She was an alcoholic and onceran out of a jeweller with a tray of 34 diamond rings and bumped straight into a policeman. 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. 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. 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 didn't see anything wrong in it because these things were too expensive for most people to afford and shops had insurance. Tallymen, who sold goods door-to-door, would shift them across London. 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. 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. On the morning of Derek Bentleys execution at Wandsworth in 1953, he spat at the executioner Albert Pierrepoint and tried to attack him. Born near Waterloo station, central London, he was the fifth child of a poor family. "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. Fraser received seven years. Notorious for high-speed getaways, she was eventually caught stealing lingerie and sentenced to hard labour in prison. 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. 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. 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. 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 the time of the Swinging Sixties, she was drinking champagne with the Krays. Diamond took her under her wing and showed her how to shoplift in 1947, when Pitts was just 12. Even decent folk were often only too happy to 'take a bit of crooked' to have something new. After the war, he worked for underworld boss Billy Hill, for whom he carried out razor attacks. Daughter. pre order Queen of Thieves now for just 2.99. His fourth son, Francis, in Frasers joking words, let me down by having no criminal career at all. Frankie Fraser's Last Stand: Directed by Matt Blyth. The singer, 29, bared his chest and showed off his . 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.. 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. But his criminal activities didn't stop when he was locked up. Harts killing was avenged within 24 hours when Ronnie Kray shot George Cornell, the Richardsons chief lieutenant, at the Blind Beggar pub deep in Kray territory on the Mile End Road, using a 9mm Mauser semi-automatic pistol at point-blank range. The gang's ringleaders appeared in a secret register of criminals, that is now kept by the National Archives, which then existed to help police track down the most persistent offenders. Updated November 28, 2014 2.43pmfirst published at 2.41pm Save Share The notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser's sister Eva had risen through the ranks of the gang after joining in the 1930s. Frankie Fraser was a notorious torturer and hitman for the Richardson gang of south London criminals in the 1960s. Please enter your username or email address to reset your password. It was during the Second World War that he was branded 'Mad' Frankie, after he feigned a mental illness to avoid being called up to the front line. If you weren't actually stealing, you were outranked by The Forty Thieves. 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. By Emer Scully and Beezy Marsh for MailOnline, Published: 10:41 GMT, 4 November 2021 | Updated: 13:07 GMT, 4 November 2021. It has emerged that the former gangland enforcer, who has spent 42 years in prison for 26 offences, has been issued with an asbo after an incident in his residential accommodation. At 17 he was sent to Borstal for breaking and entering a hosiery shop in Waterloo and was then given a 15-month prison sentence for shopbreaking. Born 1920s. They enjoyed buying nice things with the money and putting on the posh. When he was 10, the pair stole a cigarette machine from a local pub, hauled it to some waste ground and jemmied it open. Many started as child lookouts. The reader is also introduced to the girls brother Jim, who became a sergeant in the army and fought in North Africa. 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. At the age of five, he moved with his family to a flat on Walworth Road, Elephant and Castle. [16], Fraser's 42 years served in over 20 different prisons in the UK were often coloured by violence. During his time behind bars he was involved in violence and was a major instigator in the Parkhurst Prison riots in 1969. Furs were rolled on the hanger and tucked into the women's undergarments when the store assistant was distracted, while jewellery and watches were swapped for fake versions and hidden under hats or in their hair. [24], Fraser's wife, by whom he had four sons, died in 1999. Shortly afterwards, Fraser kidnapped Eric Mason, a Kray gang member, outside the Astor Club in Berkeley Square, with even direr consequences. [10], In 1941, Fraser was sent to borstal for breaking into a Waterloo hosiery store, then given a 15-month prison sentence at HM Prison Wandsworth for shop-breaking. Eva got six months for stealing stockings from Bentalls in Kingston upon Thames. 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. 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. A mugshot of Forty Thieves' Hughes, who was uncontrollable and dissipated by drink. 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.. Franks mother, Margaret, was a huge influence on him but his best pal and early partner in crime was his sister, Eva. [28], "Gangland enforcer sets the record straight about 'the bad old days': Rhys Williams meets "Mad" Frankie Fraser, once known as Britain's most violent man", "Find & contact The White Hart in Waterloo", "Local and community news, opinion, video & pictures - Southport Visiter", "Tories condemn prisoners' freedom to read criminal memoirs", "Gangland enforcer 'Mad' Frankie Fraser dies at 90", "Mad Frankie Fraser given Asbo at age of 89 after bust-up at care home", "Gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser dies at 90", "Mad Frankie Fraser dead: Notorious gangster dies in hospital aged 90 following leg surgery", Personal website with biography and details of gangland tours, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frankie_Fraser&oldid=1107726220, This page was last edited on 31 August 2022, at 15:09. The 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. His funeral took place on December 18, 2014. Its clear she still had to feed her family by acting on the wrong side of the law Beezy said. He was said to have pulled out the teeth of one of the victims with a pair of pliers. 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. 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. Fraser in 1997 with his then girlfriend Marilyn Wisbey, daughter Of Great Train Robber Tom Wisbey (REX FEATURES). In the early half of the 20th century one queen, Diamond, regularly appeared in the press where she was once described as a 'tall and commanding figure with a cool demeanour'. Ms Marsh said it 'was time to reappraise London's gangland' when she wrote The Queen of Thieves. 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. 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. [9] He was a deserter during the Second World War, escaping from his barracks on several occasions. 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'. 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. "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. 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. There were further language difficulties. Fraser has complained in the past that "I had no help from my family; my mother and father were dead straight so I had to make my own way. The 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. They bought fur coats, jewellery and went dancing in West End nightclubs. 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. Fraser, he recalled, was more than capable of doing what he threatened. He also ran a coach tour pointing out to a spectrum of customers the old criminal London. Newsquest Media Group Ltd, Loudwater Mill, Station Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. There was also kind of respect for them locally because people could get a nice dress or a pair of stockings cheaply. A feature film production is currently[when?] His greatest moment of national notoriety came during what was known as the 'torture trial' of the Richardson gang in 1967, which became . What Fraser invariably threatened was violence. The pair were the only ones of the children to embrace a life of crime. 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. But who were the gang's most brazen members? Reporters claimed she was 6ft tall - despite police records from 1919 putting her at 5ft9in. 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. "The Sun", "Sun", "Sun Online" are registered trademarks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited. During the 1950s, Fraser's main occupation was as bodyguard to well-known gangster Billy Hill. Fraser spent a lot of time in solitary confinement, tormented by prison officers who would spit in his food. [4] He was involved in riots and frequently fought with prison officers and fellow inmates. 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. They would go through Selfridges department store in the West End and steal furs and expensive clothes. 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. Fraser died at the age of 91 on November 26, 2014. She was sentenced to five months. Frankie Fraser, who has died aged 90, was a notorious torturer and hitman for the Richardson gang of south London criminals in the 1960s; he spent 42 years behind bars before achieving a certain cult status in later life as an author, after-dinner speaker, television pundit and tour guide. 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. 'Any girl worth her salt in South London in those days was a. He claimed to have no regrets about his criminal life, apart from being caught.
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