The two Richardson brothers were convicted, and the elder, Charles, sentenced to 25 years. It was not that he thought he was Napoleon. The middle sister was Kathleen, who constantly aspired to make it as an actress, and make use of her striking good looks. [22], Fraser gave gangland tours around London, where he highlighted infamous criminal locations such as The Blind Beggar pub. Ms Marsh said it 'was time to reappraise London's gangland' when she wrote The Queen of Thieves. None of the gang were afraid to use razors on those who crossed them. Data returned from the Piano 'meterActive/meterExpired' callback event. He also claimed to have been the first bandit to wear a stocking mask. He may be in his 90th year but "Mad" Frankie Fraser is still causing mayhem. But his criminal activities didn't stop when he was locked up. After trying his hand at crime as a child, Fraser then continued into his later life. His mother was of Norwegian-Irish stock and his father was half Native American. The gang probably had its roots in the Victorian slums around Seven Dials, near Covent Garden, infamous in Dickens's day. His mother was of Irish and Norwegian descent, while his father was half Native-American. Born near Waterloo station, central London, he was the fifth child of a poor family. In 1938, she was sentenced for stabbing a policeman in the eye with a hatpin. The grim terraces of Waterloo and the tenements of Elephant and Castle provided plenty of girls desperate enough to join The Forty Thieves. At the age of five, he moved with his family to a flat on Walworth Road, Elephant and Castle. 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. Because of Frasers behaviour in jail over the years, he forfeited almost every day of his remission. Throughout his life he denied the justice of this conviction, but he was happy to trade off it. [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. His gangster boss Charles Richardson remembered him as one of the most polite, mild-mannered men Ive met but he has a bad temper on him sometimes. Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group. 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. Their loot would be stuffed into these 'hoister's drawers', allowing the women to leave the stores undetected. Those ads you do see are predominantly from local businesses promoting local services. The singer, 29, bared his chest and showed off his . When Mason demurred, Fraser buried a hatchet in his skull, pinning his hand to his head. But few would perhaps know about the equally incredible lives led by his three sisters. Members of The Forty Thieves, whose mugshots were captured by the Police Gazette ahead of regular stays at Holloway Prison, often wore beautifully designed hats, coats and dresses in order to fit in - known as 'putting on the posh'. According to Eddie Richardson, Fraser had Alzheimer's disease for the last three years of his life. He claimed to have no regrets about his criminal life, apart from being caught. It was during the war that he first became involved in serious crime. 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. Beezy reveals how the girls father would beat their mother a big influence on their outlook. 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 Frasers were both contemporaries of the Hatton Garden heist gang members many of whom also came from south London and who operated on the same bank robbing scene and shared jail cells with the Fraser boys at some point. 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. After trying his hand at crime as a. Frankie Fraser, born December 13 1923, died November 26 2014, Frankie Fraser at Repton Boxing Club in 2005, Rishi Sunak to host Coronation Big Lunch at Downing Street, Erik ten Hag: Man Utd were a mess with no rules Casemiro has helped sort them out, How Ollie Lawrence became England's missing piece, Harlequins set attendance record but rampant Exeter spoil Twickenham party, Marcus Smith sends England message to Steve Borthwick with man-of-the-match performance, Super-sub Reiss Nelson completes thrilling Arsenal fightback. In later life he would say that had there been an elder criminal member of the family to advise him, he would not have served his sentences in what was called the hard way. Facebook gives people the power. 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. [9], Fraser was an Arsenal fan, and his grandson Tommy Fraser is a professional footballer. In 1966, Fraser was charged with the murder of Richard Hart - who was shot at Mr Smith's club inCatfordwhile other Richardson associates, includingJimmy Moody, were charged withaffray. The family was hard-working and kept themselves clean [out of crime].. Together they set up the Atlantic Machines fruit-machine enterprise, which acted as a front for the criminal activities of the gang. The comments below have not been moderated. Please report any comments that break our rules. They didnt go to jail, they did bird or got a lagging. Are you sure you want to delete this comment? 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'. His new career took off and he was in regular demand as a radio and television pundit. Fraser spent practically half his life behind bars. 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. Petite shoplifter Bertha Tappenden 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. '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. Fraser was just 13 when he was sent to an approved school for stealing 40 cigarettes. The violent thugs, the Kray twins, held The Forty Thieves member Eva Fraser in high regard during the 1940s and 1950s. He chose the latter because they had taken sides on behalf of his sisters husband, Tommy Brindle, who had received a heavy beating by the Rosa brothers from the Elephant and Castle. 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. But the victory was pyrrhic in many senses, because by the time he finally left prison the in mid 1980s, the world had changed and gangland had moved on. 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. "You name it, we nicked it," he says. 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. With Frankie Fraser, Chris Keenan, Steve Box, Michael Boyd. An early nickname Razor Fraser reflected his penchant for shivving his enemies faces with a cut-throat blade. She had known their father, who was a fence (seller of stolen goods) or a 'thieves' ponce' - he would put up the money to finance criminal operations - which was a career on which she looked down. He was released from prison in 1985.[17]. 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. This resulted in Fraser returning to prison once again - this time to serve a seven-year sentence. After three years in jail she tookpart in the Lambeth riot at Christmas 1925. At the age of five, he moved with his family to a flat on Walworth Road, Elephant and Castle. 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. Born inLambeth, south London, Frankie committed his first crime at the age of 13, when he stole a packet of cigarettes and was sent to an approved school. It was a thief's paradise, Gor blimey! 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. The following year, the British mobster Jack Spot and wife Rita were attacked, on Hill's say-so, by Fraser, Bobby Warren and at least half a dozen other men. He was a rock.. contact IPSO here, 2001-2023. And I felt the same way,' she said. 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. When Frank Sinatra came to London in the early 1970s, he made a special visit in his limo to Eva in her little terrace house in South London to pay his respects. But she was once caught stealing stockings and was sent to prison.. He had been shot in the face.
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