frankie fraser sister eva

By Emer Scully and Beezy Marsh for MailOnline, Published: 10:41 GMT, 4 November 2021 | Updated: 13:07 GMT, 4 November 2021. Frankie Fraser was a south London gangster who knew no language but violence and spent half his life behind bars. 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. 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. But who were the gang's most brazen members? After trying his hand at crime as a. A Gannett Company. But his greatest moment of national notoriety came a quarter of a century earlier, during what the media billed as the Torture Trial (in fact a series of trials) in 1967 that became one of the longest in British criminal history. When she married the father of five of her seven children, Chris Hawkins, he subjected her to cruel beatings - but quickly stopped following a warning from the Kray Twins. Both Frank and his sister, Eva, whom he adored, inherited their fathers features and his jet-black hair. [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. Francis Davidson Fraser, known as Mad Frankie Fraser, was the scourge of prison governors and warders up and down Britain during the periods when he served a total of more than 40 years imprisonment. Reporters claimed she was 6ft tall - despite police records from 1919 putting her at 5ft9in. The notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser's sister Eva had risen through the ranks of the gang after joining in the 1930s. Joining the Forty Thieves was something of a right of passage for Eva Fraser. After one snatch, he and his companion were arrested when their car would not start. These adverts enable local businesses to get in front of their target audience the local community. At the age of five, he moved with his family to a flat on Walworth Road, Elephant and Castle. When police visited she showed them ledgers to demonstrate her honest buying. "You name it, we nicked it," he says. The violent thugs, the Kray twins, held The Forty Thieves member Eva Fraser in high regard during the 1940s and 1950s. 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. Frankie Fraser was born on Cornwall Road in Waterloo, London on December 13, 1923. Aged seven, Ms Pitts was stealing milk and bread to provide food for her five siblings. The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. 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. 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. She was chauffeured in a Bentley and always wore a sable coat. 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. By 20 she was leader of The Forty Thieves and wore a row of diamond rings that acted as a knuckle duster. 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. Frankie Fraser was tried at the Old Bailey for Harts murder, while six others, including Eddie Richardson, faced lesser charges. Morton was relieved that, rather than remonstrating, Fraser wanted him to write his life story. AS is the case with so many crime families, the key to understanding the men came through getting to know the women who cared for them. Both Fraser and Warren received seven-year sentences. 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. "From there he goes on to burgle, and she goes onto shop lifting with a famous female gang called The 40 Thieves. A Hoisters' Code of loyalty dictated rules such as having an early night before 'going shopping', handing over all they pinched to the Queen in return for generous weekly wages, and never stealing each other's boyfriends (bad for morale). "If you play by the sword, you've got to expect the sword as well," says his son. Not long after being released, Hughes was involved in the Lambeth riot of Christmas 1925, when the home of Bill Britten was stormed. Daughter. [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. 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. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. 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. After trying his hand at crime as a child, Fraser then continued into his later life. 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. She is thought to have killed herself in the 1970s. Facebook gives people the power. 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. 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. Frankie Frasers wife Doreen, with whom he had four sons, died in 1999. Mason was found, barely alive, wearing only his underpants and wrapped in a blanket, on the steps of the London Hospital in Whitechapel. His mother was of Irish and Norwegian descent, while his father was half Native-American. He spent 42 years almost half his life in prison for 26 offences. 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. '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. Fraser considered that Lawton had meted out cruel and vindictive punishment to him at Pentonville in 1948, and to avenge himself Fraser assumed the role of hangman. 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. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. I don't think they felt bad about it. Aged seven, Ms Pitts was stealing milk and bread to provide food for her five siblings. 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. She helped him sell on his loot. 'MAD' Frankie Fraser, was one of the most feared and respected West End crime lords of the 1960s. "As I was growing up, I never had to buy a shirt Eva made sure she nicked them for me. In 1991, while emerging from Turnmills nightclub in Clerkenwell, London, he was shot at by an unidentified gunman. [22], Fraser gave gangland tours around London, where he highlighted infamous criminal locations such as The Blind Beggar pub. 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. It was during the war that he first became involved in serious crime. Many started as child lookouts. Tallymen, who sold goods door-to-door, would shift them across London. Tony Lambrianou, a one-time henchman of the rival Kray brothers, was also a fan. He spent more than 40 years in prison. [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 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. Dubbed 'The Most Dangerous Man in Britain' by two Home Secretaries, Francis Davidson Fraser was born on the 13th of December 1923, and grew up in Waterloo, London.He and his sister, Eva started their life of crime at a young age, stealing from handbags and pickpocketing. He later joined the notorious Richardson gang, formed by brothers Eddie and Charlie, and began carrying out more criminal activities. 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. In the 1950s he worked for underworld boss Billy Hill and carried out razor attacks on victims for 50 each. 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. She was one of the top thieves during the war. She liked to earn her own money and paid her own way quite something for a young woman in the 1930s and 1940s. 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. Beezy reveals how the girls father would beat their mother a big influence on their outlook. [9], Fraser was an Arsenal fan, and his grandson Tommy Fraser is a professional footballer. 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. Eva got six months for stealing stockings from Bentalls in Kingston upon Thames. They stole to put food on the table. He emerged from jail in 1989 and has not been back since. 679215 Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF. Born to criminal parents in Southwark, South London, in 1886, her first crimes were aiding and abetting men. 'Any girl worth her salt in South London in those days was a hoister because they could outearn us men two to one,' he said. It was during the war that he first became involved in serious crime, with the blackout and rationing, combined with the lack of professional policemen due to conscription, providing ample opportunities for criminal activities such as stealing from houses while the occupants were in air-raid shelters. 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. His mother was of Irish and Norwegian descent, while his father was half Native-American. Whatever you nicked you could sell, they'd be queuing up to buy it off you.". As a subscriber, you are shown 80% less display advertising when reading our articles. [11] In 1942, while serving a prison sentence in HM Prison Chelmsford, he came to the attention of the British Army. And I felt the same way,' she said. His fourth son, Francis, in Frasers joking words, let me down by having no criminal career at all. 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. They would go through Selfridges department store in the West End and steal furs and expensive clothes. When Mason demurred, Fraser buried a hatchet in his skull, pinning his hand to his head. [24], Fraser's wife, by whom he had four sons, died in 1999. 'It gave them a life they could never have afforded. contact the editor here. His wife, Doreen, whom he married in 1965, and who with Eva loyally toured the prisons to visit him, died in 1999. ", 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. 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. The two Richardson brothers were convicted, and the elder, Charles, sentenced to 25 years. Photograph: Alex Segre/Rex. Fraser also appeared as East End crime boss Pops Den in the feature film Hard Men, a forerunner of British gangster movies such as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and had a documentary made of his life, Mad Frank. If you have a complaint about the editorial content which relates to 'They didn't see anything wrong in it because these things were too expensive for most people to afford and shops had insurance. contact IPSO here, 2001-2023. 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. Data returned from the Piano 'meterActive/meterExpired' callback event. They enjoyed buying nice things with the money and putting on the posh. Descendants . 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. Fraser himself was accused of pulling out the teeth of victims with a pair of pliers. Frankie Fraser was born on Cornwall Road inWaterloo,London on December 13, 1923. 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 gang probably had its roots in the Victorian slums around Seven Dials, near Covent Garden, infamous in Dickens's day. They set up a fruit machine enterprise, which they would sell to pub landlords, to cover up their crimes. His parents were honest and hard-working, but Frankie and his big sister Eva, to whom he was closest, soon turned to crime. Ancestors . Frank Davidson Fraser (13 December 1923 - 26 November 2014), better known as 'Mad' Frankie Fraser, was an English gangster who spent 42 years in prison for numerous violent offences. As a young woman, Eva became an accomplished hoister (shoplifter). The Kray twins (pictured) held The Forty Thieves member Eva Fraser in high regard. He was still touring clubs and pubs in 2011. Frankie Fraser belonged to a bygone era of crime and was cut from a different cloth than so many other gangsters of his generation. There was also quite a comeuppance for both Patrick and David who both served their time. What officers didn't know then was that his crime spree would continue over a career spanning seven decades, and his offences only worsened. 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. 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. [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. At the age of five, he moved with his family to a flat on Walworth Road, Elephant and Castle. The Krays held Eva Fraser in high regard because of her role in the gang and during the 1940s and 1950s, and the Soho gang boss Billy Hill - brother of the fiery Maggie Hughes - was careful not to encroach too much on their territory because he respected their right to earn their own money, free from male interference. Fraser was jailed along with other members of the Richardson gang for violently punishing people whom the Richardsons believed owed them money. Those ads you do see are predominantly from local businesses promoting local services. [8] Although his parents were not criminals, Fraser turned to crime aged 10 with his sister Eva, to whom he was close. Diamond's second-in-command Maggie Hughes (right) 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! After Frasers release from the Spot sentence, he was courted by the Kray Twins and the Richardson gang. Before World War Two, if you got married you were expected to leave work and stay at home, Beezy said. A feature film production is currently[when?] [9] He was a deserter during the Second World War, escaping from his barracks on several occasions. 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. 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. When the police arrived, they found Hart lying under a lilac tree in a nearby garden. She helped support her young siblings by taking milk and bread from neighbour's doorsteps. Francis Davidson Fraser, known as "Mad" Frankie Fraser, was the scourge of prison governors and warders up and down Britain during the periods when he served a total of more than 40 years'. Together they set up the Atlantic Machines fruit-machine enterprise, which acted as a front for the criminal activities of the gang. As her reign came to an end, Forty Thieves queen Diamondpassed on her 'wisdom' to a future queen, Shirley Pitts. In 1996 he was cast as the gangleader Pops Den in the film Hard Men, which premiered at the London film festival. It was almost as if the biggest thrill of all was the act of stealing itself. Notorious for high-speed getaways, she was eventually caught stealing lingerie and sentenced to hard labour in prison. When the heat from the cops in London got too much, they headed off to the Costa del Crime to seek their fortunes there. Eva got into shoplifting, but had a heart of gold. 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. They bought fur coats, jewellery and went dancing in West End nightclubs. 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. An early nickname Razor Fraser reflected his penchant for shivving his enemies faces with a cut-throat blade. 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. 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. A keen Arsenal supporter, Fraser had four sons, the first three of whom, Frank Jr, David and Patrick, followed to an extent in his footsteps. 'You name it, we nicked it,' he tells the . Please report any comments that break our rules. He may be in his 90th year but "Mad" Frankie Fraser is still causing mayhem. 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. You understand the choices that lay ahead of you if you were a working-class girl. 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. 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. During his time in prison, Fraser was involved in a number of riots and frequently fought with prison officers, fellow inmates and governors. It sounds like the worst days of Prohibition in Chicago rather than London in 1956, complained Mr Justice Donovan, but words were wasted on Fraser. 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. 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. 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. 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. In the second part, she reveals how Frank wasnt the only member of his family with a chequered past. It was not that he thought he was Napoleon. 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. 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.

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