As a subscriber, you are shown 80% less display advertising when reading our articles. A witness later changed histestimony,and the charges were eventually dropped, though Fraser still received a five-year sentence for affray. Eva got six months for stealing stockings from Bentalls in Kingston upon Thames. Author Beezy Marsh investigates criminal matriarchs of 1950s London Updated November 28, 2014 2.43pmfirst published at 2.41pm Save Share According to one of his sons, David, Fraser was unharmed but he did not inform on his assailant. Peggy stayed out of crime and worked for the Post Office. The trial which became one of the longest in British criminal history. It will only make me a worse villain!'. Even decent folk were often only too happy to 'take a bit of crooked' to have something new. 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. Shortly afterwards, Fraser kidnapped Eric Mason, a Kray gang member, outside the Astor Club in Berkeley Square, with even direr consequences. There was also kind of respect for them locally because people could get a nice dress or a pair of stockings cheaply. He was still touring clubs and pubs in 2011. Hughes was famed for her red hair, a love of drink and a violent temper. 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. Here are some pictures of Eva Fraser - MAD FRANK and SONS | Facebook 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. Eva Brindle formerly Fraser. '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. But who were the gang's most brazen members? 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. [3][4], Frankie Fraser was born on Cornwall Road in Waterloo, London. However, it was the during the 'torture trial' of the Richardson gang in 1967, that Frankie Fraser become notorious nationally. "Maybe he was bored with going to prison," Ronnie Richardson, Charlie's widow, tells the programme. 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. Tue 11 Jun 2013 11.55 EDT He may be in his 90th year but "Mad" Frankie Fraser is still causing mayhem. Following the Frankie Fraser story is akin to re-tracing the history of gangland London throughout the 20th Century. The family was hard-working and kept themselves clean [out of crime].. And involvement in such activities often led to his sentences being extended. ", 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. When he was 10, the pair stole a cigarette machine from a local pub, hauled it to some waste ground and jemmied it open. 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. On 21 November 2014, Fraser fell critically ill whilst undergoing leg surgery atKing's College Hospital,Denmark Hill. His new career took off and he was in regular demand as a radio and television pundit. It was almost as if the biggest thrill of all was the act of stealing itself. Richardson Gang - Wikipedia 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. 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.. As her reign came to an end, Forty Thieves queen Diamondpassed on her 'wisdom' to a future queen, Shirley Pitts. Frank stole because he loved to have money yet when he had it, he gave it all away. 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. 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. Her wartime experience was spent on the switchboards during the Blitz. 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. [8] Although his parents were not criminals, Fraser turned to crime aged 10 with his sister Eva, to whom he was close. 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. 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. Keeping My Sisters Secrets was published on July 27 by Pan Macmillan. 'MAD' Frankie Fraser, was one of the most feared and respected West End crime lords of the 1960s. She helped him sell on his loot. 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. Photograph: Crime and Investigation network. 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. 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. Both Fraser and Warren received seven-year sentences. Francis Davidson Fraser was born on December 13 1923 in Cornwall Road, a slum area of south London on the site of what is now the Royal Festival Hall. In 1938, she was sentenced for stabbing a policeman in the eye with a hatpin. The memoir KEEPING MY SISTER'S SECRETS, (Pan Macmillan 2017) tells the moving story of three sisters born into poverty in 1930s London and their fight for a survival through a decade of social upheaval. 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. 42 years a lag She had died in. With Warren at his heels, Fraser ambushed Spot in a Paddington street, knocking him to the ground with a shillelagh. Pitts wore a school girl's outfit, complete with straw boater, to act as a decoy. contact IPSO here, 2001-2023. He also attacked various governors. The comments below have not been moderated. Join Facebook to connect with Frankie Fraser and others you may know. Mad Frank. What Fraser invariably threatened was violence. In 1996, he played (his friend) William Donaldson's guide to Marbella in the infamous BBC Radio 4 series A Retiring Fellow. We'll never send you spam or share your email address. From then on until the end of the 1980s, Fraser was more often in jail than not. 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. 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. Eric wasnt a bad fellow, Fraser later explained, but that particular night he was bang out of order.. Following a trial at theOld Baileyin 1967, he was sentenced to ten years imprisonment. It was not that he thought he was Napoleon. 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. Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription you will not receive any newsletters until your subscription is confirmed. ", The new documentary returns to this theme, suggesting he had a hard time in prison because there were no criminals in his family. 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. Her story has been told in The Queen of Thieves, written by author Beezy Marsh, which sheds a light on the lives of the girl gang that gained the respect of male criminals because of their lucrative and violent methods. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. [5][6][7][8] His mother was of Irish and Norwegian descent, while his father was half Native-American. 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. Diamond's second-in-command Maggie Hughes (right) 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! He was released from prison in 1985.[17]. Had her first criminal conviction aged 14 and went on to become Diamond's accomplice. Eva knew the Krays well and they treated her with reverence, although she saw them as little more than naughty boys. A ponce was someone who thieves looked down on, because they lived by taking a cut from someone elses earnings. His greatest moment of national notoriety came during what was known as the 'torture trial' of the Richardson gang in 1967, which became . It was during this sentence that he was first certified insane and was sent to Cane Hill Hospital before being released in 1949. 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. The publisher also decided to include a glossary for the reader. The singer, 29, bared his chest and showed off his . She liked to earn her own money and paid her own way quite something for a young woman in the 1930s and 1940s. 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. She helped support her young siblings by taking milk and bread from neighbour's doorsteps. And I felt the same way,' she said. As a young woman, Eva became an accomplished hoister (shoplifter). To see all content on The Sun, please use the Site Map. On this release, he determined to write his memoirs. The Krays, according to Frank, were little more than thieves ponces.. 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. contact the editor here. [6] Fraser was the youngest of five children and grew up in poverty. He later joined the notorious Richardson gang, formed by brothers Eddie and Charlie, and began carrying out more criminal activities. By the 1950s, the gang were facing ever-present store detectives and had to rely more on disguises. 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 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'. Jewellery was a favourite target, as it was easy to hide up a sleeve - rings could be switched for worthless fakes. For other inquiries, Contact Us. Harry Styles bares his impressively toned torso and body art at gig Aged seven, Ms Pitts was stealing milk and bread to provide food for her five siblings. 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. 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.
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