frankie fraser sister eva

[6] Fraser was the youngest of five children and grew up in poverty. On 26 November, Fraser died after his family made the decision to turn off his life-support machine. Diamond's second-in-command Maggie Hughes 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! She operated out of Walworth, South East London and her home was called an 'Aladdin's cave of loot'. He was working all the hours he got sent, but he couldnt make ends meet. What officers didn't know then was that his crime spree would continue over a career spanning seven decades, and his offences only worsened. of James Fraser and Margaret Alice (Anderson) Fraser. Not long after being released, Hughes was involved in the Lambeth riot of Christmas 1925, when the home of Bill Britten was stormed. 'It gave them a life they could never have afforded. To inquire about a licence to reproduce material, visit our Syndication site. 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. 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. 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. Its clear she still had to feed her family by acting on the wrong side of the law Beezy said. 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It was a thief's paradise, Gor blimey! 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. 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. Eva knew the Krays well and they treated her with reverence, although she saw them as little more than naughty boys. They stole to put food on the table. Two people were left dead. Fraser himself was accused of pulling out the teeth of victims with a pair of pliers. But his criminal activities didn't stop when he was locked up. Family ways of 'Mad' Frankie | The Northern Echo "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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Fraser spent a lot of time in solitary confinement, tormented by prison officers who would spit in his food. 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. 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. Notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser died in hospital today aged 90, relatives have revealed. 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. [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. 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. She also passed on her 'wisdom' to a future queen, Shirley Pitts. MAD FRANK and SONS - Home - Facebook ", 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. As a young woman, Eva became an accomplished hoister (shoplifter). 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: Sweet dapper. New biography of notorious Frankie Fraser promises to reveal the late ', 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'. 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. However, according to a new documentary, he is clearly not going gentle into any good night. 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. Mothers would hide hoisted clothes in their prams and move them to pubs, where they were sold on. She was chauffeured in a Bentley and always wore a sable coat. Each incident added more time to his sentence. It was during this sentence that he was first certified insane and was sent to Cane Hill Hospital before being released in 1949. It will only make me a worse villain!'. Jewellery was a favourite target, as it was easy to hide up a sleeve - rings could be switched for worthless fakes. The singer, 29, bared his chest and showed off his . 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. He was moved from prison to prison more than 100 times because he was virtually impossible to control. A feature film production is currently[when?] Fraser was part of Britain's Underworld between the 1940s-1960's. He was a known associate of gangster Billy Hill throughout the 1950s. "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. There were further language difficulties. Frasers partner in this endeavour was Bobby Warren, an uncle of the boxing promoter Frank Warren. There were car chases and bank raids which would not have looked out of place in The Sweeney. His parents were honest and hard-working, but Frankie and his big sister Eva, to whom he was closest, soon turned to 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'. At least two home secretaries considered Fraser the most dangerous man in Britain, an image which, in old age, he only half-heartedly sought to dispel. But few would perhaps know about the equally incredible lives led by his three sisters. In 1996 he was cast as the gangleader Pops Den in the film Hard Men, which premiered at the London film festival. He was frequently punished for breaking prison rules or fighting prison officers: "I've done more bread and water than any man alive. 'In fact, she was one of the people who spotted his talent for stealing after he pinched a cigarette machine from a hotel as a small boy. A Gannett Company. He later joined the notorious Richardson gang, formed by brothers Eddie and Charlie, and began carrying out more criminal activities. 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. contact the editor here. 'I felt it was time for their story to be told and it inspired my novel, which is the first in a planned trilogy for Orion about the gang, stretching from the 1920s to the 1950s.'. A constant troublemaker in prison, attacking governors and warders over perceived injustices which inevitably resulted in floggings, bread and water and the loss of remission, Fraser had by this time been certified insane on three occasions. 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. Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription you will not receive any updates until your subscription is confirmed. 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. The Krays, according to Frank, were little more than thieves ponces.. He also ran a coach tour pointing out to a spectrum of customers the old criminal London. It was not that he thought he was Napoleon. 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For latest book news including updates on the forthcoming film Mad Frank and Sons please like my page Beezy Marsh. Queen of Thieves, by author and journalist Beezy Marsh (published by Orion, November 4 2021, 8.99). Fraser himself was charged with pulling out people's teeth with pliers and sentenced to 10 years in prison. In 1991, while emerging from Turnmills nightclub in Clerkenwell, London, he was shot at by an unidentified gunman. 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. Eva knew the Krays well and they treated her with reverence, although she saw them as little more than naughty boys. 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. His new career took off and he was in regular demand as a radio and television pundit. Frankie Fraser's Last Stand: Directed by Matt Blyth. 'MAD' Frankie Fraser, was one of the most feared and respected West End crime lords of the 1960s. The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. The following year, the British mobsterJack Spotand wife Rita were attacked on Billy Hill's say-so, by Fraser, Bobby Warren and at least half a dozen other men. 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. Frank's mother, Margaret, was a huge influence on him but his "best pal" and early partner in crime was his sister, Eva. Alice herself was famous for clouting three furs in one go: one down each leg and one under her gusset. His funeral took place on December 18, 2014. Because of Frasers behaviour in jail over the years, he forfeited almost every day of his remission. Fraser spent practically half his life behind bars. Throughout his life he denied the justice of this conviction, but he was happy to trade off it. It wasnt that we chose to be thieves, said Patrick. Together they set up the Atlantic Machines fruit-machine enterprise, which acted as a front for the criminal activities of the gang. Part of his mouth was shot away in the incident. It spent six weeks in the Sunday Times top ten and held the coveted #1 Globe and Mail chart slot in Canada for three months. 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. 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. For other inquiries, Contact Us. Frankie Fraser Profiles | Facebook A ponce was someone who thieves looked down on, because they lived by taking a cut from someone elses earnings. During the 1950s, Fraser's main criminal occupation was as bodyguard to well-known gangsterBilly Hill. Had it all gone to plan, she could have inhabited a very different side of the West End to her little sister Eva. In August 1963, invited to take part in the Great Train Robbery, Fraser pulled out because he was on the run from the police. Then theres Frankie himself, who makes a brief appearance. His fourth son, Francis, in Frasers joking words, let me down by having no criminal career at all. By 20 she was leader of The Forty Thieves and wore a row of diamond rings that acted as a knuckle duster. Women carried tools needed for burglaries so the police had no evidence if they stopped the men following the crime. They enjoyed buying nice things with the money and putting on the posh. 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Various members were eventually caught, though and served their time in Holloway prison, where rations were meagre and they slept on boards. 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. [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. He had been shot in the face. A bucket boy would offer to clean the bookies' blackboards with a sponge, for which they were obliged to pay the Sabinis. Data returned from the Piano 'meterActive/meterExpired' callback event. Afraid of being heavily medicated for bad behaviour, Fraser stayed out of trouble and was released in 1955. Mad Frank (1994), which went on to sell around 100,000 copies, was the first in a successful series. He spent 42 years almost half his life in prison for 26 offences. Who was 'Mad' Frankie Fraser? | The Irish Sun 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. ", 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. [21] In 1999, he appeared at the Jermyn Street Theatre in London in a one-man show, An Evening with Mad Frankie Fraser (directed by Patrick Newley), which subsequently toured the UK. 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. Frankie Fraser was known anotorious torturer and hitman, who worked as an enforcer for some of London's most feared gang leaders. 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. Eva (Fraser) Brindle (1920s-2000s) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree Ms Marsh said it 'was time to reappraise London's gangland' when she wrote The Queen of Thieves. 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. 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. It was during the war that he first became involved in serious crime. Franks mother, Margaret, was a huge influence on him but his best pal and early partner in crime was his sister, Eva. [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. Fraser was seen kicking Richard Hart, a Kray associate, as he lay on the pavement outside. 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. Sister of Frankie Davidson Fraser. Fraser owed his success in the fruit machine business to Billy Hill, whose patronage Fraser courted when he attacked and almost killed Hills gangland rival Jack "Spot" Comer. Updated November 28, 2014 2.43pmfirst published at 2.41pm Save Share 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. 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. Please report any comments that break our rules. This site is part of Newsquest's audited local newspaper network. 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. Theres one account of one of Peggys colleagues pretending to still be single so she could carry on working as a Post Office manager. Whereas for Eva it was about her earning her own money on her own terms. With Frankie Fraser, Chris Keenan, Steve Box, Michael Boyd. Prior to that he was a bodyguard to notorious gangland leader Billy Hill, where he took part in bank robberies and and carried out razor blade attacks - which earned him 50 a time. When he was 10, the pair stole a cigarette machine from a local pub, hauled it to some waste ground and jemmied it open. He was said to have pulled out the teeth of one of the victims with a pair of pliers. Fraser was jailed along with other members of the Richardson gang for violently punishing people whom the Richardsons believed owed them money. Despite this, or possibly because of it, newspapers of the day were tipping him as Spots natural successor. "If you play by the sword, you've got to expect the sword as well," says his son. 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. [9] He was a deserter during the Second World War, escaping from his barracks on several occasions. On 21 November 2014, Fraser fell critically ill whilst undergoing leg surgery atKing's College Hospital,Denmark Hill. 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. After another, the car ran out of petrol in the Rotherhithe tunnel. Once he said he would do something, he did it, and he despised others who backed down. 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. Frankie Fraser was tried at the Old Bailey for Harts murder, while six others, including Eddie Richardson, faced lesser charges. None of the gang were afraid to use razors on those who crossed them. [4] He was involved in riots and frequently fought with prison officers and fellow inmates. He had an ungovernable temper and an inability to think through the undoubted consequences of his proposed actions. His decision to join the Richardsons rather than their rivals, the Krays, has been described as "like China getting the atom bomb". As people facedblackouts, rationing and a lack of professional policing due toconscription, Fraser had ample opportunities for criminal activities, such as stealing from houses while the occupants were hiding for safety in air-raid shelters. pre order Queen of Thieves now for just 2.99. 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. Shortly afterwards, Fraser kidnapped Eric Mason, a Kray gang member, outside the Astor Club in Berkeley Square, with even direr consequences. 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. 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. If you have a complaint about the editorial content which relates to He was a rock.. 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. Fraser was the. A famous Monty Python sketch featuring the Piranha brothers, Doug and Dinsdale, has often been associated with Fraser and the Kray twins and some aspects of the new documentary may add to this impression. When police switched on to the gang's methods they branched out, with trips to Southend, Brighton, Liverpool and Manchester. Aged seven, Ms Pitts was stealing milk and bread to provide food for her five siblings.