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Mother of [private daughter (1940s - unknown)] Died 2000s. 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. After another, the car ran out of petrol in the Rotherhithe tunnel. She was still hoisting well into her 70s.'. The grim terraces of Waterloo and the tenements of Elephant and Castle provided plenty of girls desperate enough to join The Forty Thieves. There were car chases and bank raids which would not have looked out of place in The Sweeney. Getting them to relive their exploits had its own difficulties at the start the only time they had ever been interviewed was by the police and they were used to keeping their own counsel. As a reward, he was shown his examination answers, and thats how I come top, he later boasted. 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. The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. 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. 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. There was also kind of respect for them locally because people could get a nice dress or a pair of stockings cheaply. Tony Lambrianou, a one-time henchman of the rival Kray brothers, was also a fan. Another grandson, Anthony Fraser, was being sought by police in February 2011 for his alleged involvement in an alleged 5 million cannabis smuggling ring. Tue 11 Jun 2013 11.55 EDT He may be in his 90th year but "Mad" Frankie Fraser is still causing mayhem. Fraser was jailed along with other members of the Richardson gang for violently punishing people whom the Richardsons believed owed them money. 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. Monty Python sketch featuring the Piranha brothers, Doug and Dinsdale. Diamond's second-in-command Maggie Hughes was known as 'Babyface' for her sweet looks and made a habit of cheekily shouting back at the judge when she was sentenced to jail: 'It won't cure me! This is Eva Fraser, sister of gangster " Mad" Frankie who was one of the leading lights in The Forty Thieves. Aged seven, Ms Pitts was stealing milk and bread to provide food for her five siblings. '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. 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. 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. 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. Beezy said: "Frank's sister Eva was the one who led him into crime as a small boy. By the 1950s, the gang were facing ever-present store detectives and had to rely more on disguises. According to Eddie Richardson, Fraser had Alzheimer's disease for the last three years of his life. Sometimes the hoisters' lives became entangled with those of underworld bosses through affairs, family ties or marriage. Each incident added more time to his sentence. Both Fraser and Warren received seven-year sentences. These adverts enable local businesses to get in front of their target audience the local community. 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. 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. According to one of his sons, David, Fraser was unharmed but he did not inform on his assailant. Before World War Two, if you got married you were expected to leave work and stay at home, Beezy said. Daughter. The Krays, according to Frank, were little more than thieves ponces.. Frankie Fraser belonged to a bygone era of crime and was cut from a different cloth than so many other gangsters of his generation. 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. 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.. A ponce was someone who thieves looked down on, because they lived by taking a cut from someone elses earnings. He also claimed to have been the first bandit to wear a stocking mask. 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. 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. 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. 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. Ancestors . 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. He also ran a coach tour pointing out to a spectrum of customers the old criminal London. Frankie Fraser was a notorious torturer and hitman for the Richardson gang of south London criminals in the 1960s. Eva got into shoplifting, but had a heart of gold. 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.. 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!' Although he was never convicted of murder, police reportedly held him responsible for 40 killings, but the bluster and bravado of a media-savvy gangland relic almost certainly inflated this tally, the actual scale of which remains unfathomable. Together they set up the Atlantic Machines fruit-machine enterprise, which acted as a front for the criminal activities of the gang. Many started as child lookouts. Fraser in 1997 with his then girlfriend Marilyn Wisbey, daughter Of Great Train Robber Tom Wisbey (REX FEATURES). Nevertheless he was good at sports, captaining the football team at St Patricks school, Southwark, and boxing as an amateur. Please report any comments that break our rules. 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. Author Beezy Marsh said: 'These women fought harder than the men and were feared by men and women in their communities. 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. 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. 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. Eric wasnt a bad fellow, Fraser later explained, but that particular night he was bang out of order.. [8] Although his parents were not criminals, Fraser turned to crime aged 10 with his sister Eva, to whom he was close. His parents were honest and hard-working, but Frankie and his big sister Eva, to whom he was closest, soon turned to crime. By 20 she was leader of The Forty Thieves and wore a row of diamond rings that acted as a knuckle duster. 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. People shook his hand in the street, others kissed him or asked for his autograph and taxi drivers honked their horns. Fraser, he recalled, was more than capable of doing what he threatened. Born 1920s. [9] He was a deserter during the Second World War, escaping from his barracks on several occasions. 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. 'It gave them a life they could never have afforded. The violent thugs, the Kray twins, held The Forty Thieves member Eva Fraser in high regard during the 1940s and 1950s. Prisoners and ex-prisoners all over Britain speak about him with undisguised admiration. Aged 17 she was convicted for stealing from a hat shop in Oxford Street. Fraser considered that Lawton had meted out cruel and vindictive punishment to him at Pentonville in 1948, and to avenge himself Fraser assumed the role of hangman. 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. Because of Frasers behaviour in jail over the years, he forfeited almost every day of his remission. 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. "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. 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. In August 1963, invited to take part in the Great Train Robbery, Fraser pulled out because he was on the run from the police. The publisher also decided to include a glossary for the reader. 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. She was chauffeured in a Bentley and always wore a sable coat. Born to criminal parents in Southwark, South London, in 1886, her first crimes were aiding and abetting men. 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.. Descendants . An early nickname Razor Fraser reflected his penchant for shivving his enemies faces with a cut-throat blade. contact IPSO here, 2001-2023. '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. Women carried tools needed for burglaries so the police had no evidence if they stopped the men following the crime. "You name it, we nicked it," he says. During the 1950s, Fraser's main criminal occupation was as bodyguard to well-known gangsterBilly Hill. It was just what we knew and to be honest, we loved it.. Fraser himself was accused of pulling out the teeth of victims with a pair of pliers. [21] In 1999, he appeared at the Jermyn Street Theatre in London in a one-man show, An Evening with Mad Frankie Fraser (directed by Patrick Newley), which subsequently toured the UK. Beezy, from Ealing, explained that it was in prison that Eva met Diana Mosley, wife of Oswald leader of fascist Blackshirts who were a fearsome presence in London in the 1920s and 30s. It is important that we continue to promote these adverts as our local businesses need as much support as possible during these challenging times. Though like Eva, she struggled to come to terms with the choice facing women to work or marry. 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. During the 1950s, Fraser's main occupation was as bodyguard to well-known gangster Billy Hill. During World War 2 he was a deserter - escaping from his barracks on several occasions. 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 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'. For other inquiries, Contact Us. It has emerged that the former gangland enforcer, who has spent 42 years in prison for 26 offences, has been issued with an asbo after an incident in his residential accommodation. Here are some pictures of Eva Fraser of the Forty Thieves and her sister Kathleen. 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. He emerged from jail in 1989 and has not been back since. Fraser was the youngest of five children and grew up in poverty. Notorious for high-speed getaways, she was eventually caught stealing lingerie and sentenced to hard labour in prison. The middle sister was Kathleen, who constantly aspired to make it as an actress, and make use of her striking good looks. In 1938, she was sentenced for stabbing a policeman in the eye with a hatpin. 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. Registered in England & Wales | 01676637 |. She was one of the top thieves during the war. It was during the war that he first became involved in serious crime. You understand the choices that lay ahead of you if you were a working-class girl. 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. As her reign came to an end, Forty Thieves queen Diamondpassed on her 'wisdom' to a future queen, Shirley Pitts. 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. He was frequently punished for breaking prison rules or fighting prison officers: "I've done more bread and water than any man alive. Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription you will not receive any updates until your subscription is confirmed. 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. From then on until the end of the 1980s, Fraser was more often in jail than not. They also spoke, as Frank did, using the prison slang of a bygone era, which they had to translate for me. His funeral took place on December 18, 2014. ', The notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser's sister Eva had risen through the ranks of the gang after joining in the 1930s. 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. When Mason demurred, Fraser buried a hatchet in his skull, pinning his hand to his head. Photograph: Alex Segre/Rex. 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. He shot, slashed, stabbed and axed. 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. He had an ungovernable temper and an inability to think through the undoubted consequences of his proposed actions. 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. Fraser, who was jailed for 10 years in the so-called "torture trial" in 1967, is now frail and in poor health. [24], Fraser's wife, by whom he had four sons, died in 1999. 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. Reporters claimed she was 6ft tall - despite police records from 1919 putting her at 5ft9in. [8] Although his parents were not criminals, Fraser turned to crime aged 10 with his sister Eva, to whom he was close. To see all content on The Sun, please use the Site Map. Ms Marsh said: 'These women fought harder than the men and were feared by men and women in their communities. 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. 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. She lived an unashamedly lavish lifestyle and splashed her money around. Frankie Fraser was a south London gangster who knew no language but violence and spent half his life behind bars. They didnt go to jail, they did bird or got a lagging. Fraser was defended by a young solicitor called James Morton, who later became an author and wrote a history of Londons gangland in 1992. 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. Frankie Fraser was born on Cornwall Road in Waterloo, London. He was a deserter during the Second World War, escaping from his barracks . Fraser had no problem dealing with rival operators whose business was dented as a result. It was not that he thought he was Napoleon. Two people were left dead. He was still touring clubs and pubs in 2011. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused. He spent 42 years almost half his life in prison for 26 offences. Their loot would be stuffed into these 'hoister's drawers', allowing the women to leave the stores undetected. Born near Waterloo station, central London, he was the fifth child of a poor family. The most famous queen,Alice Diamond, was the daughter of a docker and renowned for her row of diamond rings that doubled as a knuckle duster. During his time behind bars he was involved in violence and was a major instigator in the Parkhurst Prison riots in 1969. She once stabbed a policeman in the eye with a hatpin, blinding him. But who were the gang's most brazen members? Shortly afterwards, Fraser kidnapped Eric Mason, a Kray gang member, outside the Astor Club in Berkeley Square, with even direr consequences. In 1991, while emerging from Turnmills nightclub in Clerkenwell, London, he was shot at by an unidentified gunman. However, it was the during the 'torture trial' of the Richardson gang in 1967, that Frankie Fraser become notorious nationally. 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. Its clear she still had to feed her family by acting on the wrong side of the law Beezy said. 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". Frankie Fraser was born on Cornwall Road in Waterloo, London on December 13, 1923. 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. 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. At the age of five, he moved with his family to a flat on Walworth Road, Elephant and Castle. 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. On 26 November, Fraser died after his family made the decision to turn off his life-support machine. Following a trial at theOld Baileyin 1967, he was sentenced to ten years imprisonment. 'The other side of the story involves these feisty women and it is perhaps more fascinating given the limited powers such working class girls had to earn a decent wage.'. It was almost as if the biggest thrill of all was the act of stealing itself. When police switched on to the gang's methods they branched out, with trips to Southend, Brighton, Liverpool and Manchester. 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. 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. Hughes was famed for her red hair, a love of drink and a violent temper. For latest book news including updates on the forthcoming film Mad Frank and Sons please like my page Beezy Marsh. 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. 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. In the summer of 2013 it emerged that, at the age of 89, Fraser had been served with an Antisocial Behaviour Order (Asbo) after another incident, this time at his care home in Peckham, south London. '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. 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. [9], Fraser was an Arsenal fan, and his grandson Tommy Fraser is a professional footballer. The reader is also introduced to the girls brother Jim, who became a sergeant in the army and fought in North Africa. 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 atHMP Pentonville. The two Richardson brothers were convicted, and the elder, Charles, sentenced to 25 years. Following the Frankie Fraser story is akin to re-tracing the history of gangland London throughout the 20th Century. 'Mad' Frankie Fraser: Sweet dapper. This site is part of Newsquest's audited local newspaper network. Such were the criminal opportunities during the war, Fraser joked in a television interview years later, that he had never forgiven the Germans for surrendering. 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. 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. Despite this, or possibly because of it, newspapers of the day were tipping him as Spots natural successor. 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. Sister of Frankie Davidson Fraser. 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.