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"You name it, we nicked it," he says. On the morning of Derek Bentleys execution at Wandsworth in 1953, he spat at the executioner Albert Pierrepoint and tried to attack him. After Frasers release from the Spot sentence, he was courted by the Kray Twins and the Richardson gang. 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. Franks mother, Margaret, was a huge influence on him but his best pal and early partner in crime was his sister, Eva. Then they were turned over to Fraser. This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. 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'. 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. A Gannett Company. [16], Fraser's 42 years served in over 20 different prisons in the UK were often coloured by violence. Their alleged specialities included pulling teeth out using pliers, cutting off toes using bolt cutters and nailing victims to floors using 6-inch nails. While serving this sentence, Fraser received 10 years for his part in the so-called Richardson torture trial. "If you play by the sword, you've got to expect the sword as well," says his son. They also spoke, as Frank did, using the prison slang of a bygone era, which they had to translate for me. 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. The publisher also decided to include a glossary for the reader. When the police arrived, they found Hart lying under a lilac tree in a nearby garden. ', The notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser's sister Eva had risen through the ranks of the gang after joining in the 1930s. 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. She got six months in jail, for stealing stockings from Bentalls in Kingston upon Thames. Involvement in such activities often led to his sentences being extended. 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. He claimed to have no regrets about his criminal life, apart from being caught. According to Eddie Richardson, Fraser had Alzheimer's disease for the last three years of his life. In 1941, Fraser was given his first taste of punishment when he was sent to borstal for breaking into a Waterloo hosiery store. [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 spent a lot of time in solitary confinement, tormented by prison officers who would spit in his food. 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. She was an alcoholic and onceran out of a jeweller with a tray of 34 diamond rings and bumped straight into a policeman. 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. . 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 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. 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. '", 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. Fraser was part of Britain's Underworld between the 1940s-1960's. He was a known associate of gangster Billy Hill throughout the 1950s. 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. 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. 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. 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'. 'Any girl worth her salt in South London in those days was a. 'And they were the best fun for a night out.'. He was a member of the Richardson gang or the 'torture gang', led by brothers Charlie and Eddie Richardson, and were widely feared in Londons underworld. Not long after being released, Hughes was involved in the Lambeth riot of Christmas 1925, when the home of Bill Britten was stormed. [23] In 1991, Fraser was shot in the head from close range in an apparent murder attempt outside the Turnmills Club in Clerkenwell, London. They would go through Selfridges department store in the West End and steal furs and expensive clothes. Hughes was famed for her red hair, a love of drink and a violent temper. ", Of the war years, when he was heavily involved in theft from bombed-out stores, he says: "You wanted to win the war but you wanted it to go on for ever. At 17 he was sent to Borstal for breaking and entering a hosiery shop in Waterloo and was then given a 15-month prison sentence for shopbreaking. MAD FRANK & SONS, by David Fraser, Patrick Fraser and Beezy Marsh is published by Sidgwick and Jackson on June 2. Once he said he would do something, he did it, and he despised others who backed down. He also attacked various governors. The criminal, who has spent almost half his life in prison, passed away earlier at King's. Bought stolen goods and sold them on in a role known as 'the fence'. 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. This resulted in Fraser returning to prison once again - this time to serve a seven-year sentence. 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. 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. Born on Cornwall Road, Waterloo, Lambeth, South London, Fraser was the youngest of five children and grew up in poverty. 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. Ms Marsh said: 'These women fought harder than the men and were feared by men and women in their communities. The singer, 29, bared his chest and showed off his . From then on until the end of the 1980s, Fraser was more often in jail than not. 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. ', As the photographs show, the women often wore beautifully designed hats , coats and dresses in order to fit in, known as 'putting on the posh'. 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. 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. '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. News reports were checked to see how much was owing. A witness later changed histestimony,and the charges were eventually dropped, though Fraser still received a five-year sentence for affray. pre order Queen of Thieves now for just 2.99. contact IPSO here, 2001-2023. 'It was incredibly subversive to go against the class system and steal furs and luxury items and swan about like they were rich - but that is exactly what they did. You understand the choices that lay ahead of you if you were a working-class girl. 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. 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. Frank Davidson "Frankie" Fraser, better known as "Mad" Frankie Fraser was born on Cornwall Road in Waterloo, London, he grew up in poverty and was the youngest of five children, Fraser and his sister Eva, whom he was close too, turned to crime at the age of 10, on several occasions during World War 2, Fraser would escape his barracks and deserting many a times. The middle sister was Kathleen, who constantly aspired to make it as an actress, and make use of her striking good looks. 'It gave them a life they could never have afforded. In 1966, Fraser was charged with the murder of Richard Hart - who was shot at Mr Smith's club inCatfordwhile other Richardson associates, includingJimmy Moody, were charged withaffray. Sometimes the hoisters' lives became entangled with those of underworld bosses through affairs, family ties or marriage. Newsquest Media Group Ltd, Loudwater Mill, Station Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group. He has been part of the most infamous criminal gangs of the past 100 years, while maintaining his South London roots and deep devotion to his family. As a young woman, Eva became an accomplished hoister (shoplifter). '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.'. But his criminal activities didn't stop when he was locked up. Notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser died in hospital today aged 90, relatives have revealed. To inquire about a licence to reproduce material, visit our Syndication site. There were car chases and bank raids which would not have looked out of place in The Sweeney. He refused to discuss the shooting with the police. Join Facebook to connect with Frankie Fraser and others you may know. 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. 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. "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. Tony Lambrianou, a one-time henchman of the rival Kray brothers, was also a fan. Profile manager: Evelyn Wolff [send private message] In 1969 Fraser led the Parkhurst prison riot on the Isle of Wight and found himself back in court charged with incitement to murder. By Emer Scully and Beezy Marsh for MailOnline, Published: 10:41 GMT, 4 November 2021 | Updated: 13:07 GMT, 4 November 2021. 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. She is thought to have killed herself in the 1970s. Following a trial at the Old Bailey in 1967, he was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment. 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. 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. Many started as child lookouts. 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.