Frankie Fraser
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Francis Davidson Fraser - better known as "Mad" Frankie Fraser (born 13 December 1923) is a notorious former British criminal and gang member who has spent more than half of his life in prison for numerous violent offences.
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[edit] Early life
Born in Lambeth, London to Canadian and Irish parents, Fraser was a deserter during the Second World War, on several occasions escaping from his barracks. It was during the war that Fraser 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. In 1941, he was sent to Borstal for breaking into a Waterloo hosiery store and was then given a 15 month prison sentence at Wandsworth prison for shopbreaking. Such were the criminal opportunities during the war, Fraser later joked in a television interview that he'd never forgive the Germans for surrendering.
[edit] Post-war
After the war, Fraser continued where he left off, and was involved in a smash-and-grab raid on a jewellers (for which he received a two-year prison sentence, served largely at Pentonville prison). It was during this sentence that he was first certified insane and was sent to the Cane Hill Hospital, London, before being released in 1949. During the 1950s his main occupation was as bodyguard to well-known gangster Billy Hill . He took part in more bank robberies and spent more time in prison. He was again certified insane while at Durham prison and this time sent to Broadmoor. Aware of the punishments for bad behaviour in that institution, Fraser uncharacteristically stayed out of trouble and was released in 1955. In 1956, the British mobster Jack Spot and wife Rita were attacked, on Hill's say so, by "Mad" Frankie Fraser , Bobby Warren and at least half a dozen other men. Both Fraser and Warren were given seven years for their acts of violence.
[edit] Richardson gang
It was in the early 1960s that he first met Charlie and Eddie Richardson, members of the notorious Richardson gang and rivals to the Kray Twins. According to Fraser, it was they who helped him avoid arrest for the Great Train Robbery (in which he played no part) by bribing a policeman. Together they set up the Atlantic Machines fruit machines enterprise, which acted as a front for the criminal activities of the gang. In 1966 Fraser was charged with the murder of Richard Hart while other members were charged with affray. The witness changed his testimony and the charges were eventually dropped, though he still received a five year sentence for affray. Fraser has always maintained that, while he fought with Hart, he didn't shoot him. He was also implicated in the so-called "Torture trial", in which members of the gang were charged with burning, electrocuting and whipping those found guilty of disloyalty by a kangaroo court. Fraser himself was accused of pulling out the teeth of victims with a pair of pliers. In the trial at the Old Bailey in 1967 he was sentenced to ten years imprisonment.
[edit] Violence
Fraser's 42 years served in over 20 different prisons in the UK were often coloured by violence. He was involved in riots and frequently fought with prison officers and fellow inmates as well as attacking various governors. He was one of the ringleaders of the major Parkhurst prison riot in 1969, spending the following six weeks in the prison hospital, owing to his injuries. Involvement in such activities often led to his sentences being extended. He was released from prison in 1985, where he was met by his son in a Rolls Royce.[citation needed]
In 1991 Fraser was shot in the head from close range in an apparent murder attempt outside Turnmills club in Clerkenwell, London. He has always maintained that a policeman was responsible.
[edit] Later life
Now in his 80's, Fraser has become something of a celebrity, appearing on television shows such as Operation Good Guys and the satirical show Brass Eye, where he said Noel Edmonds should be shot for killing Clive Anderson (an incident invented by the show's producers) and writing a bestselling autobiography. In 1999 he appeared in 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. He now gives Gangland Tours around London, where he highlights infamous criminal locations such as the Blind Beggar pub.
Frankie Fraser is also a big Arsenal FC fan, even though his Grandson Tommy Fraser has just broken through to the Brighton and Hove Albion Squad.
[edit] Further reading
- Fraser, Frank & Morton, James (2000). Mad Frank's Diary: A Chronicle of the Life of Britain's Most Notorious Villain. Virgin Books. ISBN 1852278749.
[edit] References
- Fraser, Frank & Morton, James (1995). Mad Frank: Memoirs of a Life of Crime. Time Warner Paperbacks. ISBN 0-7515-1137-4.
