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. 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. 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. His parents never knew about his illegal activities, and if they ever suspected him apparently turned a blind eye, a habit . Richardson Gang - Wikipedia But few would perhaps know about the equally incredible lives led by his three sisters. 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. Family ways of 'Mad' Frankie | The Northern Echo When the police arrived, they found Hart lying under a lilac tree in a nearby garden. By Emer Scully and Beezy Marsh for MailOnline, Published: 10:41 GMT, 4 November 2021 | Updated: 13:07 GMT, 4 November 2021. 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). 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. He was a deserter during the Second World War, escaping from his barracks . These adverts enable local businesses to get in front of their target audience the local community. She liked to earn her own money and paid her own way quite something for a young woman in the 1930s and 1940s. To inquire about a licence to reproduce material, visit our Syndication site. But little by little, over weeks and months of interviews, cups of tea and chats, their life stories emerged and with that came a fascinating insight into the Fraser family history and what really made Frank tick. 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. Involvement in such activities often led to his sentences being extended. 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. Although he was acquitted, a further five years were added to his sentence. "From there he goes on to burgle, and she goes onto shop lifting with a famous female gang called The 40 Thieves. Eva (Fraser) Brindle. Eva got into shoplifting, but had a heart of gold. ", A deserter during the war he pretended to be mad to avoid the call-up Fraser was certified insane three times and spent time in Broadmoor secure hospital. Hughes was famed for her red hair, a love of drink and a violent temper. Mad Frank: Memoirs of a Life of Crime appeared in 1994, with two further volumes following in 1998 and 2001. Old London Photographs | This is Eva Fraser, sister of gangster " Mad 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. 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. 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. 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. When caught by police she replied: 'I don't know anything about it.'. 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. The following year, the British mobster Jack Spot and wife Rita were attacked, on Hill's say-so, by Fraser, Bobby Warren and at least half a dozen other men. 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. But she was once caught stealing stockings and was sent to prison.. 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. In 1945, when he was 21, he assaulted the governor at Shrewsbury prison with an ebony ruler snatched from the governors desk, for which he received 18 strokes of the cat. 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 mother was of Irish and Norwegian descent, while his father was halfNative-American. During World War 2 he was a deserter - escaping from his barracks on several occasions. 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. 'The other side of the story involves these feisty women and it is perhaps more fascinating given the limited powers such working class girls had to earn a decent wage.'. [8] Although his parents were not criminals, Fraser turned to crime aged 10 with his sister Eva, to whom he was close. 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. Sometimes the hoisters' lives became entangled with those of underworld bosses through affairs, family ties or marriage. The Krays, according to Frank, were little more than thieves ponces.. With Warren at his heels, Fraser ambushed Spot in a Paddington street, knocking him to the ground with a shillelagh. She operated out of Walworth, South East London and her home was called an 'Aladdin's cave of loot'. He was then then given a 15-month prison sentence atHMP Wandsworthfor shop-breaking - this was just the first of 20 prisons Fraser would be sent to. They bought fur coats, jewellery and went dancing in West End nightclubs. 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. As a subscriber, you are shown 80% less display advertising when reading our articles. 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. Fraser, he recalled, was more than capable of doing what he threatened. After the war he was involved in a smash-and-grab raid on a jeweller's and was given a two year prison sentence. Eva got six months for stealing stockings from Bentalls in Kingston upon Thames. Fraser had no problem dealing with rival operators whose business was dented as a result. She once stabbed a policeman in the eye with a hatpin, blinding him. What Fraser invariably threatened was violence. Beezy said: "Frank's sister Eva was the one who led him into crime as a small boy. The notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser's sister Eva had risen through the ranks of the gang after joining in the 1930s. 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. Author Beezy Marsh said: 'These women fought harder than the men and were feared by men and women in their communities. 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. But by the 1930s, the breeding ground for its recruits was South London. 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. 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. 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. Their alleged specialities included pulling teeth out using pliers, cutting off toes using bolt cutters and nailing victims to floors using 6-inch nails. Frankie Fraser was a south London gangster who knew no language but violence and spent half his life behind bars. 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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. Then theres Frankie himself, who makes a brief appearance. 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. In 1941, Fraser was given his first taste of punishment when he was sent to borstal for breaking into a Waterloo hosiery store. It was not that he thought he was Napoleon. Once again, he was sent toprison, this timefor taking part in bank robberies. A witness changed his testimony and the charges were eventually dropped, though Fraser still received a five-year sentence for affray. 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. Mother of [private daughter (1940s - unknown)] Died 2000s. This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. 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. Updated November 28, 2014 2.43pmfirst published at 2.41pm Save Share When the heat from the cops in London got too much, they headed off to the Costa del Crime to seek their fortunes there. Frankie Fraser was known anotorious torturer and hitman, who worked as an enforcer for some of London's most feared gang leaders. The women were completely faithful to their leader, known as the queen, who doled out harsh punishments and carried strict rules including not helping police officers by informing. His fourth son, Francis, in Frasers joking words, let me down by having no criminal career at all. Fraser treated his various brushes with death as an occupational hazard: his thigh bone was shattered by a bullet fired during the melee in Catford, and part of his mouth was shot away in an incident in May 1991 when someone botched an attempt to assassinate him outside a nightclub in Farringdon. Fraser, whose health has been deteriorating in recent years, turned to crime aged just nine when he and his sister, Eva, became petty thieves. 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. 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. ', The notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser's sister Eva had risen through the ranks of the gang after joining in the 1930s. 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. Data returned from the Piano 'meterActive/meterExpired' callback event. AS is the case with so many crime families, the key to understanding the men came through getting to know the women who cared for them. Frankie Fraser - obituary - The Telegraph The Forty Thieves posed as wealthy housewives innocently browsing the rails of the UK's most luxurious clothing stores before shoving stolen items down their undergarments. He was still touring clubs and pubs in 2011. These recollections, while often disordered and jumbled, nevertheless shed light on Frasers shameless and unrepentant defiance of the liberal consensus. He stopped following a warning from the Kray Twins. Throughout his life he denied the justice of this conviction, but he was happy to trade off it. Frankie Fraser: Died On This Day in 2014, Aged 90 - The NCS The trial which became one of the longest in British criminal history. As a solicitor, I defended him in the trial following the Parkhurst riot and as a result wrote a number of books with him. He refused to discuss the shooting with the police. 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). 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. 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. Harry Styles bares his impressively toned torso and body art at gig He spent more than 40 years in prison. Queen of Thieves: The gangland women who made Peaky Blinders look like [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. 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. When Mason demurred, Fraser buried a hatchet in his skull, pinning his hand to his head. pre order Queen of Thieves now for just 2.99. Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription you will not receive any newsletters until your subscription is confirmed. Frankie Fraser's Last Stand: Directed by Matt Blyth. She helped him sell on his loot. 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. He was moved from prison to prison more than 100 times because he was virtually impossible to control. 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.. Together they set up the Atlantic Machines fruit-machine enterprise, which acted as a front for the criminal activities of the gang. I don't think they felt bad about it. 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. The gang probably had its roots in the Victorian slums around Seven Dials, near Covent Garden, infamous in Dickens's day. She and her friends looked like film stars when they went out down the pub. Mad' Frankie Fraser and London's Most Notorious Gangsters If you weren't actually stealing, you were outranked by The Forty Thieves. Their loot would be stuffed into these 'hoister's drawers', allowing the women to leave the stores undetected. Its clear she still had to feed her family by acting on the wrong side of the law Beezy said. The singer, 29, bared his chest and showed off his . [9] He was a resident at a sheltered accommodation home in Peckham. The comments below have not been moderated. 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. He was working all the hours he got sent, but he couldnt make ends meet. New biography of notorious Frankie Fraser promises to reveal the late 'Mad Frankie' Fraser - a legend in his own gaol time MAD FRANK and SONS - Home - Facebook His new career took off and he was in regular demand as a radio and television pundit. 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The raids seem often to have been left to chance, and he was particularly unfortunate with cars. Who was 'Mad' Frankie Fraser? | The Scottish Sun The criminal, who has spent almost half his life in prison, passed away earlier at King's. 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. The years just after World War II were a boom time for the gang, as clothing was rationed until 1949. Frankie Fraser belonged to a bygone era of crime and was cut from a different cloth than so many other gangsters of his generation. There were car chases and bank raids which would not have looked out of place in The Sweeney. 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. While serving this sentence, Fraser received 10 years for his part in the so-called Richardson torture trial. Prisoners and ex-prisoners all over Britain speak about him with undisguised admiration. Because of Frasers behaviour in jail over the years, he forfeited almost every day of his remission. They would go through Selfridges department store in the West End and steal furs and expensive clothes. Mad Frankie Fraser - Everything2.com 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. . Those who had incurred Richardsons displeasure were wired up to a sinister black box with a wind-up handle that administered severe electric shocks to the genitals. "Maybe he was bored with going to prison," Ronnie Richardson, Charlie's widow, tells the programme. Both Fraser and Warren received seven-year sentences. Nevertheless he was good at sports, captaining the football team at St Patricks school, Southwark, and boxing as an amateur. At the age of five, he moved with his family to a flat on Walworth Road, Elephant and Castle. What saved him I think was the branch; it was supple and it bent. Although Lawton survived, the dog died. During the 1950s, Fraser's main occupation was as bodyguard to well-known gangster Billy Hill. 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. Jack 'Spot' Comer showing the scar on his face left by Frankie Fraser and Alf Warren (GETTY), By 1956, Fraser had racked up 15 convictions and had twice been certified insane. For latest book news including updates on the forthcoming film Mad Frank and Sons please like my page Beezy Marsh. She also passed on her 'wisdom' to a future queen, Shirley Pitts. After trying his hand at crime as a. On 21 November 2014, Fraser fell critically ill whilst undergoing leg surgery atKing's College Hospital,Denmark Hill. He then became involved in serious crime - and the war provided a perfect backdrop with the blackout, rationing and a shortage of police officers. During the 1950s, Fraser's main criminal occupation was as bodyguard to well-known gangsterBilly Hill. He really did live by a code of honour which he took with him to the grave. Beezy reveals how the girls father would beat their mother a big influence on their outlook. 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. The business came to an end in 1966 when a fight in a Catford night club, Mr Smiths, left a Kray associate, Dickie Hart, dead, and Richardson and Fraser, who was charged with Harts murder, in prison. '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. David had perfected the prison whisper talking very quietly, in case he was overheard by the guards. Her brother was the notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser, who joined turf wars between London gangs in the sixties. Diamond took her under her wing and showed her how to shoplift in 1947, when Pitts was just 12. After the war, he worked for underworld boss Billy Hill, for whom he carried out razor attacks. During the 1940s it was not unusual for 'hoisters', a historical term for shoplifters, to be paid a hundred pounds a week - out earning men's average wages ten-to-one. "My father was the most honest man I've ever come across," says Fraser, who also refers to his Native American antecedents, saying that his grandmother was "a Red Indian", According to his sons, Fraser has no regrets: "He said, 'No, I wouldn't have done my life any other way. The 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. 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. [25] In June 2013, the 89-year-old Fraser was served with an anti-social behaviour order (ASBO) by police after a row with another resident. 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. There was also kind of respect for them locally because people could get a nice dress or a pair of stockings cheaply. Fraser owed his success in the fruit machine business to Billy Hill, whose patronage Fraser courted when he attacked and almost killed Hills gangland rival Jack "Spot" Comer. 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. People shook his hand in the street, others kissed him or asked for his autograph and taxi drivers honked their horns. Who was 'Mad' Frankie Fraser? | The Sun 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. 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. She was still hoisting well into her 70s.'. As people facedblackouts, rationing and a lack of professional policing due toconscription, Fraser had ample opportunities for criminal activities, such as stealing from houses while the occupants were hiding for safety in air-raid shelters. Another grandson, Anthony Fraser, was being sought by police in February 2011 for his alleged involvement in an alleged 5 million cannabis smuggling ring.