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. Then they were turned over to Fraser. Photograph: Crime and Investigation network. Many of the Forty Thieves were noted for their beauty as well as their shoplifting skills, such as Madeline Partridge and her sister Laura, whose mother was often used by Diamond to sell stolen goods. Though like Eva, she struggled to come to terms with the choice facing women to work or marry. Each incident added more time to his sentence. Once again, he was sent toprison, this timefor taking part in bank robberies. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. 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. Fraser was just 13 when he was sent to an approved school for stealing 40 cigarettes. The Forty Thieves, a London-based exclusively female gang whose exploits were worse than those depicted in BBC drama the Peaky Blinders, posed as wealthy housewives innocently browsing the rails of the UK's most luxurious clothing stores. 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. 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. 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 once stabbed a policeman in the eye with a hatpin, blinding him. Frankie Fraser: Died On This Day in 2014, Aged 90 - The NCS 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. 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. Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group. The Guardian, October 12 1980 Frank Fraser is a thorn in the Prison Department's side - a thorn so big that he is possibly the only British criminal who has become a legend simply by serving time. 679215 Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF. 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. 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. 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. It was a thief's paradise, Gor blimey! During his time in prison, Fraser was involved in a number of riots and frequently fought with prison officers, fellow inmates and governors. She is thought to have killed herself in the 1970s. 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. At signing sessions of his books he was always willing to be photographed pretending to extract a tooth with pliers brought by the fan. During World War 2 he was a deserter - escaping from his barracks on several occasions. On 26 November, Fraser died after his family made the decision to turn off his life-support machine. They stole to put food on the table. He was still touring clubs and pubs in 2011. 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. When police visited she showed them ledgers to demonstrate her honest buying. After the war he was involved in a smash-and-grab raid on a jeweller's and was given a two year prison sentence. Frankie Fraser's Last Stand (2013) - IMDb Their alleged specialities included pulling teeth out using pliers, cutting off toes using bolt cutters and nailing victims to floors using 6-inch nails. 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. Sometimes the hoisters' lives became entangled with those of underworld bosses through affairs, family ties or marriage. Frankie Fraser Biography | HowOld.co 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. "From there he goes on to burgle, and she goes onto shop lifting with a famous female gang called The 40 Thieves. 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. 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. Nothing ever got to Frankie, wrote Charlie Richardson. Another of Fraser's grandsons, James Fraser, also spent a short time with Bristol Rovers. 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. After trying his hand at crime as a. 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. Fraser, who was jailed for 10 years in the so-called "torture trial" in 1967, is now frail and in poor health. But little by little, over weeks and months of interviews, cups of tea and chats, their life stories emerged and with that came a fascinating insight into the Fraser family history and what really made Frank tick. inaccuracy or intrusion, then please When shoplifting she used a number of techniques including: wearing different wigs, putting stolen items under her skirt and the use of barrier bags lined with tin foil to prevent the detection of security tags. [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. It wasnt that we chose to be thieves, said Patrick. in development with Fraser's endorsement. Monty Python sketch featuring the Piranha brothers, Doug and Dinsdale. Tue 11 Jun 2013 11.55 EDT He may be in his 90th year but "Mad" Frankie Fraser is still causing mayhem. Young Frankie attended local schools, captained the football team, and acted as bookies runner to one of the teachers. We'll never send you spam or share your email address. Who was 'Mad' Frankie Fraser? | The Scottish Sun Author returns with book about the fascinating lives of notorious Eric wasnt a bad fellow, Fraser later explained, but that particular night he was bang out of order.. They would go through Selfridges department store in the West End and steal furs and expensive clothes. Editors' Code of Practice. He also claimed to have been the first bandit to wear a stocking mask. 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. Born on Cornwall Road, Waterloo, Lambeth, South London, Fraser was the youngest of five children and grew up in poverty. Involvement in such activities often led to his sentences being extended. With Warren at his heels, Fraser ambushed Spot in a Paddington street, knocking him to the ground with a shillelagh. The following year, the British mobsterJack Spotand wife Rita were attacked on Billy Hill's say-so, by Fraser, Bobby Warren and at least half a dozen other men. [9] He was a resident at a sheltered accommodation home in Peckham. You understand the choices that lay ahead of you if you were a working-class girl. As her reign came to an end, Forty Thieves queen Diamondpassed on her 'wisdom' to a future queen, Shirley Pitts. 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. 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. 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. 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.. When he was 10, the pair stole a cigarette machine from a local pub, hauled it to some waste ground and jemmied it open. 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. By 20 she was leader of The Forty Thieves and wore a row of diamond rings that acted as a knuckle duster. His parents never knew about his illegal activities, and if they ever suspected him apparently turned a blind eye, a habit . He really did live by a code of honour which he took with him to the grave. contact IPSO here, 2001-2023. He emerged from jail in 1989 and has not been back since. [4] He was involved in riots and frequently fought with prison officers and fellow inmates. 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. Family ways of 'Mad' Frankie | The Northern Echo '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. The years just after World War II were a boom time for the gang, as clothing was rationed until 1949. "The Sun", "Sun", "Sun Online" are registered trademarks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited. Its clear she still had to feed her family by acting on the wrong side of the law Beezy said. '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.'. The comments below have not been moderated. 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. After trying his hand at crime as a. She was one of the top thieves during the war. "If you play by the sword, you've got to expect the sword as well," says his son. David had perfected the prison whisper talking very quietly, in case he was overheard by the guards. The violent thugs, the Kray twins, held The Forty Thieves member Eva Fraser in high regard during the 1940s and 1950s. What saved him I think was the branch; it was supple and it bent. Although Lawton survived, the dog died. Descendants . She was still hoisting well into her 70s.'. Beezy said: "Frank's sister Eva was the one who led him into crime as a small boy. "My father was the most honest man I've ever come across," says Fraser, who also refers to his Native American antecedents, saying that his grandmother was "a Red Indian", According to his sons, Fraser has no regrets: "He said, 'No, I wouldn't have done my life any other way. 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. 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. Fraser in 1997 with his then girlfriend Marilyn Wisbey, daughter Of Great Train Robber Tom Wisbey (REX FEATURES). His funeral took place on December 18, 2014. 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). 'It gave them a life they could never have afforded. A ponce was someone who thieves looked down on, because they lived by taking a cut from someone elses earnings. 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. Eva (Fraser) Brindle. 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. When Mason demurred, Fraser buried a hatchet in his skull, pinning his hand to his head. She helped him sell on his loot. 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. The singer, 29, bared his chest and showed off his . Frankie Fraser obituary | Crime | The Guardian 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. 'Mad' Frankie Fraser handed an asbo aged 90 - the Guardian Charles Richardson was a criminal businessman who reputedly specialised in various tortures administered at secret courts at which he presided, sometimes robed like a judge, a knife or a gun to hand. Eva knew the Krays well and they treated her with reverence, although she saw them as little more than naughty boys. Frankie Fraser - obituary - The Telegraph Harry Styles bares his impressively toned torso and body art at gig 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. A witness later changed histestimony,and the charges were eventually dropped, though Fraser still received a five-year sentence for affray. Fraser was part of Britain's Underworld between the 1940s-1960's. Frankie Fraser was tried at the Old Bailey for Harts murder, while six others, including Eddie Richardson, faced lesser charges. Reporters claimed she was 6ft tall - despite police records from 1919 putting her at 5ft9in. Yet they fiercely guarded their right to 'earn' their own money. Both Frank and his sister, Eva, whom he adored, inherited their fathers features and his jet-black hair. She helped him sell on his loot. Prisoners and ex-prisoners all over Britain speak about him with undisguised admiration. Eva got six months for stealing stockings from Bentalls in Kingston upon Thames. 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. Fraser himself was accused of pulling out the teeth of victims with a pair of pliers. When caught by police she replied: 'I don't know anything about it.'. Frankie Fraser was born on Cornwall Road in Waterloo, London. 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. As a reward, he was shown his examination answers, and thats how I come top, he later boasted. The gang passed on their secrets from mother to daughter, aunt to niece, so whole generations of families saw crime as a way of life. In 1991, while emerging from Turnmills nightclub in Clerkenwell, London, he was shot at by an unidentified gunman. Here are some pictures of Eva Fraser of the Forty Thieves and her sister Kathleen. 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. 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. . They bought fur coats, jewellery and went dancing in West End nightclubs. 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. 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. 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. 'Mad Frank' the thug, hitman and enforcer 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. '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. 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. Diamond took her under her wing and showed her how to shoplift in 1947, when Pitts was just 12. The middle sister was Kathleen, who constantly aspired to make it as an actress, and make use of her striking good looks. His mother was of Irish and Norwegian descent, while his father was half Native-American. [8] Although his parents were not criminals, Fraser turned to crime aged 10 with his sister Eva, to whom he was close. She liked to earn her own money and paid her own way quite something for a young woman in the 1930s and 1940s. 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. 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. Physically slight at only 5ft 4in, and invariably wearing a smile and in retirement a sharp Savile Row suit, Frankie Fraser was nevertheless a ferocious and brutal hatchet man. 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. 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. Once he said he would do something, he did it, and he despised others who backed down. Frankie Fraser was a south London gangster who knew no language but violence and spent half his life behind bars. Profile manager: Evelyn Wolff [send private message] He then became involved in serious crime - and the war provided a perfect backdrop with the blackout, rationing and a shortage of police officers. Had her first criminal conviction aged 14 and went on to become Diamond's accomplice. 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. When she married the father of five of her seven children, Chris Hawkins, he subjected her to cruel beatings - but quickly stopped following a warning from the Kray Twins. On 21 November 2014, Fraser fell critically ill whilst undergoing leg surgery atKing's College Hospital,Denmark Hill. The notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser's sister Eva had risen through the ranks of the gang after joining in the 1930s. 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. As a young woman, Eva became an accomplished hoister (shoplifter). 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. 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. There were car chases and bank raids which would not have looked out of place in The Sweeney. After trying his hand at crime as a child, Fraser then continued into his later life. She was sentenced to five months. For further details of our complaints policy and to make a complaint please click this link: thesun.co.uk/editorial-complaints/, 'Mad' Frankie Fraser was a notorious English gangster, Funeral of South London enforcer, FRANKIE FRASER at Honour Oak Crematorium, Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). Last seen in public in October at the funeral of his former boss, Charlie Richardson, Fraser is one of the few remaining members of a generation of "celebrity criminals". 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. In 1969 Fraser led the Parkhurst prison riot on the Isle of Wight and found himself back in court charged with incitement to murder. Fraser also appeared as East End crime boss Pops Den in the feature film Hard Men, a forerunner of British gangster movies such as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and had a documentary made of his life, Mad Frank. Her brother was the notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser, who joined turf wars between London gangs in the sixties. 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. Jewellery was a favourite target, as it was easy to hide up a sleeve - rings could be switched for worthless fakes. Her wartime experience was spent on the switchboards during the Blitz. 'MAD' Frankie Fraser, was one of the most feared and respected West End crime lords of the 1960s. '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. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription you will not receive any updates until your subscription is confirmed. Daughter. Registered in England & Wales | 01676637 |. '", 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. 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. Old London Photographs | This is Eva Fraser, sister of gangster " Mad It was during the war that he first became involved in serious crime. He had been shot in the face. She and her friends looked like film stars when they went out down the pub. Please report any comments that break our rules.
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