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. It was during the war that he first became involved in serious crime. Women carried tools needed for burglaries so the police had no evidence if they stopped the men following the crime. 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. Two people were left dead. 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. Following a trial at theOld Baileyin 1967, he was sentenced to ten years imprisonment. The raids seem often to have been left to chance, and he was particularly unfortunate with cars. 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. Despite this, or possibly because of it, newspapers of the day were tipping him as Spots natural successor. Fraser himself was accused of pulling out the teeth of victims with a pair of pliers. She got six months in jail, for stealing stockings from Bentalls in Kingston upon Thames. 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! There were further language difficulties. This resulted in Fraser returning to prison once again - this time to serve a seven-year sentence. 'You name it, we nicked it,' he tells the . 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. 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. When the police arrived, they found Hart lying under a lilac tree in a nearby garden. For other inquiries, Contact Us. Frankie Fraser was a notorious torturer and hitman, who worked as an enforcer for some of London's most feared gang leaders, including Billy Hill in the 1950s and the Richardson gang in the 1960s. Nevertheless he was good at sports, captaining the football team at St Patricks school, Southwark, and boxing as an amateur. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. At the age of five, he moved with his family to a flat on Walworth Road, Elephant and Castle. 42 years a lag She had died in. They bought fur coats, jewellery and went dancing in West End nightclubs. Facebook gives people the power. What officers didn't know then was that his crime spree would continue over a career spanning seven decades, and his offences only worsened. 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. He later joined the notorious Richardson gang, formed by brothers Eddie and Charlie, and began carrying out more criminal activities. Another of Fraser's grandsons, James Fraser, also spent a short time with Bristol Rovers. '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.'. The Krays, according to Frank, were little more than thieves ponces.. Harry Styles bares his impressively toned torso and body art at gig [9], Fraser was an Arsenal fan, and his grandson Tommy Fraser is a professional footballer. A bucket boy would offer to clean the bookies' blackboards with a sponge, for which they were obliged to pay the Sabinis. Ancestors . He spent 42 years almost half his life in prison for 26 offences. 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. This website and associated newspapers adhere to the Independent Press Standards Organisation's When Frankie was in prison, Eva helped to run his protection rackets in Soho and even sent her daughters to collect payments, as the police would not stop a child. Mad Frank. Notorious 1930s West End girl gang who hid stolen jewellery in He emerged from jail in 1989 and has not been back since. Fraser spent a lot of time in solitary confinement, tormented by prison officers who would spit in his food. What saved him I think was the branch; it was supple and it bent. Although Lawton survived, the dog died. I don't think they felt bad about it. 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. 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. Eva knew the Krays well and they treated her with reverence, although she saw them as little more than naughty boys. ', The notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser's sister Eva had risen through the ranks of the gang after joining in the 1930s. 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. 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. Frankie Fraser's Last Stand: Directed by Matt Blyth. Join Facebook to connect with Frankie Fraser and others you may know. [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. Eric wasnt a bad fellow, Fraser later explained, but that particular night he was bang out of order.. 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. 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. 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. Following the Frankie Fraser story is akin to re-tracing the history of gangland London throughout the 20th Century. 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. Eva got six months for stealing stockings from Bentalls in Kingston upon Thames. 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. Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription you will not receive any newsletters until your subscription is confirmed. Frankie Fraser was born on Cornwall Road in Waterloo, London on December 13, 1923. Hughes was famed for her red hair, a love of drink and a violent temper. It is important that we continue to promote these adverts as our local businesses need as much support as possible during these challenging times. With Frankie Fraser, Chris Keenan, Steve Box, Michael Boyd. Because of Frasers behaviour in jail over the years, he forfeited almost every day of his remission. Mad Frank (1994), which went on to sell around 100,000 copies, was the first in a successful series. 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. As a solicitor, I defended him in the trial following the Parkhurst riot and as a result wrote a number of books with him. Beezy reveals how the girls father would beat their mother a big influence on their outlook. 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. 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. Frankie Fraser was a notorious torturer and hitman for the Richardson gang of south London criminals in the 1960s. 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'. When caught by police she replied: 'I don't know anything about it.'. On 26 November, Fraser died after his family made the decision to turn off his life-support machine. 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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. Richardson Gang - Wikipedia "The Sun", "Sun", "Sun Online" are registered trademarks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited. Mother of [private daughter (1940s - unknown)] Died 2000s. 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. "Hill paid by the stitch if you put 50 stitches in a man's face, you could expect 50," says James Morton, Fraser's biographer. 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. Afraid of being heavily medicated for bad behaviour, Fraser stayed out of trouble and was released in 1955. His wife, Doreen, whom he married in 1965, and who with Eva loyally toured the prisons to visit him, died in 1999. These adverts enable local businesses to get in front of their target audience the local community. She and her friends looked like film stars when they went out down the pub. In 1996, he played (his friend) William Donaldson's guide to Marbella in the infamous BBC Radio 4 series A Retiring Fellow. [9] He was a resident at a sheltered accommodation home in Peckham. 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. ', 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'. 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. Eva (Fraser) Brindle (1920s-2000s) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree For latest book news including updates on the forthcoming film Mad Frank and Sons please like my page Beezy Marsh. Data returned from the Piano 'meterActive/meterExpired' callback event. 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. 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. 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. Their alleged specialities included pulling teeth out using pliers, cutting off toes using bolt cutters and nailing victims to floors using 6-inch nails. 'Mad' Frankie Fraser handed an asbo aged 90 - the Guardian This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. ", 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. 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. 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. 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. He was said to have pulled out the teeth of one of the victims with a pair of pliers. 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. 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.. HP10 9TY. Fraser received seven years. Frankie Fraser was tried at the Old Bailey for Harts murder, while six others, including Eddie Richardson, faced lesser charges. 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. Whatever you nicked you could sell, they'd be queuing up to buy it off you.". He was working all the hours he got sent, but he couldnt make ends meet. It will only make me a worse villain! It was a thief's paradise, Gor blimey! In 1969 Fraser led the Parkhurst prison riot on the Isle of Wight and found himself back in court charged with incitement to murder. News reports were checked to see how much was owing. 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. 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. Sometimes the hoisters' lives became entangled with those of underworld bosses through affairs, family ties or marriage. It will only make me a worse villain!'. But who were the gang's most brazen members? During his time in prison, Fraser was involved in a number of riots and frequently fought with prison officers, fellow inmates and governors. Frankie Fraser was born on Cornwall Road in Waterloo, London. Born to criminal parents in Southwark, South London, in 1886, her first crimes were aiding and abetting men. 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. Frankie Fraser belonged to a bygone era of crime and was cut from a different cloth than so many other gangsters of his generation. Frank had been active as a criminal from the 1930s and was given his first prison sentence at the outbreak of the Second World War. Fraser, tried separately, was jailed for 10. When Mason demurred, Fraser buried a hatchet in his skull, pinning his hand to his head. Mad' Frankie Fraser and London's Most Notorious Gangsters 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. Frankie Fraser Profiles | Facebook 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. On this release, he determined to write his memoirs. [13], It was in the early 1960s that Fraser first met Charlie and Eddie Richardson of the Richardson Gang, rivals to the Kray twins. 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 Kray twins (pictured) held The Forty Thieves member Eva Fraser in high regard. After Frasers release from the Spot sentence, he was courted by the Kray Twins and the Richardson gang. Beezy a former Sunday Times journalist whose biography Mad Frank & Sons was published last year was given unprecedented access to interview the family and learn about the three bold women, who grew up in Howley Terrace, in Waterloo during the 1930s. 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.. He then worked for legendary Soho crime boss Billy Hill in the 1950s, earning the nickname razor Fraser for his attacks on those who crossed him, before becoming embroiled in protection rackets in the 1960s, rising to the position of the Boss of Soho. 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. She was taught by Alice Diamond in the 1930s and a very senior member throughout the. Fraser had no problem dealing with rival operators whose business was dented as a result. Born 1920s. 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. A ponce was someone who thieves looked down on, because they lived by taking a cut from someone elses earnings. 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. 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. His enduring nickname Mad Frank derived from his violent temperament which caused him to attempt to hang the governor of Wandsworth prison (and the governors dog) from a tree, and to be certified insane on three separate occasions. 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. '", 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. On the morning of Derek Bentleys execution at Wandsworth in 1953, he spat at the executioner Albert Pierrepoint and tried to attack him. They stole to put food on the table. 'Mad Frankie' Fraser - a legend in his own gaol time After trying his hand at crime as a child, Fraser then continued into his later life. Frankie Fraser obituary | Crime | The Guardian Tallymen, who sold goods door-to-door, would shift them across London. Fraser, whose health has been deteriorating in recent years, turned to crime aged just nine when he and his sister, Eva, became petty thieves. Born near Waterloo station, central London, he was the fifth child of a poor family. Profile manager: Evelyn Wolff [send private message] 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. He claimed to have no regrets about his criminal life, apart from being caught. There was also quite a comeuppance for both Patrick and David who both served their time. The years just after World War II were a boom time for the gang, as clothing was rationed until 1949. Monty Python sketch featuring the Piranha brothers, Doug and Dinsdale. [24], Fraser's wife, by whom he had four sons, died in 1999. 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. Had her first criminal conviction aged 14 and went on to become Diamond's accomplice.