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Tony Lambrianou, a one-time henchman of the rival Kray brothers, was also a fan. Fraser served a total of 42 years in over 20 different prisons in the UK for numerous violent offences. ", 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. With Warren at his heels, Fraser ambushed Spot in a Paddington street, knocking him to the ground with a shillelagh. Theres one account of one of Peggys colleagues pretending to still be single so she could carry on working as a Post Office manager. Whereas for Eva it was about her earning her own money on her own terms. One such member was Lilian Goldstein, who was known as the Bob-Haired Bandit. Another of Fraser's grandsons, James Fraser, also spent a short time with Bristol Rovers. 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. Notorious 1930s West End girl gang who hid stolen jewellery in If you are dissatisfied with the response provided you can 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. On this release, he determined to write his memoirs. [5][6][7][8] His mother was of Irish and Norwegian descent, while his father was half Native-American. Photograph: Crime and Investigation network. Eric wasnt a bad fellow, Fraser later explained, but that particular night he was bang out of order.. pre order Queen of Thieves now for just 2.99. He was still touring clubs and pubs in 2011. The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. Eva Brindle formerly Fraser. Because of Frasers behaviour in jail over the years, he forfeited almost every day of his remission. Each incident added more time to his sentence. The publisher also decided to include a glossary for the reader. 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. 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. His mother was of Norwegian-Irish stock and his father was half Native American. [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. Together they set up the Atlantic Machines fruit-machine enterprise, which acted as a front for the criminal activities of the gang. A ponce was someone who thieves looked down on, because they lived by taking a cut from someone elses earnings. He then became involved in serious crime - and the war provided a perfect backdrop with the blackout, rationing and a shortage of police officers. 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. A constant troublemaker in prison, attacking governors and warders over perceived injustices which inevitably resulted in floggings, bread and water and the loss of remission, Fraser had by this time been certified insane on three occasions. In 1938, she was sentenced for stabbing a policeman in the eye with a hatpin. Former Northern Echo journalist Beezy Marsh has written a book about London gangster Mad Frankie Fraser. He emerged from jail in 1989 and has not been back since. She was still hoisting well into her 70s.'. [15] In 1966, Fraser was charged with the murder of Richard Hart, who was shot at Mr Smith's club in Catford while other Richardson associates, including Jimmy Moody, were charged with affray. 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. He stopped following a warning from the Kray Twins. 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. But few would perhaps know about the equally incredible lives led by his three sisters. 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. Frankie Fraser Biography | HowOld.co It is important that we continue to promote these adverts as our local businesses need as much support as possible during these challenging times. [16], Fraser's 42 years served in over 20 different prisons in the UK were often coloured by violence. According to Fraser, it was they who helped him avoid arrest for theGreat Train Robberyby bribing a policeman. He appeared on pop records and in television documentaries, toured his one-man show of criminal reminiscences (flexing a pair of gilded pliers), and found himself invited into bookshops to sign copies of his memoirs. I don't think they felt bad about it. Nevertheless he was good at sports, captaining the football team at St Patricks school, Southwark, and boxing as an amateur. 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 business came to an end in 1966 when a fight in a Catford night club, Mr Smiths, left a Kray associate, Dickie Hart, dead, and Richardson and Fraser, who was charged with Harts murder, in prison. None of the gang were afraid to use razors on those who crossed them. [8] Although his parents were not criminals, Fraser turned to crime aged 10 with his sister Eva, to whom he was close. 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. His new career took off and he was in regular demand as a radio and television pundit. 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. Comments have been closed on this article. 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. Pictured: The female cast of the hit BBC show Peaky Blinders. He was said to have pulled out the teeth of one of the victims with a pair of pliers. contact the editor here. Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription you will not receive any newsletters until your subscription is confirmed. contact IPSO here, 2001-2023. Those who had incurred Richardsons displeasure were wired up to a sinister black box with a wind-up handle that administered severe electric shocks to the genitals. [22], Fraser gave gangland tours around London, where he highlighted infamous criminal locations such as The Blind Beggar pub. Ronald 'Ronnie' Kray and Reginald 'Reggie' Kray, were identical twin brothers who led an organised crime ring in East London from the late 1950s to 1967. Both Fraser and Warren received seven-year sentences. After trying his hand at crime as a child, Fraser then continued into his later life. Morton was relieved that, rather than remonstrating, Fraser wanted him to write his life story. Frankie Fraser: Died On This Day in 2014, Aged 90 - The NCS ", The new documentary returns to this theme, suggesting he had a hard time in prison because there were no criminals in his family. Aged seven, Ms Pitts was stealing milk and bread to provide food for her five siblings. 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. 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. "From there he goes on to burgle, and she goes onto shop lifting with a famous female gang called The 40 Thieves. Involvement in such activities often led to his sentences being extended. 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. 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. If you weren't actually stealing, you were outranked by The Forty Thieves. She was taught by Alice Diamond in the 1930s and a very senior member throughout the. [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. Francis Davidson Fraser, known as Mad Frankie Fraser, was the scourge of prison governors and warders up and down Britain during the periods when he served a total of more than 40 years imprisonment. Questioned by police, Fraser reportedly gave his name as Tutankhamen (gangland slang for shtum) and asked What incident?. 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 was jailed along with other members of the Richardson gang for violently punishing people whom the Richardsons believed owed them money. She helped him sell on his loot. 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. [6] Fraser was the youngest of five children and grew up in poverty. When Frankie was in prison, Eva helped to run his protection rackets in Soho and even sent her daughters to collect payments, as the police would not stop a child. 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. Are you sure you want to delete this comment? 'It gave them a life they could never have afforded. Fraser was the. They bought fur coats, jewellery and went dancing in West End nightclubs. They enjoyed buying nice things with the money and putting on the posh. Dubbed 'The Most Dangerous Man in Britain' by two Home Secretaries, Francis Davidson Fraser was born on the 13th of December 1923, and grew up in Waterloo, London.He and his sister, Eva started their life of crime at a young age, stealing from handbags and pickpocketing. Both Fraser and Warren were given seven years for their acts of violence. Fraser, who was jailed for 10 years in the so-called "torture trial" in 1967, is now frail and in poor health. "If you play by the sword, you've got to expect the sword as well," says his son. 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 1941, Fraser was given his first taste of punishment when he was sent to borstal for breaking into a Waterloo hosiery store. Borstal was followed by prison, where in 1943 he met the influential London villain Billy Hill, for whom he worked on and off for more than a decade, culminating in his slashing of Hills rival Jack Spot in 1956 after the self-styled kings of the underworld had fallen out. Notorious for high-speed getaways, she was eventually caught stealing lingerie and sentenced to hard labour in prison. 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. Profile manager: Evelyn Wolff [send private message] Mad Frankie Fraser - Everything2.com 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. 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.