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. He refused to discuss the shooting with the police. 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. He was still touring clubs and pubs in 2011. 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. 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. 42 years a lag She had died in. 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. Members of The Forty Thieves, whose mugshots were captured by the Police Gazette ahead of regular stays at Holloway Prison, often wore beautifully designed hats, coats and dresses in order to fit in - known as 'putting on the posh'. At the age of five, he moved with his family to a flat on Walworth Road, Elephant and Castle. Their loot would be stuffed into these 'hoister's drawers', allowing the women to leave the stores undetected. The thieves' earnings allowed them to live like upper-class debutantes. Frank had been active as a criminal from the 1930s and was given his first prison sentence at the outbreak of the Second World War. I don't think they felt bad about it. At her kitchen table, Alice would teach her girls how to roll furs on the hanger and shove them down their drawers, which the gang called 'clouting'. 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. After trying his hand at crime as a child, Fraser then continued into his later life. 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. Frank Davidson Fraser[1] (13 December 1923 26 November 2014),[2] better known as "Mad" Frankie Fraser, was an English gangster who spent 42 years in prison for numerous violent offences. 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. This website and associated newspapers adhere to the Independent Press Standards Organisation's 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. 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. 'Any girl worth her salt in South London in those days was a hoister because they could outearn us men two to one,' he said. When the heat from the cops in London got too much, they headed off to the Costa del Crime to seek their fortunes there. 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. With Frankie Fraser, Chris Keenan, Steve Box, Michael Boyd. 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. Eva got into shoplifting, but had a heart of gold. It was almost as if the biggest thrill of all was the act of stealing itself. [28], "Gangland enforcer sets the record straight about 'the bad old days': Rhys Williams meets "Mad" Frankie Fraser, once known as Britain's most violent man", "Find & contact The White Hart in Waterloo", "Local and community news, opinion, video & pictures - Southport Visiter", "Tories condemn prisoners' freedom to read criminal memoirs", "Gangland enforcer 'Mad' Frankie Fraser dies at 90", "Mad Frankie Fraser given Asbo at age of 89 after bust-up at care home", "Gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser dies at 90", "Mad Frankie Fraser dead: Notorious gangster dies in hospital aged 90 following leg surgery", Personal website with biography and details of gangland tours, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frankie_Fraser&oldid=1107726220, This page was last edited on 31 August 2022, at 15:09. His mother was of Irish and Norwegian descent, while his father was half Native-American. To see all content on The Sun, please use the Site Map. This is Eva Fraser, sister of gangster " Mad" Frankie who was one of the leading lights in The Forty Thieves. Involvement in such activities often led to his sentences being extended. 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. Aged seven, Ms Pitts was stealing milk and bread to provide food for her five siblings. Together they set up the Atlantic Machines fruit-machine enterprise, which acted as a front for the criminal activities of the gang. 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. Diamond took her under her wing and showed her how to shoplift in 1947, when Pitts was just 12. 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. His decision to join the Richardsons rather than their rivals, the Krays, has been described as "like China getting the atom bomb". In 1969 Fraser led the Parkhurst prison riot on the Isle of Wight and found himself back in court charged with incitement to murder. After the war, he worked for underworld boss Billy Hill, for whom he carried out razor attacks. 679215 Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF. His mother was of Irish and Norwegian descent, while his father was halfNative-American. They also spoke, as Frank did, using the prison slang of a bygone era, which they had to translate for me. Fraser spent a lot of time in solitary confinement, tormented by prison officers who would spit in his food. Please report any comments that break our rules. Women carried tools needed for burglaries so the police had no evidence if they stopped the men following the crime. Frankie Fraser belonged to a bygone era of crime and was cut from a different cloth than so many other gangsters of his generation. His mother was of Irish and Norwegian descent, while his father was half Native-American. The middle sister was Kathleen, who constantly aspired to make it as an actress, and make use of her striking good looks. '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. 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. Underneath glamorous ensembles the women wore specially-adapted petticoats with hidden pockets or baggy bloomers with elastic at the knee. Nevertheless he was good at sports, captaining the football team at St Patricks school, Southwark, and boxing as an amateur. 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. ', The notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser's sister Eva had risen through the ranks of the gang after joining in the 1930s. 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. 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. Frankie Fraser was known anotorious torturer and hitman, who worked as an enforcer for some of London's most feared gang leaders. Fraser was defended by a young solicitor called James Morton, who later became an author and wrote a history of Londons gangland in 1992. 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. Frank stole because he loved to have money yet when he had it, he gave it all away. "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. With Warren at his heels, Fraser ambushed Spot in a Paddington street, knocking him to the ground with a shillelagh. While serving this sentence, Fraser received 10 years for his part in the so-called Richardson torture trial. While still a teenager, in the spring of 1943, he took part in a daring raid to free an Army deserter from a squad sent to collect him from Wandsworth Prison. 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. But who were the gang's most brazen members? in development with Fraser's endorsement. 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. But few would perhaps know about the equally incredible lives led by his three sisters. She was one of the top thieves during the war. 'MAD' Frankie Fraser, was one of the most feared and respected West End crime lords of the 1960s. By 20 she was leader of The Forty Thieves and wore a row of diamond rings that acted as a knuckle duster. Bought stolen goods and sold them on in a role known as 'the fence'. He claimed to have no regrets about his criminal life, apart from being caught. Jewellery was a favourite target, as it was easy to hide up a sleeve - rings could be switched for worthless fakes. 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. There were car chases and bank raids which would not have looked out of place in The Sweeney. They didnt go to jail, they did bird or got a lagging. Both Fraser and Warren were given seven years for their acts of violence. Frankie Fraser's Last Stand: Directed by Matt Blyth. Both Fraser and his sister, Eva, were also active juvenile thieves. "You name it, we nicked it," he says. By the 1950s, the gang were facing ever-present store detectives and had to rely more on disguises. 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. After three years in jail she tookpart in the Lambeth riot at Christmas 1925. 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. 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. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. Notorious for high-speed getaways, she was eventually caught stealing lingerie and sentenced to hard labour in prison. Keeping My Sisters Secrets was published on July 27 by Pan Macmillan. Author Beezy Marsh said: 'These women fought harder than the men and were feared by men and women in their communities. To inquire about a licence to reproduce material, visit our Syndication site. Many started as child lookouts. His greatest moment of national notoriety came during what was known as the 'torture trial' of the Richardson gang in 1967, which became . If you weren't actually stealing, you were outranked by The Forty Thieves. He then became involved in serious crime - and the war provided a perfect backdrop with the blackout, rationing and a shortage of police officers. [8] Although his parents were not criminals, Fraser turned to crime aged 10 with his sister Eva, to whom he was close. 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. "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. As a young woman, Eva became an accomplished hoister (shoplifter). 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. 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!' Photograph: Crime and Investigation network. 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. When he was 10, the pair stole a cigarette machine from a local pub, hauled it to some waste ground and jemmied it open. ", A deserter during the war he pretended to be mad to avoid the call-up Fraser was certified insane three times and spent time in Broadmoor secure hospital. [6] Fraser was the youngest of five children and grew up in poverty. 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. 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. [8] Although his parents were not criminals, Fraser turned to crime aged 10 with his sister Eva, to whom he was close. 'They didn't see anything wrong in it because these things were too expensive for most people to afford and shops had insurance. Although his parents were not criminals, Fraser turned to crime aged 10 with his sister Eva, to whom he was close. Their alleged specialities included pulling teeth out using pliers, cutting off toes using bolt cutters and nailing victims to floors using 6-inch nails. Sometimes the hoisters' lives became entangled with those of underworld bosses through affairs, family ties or marriage. She was still hoisting well into her 70s.'. By the time of the Swinging Sixties, she was drinking champagne with the Krays. 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. Fraser, whose health has been deteriorating in recent years, turned to crime aged just nine when he and his sister, Eva, became petty thieves. 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. Afraid of being heavily medicated for bad behaviour, Fraser stayed out of trouble and was released in 1955. The Forty Thieves posed as wealthy housewives innocently browsing the rails of the UK's most luxurious clothing stores before shoving stolen items down their undergarments. 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. 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. His wife, Doreen, whom he married in 1965, and who with Eva loyally toured the prisons to visit him, died in 1999. [11] In 1942, while serving a prison sentence in HM Prison Chelmsford, he came to the attention of the British Army. But his greatest moment of national notoriety came a quarter of a century earlier, during what the media billed as the Torture Trial (in fact a series of trials) in 1967 that became one of the longest in British criminal history. And involvement in such activities often led to his sentences being extended. Tue 11 Jun 2013 11.55 EDT He may be in his 90th year but "Mad" Frankie Fraser is still causing mayhem. Data returned from the Piano 'meterActive/meterExpired' callback event. The violent thugs, the Kray twins, held The Forty Thieves member Eva Fraser in high regard during the 1940s and 1950s. To evade discovery they posted the stolen items back to London or depositing a suitcase of loot at the railway station's left luggage office, to be collected later. Frankie Fraser was born on Cornwall Road inWaterloo,London on December 13, 1923. Eva (Fraser) Brindle. 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. Photograph: Alex Segre/Rex. A mugshot of Forty Thieves' Hughes, who was uncontrollable and dissipated by drink. Its clear she still had to feed her family by acting on the wrong side of the law Beezy said. She operated out of Walworth, South East London and her home was called an 'Aladdin's cave of loot'. Updated November 28, 2014 2.43pmfirst published at 2.41pm Save Share [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. One such member was Lilian Goldstein, who was known as the Bob-Haired Bandit. Fraser had no problem dealing with rival operators whose business was dented as a result. Whilst in Strangeways, Manchester in 1980, Fraser was 'excused boots' as he claimed he had problems with his feet because another prisoner had dropped a bucket of boiling water on them after Fraser had hit him; he was allowed to wear slippers. On this release, he determined to write his memoirs. 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. 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. "From there he goes on to burgle, and she goes onto shop lifting with a famous female gang called The 40 Thieves. 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. It wasnt that we chose to be thieves, said Patrick. Possessed of a ready wit and good repartee, he followed this up with stage performances both in the East and West End, where he appeared with his then companion of 10 years, Marilyn Wisbey, the daughter of a Great Train Robber, Tommy Wisbey. Queen of Thieves, by author and journalist Beezy Marsh (published by Orion, November 4 2021, 8.99). The following year he was involved in a torture trial the Old Bailey, where members of the gang were charged with electrocuting, whipping and burning those disloyal to them. Eric wasnt a bad fellow, Fraser later explained, but that particular night he was bang out of order.. "As I was growing up, I never had to buy a shirt Eva made sure she nicked them for me. 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. Fraser was just 13 when he was sent to an approved school for stealing 40 cigarettes. In 1991, while emerging from Turnmills nightclub in Clerkenwell, London, he was shot at by an unidentified gunman. Editors' Code of Practice. 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. Tony Lambrianou, a one-time henchman of the rival Kray brothers, was also a fan. 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. As her reign came to an end, Forty Thieves queen Diamondpassed on her 'wisdom' to a future queen, Shirley Pitts. 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He spent 42 years almost half his life in prison for 26 offences. "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. pre order Queen of Thieves now for just 2.99. When police visited she showed them ledgers to demonstrate her honest buying. Born 1920s. 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. 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. In 1938, she was sentenced for stabbing a policeman in the eye with a hatpin. Descendants . Aged 17 she was convicted for stealing from a hat shop in Oxford Street. 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. He also claimed to have been the first bandit to wear a stocking mask. The raids seem often to have been left to chance, and he was particularly unfortunate with cars. 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. 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. Even decent folk were often only too happy to 'take a bit of crooked' to have something new. Frankie Fraser was born on Cornwall Road in Waterloo, London. Tallymen, who sold goods door-to-door, would shift them across London. Had it all gone to plan, she could have inhabited a very different side of the West End to her little sister Eva. 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. 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. The years just after World War II were a boom time for the gang, as clothing was rationed until 1949. Former Northern Echo journalist Beezy Marsh has written a book about London gangster Mad Frankie Fraser. 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.

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