She liked to earn her own money and paid her own way quite something for a young woman in the 1930s and 1940s. The middle sister was Kathleen, who constantly aspired to make it as an actress, and make use of her striking good looks. They set up a fruit machine enterprise, which they would sell to pub landlords, to cover up their crimes. inaccuracy or intrusion, then please Eva Brindle formerly Fraser. The Frasers were both contemporaries of the Hatton Garden heist gang members many of whom also came from south London and who operated on the same bank robbing scene and shared jail cells with the Fraser boys at some point. Pictured: The female cast of the hit BBC show Peaky Blinders. They stole to put food on the table. Data returned from the Piano 'meterActive/meterExpired' callback event. The police were cozzers and a burglary was a screwer, hitting someone was a clump, while jewellery was tom as in Tom Foolery, in rhyming slang. 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. Not long after being released, Hughes was involved in the Lambeth riot of Christmas 1925, when the home of Bill Britten was stormed. 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 a south London gangster who knew no language but violence and spent half his life behind bars. There was Eva, the naughty girl of the three, who became a key figure in the all-girl gang, the Forty Thieves, who targeted the West Ends big department stores. It was a thief's paradise, Gor blimey! 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. Having chronicled the life of old mad Frank, author Beezy Marsh has turned her pen to Peggy, Kathleen and Eva; in her new book Keeping My Sisters Secrets. 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. Fraser, who was jailed for 10 years in the so-called "torture trial" in 1967, is now frail and in poor health. 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. [24], Fraser's wife, by whom he had four sons, died in 1999. [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. Fraser was the. Ms Marsh said it 'was time to reappraise London's gangland' when she wrote The Queen of Thieves. There was American Indian blood in him; his grandfather had emigrated to Canada in the late 19th century and married a full-blooded American Indian woman. 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. Fraser himself was accused of pulling out the teeth of victims with a pair of pliers. Fraser was released in 1988 and almost immediately served a two-year sentence for receiving. Many started as child lookouts. 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. Photograph: Crime and Investigation network. 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. 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. The two Richardson brothers were convicted, and the elder, Charles, sentenced to 25 years. 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. The Kray twins (pictured) held The Forty Thieves member Eva Fraser in high regard. It was almost as if the biggest thrill of all was the act of stealing itself. 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. Although he was acquitted, a further five years were added to his sentence. Her brother was the notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser, who joined turf wars between London gangs in the sixties. 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. One such member was Lilian Goldstein, who was known as the Bob-Haired Bandit. He may be in his 90th year but "Mad" Frankie Fraser is still causing mayhem. 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. 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. [13], It was in the early 1960s that Fraser first met Charlie and Eddie Richardson of the Richardson Gang, rivals to the Kray twins. Keeping My Sisters Secrets was published on July 27 by Pan Macmillan. Born to criminal parents in Southwark, South London, in 1886, her first crimes were aiding and abetting men. 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. Bought stolen goods and sold them on in a role known as 'the fence'. In 1996, he played (his friend) William Donaldson's guide to Marbella in the infamous BBC Radio 4 series A Retiring Fellow. 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. Mad Frank. Registered in England & Wales | 01676637 |. 'Mad' Frankie Fraser: Sweet dapper. Indeed, his criminality was closely bound up with what one criminologist described as an overt almost Samurai vindication of violent action in pursuit of inverted honour. 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. A Gannett Company. 679215 Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF. It was during the war that he first became involved in serious crime. At the age of five, he moved with his family to a flat on Walworth Road, Elephant and Castle. Fraser, whose health has been deteriorating in recent years, turned to crime aged just nine when he and his sister, Eva, became petty thieves. Aged seven, Ms Pitts was stealing milk and bread to provide food for her five siblings. Both Fraser and his sister, Eva, were also active juvenile thieves. Born 1920s. He had an ungovernable temper and an inability to think through the undoubted consequences of his proposed actions. Fraser was the youngest of five children and grew up in poverty. Tallymen, who sold goods door-to-door, would shift them across London. 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. None of the gang were afraid to use razors on those who crossed them. He also ran a coach tour pointing out to a spectrum of customers the old criminal London. [22], Fraser gave gangland tours around London, where he highlighted infamous criminal locations such as The Blind Beggar pub. Sister of Frankie Davidson Fraser. Notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser died in hospital today aged 90, relatives have revealed. Eva got six months for stealing stockings from Bentalls in Kingston upon Thames. 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. 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. As a reward, he was shown his examination answers, and thats how I come top, he later boasted. For latest book news including updates on the forthcoming film Mad Frank and Sons please like my page Beezy Marsh. 'They didn't see anything wrong in it because these things were too expensive for most people to afford and shops had insurance. As her reign came to an end, Forty Thieves queen Diamondpassed on her 'wisdom' to a future queen, Shirley Pitts. It will only make me a worse villain!'. 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. "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. As a subscriber, you are shown 80% less display advertising when reading our articles. 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. 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. Please report any comments that break our rules. He built a reputation as an enforcer and strongman for various gang leaders, including Billy Hill, self-styled King of Britains Underworld in the 1940s and 1950s and, in the 1960s, the Richardson brothers. [9] 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. [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. [9] He was a resident at a sheltered accommodation home in Peckham. 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. Author Beezy Marsh said: 'These women fought harder than the men and were feared by men and women in their communities. Joining the Forty Thieves was something of a right of passage for Eva Fraser. It was just what we knew and to be honest, we loved it.. Fraser in 1997 with his then girlfriend Marilyn Wisbey, daughter Of Great Train Robber Tom Wisbey (REX FEATURES). Fraser was acquitted but received five years for affray. Jewellery was a favourite target, as it was easy to hide up a sleeve - rings could be switched for worthless fakes. 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. He also attacked various governors. With the help of Hill and mafia interests, Fraser and Eddie Richardson established Atlantic Machines, a successful business placing one-armed bandits in clubs throughout Britain. 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. 'Speaking to relatives of some of the original gang members during my research for Queen of Thieves, I was struck by how secretive the gang had been about its methods, and how much of a career choice it was for working class girls. Frank's mother, Margaret, was a huge influence on him but his "best pal" and early partner in crime was his sister, Eva. Peggy stayed out of crime and worked for the Post Office. 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. 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. 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. She was chauffeured in a Bentley and always wore a sable coat. 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. Francis Davidson Fraser, criminal, born 13 December 1923; died 26 November 2014, Gangland criminal and in later life a minor media celebrity, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, Frankie Fraser in 2002. 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. What Fraser invariably threatened was violence. During the 1950s, Fraser's main occupation was as bodyguard to well-known gangster Billy Hill. 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. 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. It will only make me a worse villain! Frankie Fraser's Last Stand: Directed by Matt Blyth. 'You name it, we nicked it,' he tells the . 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. On 26 November, Fraser died after his family made the decision to turn off his life-support machine. The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. He was so attired when, in 1951, he attacked the governor of Wandsworth prison, William Lawton, as he walked his pet terrier on Wandsworth Common. To inquire about a licence to reproduce material, visit our Syndication site. On 21 November 2014, Fraser fell critically ill whilst undergoing leg surgery atKing's College Hospital,Denmark Hill. As a solicitor, I defended him in the trial following the Parkhurst riot and as a result wrote a number of books with him. Frasers partner in this endeavour was Bobby Warren, an uncle of the boxing promoter Frank Warren. 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. Former Northern Echo journalist Beezy Marsh has written a book about London gangster Mad Frankie Fraser. 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. But after shoving their stolen goods into waiting cars the women would head back to the grotty slums of Waterloo and Elephant and Castle - where their 'queen' exchanged the expensive items for a generous weekly wage. She was an alcoholic and onceran out of a jeweller with a tray of 34 diamond rings and bumped straight into a policeman. When Mason demurred, Fraser buried a hatchet in his skull, pinning his hand to his head. Underneath glamorous ensembles the women wore specially-adapted petticoats with hidden pockets or baggy bloomers with elastic at the knee. Pitts wore a school girl's outfit, complete with straw boater, to act as a decoy. 'It was not just a man's world, despite the countless column inches still spent poring over the phenomenon that was the Kray Twins,' she added. Newsquest Media Group Ltd, Loudwater Mill, Station Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. 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. He regularly led conducted tours of East End crime scenes, invariably ending up in the Blind Beggar pub where Ronnie Kray shot George Cornell dead. Eva got into shoplifting, but had a heart of gold. He was working all the hours he got sent, but he couldnt make ends meet. The gang probably had its roots in the Victorian slums around Seven Dials, near Covent Garden, infamous in Dickens's day. [12], 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 at HM Prison Pentonville. 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. With Frankie Fraser, Chris Keenan, Steve Box, Michael Boyd. Together they set up the Atlantic Machines fruit-machine enterprise, which acted as a front for the criminal activities of the gang. Frankie Fraser was a notorious torturer and hitman for the Richardson gang of south London criminals in the 1960s. Some became pals with young actresses as they partied in Soho nightclubs and stole dresses to order for them to wear on the red carpet. contact IPSO here, 2001-2023. In 1938, she was sentenced for stabbing a policeman in the eye with a hatpin. 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.. Then theres Frankie himself, who makes a brief appearance. Even the gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser, whose sister Eva was a leading light in the gang in the thirties and forties, spoke with great reverence about Alice Diamond. 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. His new career took off and he was in regular demand as a radio and television pundit. They didnt go to jail, they did bird or got a lagging. 'My gran liked to go for tea at the Ritz, especially if she could pinch someone's fur coat from the cloakroom on the way out. When police switched on to the gang's methods they branched out, with trips to Southend, Brighton, Liverpool and Manchester. Young Frankie attended local schools, captained the football team, and acted as bookies runner to one of the teachers. 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. 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.. After three years in jail she tookpart in the Lambeth riot at Christmas 1925. Morton was relieved that, rather than remonstrating, Fraser wanted him to write his life story. Involvement in such activities often led to his sentences being extended. 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. Had her first criminal conviction aged 14 and went on to become Diamond's accomplice. Their loot would be stuffed into these 'hoister's drawers', allowing the women to leave the stores undetected. 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. According to Fraser, it was they who helped him avoid arrest for theGreat Train Robberyby bribing a policeman. The pair were the only ones of the children to embrace a life of crime. Reporters claimed she was 6ft tall - despite police records from 1919 putting her at 5ft9in. He was released from prison in 1985.[17]. '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. Aged 17 she was convicted for stealing from a hat shop in Oxford Street. 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. 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. 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. 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). Daughter. 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. 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. pre order Queen of Thieves now for just 2.99. Fraser was part of Britain's Underworld between the 1940s-1960's. 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. At the age of five, he moved with his family to a flat on Walworth Road, Elephant and Castle. "Maybe he was bored with going to prison," Ronnie Richardson, Charlie's widow, tells the programme. 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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. Photograph: Alex Segre/Rex. Photo taken in the late 1940s on a pub Beano (day out) in Walworth, before the group travelled to Margate On the back row: the girls mum, Margaret, next to daughter Kathleen. His parents never knew about his illegal activities, and if they ever suspected him apparently turned a blind eye, a habit . But few would perhaps know about the equally incredible lives led by his three sisters. Queen of Thieves, by author and journalist Beezy Marsh (published by Orion, November 4 2021, 8.99). "From there he goes on to burgle, and she goes onto shop lifting with a famous female gang called The 40 Thieves. Ms Marsh said: 'These women fought harder than the men and were feared by men and women in their communities. He undoubtedly had a wicked temper and a lack of empathy as seen in his capability for violence but he described that to me in terms of a soldier doing his job. During his time behind bars he was involved in violence and was a major instigator in the Parkhurst Prison riots in 1969. He then became involved in serious crime - and the war provided a perfect backdrop with the blackout, rationing and a shortage of police officers. 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 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. '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.'. View the profiles of people named Frankie Fraser. 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. Beezy reveals how the girls father would beat their mother a big influence on their outlook. The singer, 29, bared his chest and showed off his . Alice herself was famous for clouting three furs in one go: one down each leg and one under her gusset. Fraser himself was charged with pulling out people's teeth with pliers and sentenced to 10 years in prison. 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. She operated out of Walworth, South East London and her home was called an 'Aladdin's cave of loot'. 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. He also claimed to have been the first bandit to wear a stocking mask. On this release, he determined to write his memoirs. The book upset some of those mentioned in it, and Morton was dismayed to arrive home one evening to find a message from Fraser on his answering machine, demanding to speak to him urgently. 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. [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. 'MAD' Frankie Fraser, was one of the most feared and respected West End crime lords of the 1960s.
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