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Beezy reveals how the girls father would beat their mother a big influence on their outlook. An early nickname Razor Fraser reflected his penchant for shivving his enemies faces with a cut-throat blade. However, according to a new documentary, he is clearly not going gentle into any good night. Despite this, or possibly because of it, newspapers of the day were tipping him as Spots natural successor. The thieves' earnings allowed them to live like upper-class debutantes. Its clear she still had to feed her family by acting on the wrong side of the law Beezy said. . [24], Fraser's wife, by whom he had four sons, died in 1999. Diamond took her under her wing and showed her how to shoplift in 1947, when Pitts was just 12. Frankie Fraser was a notorious torturer and hitman for the Richardson gang of south London criminals in the 1960s. Part of his mouth was shot away in the incident. In August 1963, invited to take part in the Great Train Robbery, Fraser pulled out because he was on the run from the police. 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. His last jail term ended in 1989, but in 2011 he was handed an Asbo after getting into an argument with a fellow pensioner at the sheltered accommodation where he lived in Bermondsey. contact the editor here. His mother was of Irish and Norwegian descent, while his father was half Native-American. These recollections, while often disordered and jumbled, nevertheless shed light on Frasers shameless and unrepentant defiance of the liberal consensus. 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 the 1950s he worked for underworld boss Billy Hill and carried out razor attacks on victims for 50 each. "From there he goes on to burgle, and she goes onto shop lifting with a famous female gang called The 40 Thieves. I don't think they felt bad about it. Not long after being released, Hughes was involved in the Lambeth riot of Christmas 1925, when the home of Bill Britten was stormed. [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. ", The new documentary returns to this theme, suggesting he had a hard time in prison because there were no criminals in his family. 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. He was a deserter during the Second World War, escaping from his barracks . 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. 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. 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. With the help of Hill and mafia interests, Fraser and Eddie Richardson established Atlantic Machines, a successful business placing one-armed bandits in clubs throughout Britain. 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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. The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. 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. She got six months in jail, for stealing stockings from Bentalls in Kingston upon Thames. His major stretch in prison came at the end of the Swinging Sixties, shortly before his rivals, the Krays, were jailed, but he was so badly behaved behind bars that he lost every day of remission and even had five years added to his sentence for one of the worst riots in prison history at Parkhurst in the Isle of Wight. 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. Fraser was jailed along with other members of the Richardson gang for violently punishing people whom the Richardsons believed owed them money. 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. It was not that he thought he was Napoleon. As he languished in jail, his sons David and Patrick and their older brother, Frank Jnr currently living quietly on the Costa del Sol carved their own careers as bank robbers and jewellery thieves in 1970s London. She operated out of Walworth, South East London and her home was called an 'Aladdin's cave of loot'. Fraser, who was jailed for 10 years in the so-called "torture trial" in 1967, is now frail and in poor health. Facebook gives people the power. Fraser was seen kicking Richard Hart, a Kray associate, as he lay on the pavement outside. She was taught by Alice Diamond in the 1930s and a very senior member throughout the. Frankie Fraser was known anotorious torturer and hitman, who worked as an enforcer for some of London's most feared gang leaders. 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. He was said to have pulled out the teeth of one of the victims with a pair of pliers. 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. Frankie Fraser was a south London gangster who knew no language but violence and spent half his life behind bars. He also attacked various governors. None of the gang were afraid to use razors on those who crossed them, Some of London's The Forty Thieves' antics made the Peaky Blinders look like choirboys. Fraser was the youngest of five children and grew up in poverty. The middle sister was Kathleen, who constantly aspired to make it as an actress, and make use of her striking good looks. Frankie Fraser was born on Cornwall Road inWaterloo,London on December 13, 1923. Various members were eventually caught, though and served their time in Holloway prison, where rations were meagre and they slept on boards. Together they set up the Atlantic Machines fruit-machine enterprise, which acted as a front for the criminal activities of the gang. She helped support her young siblings by taking milk and bread from neighbour's doorsteps. 'It gave them a life they could never have afforded. Whatever you nicked you could sell, they'd be queuing up to buy it off you.". 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. As a reward, he was shown his examination answers, and thats how I come top, he later boasted. Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription you will not receive any updates until your subscription is confirmed. We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. With Warren at his heels, Fraser ambushed Spot in a Paddington street, knocking him to the ground with a shillelagh. Those ads you do see are predominantly from local businesses promoting local services. Frankie Fraser was tried at the Old Bailey for Harts murder, while six others, including Eddie Richardson, faced lesser charges. He was given an asbo, one of his sons told film-makers, after getting into an argument with a fellow-resident and is unrepentant about his life of crime. However, it was the during the 'torture trial' of the Richardson gang in 1967, that Frankie Fraser become notorious nationally. If you are dissatisfied with the response provided you can Bought stolen goods and sold them on in a role known as 'the fence'. pre order Queen of Thieves now for just 2.99. In 1941, Fraser was given his first taste of punishment when he was sent to borstal for breaking into a Waterloo hosiery store. Registered in England & Wales | 01676637 |. During his time in prison, Fraser was involved in a number of riots and frequently fought with prison officers, fellow inmates and governors. 'The other side of the story involves these feisty women and it is perhaps more fascinating given the limited powers such working class girls had to earn a decent wage.'. But few would perhaps know about the equally incredible lives led by his three sisters. 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. It was a thief's paradise, Gor blimey! Fraser was acquitted but received five years for affray. 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 cells did not have a reforming effect on her character or on that of her gang leader Diamond, who was arrested on numerous occasions over the following decade. View our online Press Pack. contact IPSO here, 2001-2023. of James Fraser and Margaret Alice (Anderson) Fraser. 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. Photograph: Alex Segre/Rex. Comments have been closed on this article. By the 1950s, the gang were facing ever-present store detectives and had to rely more on disguises. Eric wasnt a bad fellow, Fraser later explained, but that particular night he was bang out of order.. During the 1940s it was not unusual for 'hoisters', a historical term for shoplifters, to be paid a hundred pounds a week - out earning men's average wages ten-to-one. Underneath glamorous ensembles the women wore specially-adapted petticoats with hidden pockets or baggy bloomers with elastic at the knee. 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. Newsquest Media Group Ltd, Loudwater Mill, Station Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. As a subscriber, you are shown 80% less display advertising when reading our articles. 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. They enjoyed buying nice things with the money and putting on the posh. 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. Once again, he was sent toprison, this timefor taking part in bank robberies. He was working all the hours he got sent, but he couldnt make ends meet. Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription you will not receive any newsletters until your subscription is confirmed. 'Speaking to relatives of some of the original gang members during my research for Queen of Thieves, I was struck by how secretive the gang had been about its methods, and how much of a career choice it was for working class girls. [5][6][7][8] His mother was of Irish and Norwegian descent, while his father was half Native-American. After three years in jail she tookpart in the Lambeth riot at Christmas 1925. Fraser himself was accused of pulling out the teeth of victims with a pair of pliers. According to Fraser, it was they who helped him avoid arrest for theGreat Train Robberyby bribing a policeman. Here are some pictures of Eva Fraser of the Forty Thieves and her sister Kathleen. '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. Morton was relieved that, rather than remonstrating, Fraser wanted him to write his life story. He was still serving his sentence for the Catford affray when he was handed a further 10 years for his part in the Richardson torture case. His enduring nickname Mad Frank derived from his violent temperament which caused him to attempt to hang the governor of Wandsworth prison (and the governors dog) from a tree, and to be certified insane on three separate occasions. Following a trial at theOld Baileyin 1967, he was sentenced to ten years imprisonment. Jewellery was a favourite target, as it was easy to hide up a sleeve - rings could be switched for worthless fakes. Her brother was the notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser, who joined turf wars between London gangs in the sixties. 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.