On this day 13 December 1923, Mad Frank Fraser was born. Fraser was delivered by his maternal grandmother. The youngest of five children, Fraser grew up in a working-class poverty-stricken family. His mother, Margaret, was of Irish and Norwegian ancestry; his father James Fraser (born 1885) was half Native American. Fraser's father worked long hours as a wood sawyer at the local cricket bat maker, Stuart Surridge, for around two pounds a week.
At age five, he moved with his family to a flat on Walworth Road, Elephant and Castle. Although his parents were not criminals, Fraser turned to crime at age 10 with his sister Eva, whom he was close to. Fraser was a deserter during World War II, on several occasions escaping from his barracks. 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 during the Blitz.
In 1941, aged seventeen he 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. Such were the criminal opportunities during the war, Fraser later joked in a television interview many years later that he had never forgiven the Germans for surrendering. In 1942 while serving a prison sentence in HM Prison Chelmsford he came to the attention of the British Army. Although he was conscripted he later boasted that he had never once worn the uniform, preferring to ignore call-up papers, desert and resume his criminal activities.
After the war, Fraser was involved in a smash-and-grab raid on a jeweller, for which he received a two-year prison sentence, and served largely at HM Prison Pentonville. It was during this sentence that he was first certified insane and was sent to Cane Hill Hospital 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 HM Prison Durham and this time sent to Broadmoor Hospital. Afraid of being heavily medicated for bad behaviour, Fraser stayed out of trouble and was released in 1955. In 1953, he allegedly hit legendary hangman Albert Pierrepoint when he was on his way to execute Derek Bentley, who was wrongly convicted of the murder of a policeman. In 1956 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. Both Fraser and Warren were given seven years for their acts of violence.
It was in the early 1960s that he first met Charlie and Eddie Richardson of the Richardson Gang, rivals to the Kray twins. According to Fraser, they helped him avoid arrest for the Great Train Robbery by bribing a policeman. Together they set up the Atlantic Machines fruit-machine enterprise, which acted as a front for the criminal activities of the gang. In 1966 Fraser was charged with the murder of Richard Hart who was shot at Mr Smith's club in Catford while other members including Jimmy Moody were charged with affray. The witness changed his testimony and the charges were eventually dropped, though Fraser still received a five-year sentence for affray. He has always maintained that, while he fought with Hart, he did not 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 10 years' imprisonment.
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. He also attacked 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. 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. He was released from prison in 1985.
Fraser was a celebrity, appearing on television shows such as Operation Good Guys, Shooting Stars, 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 an autobiography. In 1996 he played (his friend) William Donaldson's guide to Marbella in the infamous BBC Radio 4 series A Retiring Fellow. 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.
He 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 which was released as part of the DVD The Ultimate Gangster DVD (2003 Gangster Videos), which featured crime figures Charles Bronson, John McVicar, Paddy Joe Hill, Albert Reading, Dave Courtney, Roy Shaw, Norman Parker, Marilyn Wisbey and axe victim Eric Mason. This programme was also shown on the Crime & Investigation and Biography channels in the UK and was directed by Liam Galvin. London-based production company Classic Media Entertainment has secured the film rights to Mad Frankie's life. A feature film production is currently in development with Fraser's endorsement.
Fraser gave gangland tours around London, where he highlighted infamous criminal locations such as The Blind Beggar pub. In 1991 Fraser was shot in the head from close range in an apparent murder attempt outside the Turnmills Club in Clerkenwell, London. Part of his mouth was shot away in the incident. He refused to discuss the shooting with the police, stating that: "If you play by the sword you've got to expect the sword as well."
Fraser was an Arsenal fan, and his grandson Tommy Fraser is a professional footballer, and formerly captain of League Two side Port Vale. Another of Fraser's grandsons, James Fraser, also spent a short time with Bristol Rovers. Another grandson, Anthony Fraser, was being sought by police in February 2011 for his alleged involvement in an alleged £5 million cannabis smuggling ring. In his later years, he led £45 a head minibus tours of London's gangland, including the scrap metal yard from which his friends Charlie and Eddie Richardson ran their South London crime empire.
Fraser was a resident at a sheltered accommodation home in Peckham, South London. According to Eddie Richardson, Fraser had Alzheimer's disease for the last three years of his life. In June 2013 the 89-year-old Fraser was served with an anti-social behaviour order (ASBO) by police after a row with another resident. On 21 November 2014, he fell critically ill during leg surgery at King's College Hospital, Denmark Hill and was placed into an induced coma.
On 26 November 2014, Fraser died after his family made the decision to turn off his life-support machine.
Sourced from The Krays Ronnie And Reggie Britain's Most Notorious Criminals on Facebook, 13 December 2022.
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