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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. What Fraser invariably threatened was violence. 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. According to Eddie Richardson, Fraser had Alzheimer's disease for the last three years of his life. Please report any comments that break our rules. '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. "You name it, we nicked it," he says. The gang probably had its roots in the Victorian slums around Seven Dials, near Covent Garden, infamous in Dickens's day. It was a thief's paradise, Gor blimey! Tue 11 Jun 2013 11.55 EDT He may be in his 90th year but "Mad" Frankie Fraser is still causing mayhem. His fourth son, Francis, in Frasers joking words, let me down by having no criminal career at all. 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. Both Fraser and Warren received seven-year sentences. 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. 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. Notorious for high-speed getaways, she was eventually caught stealing lingerie and sentenced to hard labour in prison. Fraser spent practically half his life behind bars. '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 part of Britain's Underworld between the 1940s-1960's. He was a known associate of gangster Billy Hill throughout the 1950s. 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. 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. inaccuracy or intrusion, then please The criminal, who has spent almost half his life in prison, passed away earlier at King's. It was during this sentence that he was first certified insane and was sent to Cane Hill Hospital before being released in 1949. '", Frankie Fraser's Last Stand will be broadcast on the Crime and Investigation network on 16 June at 9pm, New TV documentary shows ex-gangland enforcer is far from mellowing with age and has few regrets about his life of crime, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, Frankie Fraser has no regrets over his life of crime, which involved him being jailed for a total of 42 years for 26 offences. His wife, Doreen, whom he married in 1965, and who with Eva loyally toured the prisons to visit him, died in 1999. Ms Marsh said it 'was time to reappraise London's gangland' when she wrote The Queen of Thieves. 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. In the second part, she reveals how Frank wasnt the only member of his family with a chequered past. pre order Queen of Thieves now for just 2.99. I don't think they felt bad about it. 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. 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". 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. Together they set up the Atlantic Machines fruit-machine enterprise, which acted as a front for the criminal activities of the gang. An early nickname Razor Fraser reflected his penchant for shivving his enemies faces with a cut-throat blade. Fraser in 1997 with his then girlfriend Marilyn Wisbey, daughter Of Great Train Robber Tom Wisbey (REX FEATURES). Fraser was acquitted but received five years for affray. She was an alcoholic and onceran out of a jeweller with a tray of 34 diamond rings and bumped straight into a policeman. The pair were the only ones of the children to embrace a life of crime. 'MAD' Frankie Fraser, was one of the most feared and respected West End crime lords of the 1960s. Mothers would hide hoisted clothes in their prams and move them to pubs, where they were sold on. 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. When the heat from the cops in London got too much, they headed off to the Costa del Crime to seek their fortunes there. In the 1950s he worked for underworld boss Billy Hill and carried out razor attacks on victims for 50 each. 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. 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. 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. In 1941, Fraser was given his first taste of punishment when he was sent to borstal for breaking into a Waterloo hosiery store. 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. Possessed of a ready wit and good repartee, he followed this up with stage performances both in the East and West End, where he appeared with his then companion of 10 years, Marilyn Wisbey, the daughter of a Great Train Robber, Tommy Wisbey. He was still touring clubs and pubs in 2011. 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. 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. She helped support her young siblings by taking milk and bread from neighbour's doorsteps. This website and associated newspapers adhere to the Independent Press Standards Organisation's Had her first criminal conviction aged 14 and went on to become Diamond's accomplice. 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. 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. People shook his hand in the street, others kissed him or asked for his autograph and taxi drivers honked their horns. '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.'. [9] He was a deserter during the Second World War, escaping from his barracks on several occasions. 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). 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. 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. Mason was found, barely alive, wearing only his underpants and wrapped in a blanket, on the steps of the London Hospital in Whitechapel. Born 1920s. She helped him sell on his loot. Even decent folk were often only too happy to 'take a bit of crooked' to have something new. Fraser received seven years. 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. Are you sure you want to delete this comment? [14] According to Fraser, it was they who helped him avoid arrest for the Great Train Robbery by bribing a policeman. Fraser was just 13 when he was sent to an approved school for stealing 40 cigarettes. What officers didn't know then was that his crime spree would continue over a career spanning seven decades, and his offences only worsened. During his time in prison, Fraser was involved in a number of riots and frequently fought with prison officers, fellow inmates and governors. In 1966 he was charged with the murder of Richard Hart, who was shot at a club in Catford, but the charges were dropped when a witness changed their testimony. 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'. 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. Franks mother, Margaret, was a huge influence on him but his best pal and early partner in crime was his sister, Eva. 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. You understand the choices that lay ahead of you if you were a working-class girl. For other inquiries, Contact Us. '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.'. The raids seem often to have been left to chance, and he was particularly unfortunate with cars. He had been shot in the face. And I felt the same way,' she said. On 21 November 2014, Fraser fell critically ill whilst undergoing leg surgery atKing's College Hospital,Denmark Hill. The Krays, according to Frank, were little more than thieves ponces.. 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. Join Facebook to connect with Frankie Fraser and others you may know. Fraser became a minor celebrity of sorts, appearing on television shows such as Operation Good Guys,[18] Shooting Stars,[19] and the satirical show Brass Eye,[20] where he said Noel Edmonds should be shot for killing Clive Anderson (an incident invented by the show's producers), and writing an autobiography. She is thought to have killed herself in the 1970s. The publisher also decided to include a glossary for the reader. [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. Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group. The family was hard-working and kept themselves clean [out of crime].. He may be in his 90th year but "Mad" Frankie Fraser is still causing mayhem. After trying his hand at crime as a. Descendants . Frankie Fraser was a notorious torturer and hitman for the Richardson gang of south London criminals in the 1960s. Eva Brindle formerly Fraser. "Maybe he was bored with going to prison," Ronnie Richardson, Charlie's widow, tells the programme. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. She was taught by Alice Diamond in the 1930s and a very senior member throughout the. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. A bucket boy would offer to clean the bookies' blackboards with a sponge, for which they were obliged to pay the Sabinis. She also passed on her 'wisdom' to a future queen, Shirley Pitts. From then on until the end of the 1980s, Fraser was more often in jail than not. He had an ungovernable temper and an inability to think through the undoubted consequences of his proposed actions.