None of the gang were afraid to use razors on those who crossed them. During the 1950s, Fraser's main occupation was as bodyguard to well-known gangster Billy Hill. 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. The gang probably had its roots in the Victorian slums around Seven Dials, near Covent Garden, infamous in Dickens's day. Alice herself was famous for clouting three furs in one go: one down each leg and one under her gusset. Then they were turned over to Fraser. He later joined the notorious Richardson gang, formed by brothers Eddie and Charlie, and began carrying out more criminal activities. An early nickname Razor Fraser reflected his penchant for shivving his enemies faces with a cut-throat blade. 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. 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. It was not that he thought he was Napoleon. And I felt the same way,' she said. "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. 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. 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. 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. Those ads you do see are predominantly from local businesses promoting local services. He had 10 years added to a sentence he was serving in 1967 along with The Richardson Brothers in the Torture Trials which were the longest trials in British criminal history. She was an alcoholic and onceran out of a jeweller with a tray of 34 diamond rings and bumped straight into a policeman. For other inquiries, Contact Us. Sometimes the hoisters' lives became entangled with those of underworld bosses through affairs, family ties or marriage. Involvement in such activities often led to his sentences being extended. 'Any girl worth her salt in South London in those days was a. After three years in jail she tookpart in the Lambeth riot at Christmas 1925. Their view on Hatton Garden was that the world had moved on and robbing banks now was akin to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid trying to get away on horseback, while the police gave chase in cars. From then on until the end of the 1980s, Fraser was more often in jail than not. Their alleged specialities included pulling teeth out using pliers, cutting off toes using bolt cutters and nailing victims to floors using 6-inch nails. Fraser himself was accused of pulling out the teeth of victims with a pair of pliers. She and her friends looked like film stars when they went out down the pub. Diamond took her under her wing and showed her how to shoplift in 1947, when Pitts was just 12. 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. 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. After trying his hand at crime as a. 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. Comments have been closed on this article. [16], Fraser's 42 years served in over 20 different prisons in the UK were often coloured by violence. 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. Though like Eva, she struggled to come to terms with the choice facing women to work or marry. [23] In 1991, Fraser was shot in the head from close range in an apparent murder attempt outside the Turnmills Club in Clerkenwell, London. MAD FRANK & SONS, by David Fraser, Patrick Fraser and Beezy Marsh is published by Sidgwick and Jackson on June 2. '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. He had been shot in the face. It is important that we continue to promote these adverts as our local businesses need as much support as possible during these challenging times. And involvement in such activities often led to his sentences being extended. 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. He was still touring clubs and pubs in 2011. I just waited, caught up with him, knocked him about and strung him up with his dog, Fraser remembered. As an adult she was beaten by one of her boyfriends and the father of five of her seven children, Chris Hawkins, who was a fruit and vegetable seller in Hoxton. Frankie Fraser was known anotorious torturer and hitman, who worked as an enforcer for some of London's most feared gang leaders. 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. It was just what we knew and to be honest, we loved it.. According to Eddie Richardson, Fraser had Alzheimer's disease for the last three years of his life. Franks mother, Margaret, was a huge influence on him but his best pal and early partner in crime was his sister, Eva. 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. 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. He may be in his 90th year but "Mad" Frankie Fraser is still causing mayhem. 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. Diamond's second-in-command Maggie Hughes (right) 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! 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. After trying his hand at crime as a. She once stabbed a policeman in the eye with a hatpin, blinding him. Fraser was seen kicking Richard Hart, a Kray associate, as he lay on the pavement outside. A Gannett Company. Murdaugh is heckled as he leaves court, Missing hiker buried under snow forces arm out to wave to helicopter, Pavement where disabled woman gestured at cyclist before fatal crash, Fleet-footed cop chases an offender riding a scooter, Two Russian tanks annihilated with bombs by Ukrainian armed forces, Alex Murdaugh unanimously found GUILTY of murder of wife and son, Isabel Oakeshott clashes with Nick Robinson over Hancock texts, Insane moment river of rocks falls onto Malibu Canyon in CA, Do not sell or share my personal information. The notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser's sister Eva had risen through the ranks of the gang after joining in the 1930s. 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. But few would perhaps know about the equally incredible lives led by his three sisters. 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. 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. A witness changed his testimony and the charges were eventually dropped, though Fraser still received a five-year sentence for affray. By the 1950s, the gang were facing ever-present store detectives and had to rely more on disguises. Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription you will not receive any newsletters until your subscription is confirmed. 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. 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. She is thought to have killed herself in the 1970s. Mason was found, barely alive, wearing only his underpants and wrapped in a blanket, on the steps of the London Hospital in Whitechapel. 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. His parents never knew about his illegal activities, and if they ever suspected him apparently turned a blind eye, a habit . He also ran a coach tour pointing out to a spectrum of customers the old criminal London. The notorious English gangster turned to a life of a crime and before he knew it, he was behind bars. Author Beezy Marsh said: 'These women fought harder than the men and were feared by men and women in their communities. 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. Fraser spent practically half his life behind bars. Born to criminal parents in Southwark, South London, in 1886, her first crimes were aiding and abetting men. The grim terraces of Waterloo and the tenements of Elephant and Castle provided plenty of girls desperate enough to join The Forty Thieves. 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. [8] Although his parents were not criminals, Fraser turned to crime aged 10 with his sister Eva, to whom he was close. During his time in prison, Fraser was involved in a number of riots and frequently fought with prison officers, fellow inmates and governors. [24], Fraser's wife, by whom he had four sons, died in 1999. 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. He was said to have pulled out the teeth of one of the victims with a pair of pliers. [22], Fraser gave gangland tours around London, where he highlighted infamous criminal locations such as The Blind Beggar pub. The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. Afraid of being heavily medicated for bad behaviour, Fraser stayed out of trouble and was released in 1955. 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. I don't think they felt bad about it. His greatest moment of national notoriety came during what was known as the 'torture trial' of the Richardson gang in 1967, which became . Join Facebook to connect with Frankie Fraser and others you may know. Mad Frank: Memoirs of a Life of Crime appeared in 1994, with two further volumes following in 1998 and 2001. Frankie Fraser was tried at the Old Bailey for Harts murder, while six others, including Eddie Richardson, faced lesser charges. 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. [4] He was involved in riots and frequently fought with prison officers and fellow inmates. Once again, he was sent toprison, this timefor taking part in bank robberies. View the profiles of people named Frankie Fraser. Throughout his life he denied the justice of this conviction, but he was happy to trade off it. Another of Fraser's grandsons, James Fraser, also spent a short time with Bristol Rovers. 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. Eva Brindle formerly Fraser. There was also quite a comeuppance for both Patrick and David who both served their time. According to Fraser, it was they who helped him avoid arrest for theGreat Train Robberyby bribing a policeman. Updated November 28, 2014 2.43pmfirst published at 2.41pm Save Share It has emerged that the former gangland enforcer, who has spent 42 years in prison for 26. 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. [3][4], Frankie Fraser was born on Cornwall Road in Waterloo, London. Although he was acquitted, a further five years were added to his sentence. Eric wasnt a bad fellow, Fraser later explained, but that particular night he was bang out of order.. 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. Had her first criminal conviction aged 14 and went on to become Diamond's accomplice. 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. 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It wasnt that we chose to be thieves, said Patrick. Frankie Fraser was a notorious torturer and hitman for the Richardson gang of south London criminals in the 1960s. What saved him I think was the branch; it was supple and it bent. Although Lawton survived, the dog died. A feature film production is currently[when?] She helped him sell on his loot. They worked department stores including Selfridges in teams of three or four during hoisting trips up to three times a week. 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. Fraser was acquitted but received five years for affray. 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. Nothing ever got to Frankie, wrote Charlie Richardson. As a solicitor, I defended him in the trial following the Parkhurst riot and as a result wrote a number of books with him. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. After being sent to HM Prison Durham for taking part in bank robberies, he was again certified insane and this time was sent to Broadmoor Hospital. 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. His life of crime started aged nine when he worked for the notorious Sabini gang, which ran protection rackets at the racecourses at a time when off-course betting was illegal. The years just after World War II were a boom time for the gang, as clothing was rationed until 1949. Fraser was part of Britain's Underworld between the 1940s-1960's. Sister of Frankie Davidson Fraser. Questioned by police, Fraser reportedly gave his name as Tutankhamen (gangland slang for shtum) and asked What incident?. Bought stolen goods and sold them on in a role known as 'the fence'. 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. Photograph: Alex Segre/Rex. After the war he was involved in a smash-and-grab raid on a jeweller's and was given a two year prison sentence. The middle sister was Kathleen, who constantly aspired to make it as an actress, and make use of her striking good looks. Registered in England & Wales | 01676637 |. 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. A Hoisters' Code of loyalty dictated rules such as having an early night before 'going shopping', handing over all they pinched to the Queen in return for generous weekly wages, and never stealing each other's boyfriends (bad for morale). You understand the choices that lay ahead of you if you were a working-class girl. 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. These recollections, while often disordered and jumbled, nevertheless shed light on Frasers shameless and unrepentant defiance of the liberal consensus. 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. '", 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. 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. Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group. "From there he goes on to burgle, and she goes onto shop lifting with a famous female gang called The 40 Thieves. 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 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. [9] He was a resident at a sheltered accommodation home in Peckham. His mother was of Norwegian-Irish stock and his father was half Native American. Fraser in 1997 with his then girlfriend Marilyn Wisbey, daughter Of Great Train Robber Tom Wisbey (REX FEATURES). Notorious for high-speed getaways, she was eventually caught stealing lingerie and sentenced to hard labour in prison. Photograph: Crime and Investigation network. ', The notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser's sister Eva had risen through the ranks of the gang after joining in the 1930s. A ponce was someone who thieves looked down on, because they lived by taking a cut from someone elses earnings. When police switched on to the gang's methods they branched out, with trips to Southend, Brighton, Liverpool and Manchester. During World War 2 he was a deserter - escaping from his barracks on several occasions. They would go through Selfridges department store in the West End and steal furs and expensive clothes. "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. 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. By Emer Scully and Beezy Marsh for MailOnline, Published: 10:41 GMT, 4 November 2021 | Updated: 13:07 GMT, 4 November 2021. 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. 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. 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. When police visited she showed them ledgers to demonstrate her honest buying. This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. According to one of his sons, David, Fraser was unharmed but he did not inform on his assailant. contact the editor here. 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. Her brother was the notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser, who joined turf wars between London gangs in the sixties. He was released from prison in 1985.[17]. Fraser was released in 1988 and almost immediately served a two-year sentence for receiving. They set up a fruit machine enterprise, which they would sell to pub landlords, to cover up their crimes. 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. 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. Hughes was famed for her red hair, a love of drink and a violent temper. Frank stole because he loved to have money yet when he had it, he gave it all away. Fraser himself was charged with pulling out people's teeth with pliers and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Descendants . At the age of five, he moved with his family to a flat on Walworth Road, Elephant and Castle. 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. If you are dissatisfied with the response provided you can A mugshot of Forty Thieves' Hughes, who was uncontrollable and dissipated by drink. 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. 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. A witness later changed histestimony,and the charges were eventually dropped, though Fraser still received a five-year sentence for affray. Frasers partner in this endeavour was Bobby Warren, an uncle of the boxing promoter Frank Warren. During his time behind bars he was involved in violence and was a major instigator in the Parkhurst Prison riots in 1969. Fraser served a total of 42 years in over 20 different prisons in the UK for numerous violent offences. He also attacked various governors. His mother was of Irish and Norwegian descent, while his father was half Native-American. 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. Reporters claimed she was 6ft tall - despite police records from 1919 putting her at 5ft9in. Born near Waterloo station, central London, he was the fifth child of a poor family. 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. He also claimed to have been the first bandit to wear a stocking mask. 679215 Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF. 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. Fraser, tried separately, was jailed for 10. 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. For latest book news including updates on the forthcoming film Mad Frank and Sons please like my page Beezy Marsh. 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. 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. In 1996 he was cast as the gangleader Pops Den in the film Hard Men, which premiered at the London film festival. But she was once caught stealing stockings and was sent to prison.. Ancestors . The violent thugs, the Kray twins, held The Forty Thieves member Eva Fraser in high regard during the 1940s and 1950s. Daughter. He was working all the hours he got sent, but he couldnt make ends meet. Tallymen, who sold goods door-to-door, would shift them across London. 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. 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).

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