hatpin, blinding him. 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.
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