1. Francis Davidson Fraser, better known as "Mad" Frankie Fraser, was an English gangster who spent 42 years in prison for numerous violent offences.
18 Facts About Frankie Fraser
1. 2.
Francis Davidson Fraser was born on Cornwall Road in Waterloo, London, the youngest of five children of a partly Native American seaman and an Irish-Norwegian washerwoman.
3.
Frankie Fraser grew up in poverty in a Roman Catholic household, where he learned to recite prayers in Latin.
4.
Frankie Fraser was a deserter during the Second World War, escaping from his barracks on several occasions.
5.
In 1941, Frankie 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.
6.
Such were the criminal opportunities during the war, Frankie Fraser joked in a television interview years later, that he had never forgiven the Germans for surrendering.
7.
Afraid of being heavily medicated for bad behaviour, Frankie Fraser stayed out of trouble and was released in 1955.
8.
In 1966, Frankie 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.
9.
Frankie Fraser himself was accused of pulling out the teeth of victims with a pair of pliers.
10.
Frankie Fraser was involved in riots and frequently fought with prison officers and fellow inmates.
11.
Frankie 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.
12.
Whilst in Strangeways, Manchester in 1980, Frankie 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 Frankie Fraser had hit him; he was allowed to wear slippers.
13.
Frankie Fraser became a minor celebrity of sorts, 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, and writing an autobiography.
14.
In 1991, Frankie Fraser was shot in the head from close range in an apparent murder attempt outside the Turnmills Club in Clerkenwell, London.
15.
Frankie Fraser refused to discuss the shooting with the police.
16.
Frankie Fraser was an Arsenal fan, and his grandson Tommy Frankie Fraser was a professional footballer.
17.
Frankie Fraser was a resident at a sheltered accommodation home in Peckham.
18.
In June 2013, the 89-year-old Frankie Fraser was served with an anti-social behaviour order by police after a row with another resident.