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. He was still touring clubs and pubs in 2011. Notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser died in hospital today aged 90, relatives have revealed. Always well turned out and ineffably polite and punctual, he had a large and appreciative audience, and one woman was so impressed she named her son after him. 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'. 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. Those ads you do see are predominantly from local businesses promoting local services. Once he said he would do something, he did it, and he despised others who backed down. 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. The gang passed on their secrets from mother to daughter, aunt to niece, so whole generations of families saw crime as a way of life. He was released from prison in 1985.[17].
', 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'. Nothing ever got to Frankie, wrote Charlie Richardson. 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. As her reign came to an end, Forty Thieves queen Diamondpassed on her 'wisdom' to a future queen, Shirley Pitts. His fourth son, Francis, in Frasers joking words, let me down by having no criminal career at all. It wasnt that we chose to be thieves, said Patrick. 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. 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. 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.
Notorious 1930s West End girl gang who hid stolen jewellery in They didnt go to jail, they did bird or got a lagging. [13], It was in the early 1960s that Fraser first met Charlie and Eddie Richardson of the Richardson Gang, rivals to the Kray twins. 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On this release, he determined to write his memoirs. He spent 42 years almost half his life in prison for 26 offences. 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. 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. They worked department stores including Selfridges in teams of three or four during hoisting trips up to three times a week. Whatever you nicked you could sell, they'd be queuing up to buy it off you.". 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. The Kray twins (pictured) held The Forty Thieves member Eva Fraser in high regard. On his release, Fraser joined Richardsons brother Eddie in a company called Atlantic Machines, installing fruit machines at some of Sohos most profitable sites, with Sir Noel Dryden recruited as the respectable frontman. 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. 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. In 1996 he was cast as the gangleader Pops Den in the film Hard Men, which premiered at the London film festival. Had her first criminal conviction aged 14 and went on to become Diamond's accomplice. [9] However, according to a new documentary, he is clearly not going gentle into any good night. She was sentenced to five months. This resulted in Fraser returning to prison once again - this time to serve a seven-year sentence. 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. His parents never knew about his illegal activities, and if they ever suspected him apparently turned a blind eye, a habit . What Fraser invariably threatened was violence. The notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser's sister Eva had risen through the ranks of the gang after joining in the 1930s. 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. By 20 she was leader of The Forty Thieves and wore a row of diamond rings that acted as a knuckle duster. [24], Fraser's wife, by whom he had four sons, died in 1999. 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. Franks mother, Margaret, was a huge influence on him but his best pal and early partner in crime was his sister, Eva. Eva got six months for stealing stockings from Bentalls in Kingston upon Thames. 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. Updated November 28, 2014 2.43pmfirst published at 2.41pm Save Share
Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription you will not receive any updates until your subscription is confirmed. He was a rock.. Fraser also appeared as East End crime boss Pops Den in the feature film Hard Men, a forerunner of British gangster movies such as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and had a documentary made of his life, Mad Frank. The years just after World War II were a boom time for the gang, as clothing was rationed until 1949. She and her friends looked like film stars when they went out down the pub. 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. Beezy a former Sunday Times journalist whose biography Mad Frank & Sons was published last year was given unprecedented access to interview the family and learn about the three bold women, who grew up in Howley Terrace, in Waterloo during the 1930s.
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. '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. His funeral took place on December 18, 2014. An early nickname Razor Fraser reflected his penchant for shivving his enemies faces with a cut-throat blade. 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. After the war, he worked for underworld boss Billy Hill, for whom he carried out razor attacks. As a solicitor, I defended him in the trial following the Parkhurst riot and as a result wrote a number of books with him. Fraser was acquitted but received five years for affray. It was almost as if the biggest thrill of all was the act of stealing itself.
Frankie Fraser Profiles | Facebook Because of Frasers behaviour in jail over the years, he forfeited almost every day of his remission.
Mad Frankie Fraser - Everything2.com ', The notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser's sister Eva had risen through the ranks of the gang after joining in the 1930s. Then they were turned over to Fraser. 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. Fraser was one of the ringleaders of the major Parkhurst Prison riot in 1969, spending the following six weeks in the prison hospital because of his injuries. His decision to join the Richardsons rather than their rivals, the Krays, has been described as "like China getting the atom bomb". According to one of his sons, David, Fraser was unharmed but he did not inform on his assailant. Former Northern Echo journalist Beezy Marsh has written a book about London gangster Mad Frankie Fraser.