frankie fraser sister eva

But few would perhaps know about the equally incredible lives led by his three sisters. Please enter your username or email address to reset your password. Editors' Code of Practice. None of the gang were afraid to use razors on those who crossed them. She is thought to have killed herself in the 1970s. 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. The notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser's sister Eva had risen through the ranks of the gang after joining in the 1930s. 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. He stopped following a warning from the Kray Twins. As a young woman, Eva became an accomplished hoister (shoplifter). Please report any comments that break our rules. Comments have been closed on this article. In 1969 Fraser led the Parkhurst prison riot on the Isle of Wight and found himself back in court charged with incitement to murder. However, it was the during the 'torture trial' of the Richardson gang in 1967, that Frankie Fraser become notorious nationally. [9] He was a resident at a sheltered accommodation home in Peckham. When caught by police she replied: 'I don't know anything about it.'. '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. Notorious 1930s West End girl gang who hid stolen jewellery in Underneath glamorous ensembles the women wore specially-adapted petticoats with hidden pockets or baggy bloomers with elastic at the knee. Monty Python sketch featuring the Piranha brothers, Doug and Dinsdale. Registered in England & Wales | 01676637 |. 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. Author returns with book about the fascinating lives of notorious [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. Eva Fraser - the sister of notorious gangster Mad Frankie Fraser - was reputedly one of the last members of the Queens of the Forty Thieves shoplifting gang, which sold stolen goods from. The gang's ringleaders appeared in a secret register of criminals, that is now kept by the National Archives, which then existed to help police track down the most persistent offenders. The big question everyone has about Frank is Was he really mad? He was certified insane three times once by the Army, twice in prison and he was diagnosed as a psychopath but his family argue, and I tend to agree, that he played the system to suit himself. 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. 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. ", The new documentary returns to this theme, suggesting he had a hard time in prison because there were no criminals in his family. 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. Various members were eventually caught, though and served their time in Holloway prison, where rations were meagre and they slept on boards. . This is Eva Fraser, sister of gangster " Mad" Frankie who was one of the leading lights in The Forty Thieves. This resulted in Fraser returning to prison once again - this time to serve a seven-year sentence. This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. ", 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. What officers didn't know then was that his crime spree would continue over a career spanning seven decades, and his offences only worsened. On 21 November 2014, Fraser fell critically ill whilst undergoing leg surgery atKing's College Hospital,Denmark Hill. According to one of his sons, David, Fraser was unharmed but he did not inform on his assailant. 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. His decision to join the Richardsons rather than their rivals, the Krays, has been described as "like China getting the atom bomb". During World War 2 he was a deserter - escaping from his barracks on several occasions. A machine costing 400 could quickly recoup its cost if well-sited, and Frasers company offered club owners 40 per cent of the take rather than the standard 35 per cent as an inducement to install their machines. But by the 1930s, the breeding ground for its recruits was South London. Eva knew the Krays well and they treated her with reverence, although she saw them as little more than naughty boys. 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. When he was 10, the pair stole a cigarette machine from a local pub, hauled it to some waste ground and jemmied it open. [9] 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! For latest book news including updates on the forthcoming film Mad Frank and Sons please like my page Beezy Marsh. And involvement in such activities often led to his sentences being extended. For further details of our complaints policy and to make a complaint please click this link: thesun.co.uk/editorial-complaints/, 'Mad' Frankie Fraser was a notorious English gangster, Funeral of South London enforcer, FRANKIE FRASER at Honour Oak Crematorium, Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). After trying his hand at crime as a child, Fraser then continued into his later life. When the police arrived, they found Hart lying under a lilac tree in a nearby garden. Tony Lambrianou, a one-time henchman of the rival Kray brothers, was also a fan. She got six months in jail, for stealing stockings from Bentalls in Kingston upon Thames. 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. The violent thugs, the Kray twins, held The Forty Thieves member Eva Fraser in high regard during the 1940s and 1950s. 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. Fraser was the youngest of five children and grew up in poverty. 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). Those ads you do see are predominantly from local businesses promoting local services. He claimed to have no regrets about his criminal life, apart from being caught. While serving this sentence, Fraser received 10 years for his part in the so-called Richardson torture trial. The youngest of five children, he grew up in poverty in the Elephant and Castle and Borough, areas teeming with moneylenders, prostitutes and backstreet abortionists. Descendants . 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. Involvement in such activities often led to his sentences being extended. [4] He was involved in riots and frequently fought with prison officers and fellow inmates. After trying his hand at crime as a. Pitts wore a school girl's outfit, complete with straw boater, to act as a decoy. The notorious English gangster turned to a life of a crime and before he knew it, he was behind bars. [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. Harts killing was avenged within 24 hours when Ronnie Kray shot George Cornell, the Richardsons chief lieutenant, at the Blind Beggar pub deep in Kray territory on the Mile End Road, using a 9mm Mauser semi-automatic pistol at point-blank range. Frankie Fraser | The Kray Twins Wiki | Fandom Mother of [private daughter (1940s - unknown)] Died 2000s. Fraser served a total of 42 years in over 20 different prisons in the UK for numerous violent offences. 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. He really did live by a code of honour which he took with him to the grave. 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. She and her friends looked like film stars when they went out down the pub. '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. Mad Frank (1994), which went on to sell around 100,000 copies, was the first in a successful series. 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. Fraser received seven years. I don't think they felt bad about it. 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. He also ran a coach tour pointing out to a spectrum of customers the old criminal London. She liked to earn her own money and paid her own way quite something for a young woman in the 1930s and 1940s. Sometimes the hoisters' lives became entangled with those of underworld bosses through affairs, family ties or marriage. 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. 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. At signing sessions of his books he was always willing to be photographed pretending to extract a tooth with pliers brought by the fan. 'They didn't see anything wrong in it because these things were too expensive for most people to afford and shops had insurance. Ancestors . These adverts enable local businesses to get in front of their target audience the local community. The Forty Thieves, a London-based exclusively female gang whose exploits were worse than those depicted in BBC drama the Peaky Blinders, posed as wealthy housewives innocently browsing the rails of the UK's most luxurious clothing stores. Bought stolen goods and sold them on in a role known as 'the fence'. His wife, Doreen, whom he married in 1965, and who with Eva loyally toured the prisons to visit him, died in 1999. Mad Frankie Fraser - Everything2.com 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. What saved him I think was the branch; it was supple and it bent. Although Lawton survived, the dog died. 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 was a deserter during the Second World War, escaping from his barracks . Here are some pictures of Eva Fraser of the Forty Thieves and her sister Kathleen. Reporters claimed she was 6ft tall - despite police records from 1919 putting her at 5ft9in. In 1996, he played (his friend) William Donaldson's guide to Marbella in the infamous BBC Radio 4 series A Retiring Fellow. Frankie Fraser was a south London gangster who knew no language but violence and spent half his life behind bars. She was still hoisting well into her 70s.'. "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. Ronald 'Ronnie' Kray and Reginald 'Reggie' Kray, were identical twin brothers who led an organised crime ring in East London from the late 1950s to 1967. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. Fraser has complained in the past that "I had no help from my family; my mother and father were dead straight so I had to make my own way. They bought fur coats, jewellery and went dancing in West End nightclubs. Their loot would be stuffed into these 'hoister's drawers', allowing the women to leave the stores undetected. 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. Afraid of being heavily medicated for bad behaviour, Fraser stayed out of trouble and was released in 1955. But she was once caught stealing stockings and was sent to 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. 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. The two Richardson brothers were convicted, and the elder, Charles, sentenced to 25 years. MAD FRANK & SONS, by David Fraser, Patrick Fraser and Beezy Marsh is published by Sidgwick and Jackson on June 2. In August 1963, invited to take part in the Great Train Robbery, Fraser pulled out because he was on the run from the police. His greatest moment of national notoriety came during what was known as the 'torture trial' of the Richardson gang in 1967, which became . 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. Eva knew the Krays well and they treated her with reverence, although she saw them as little more than naughty boys. Keeping My Sisters Secrets was published on July 27 by Pan Macmillan. 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. The publisher also decided to include a glossary for the reader. 'Mad Frank' the thug, hitman and enforcer ', The notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser's sister Eva had risen through the ranks of the gang after joining in the 1930s. Who was 'Mad' Frankie Fraser? | The Scottish Sun The granddaughter of a member of the gang, who said she was taught how to steal in the 1970s, told Ms Marsh: 'My nan was always beautifully turned out. Pictured: The female cast of the hit BBC show Peaky Blinders. Born near Waterloo station, central London, he was the fifth child of a poor family. The most famous 'queen', Alice Diamond (left), was the daughter of a docker and renowned for her row of diamond rings that doubled as a knuckle duster. As a reward, he was shown his examination answers, and thats how I come top, he later boasted. 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. Throughout his life he denied the justice of this conviction, but he was happy to trade off it. His parents were honest and hard-working, but Frankie and his big sister Eva, to whom he was closest, soon turned to crime. [6] Fraser was the youngest of five children and grew up in poverty. 'MAD' Frankie Fraser, was one of the most feared and respected West End crime lords of the 1960s. [8] Although his parents were not criminals, Fraser turned to crime aged 10 with his sister Eva, to whom he was close. Peggy stayed out of crime and worked for the Post Office. He had been shot in the face. To inquire about a licence to reproduce material, visit our Syndication site. For other inquiries, Contact Us. Fraser died at the age of 91 on November 26, 2014. Frankie Fraser was born on Cornwall Road in Waterloo, London. The violent thugs, the Kray twins, 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 Ms 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. 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. 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. Who was 'Mad' Frankie Fraser? | The Sun The singer, 29, bared his chest and showed off his . "As I was growing up, I never had to buy a shirt Eva made sure she nicked them for me. 42 years a lag She had died in. His parents never knew about his illegal activities, and if they ever suspected him apparently turned a blind eye, a habit . She was chauffeured in a Bentley and always wore a sable coat. On the morning of Derek Bentleys execution at Wandsworth in 1953, he spat at the executioner Albert Pierrepoint and tried to attack him. Frank had been active as a criminal from the 1930s and was given his first prison sentence at the outbreak of the Second World War. He had an ungovernable temper and an inability to think through the undoubted consequences of his proposed actions. Frankie Fraser belonged to a bygone era of crime and was cut from a different cloth than so many other gangsters of his generation. 'The other side of the story involves these feisty women and it is perhaps more fascinating given the limited powers such working class girls had to earn a decent wage.'. 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. Fraser was part of Britain's Underworld between the 1940s-1960's. 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. 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. But little by little, over weeks and months of interviews, cups of tea and chats, their life stories emerged and with that came a fascinating insight into the Fraser family history and what really made Frank tick. "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. "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. With Warren at his heels, Fraser ambushed Spot in a Paddington street, knocking him to the ground with a shillelagh. 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). There was also kind of respect for them locally because people could get a nice dress or a pair of stockings cheaply. His fourth son, Francis, in Frasers joking words, let me down by having no criminal career at all. In 1941, Fraser was given his first taste of punishment when he was sent to borstal for breaking into a Waterloo hosiery store. After the war, he worked for underworld boss Billy Hill, for whom he carried out razor attacks. He was a rock.. Eva (Fraser) Brindle (1920s-2000s) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree The Guardian, October 12 1980 Frank Fraser is a thorn in the Prison Department's side - a thorn so big that he is possibly the only British criminal who has become a legend simply by serving time. Morton was relieved that, rather than remonstrating, Fraser wanted him to write his life story. Born 1920s. With the help of Hill and mafia interests, Fraser and Eddie Richardson established Atlantic Machines, a successful business placing one-armed bandits in clubs throughout Britain. [14] According to Fraser, it was they who helped him avoid arrest for the Great Train Robbery by bribing a policeman. 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. 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. Her brother was the notorious gangster 'Mad' Frankie Fraser, who joined turf wars between London gangs in the sixties. Frankie Fraser - Wikipedia They stole to put food on the table. Its clear she still had to feed her family by acting on the wrong side of the law Beezy said. of James Fraser and Margaret Alice (Anderson) Fraser. Frank's mother, Margaret, was a huge influence on him but his "best pal" and early partner in crime was his sister, Eva. 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. 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. He was still touring clubs and pubs in 2011. Alice herself was famous for clouting three furs in one go: one down each leg and one under her gusset. 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.