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Fraser was released in 1988 and almost immediately served a two-year sentence for receiving. Join Facebook to connect with Frankie Fraser and others you may know. [9] He was a resident at a sheltered accommodation home in Peckham. One such member was Lilian Goldstein, who was known as the Bob-Haired Bandit. 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. A ponce was someone who thieves looked down on, because they lived by taking a cut from someone elses earnings. 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. HP10 9TY. She helped support her young siblings by taking milk and bread from neighbour's doorsteps. [3][4], Frankie Fraser was born on Cornwall Road in Waterloo, London. 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. 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. 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.. Beezy said: "Frank's sister Eva was the one who led him into crime as a small boy. A witness later changed histestimony,and the charges were eventually dropped, though Fraser still received a five-year sentence for affray. Dubbed 'The Most Dangerous Man in Britain' by two Home Secretaries, Francis Davidson Fraser was born on the 13th of December 1923, and grew up in Waterloo, London.He and his sister, Eva started their life of crime at a young age, stealing from handbags and pickpocketing. She was sentenced to five months. 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. But his criminal activities didn't stop when he was locked up. In 1966, Fraser was charged with the murder of Richard Hart - who was shot at Mr Smith's club inCatfordwhile other Richardson associates, includingJimmy Moody, were charged withaffray. 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. When the police arrived, they found Hart lying under a lilac tree in a nearby garden. 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. [22], Fraser gave gangland tours around London, where he highlighted infamous criminal locations such as The Blind Beggar pub. Their loot would be stuffed into these 'hoister's drawers', allowing the women to leave the stores undetected. . "Maybe he was bored with going to prison," Ronnie Richardson, Charlie's widow, tells the programme. After three years in jail she tookpart in the Lambeth riot at Christmas 1925. 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. 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. 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. He claimed to have no regrets about his criminal life, apart from being caught. Frank stole because he loved to have money yet when he had it, he gave it all away. 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. 'You name it, we nicked it,' he tells the . 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. 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. It was during this sentence that he was first certified insane and was sent to Cane Hill Hospital before being released in 1949. [23] In 1991, Fraser was shot in the head from close range in an apparent murder attempt outside the Turnmills Club in Clerkenwell, London. 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. 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. 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. She and her friends looked like film stars when they went out down the pub. The grim terraces of Waterloo and the tenements of Elephant and Castle provided plenty of girls desperate enough to join The Forty Thieves. 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. 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. 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. This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. Fraser was part of Britain's Underworld between the 1940s-1960's. He was a known associate of gangster Billy Hill throughout the 1950s. [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. 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. During his time behind bars he was involved in violence and was a major instigator in the Parkhurst Prison riots in 1969. Frankie Fraser was born on Cornwall Road inWaterloo,London on December 13, 1923. 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. 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. He was still touring clubs and pubs in 2011. 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. [8] Although his parents were not criminals, Fraser turned to crime aged 10 with his sister Eva, to whom he was close. His mother was of Irish and Norwegian descent, while his father was halfNative-American. Even decent folk were often only too happy to 'take a bit of crooked' to have something new. Together they set up the Atlantic Machines fruit-machine enterprise, which acted as a front for the criminal activities of the gang. She liked to earn her own money and paid her own way quite something for a young woman in the 1930s and 1940s. Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription you will not receive any newsletters until your subscription is confirmed. 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. Bought stolen goods and sold them on in a role known as 'the fence'. "The Sun", "Sun", "Sun Online" are registered trademarks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited. At the age of five, he moved with his family to a flat on Walworth Road, Elephant and Castle. Tallymen, who sold goods door-to-door, would shift them across London. At signing sessions of his books he was always willing to be photographed pretending to extract a tooth with pliers brought by the fan. In 1969, Fraser was one of the ringleaders of the major Parkhurst Prison riot, which resulted in him spending the six weeks in the prison hospital due to his injuries. 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. Although he was acquitted, a further five years were added to his sentence. There were car chases and bank raids which would not have looked out of place in The Sweeney. Fraser, tried separately, was jailed for 10. 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'. She also passed on her 'wisdom' to a future queen, Shirley Pitts. Both Frank and his sister, Eva, whom he adored, inherited their fathers features and his jet-black hair. 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. He stopped following a warning from the Kray Twins. 'It gave them a life they could never have afforded. 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. In 1996, he played (his friend) William Donaldson's guide to Marbella in the infamous BBC Radio 4 series A Retiring Fellow. Frankie Fraser belonged to a bygone era of crime and was cut from a different cloth than so many other gangsters of his generation. 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. After trying his hand at crime as a. 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. His mother was of Irish and Norwegian descent, while his father was half Native-American. After trying his hand at crime as a child, Fraser then continued into his later life. Morton was relieved that, rather than remonstrating, Fraser wanted him to write his life story. 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'. 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. 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. Those ads you do see are predominantly from local businesses promoting local services. Questioned by police, Fraser reportedly gave his name as Tutankhamen (gangland slang for shtum) and asked What incident?. Pitts wore a school girl's outfit, complete with straw boater, to act as a decoy. His greatest moment of national notoriety came during what was known as the 'torture trial' of the Richardson gang in 1967, which became . Shortly afterwards, Fraser kidnapped Eric Mason, a Kray gang member, outside the Astor Club in Berkeley Square, with even direr consequences. [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. Two people were left dead. 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. Fraser himself was accused of pulling out the teeth of victims with a pair of pliers. 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. In the 1950s he worked for underworld boss Billy Hill and carried out razor attacks on victims for 50 each. 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. 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. Pictured: The female cast of the hit BBC show Peaky Blinders. 'Mad' Frankie Fraser: Sweet dapper. But she was once caught stealing stockings and was sent to prison.. Fraser died at the age of 91 on November 26, 2014. But few would perhaps know about the equally incredible lives led by his three sisters. After trying his hand at crime as a. 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. Keeping My Sisters Secrets was published on July 27 by Pan Macmillan. He also ran a coach tour pointing out to a spectrum of customers the old criminal London. Many started as child lookouts. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. The Krays, according to Frank, were little more than thieves ponces.. Following the Frankie Fraser story is akin to re-tracing the history of gangland London throughout the 20th Century. In 1991, while emerging from Turnmills nightclub in Clerkenwell, London, he was shot at by an unidentified gunman. Descendants . 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. Registered in England & Wales | 01676637 |. Daughter. Fraser was seen kicking Richard Hart, a Kray associate, as he lay on the pavement outside. 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. 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. 'I felt it was time for their story to be told and it inspired my novel, which is the first in a planned trilogy for Orion about the gang, stretching from the 1920s to the 1950s.'. From then on until the end of the 1980s, Fraser was more often in jail than not. 'They didn't see anything wrong in it because these things were too expensive for most people to afford and shops had insurance. '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. 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. 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. Part of his mouth was shot away in the incident. He was a deserter during the Second World War, escaping from his barracks . His funeral took place on December 18, 2014. 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. Mad Frank. For latest book news including updates on the forthcoming film Mad Frank and Sons please like my page Beezy Marsh. 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. They bought fur coats, jewellery and went dancing in West End nightclubs. Frankie Fraser was a notorious torturer and hitman for the Richardson gang of south London criminals in the 1960s. 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. Frankie Fraser was born on Cornwall Road in Waterloo, London on December 13, 1923. He also claimed to have been the first bandit to wear a stocking mask. Fraser himself was accused of pulling out the teeth of victims with a pair of pliers. 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. The comments below have not been moderated. 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. Aged seven, Ms Pitts was stealing milk and bread to provide food for her five siblings. But few would perhaps know about the equally incredible lives led by his three sisters. [4] He was involved in riots and frequently fought with prison officers and fellow inmates. If you are dissatisfied with the response provided you can Despite this, or possibly because of it, newspapers of the day were tipping him as Spots natural successor. As a young woman, Eva became an accomplished hoister (shoplifter). 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. He may be in his 90th year but "Mad" Frankie Fraser is still causing mayhem. Diamond took her under her wing and showed her how to shoplift in 1947, when Pitts was just 12. Involvement in such activities often led to his sentences being extended. 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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. He also attacked various governors. People shook his hand in the street, others kissed him or asked for his autograph and taxi drivers honked their horns. Monty Python sketch featuring the Piranha brothers, Doug and Dinsdale. On 21 November 2014, Fraser fell critically ill whilst undergoing leg surgery atKing's College Hospital,Denmark Hill. Moment brazen thieves jump behind counter at Chicago Drug baron, 58, who 'hid 198MILLION fortune from police' is Isabel Oakeshott receives 'menacing' message from Matt Hancock, Dozens stuck in car park as staff refuses to open gate for woman, Incredible footage of Ukrainian soldiers fighting Russians in Bakhmut, Pro-Ukrainian drone lands on Russian spy planes exposing location, 'Buster is next!' She helped him sell on his loot. In the second part, she reveals how Frank wasnt the only member of his family with a chequered past.