Aged 17 she was convicted for stealing from a hat shop in Oxford Street. 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. '", Frankie Fraser's Last Stand will be broadcast on the Crime and Investigation network on 16 June at 9pm, New TV documentary shows ex-gangland enforcer is far from mellowing with age and has few regrets about his life of crime, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, Frankie Fraser has no regrets over his life of crime, which involved him being jailed for a total of 42 years for 26 offences. For latest book news including updates on the forthcoming film Mad Frank and Sons please like my page Beezy Marsh. [14] According to Fraser, it was they who helped him avoid arrest for the Great Train Robbery by bribing a policeman. 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. 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. Their loot would be stuffed into these 'hoister's drawers', allowing the women to leave the stores undetected. They enjoyed buying nice things with the money and putting on the posh. She helped him sell on his loot. An early nickname Razor Fraser reflected his penchant for shivving his enemies faces with a cut-throat blade. He was so attired when, in 1951, he attacked the governor of Wandsworth prison, William Lawton, as he walked his pet terrier on Wandsworth Common. Notorious for high-speed getaways, she was eventually caught stealing lingerie and sentenced to hard labour in prison. Descendants . Aged seven, Ms Pitts was stealing milk and bread to provide food for her five siblings. Franks mother, Margaret, was a huge influence on him but his best pal and early partner in crime was his sister, Eva. Queen of Thieves, by author and journalist Beezy Marsh (published by Orion, November 4 2021, 8.99). I saved myself from Royal life, Harry says & insists 'sharing's an act of service', Love Island's Olivia Hawkins breaks silence as she returns to the UK, Loose Women star lined up to be Strictly's first contestant in wheelchair, Coronation Street fans horrified as Amy Barlow is raped in disturbing scenes, News Group Newspapers Limited in England No. Her wartime experience was spent on the switchboards during the Blitz. They worked department stores including Selfridges in teams of three or four during hoisting trips up to three times a week. "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. '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. Eric wasnt a bad fellow, Fraser later explained, but that particular night he was bang out of order.. 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. The Old Bailey jury heard, in grisly detail that still resonates 50 years on, how Frankie Fraser tried to pull Coulstons teeth out one by one with a pair of pliers. '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. 'It gave them a life they could never have afforded. News reports were checked to see how much was owing. 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. Many started as child lookouts. An unregenerate villain of the deepest dye, Fraser satisfied the public appetite for vicarious thrill-seeking with a series of self-exculpatory memoirs in the 1990s that launched him on a twilight career as a celebrity criminal. 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. 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. The years just after World War II were a boom time for the gang, as clothing was rationed until 1949. 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. She was an alcoholic and onceran out of a jeweller with a tray of 34 diamond rings and bumped straight into a policeman. But by the time of his death at the age of 90 from complications following leg surgery, Fraser had become something of a minor celebrity. Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription you will not receive any updates until your subscription is confirmed. Nevertheless he was good at sports, captaining the football team at St Patricks school, Southwark, and boxing as an amateur. 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. He was frequently punished for breaking prison rules or fighting prison officers: "I've done more bread and water than any man alive. 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. 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. The singer, 29, bared his chest and showed off his . These adverts enable local businesses to get in front of their target audience the local community. Women carried tools needed for burglaries so the police had no evidence if they stopped the men following the crime. The violent thugs, the Kray twins, held The Forty Thieves member Eva Fraser in high regard during the 1940s and 1950s. Frankie Fraser, who has died aged 90, was a notorious torturer and hitman for the Richardson gang of south London criminals in the 1960s; 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. David had perfected the prison whisper talking very quietly, in case he was overheard by the guards. 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. Following a trial at the Old Bailey in 1967, he was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment. His mother was of Irish and Norwegian descent, while his father was halfNative-American. [9] He was a deserter during the Second World War, escaping from his barracks on several occasions. Over the last decade or so he was on the cabaret circuit and ran gangland tours of the East End, taking in such sights as the Blind Beggar pub, where Ronnie Kray shot dead George Cornell, one of the Richardson gang, in 1966. As an adult she was beaten by one of her boyfriends and the father of five of her seven children, Chris Hawkins, who was a fruit and vegetable seller in Hoxton. As a young woman, Eva became an accomplished hoister (shoplifter). It was a thief's paradise, Gor blimey! Prisoners and ex-prisoners all over Britain speak about him with undisguised admiration. It will only make me a worse villain! Frankie Fraser, who has died aged 90, was a notorious torturer and hitman for the Richardson gang of south London criminals in the 1960s; he spent 42 years behind bars before achieving a. She was sentenced to five months. He had been shot in the face. She was one of the top thieves during the war. Pictured, Marble Arch and Oxford Circus in the 1920s, Petite shoplifter Bertha Tappenden (right) 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 (left). 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. Some became pals with young actresses as they partied in Soho nightclubs and stole dresses to order for them to wear on the red carpet. Fraser, he recalled, was more than capable of doing what he threatened. Please enter your username or email address to reset your password. 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. His decision to join the Richardsons rather than their rivals, the Krays, has been described as "like China getting the atom bomb". These recollections, while often disordered and jumbled, nevertheless shed light on Frasers shameless and unrepentant defiance of the liberal consensus. 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. 'MAD' Frankie Fraser, was one of the most feared and respected West End crime lords of the 1960s. 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. The comments below have not been moderated. It wasnt that we chose to be thieves, said Patrick. 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. Those ads you do see are predominantly from local businesses promoting local services. It was during the war that he first became involved in serious crime. 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'. Fraser himself was accused of pulling out the teeth of victims with a pair of pliers. 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. As a reward, he was shown his examination answers, and thats how I come top, he later boasted. Fraser was the youngest of five children and grew up in poverty. She was chauffeured in a Bentley and always wore a sable coat. Their alleged specialities included pulling teeth out using pliers, cutting off toes using bolt cutters and nailing victims to floors using 6-inch nails. ", 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. What saved him I think was the branch; it was supple and it bent. Although Lawton survived, the dog died. The raids seem often to have been left to chance, and he was particularly unfortunate with cars. Data returned from the Piano 'meterActive/meterExpired' callback event. 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 greatest moment of national notoriety came during what was known as the 'torture trial' of the Richardson gang in 1967, which became . 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. By Emer Scully and Beezy Marsh for MailOnline, Published: 10:41 GMT, 4 November 2021 | Updated: 13:07 GMT, 4 November 2021. Despite this, or possibly because of it, newspapers of the day were tipping him as Spots natural successor. 'They didn't see anything wrong in it because these things were too expensive for most people to afford and shops had insurance. Comments have been closed on this article. Newsquest Media Group Ltd, Loudwater Mill, Station Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. [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. 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. When the heat from the cops in London got too much, they headed off to the Costa del Crime to seek their fortunes there. In 1996, he played (his friend) William Donaldson's guide to Marbella in the infamous BBC Radio 4 series A Retiring Fellow. Frankie Fraser belonged to a bygone era of crime and was cut from a different cloth than so many other gangsters of his generation. She liked to earn her own money and paid her own way quite something for a young woman in the 1930s and 1940s. Ancestors . Mink stoles and furs were the top prize, but some of the gang stole silverware and one even put on a maternity girdle to pinch an entire china tea set. Mother of [private daughter (1940s - unknown)] Died 2000s. 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. 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. 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. A feature film production is currently[when?] 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. Eva knew the Krays well and they treated her with reverence, although she saw them as little more than naughty boys. Before then, Fraser had been involved in smash-and-grab raids and wages snatches. During the 1950s, Fraser's main criminal occupation was as bodyguard to well-known gangsterBilly Hill. On the morning of Derek Bentleys execution at Wandsworth in 1953, he spat at the executioner Albert Pierrepoint and tried to attack him. Frank stole because he loved to have money yet when he had it, he gave it all away. Frank's mother, Margaret, was a huge influence on him but his "best pal" and early partner in crime was his sister, Eva. [9] He was a resident at a sheltered accommodation home in Peckham. In 1969, Fraser was one of the ringleaders of the major Parkhurst Prison riot, which resulted in him spending the six weeks in the prison hospital due to his injuries. 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. It has emerged that the former gangland enforcer, who has spent 42 years in prison for 26 offences, has been issued with an asbo after an incident in his residential accommodation. However, according to a new documentary, he is clearly not going gentle into any good night. 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. They didnt go to jail, they did bird or got a lagging. Fraser was just 13 when he was sent to an approved school for stealing 40 cigarettes. [13], It was in the early 1960s that Fraser first met Charlie and Eddie Richardson of the Richardson Gang, rivals to the Kray twins. 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'. 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. A Gannett Company. 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. 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. Nevertheless his campaigns and, on the outside, those of Eva, did bring the attention of the general public to the unpalatable conditions in which prisoners served then their sentences. 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. Tallymen, who sold goods door-to-door, would shift them across London. After three years in jail she tookpart in the Lambeth riot at Christmas 1925. Monty Python sketch featuring the Piranha brothers, Doug and Dinsdale. In 1938, she was sentenced for stabbing a policeman in the eye with a hatpin. [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. Once again, he was sent toprison, this timefor taking part in bank robberies. On 21 November 2014, Fraser fell critically ill whilst undergoing leg surgery atKing's College Hospital,Denmark Hill. By 20 she was leader of The Forty Thieves and wore a row of diamond rings that acted as a knuckle duster. 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. 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. "From there he goes on to burgle, and she goes onto shop lifting with a famous female gang called The 40 Thieves. After the war, he worked for underworld boss Billy Hill, for whom he carried out razor attacks. Fraser, tried separately, was jailed for 10. They also spoke, as Frank did, using the prison slang of a bygone era, which they had to translate for me. The reader is also introduced to the girls brother Jim, who became a sergeant in the army and fought in North Africa. 679215 Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF. In August 1963, invited to take part in the Great Train Robbery, Fraser pulled out because he was on the run from the police. [26] On 21 November 2014, he fell critically ill during leg surgery at King's College Hospital, Denmark Hill[27] and was placed into an induced coma. [16], Fraser's 42 years served in over 20 different prisons in the UK were often coloured by violence. If you have a complaint about the editorial content which relates to 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. Members of The Forty Thieves worked department stores including Selfridges in teams of three or four during hoisting trips up to three times a week. Their view on Hatton Garden was that the world had moved on and robbing banks now was akin to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid trying to get away on horseback, while the police gave chase in cars. Former Northern Echo journalist Beezy Marsh has written a book about London gangster Mad Frankie Fraser. 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. 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. He really did live by a code of honour which he took with him to the grave. 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. On 26 November, Fraser died after his family made the decision to turn off his life-support machine. 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. People shook his hand in the street, others kissed him or asked for his autograph and taxi drivers honked their horns. 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. Before World War Two, if you got married you were expected to leave work and stay at home, Beezy said. Fraser spent practically half his life behind bars. Photograph: Crime and Investigation network. 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. 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. 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. [25] In June 2013, the 89-year-old Fraser was served with an anti-social behaviour order (ASBO) by police after a row with another resident. There was also quite a comeuppance for both Patrick and David who both served their time. Diamond took her under her wing and showed her how to shoplift in 1947, when Pitts was just 12. He was a deserter during the Second World War, escaping from his barracks . 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.

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