Mad Frank: Memoirs of a Life of Crime - Frankie Fraser, James Morton

'Mad' Frank Frasier kept cropping up in various books I was reading about crime in London during what can be called the glory days, the 40's through to the 60's.
After hearing his named mentioned so many times I looked further into his story.

Frank's own biography, Memoirs of a life of crime, is the story of a man who has an incredible past to tell about the life he has led as one of the key figures in the underworld.
...you back to a forgotten era and starts his life in 20's London when life was very hard.
He was brought up by two hard working parents living in the Victorian terraces when street fights were commonplace. He tells you that his mother and father were both straight, so he doesn't have any excuses there as to why he stared into a life of crime.

He began his criminal career at a very young age by becoming a thief and with the outbreak ... more

'Mad' Frank Frasier kept cropping up in various books I was reading about crime in London during what can be called the glory days, the 40's through to the 60's.
After hearing his named mentioned so many times I looked further into his story.

Frank's own biography, Memoirs of a life of crime, is the story of a man who has an incredible past to tell about the life he has led as one of the key figures in the underworld.

'Mad' Frank is a book that takes you back to a forgotten era and starts his life in 20's London when life was very hard.
He was brought up by two hard working parents living in the Victorian terraces when street fights were commonplace. He tells you that his mother and father were both straight, so he doesn't have any excuses there as to why he stared into a life of crime.

He began his criminal career at a very young age by becoming a thief and with the outbreak of the Second World War he claims that 'It was a wonderful time for villains' and also that 'He never forgave Hitler for surrendering'.
I found this a fascinating section of the book where he relives what it was like to be on the wrong side of the law in the midst of war torn London. You get the feeling that he also looks back on this period of his life with happy memories and it saddens him that it will never be that good again for a thief.

There is humour injected into Frank's words with this tails of how he used to wear the tin hat and armband of an air raid warden and get the police to help unload the stolen goods.
He would tell the Police that there was an unexploded bomb in the shop and that they needed to get the stock out and get the law to help him lift the stolen merchandise into the nicked car.

His tale is intertwined with his times in prison which total more than 40 years and he always served his time the hard way. He spent most days beating up screws, other inmates and attacking the governors, here too he explains why he got himself certified insane to earn his 'Mad' nickname.
In all his days inside he never received one day of remission and he never tried to escape even though being offered the chance, he was too involved in the famous Parkhurst riots.

While inside Frank was beaten, kicked and given the birch at a time when you couldn't appeal to anyone and there was no human rights. Frank tells of how he coped with the mental and physical punishment that he endured which came from spending over half his life behind bars.

As a prominent criminal in London he tells of his involvement with the Kray twins and his employment with the fearsome Richardson Brothers who he stood in the dock with for the 'Torture Trail'.
The book takes you to a time when the Krays and Richardson's ruled London and Frank gives you his views on why Ronnie killed George Cornell and why Reggie killed Jack the Hat, all of whom he was acquainted with.

Frank tells us of his violent years where he operated as a club owner, a hired strong-arm and a hit man which resulted in two home secretaries labelling him 'The most dangerous man in Britain'.

His lifetime of crime is chillingly described and as a mainstay in a world which most of the people his has known had their downfall or death you feel that he is one of the lucky ones to survive.
He finishes with a view of the world today and if you are to take one piece of advice from him it's that a life of crime is not the glamour that the films make out. He does make a point that the only thing he regrets about his life is that he got caught and makes no excuses for the life he led, and that he now appreciates his freedom.

Frank's story is remarkable and unbelievable especially as he relives the time he was shot in the head at point blank range, but at times he seems to want to tell you of incidents he knows of or was involved in and it can read like a name dropping exercise.

Frank's views added with his unique brand of humour, overall I found this a very interesting read and it takes you back to the days of the gangsters and crime which were at its peak in Britain. It is a welcome change from the endless supply of Kray books and 'celebrity' gangster publications that crop up each year and you are left feeling that Frank needed to tell his story to put some of the tails in other books straight.


Warner books
£6.99, paperback
338 pages with 16 pages of black and white photos.
ISBN: 0751511374
 

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