It was during the war that he first became involved in serious crime. A ponce was someone who thieves looked down on, because they lived by taking a cut from someone elses earnings. [8] Although his parents were not criminals, Fraser turned to crime aged 10 with his sister Eva, to whom he was close. The reader is also introduced to the girls brother Jim, who became a sergeant in the army and fought in North Africa. It is important that we continue to promote these adverts as our local businesses need as much support as possible during these challenging times. She was taught by Alice Diamond in the 1930s and a very senior member throughout the. Frankie Fraser: Died On This Day in 2014, Aged 90 - The NCS Whatever you nicked you could sell, they'd be queuing up to buy it off you.". View our online Press Pack. 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. View the profiles of people named Frankie Fraser. 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. The publisher also decided to include a glossary for the reader. Richardson Gang - Wikipedia 679215 Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF. 'Mad' Frankie Fraser handed an asbo aged 90 - the Guardian At least two home secretaries considered Fraser the most dangerous man in Britain, an image which, in old age, he only half-heartedly sought to dispel. 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.. Jewellery was a favourite target, as it was easy to hide up a sleeve - rings could be switched for worthless fakes. Francis Davidson "Frankie" Fraser, better known as "Mad" Frankie Fraser,was an English gang member and criminal who spent 42 years in prison for numerous violent offences. He was said to have pulled out the teeth of one of the victims with a pair of pliers. [11] In 1942, while serving a prison sentence in HM Prison Chelmsford, he came to the attention of the British Army. [8] Although his parents were not criminals, Fraser turned to crime aged 10 with his sister Eva, to whom he was close. 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. 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. 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". Here are some pictures of Eva Fraser of the Forty Thieves and her sister Kathleen. According to Fraser, it was they who helped him avoid arrest for theGreat Train Robberyby bribing a policeman. She was an alcoholic and onceran out of a jeweller with a tray of 34 diamond rings and bumped straight into a policeman. 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. MAD FRANK and SONS - Home - Facebook Had it all gone to plan, she could have inhabited a very different side of the West End to her little sister Eva. 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. During his time in prison, Fraser was involved in a number of riots and frequently fought with prison officers, fellow inmates and governors. They would go through Selfridges department store in the West End and steal furs and expensive clothes. His last jail term ended in 1989, but in 2011 he was handed an Asbo after getting into an argument with a fellow pensioner at the sheltered accommodation where he lived in Bermondsey. Ms Marsh said it 'was time to reappraise London's gangland' when she wrote The Queen of Thieves. Following a trial at theOld Baileyin 1967, he was sentenced to ten years imprisonment. Frank stole because he loved to have money yet when he had it, he gave it all away. 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. They stole to put food on the table. She had died in 2000 but her daughter Beverley, who shared Evas reticent nature, agreed to talk to me and that revealed that Eva had been leading criminal in her own right. The first came when he was in the army during the second world war, the second time when he was sent to Cane Hill psychiatric hospital in Coulsdon, Surrey, and the third when he was transferred from Durham prison to Broadmoor. Both Frank and his sister, Eva, whom he adored, inherited their fathers features and his jet-black hair. 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. 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. Notorious 1930s West End girl gang who hid stolen jewellery in It was a thief's paradise, Gor blimey! 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. 'You name it, we nicked it,' he tells the . On the morning of Derek Bentleys execution at Wandsworth in 1953, he spat at the executioner Albert Pierrepoint and tried to attack him. Frank's mother, Margaret, was a huge influence on him but his "best pal" and early partner in crime was his sister, Eva. These adverts enable local businesses to get in front of their target audience the local community. Morton was relieved that, rather than remonstrating, Fraser wanted him to write his life story. 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. Fraser himself was accused of pulling out the teeth of victims with a pair of pliers. Profile manager: Evelyn Wolff [send private message] 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. She would send her girls out in teams of three or four at least three days a week, to stores all over London and as far afield as Birmingham and Brighton. Author returns with book about the fascinating lives of notorious 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. Pictured: The female cast of the hit BBC show Peaky Blinders. [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. His funeral took place on December 18, 2014. 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. Because of Frasers behaviour in jail over the years, he forfeited almost every day of his remission. He was still touring clubs and pubs in 2011. The Kray twins (pictured) held The Forty Thieves member Eva Fraser in high regard. Here are some pictures of Eva Fraser - MAD FRANK and SONS | Facebook 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. 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. According to Eddie Richardson, Fraser had Alzheimer's disease for the last three years of his life. 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. 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. During the 1950s, Fraser's main criminal occupation was as bodyguard to well-known gangsterBilly Hill. 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. Frankie Fraser was tried at the Old Bailey for Harts murder, while six others, including Eddie Richardson, faced lesser charges. Harry Styles bares his impressively toned torso and body art at gig His mother was of Irish and Norwegian descent, while his father was half Native-American. During his time behind bars he was involved in violence and was a major instigator in the Parkhurst Prison riots in 1969. He stopped following a warning from the Kray Twins. "If you play by the sword, you've got to expect the sword as well," says his son. Not long after being released, Hughes was involved in the Lambeth riot of Christmas 1925, when the home of Bill Britten was stormed. 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. Their loot would be stuffed into these 'hoister's drawers', allowing the women to leave the stores undetected. It will only make me a worse villain! The most famous 'queen', Alice Diamond (left), was the daughter of a docker and renowned for her row of diamond rings that doubled as a knuckle duster. 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.. The most famous queen,Alice Diamond, was the daughter of a docker and renowned for her row of diamond rings that doubled as a knuckle duster. Frankie Fraser Wiki & Bio - everipedia.org There was no evidence that Fraser had fired the fatal shots, and although he claimed to have been fitted up for the killing, he was convicted of affray and sentenced to five years imprisonment. 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. Mother of [private daughter (1940s - unknown)] Died 2000s. 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. 'Mad' Frankie Fraser: Sweet dapper. After the war he was involved in a smash-and-grab raid on a jeweller's and was given a two year prison sentence. Nevertheless he was good at sports, captaining the football team at St Patricks school, Southwark, and boxing as an amateur. A mugshot of Forty Thieves' Hughes, who was uncontrollable and dissipated by drink. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. 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. He also claimed to have been the first bandit to wear a stocking mask. [3][4], Frankie Fraser was born on Cornwall Road in Waterloo, London. His mother was of Irish and Norwegian descent, while his father was halfNative-American. Frankie Fraser was born on Cornwall Road inWaterloo,London on December 13, 1923. Borstal was followed by prison, where in 1943 he met the influential London villain Billy Hill, for whom he worked on and off for more than a decade, culminating in his slashing of Hills rival Jack Spot in 1956 after the self-styled kings of the underworld had fallen out. Frankie Fraser was a notorious torturer and hitman for the Richardson gang of south London criminals in the 1960s. When he was 10, the pair stole a cigarette machine from a local pub, hauled it to some waste ground and jemmied it open. "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. 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. By the 1950s, the gang were facing ever-present store detectives and had to rely more on disguises. 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. Family ways of 'Mad' Frankie | The Northern Echo 42 years a lag She had died in. Both Fraser and Warren received seven-year sentences. Had her first criminal conviction aged 14 and went on to become Diamond's accomplice. Join Facebook to connect with Frankie Fraser and others you may know. By Emer Scully and Beezy Marsh for MailOnline, Published: 10:41 GMT, 4 November 2021 | Updated: 13:07 GMT, 4 November 2021. Part of his mouth was shot away in the incident. She and her friends looked like film stars when they went out down the pub. Young Frankie attended local schools, captained the football team, and acted as bookies runner to one of the teachers. 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. In the second part, she reveals how Frank wasnt the only member of his family with a chequered past. The Krays, according to Frank, were little more than thieves ponces.. Her wartime experience was spent on the switchboards during the Blitz. It wasnt that we chose to be thieves, said Patrick. Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group. Then they were turned over to Fraser. 'They didn't see anything wrong in it because these things were too expensive for most people to afford and shops had insurance. Fraser, tried separately, was jailed for 10. 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. 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. End-right girl on the back row is Eva.. VIEWS Every old-school south Londoner knows the folklore of cockney criminal Frankie Fraser, whose violent tendencies were infamous on the streets of Walworth. There were car chases and bank raids which would not have looked out of place in The Sweeney. 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. 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. 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. 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. [5][6][7][8] His mother was of Irish and Norwegian descent, while his father was half Native-American. Fraser was acquitted but received five years for affray. Together they set up the Atlantic Machines fruit-machine enterprise, which acted as a front for the criminal activities of the gang. Tony Lambrianou, a one-time henchman of the rival Kray brothers, was also a fan. 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. Data returned from the Piano 'meterActive/meterExpired' callback event. 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. At her kitchen table, Alice would teach her girls how to roll furs on the hanger and shove them down their drawers, which the gang called 'clouting'. The raids seem often to have been left to chance, and he was particularly unfortunate with cars. Eva Fraser - the sister of notorious gangster Mad Frankie Fraser - was reputedly one of the last members of the Queens of the Forty Thieves shoplifting gang, which sold stolen goods from. 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. None of the gang were afraid to use razors on those who crossed them, Some of London's The Forty Thieves' antics made the Peaky Blinders look like choirboys. 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. However, it was the during the 'torture trial' of the Richardson gang in 1967, that Frankie Fraser become notorious nationally. 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. It was just what we knew and to be honest, we loved it.. She was chauffeured in a Bentley and always wore a sable coat. The big question everyone has about Frank is Was he really mad? He was certified insane three times once by the Army, twice in prison and he was diagnosed as a psychopath but his family argue, and I tend to agree, that he played the system to suit himself. I saved myself from Royal life, Harry says & insists 'sharing's an act of service', Love Island's Olivia Hawkins breaks silence as she returns to the UK, Loose Women star lined up to be Strictly's first contestant in wheelchair, Coronation Street fans horrified as Amy Barlow is raped in disturbing scenes, News Group Newspapers Limited in England No. His parents were honest and hard-working, but Frankie and his big sister Eva, to whom he was closest, soon turned to crime. 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. So it was in January 1965, when a club owner called Benny Coulston was hauled before Richardson for swindling him out of 600 over a consignment of cigarettes. 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. HP10 9TY. Who was 'Mad' Frankie Fraser? | The Irish Sun 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. After trying his hand at crime as a child, Fraser then continued into his later life. She operated out of Walworth, South East London and her home was called an 'Aladdin's cave of loot'. '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. You understand the choices that lay ahead of you if you were a working-class girl. 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. Following the Frankie Fraser story is akin to re-tracing the history of gangland London throughout the 20th Century. He then became involved in serious crime - and the war provided a perfect backdrop with the blackout, rationing and a shortage of police officers. The following year he was involved in a torture trial the Old Bailey, where members of the gang were charged with electrocuting, whipping and burning those disloyal to them. 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. Peggy stayed out of crime and worked for the Post Office. The thieves' earnings allowed them to live like upper-class debutantes. Frankie Fraser - Wikipedia 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. 'Any girl worth her salt in South London in those days was a. 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. Petite shoplifter Bertha Tappenden 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. Throughout his life he denied the justice of this conviction, but he was happy to trade off it. He was moved from prison to prison more than 100 times because he was virtually impossible to control. She helped him sell on his loot. Registered in England & Wales | 01676637 |. 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. Born near Waterloo station, central London, he was the fifth child of a poor family. [9] 'It gave them a life they could never have afforded. The two Richardson brothers were convicted, and the elder, Charles, sentenced to 25 years. When the police arrived, they found Hart lying under a lilac tree in a nearby garden. There was also kind of respect for them locally because people could get a nice dress or a pair of stockings cheaply. His new career took off and he was in regular demand as a radio and television pundit. With Frankie Fraser, Chris Keenan, Steve Box, Michael Boyd. Fraser, who was jailed for 10 years in the so-called "torture trial" in 1967, is now frail and in poor health. For latest book news including updates on the forthcoming film Mad Frank and Sons please like my page Beezy Marsh. 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. ', 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'. 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. 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. [26] On 21 November 2014, he fell critically ill during leg surgery at King's College Hospital, Denmark Hill[27] and was placed into an induced coma. Women carried tools needed for burglaries so the police had no evidence if they stopped the men following the crime. He may be in his 90th year but "Mad" Frankie Fraser is still causing mayhem. inaccuracy or intrusion, then please 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. 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. By 20 she was leader of The Forty Thieves and wore a row of diamond rings that acted as a knuckle duster.