Fraser, whose health has been deteriorating in recent years, turned to crime aged just nine when he and his sister, Eva, became petty thieves. From the time of Frankie Fraser's sister Eva and the gang of hoisters The Forty Thieves, comes a book which will have you gripped this summer. None of the gang were afraid to use razors on those who crossed them. 'It was not just a man's world, despite the countless column inches still spent poring over the phenomenon that was the Kray Twins,' she added. She is thought to have killed herself in the 1970s. The Forty Thieves posed as wealthy housewives innocently browsing the rails of the UK's most luxurious clothing stores before shoving stolen items down their undergarments. Last seen in public in October at the funeral of his former boss, Charlie Richardson, Fraser is one of the few remaining members of a generation of "celebrity criminals". 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. He also attacked various governors. 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. Shortly afterwards, Fraser kidnapped Eric Mason, a Kray gang member, outside the Astor Club in Berkeley Square, with even direr consequences. Frank stole because he loved to have money yet when he had it, he gave it all away. [28], "Gangland enforcer sets the record straight about 'the bad old days': Rhys Williams meets "Mad" Frankie Fraser, once known as Britain's most violent man", "Find & contact The White Hart in Waterloo", "Local and community news, opinion, video & pictures - Southport Visiter", "Tories condemn prisoners' freedom to read criminal memoirs", "Gangland enforcer 'Mad' Frankie Fraser dies at 90", "Mad Frankie Fraser given Asbo at age of 89 after bust-up at care home", "Gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser dies at 90", "Mad Frankie Fraser dead: Notorious gangster dies in hospital aged 90 following leg surgery", Personal website with biography and details of gangland tours, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frankie_Fraser&oldid=1107726220, This page was last edited on 31 August 2022, at 15:09. 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. It was during the war that he first became involved in serious crime. Swathed in luxurious fur coats, wearing diamond rings as a knuckledusters and hats to hide their stolen wares, Britain's most notorious all-female gang ruledthe tenements of Waterloo and Elephant and Castle and earned the respect of Soho's most feared underworld bosses. Many of the Forty Thieves were noted for their beauty as well as their shoplifting skills, such as Madeline Partridge and her sister Laura (pictured left), whose mother was often used by Diamond to sell stolen goods. Prisoners and ex-prisoners all over Britain speak about him with undisguised admiration. After the war he was involved in a smash-and-grab raid on a jeweller's and was given a two year prison sentence. "The Sun", "Sun", "Sun Online" are registered trademarks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited. Born near Waterloo station, central London, he was the fifth child of a poor family. After trying his hand at crime as a. The gang probably had its roots in the Victorian slums around Seven Dials, near Covent Garden, infamous in Dickens's day. inaccuracy or intrusion, then please 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'. 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. Each incident added more time to his sentence. The years just after World War II were a boom time for the gang, as clothing was rationed until 1949. 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. Mad Frank. Beezy reveals how the girls father would beat their mother a big influence on their outlook. Two people were left dead. Fraser was the youngest of five children and grew up in poverty. Ms Marsh said: 'These women fought harder than the men and were feared by men and women in their communities. Once again, he was sent toprison, this timefor taking part in bank robberies. Keeping My Sisters Secrets was published on July 27 by Pan Macmillan. Frankie Fraser's Last Stand: Directed by Matt Blyth. I dont think people realise how close we came to all-out battles in London between Communism and Fascism, before WW2 brought the country together, Beezy said. It will only make me a worse villain!'. [14] According to Fraser, it was they who helped him avoid arrest for the Great Train Robbery by bribing a policeman. 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. There was American Indian blood in him; his grandfather had emigrated to Canada in the late 19th century and married a full-blooded American Indian woman. Fraser was acquitted but received five years for affray. 42 years a lag She had died in. 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 parents never knew about his illegal activities, and if they ever suspected him apparently turned a blind eye, a habit . Fraser served a total of 42 years in over 20 different prisons in the UK for numerous violent offences. For other inquiries, Contact Us. End-right girl on the back row is Eva.. Every old-school south Londoner knows the folklore of cockney criminal Frankie Fraser, whose violent tendencies were infamous on the streets of Walworth. She was one of the top thieves during the war. His life of crime started aged nine when he worked for the notorious Sabini gang, which ran protection rackets at the racecourses at a time when off-course betting was illegal. 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. According to Eddie Richardson, Fraser had Alzheimer's disease for the last three years of his life. But after shoving their stolen goods into waiting cars the women would head back to the grotty slums of Waterloo and Elephant and Castle - where their 'queen' exchanged the expensive items for a generous weekly wage. 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. Profile manager: Evelyn Wolff [send private message] 'It was incredibly subversive to go against the class system and steal furs and luxury items and swan about like they were rich - but that is exactly what they did. She helped him sell on his loot. Not long after being released, Hughes was involved in the Lambeth riot of Christmas 1925, when the home of Bill Britten was stormed. He had been shot in the face. He spent 42 years almost half his life in prison for 26 offences. "You name it, we nicked it," he says. If you weren't actually stealing, you were outranked by The Forty Thieves. During the 1950s, Fraser's main occupation was as bodyguard to well-known gangster Billy Hill. 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. He then worked for legendary Soho crime boss Billy Hill in the 1950s, earning the nickname razor Fraser for his attacks on those who crossed him, before becoming embroiled in protection rackets in the 1960s, rising to the position of the Boss of Soho. Bought stolen goods and sold them on in a role known as 'the fence'. Please enter your username or email address to reset your password. 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. I just waited, caught up with him, knocked him about and strung him up with his dog, Fraser remembered. 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. In 1941, Fraser was given his first taste of punishment when he was sent to borstal for breaking into a Waterloo hosiery store. His mother was of Irish and Norwegian descent, while his father was half Native-American. Although he was acquitted, a further five years were added to his sentence. After the war, he worked for underworld boss Billy Hill, for whom he carried out razor attacks. Tallymen, who sold goods door-to-door, would shift them across London. Tue 11 Jun 2013 11.55 EDT He may be in his 90th year but "Mad" Frankie Fraser is still causing mayhem. 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. 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. 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. He was full of contradictions: He hated authority but at the same time he understood the need for society to have rules and was against anarchy. Aged seven, Ms Pitts was stealing milk and bread to provide food for her five siblings. His fourth son, Francis, in Frasers joking words, let me down by having no criminal career at all. Another of Fraser's grandsons, James Fraser, also spent a short time with Bristol Rovers. He claimed to have no regrets about his criminal life, apart from being caught. 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. Fraser was part of Britain's Underworld between the 1940s-1960's. He was a known associate of gangster Billy Hill throughout the 1950s. It was not that he thought he was Napoleon. David had perfected the prison whisper talking very quietly, in case he was overheard by the guards. 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. 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. Before then, Fraser had been involved in smash-and-grab raids and wages snatches. His first conviction was for stealing cigarettes, and with the second he was sent to an approved school. Ms Marsh said it 'was time to reappraise London's gangland' when she wrote The Queen of Thieves. 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. [4] He was involved in riots and frequently fought with prison officers and fellow inmates. People shook his hand in the street, others kissed him or asked for his autograph and taxi drivers honked their horns. [9], Fraser was an Arsenal fan, and his grandson Tommy Fraser is a professional footballer. Though like Eva, she struggled to come to terms with the choice facing women to work or marry. 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 took her under her wing and showed her how to shoplift in 1947, when Pitts was just 12. Her wartime experience was spent on the switchboards during the Blitz. "Hill paid by the stitch if you put 50 stitches in a man's face, you could expect 50," says James Morton, Fraser's biographer. 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. 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.