Writer and former Northern Echo journalist Beezy Marsh got to know one of Britain’s most notorious criminals and his family for the biography Mad Frank & Sons, published by Sidgwick & Jackson on June 2. She talks about his getting into gangland, crime and doing time

HOW do you write a biography about one of the most notorious gangsters in Britain and his bank robber sons? Well, the simple answer to that question would have to be “carefully” but getting to know the real Frankie Fraser and his relatives was much more complex; it revealed a man who was very different to his public image as an enforcer, as well as a warm and caring family with strong ties to each other.

I was taking a break from journalism and in the middle of writing a romantic novel about a day-dreaming mother, when my literary agent casually mentioned he wanted someone to talk to an ageing gangster about the possibility of doing a final memoir.

Of course, I’d heard of “Mad” Frankie Fraser, the axe-wielding henchman who pulled out teeth with pliers and had spent 42 years inside, including more time on bread and water than any other prisoner. A sane person would have hesitated at this point but something in me was hooked. I was instantly fascinated by the prospect of meeting him but also rather scared. Don’t worry, my agent told me, you can meet his sons first. Great, I thought, that will make things less terrifying. Then he added: “They used to rob banks for a living.”

The Northern Echo: Mad Frank & Sons, by David Fraser, Patrick Fraser and Beezy Marsh
NEW BOOK: Mad Frank & Sons, by David Fraser, Patrick Fraser and Beezy Marsh

A “meet” was arranged at a restaurant by the River Thames at Tower Bridge one blustery spring day and, with great trepidation, I went along. I was used to dealing with criminals from my days as a court reporter on The Northern Echo and had faced many a politician in my job writing for The Daily Mail but now I was a mother-of-two trying to launch a career as a novelist… what on earth was I getting myself into?

Sweeping aside memories of watching the grisly parts of The Long Good Friday, I strode in to a little Italian restaurant and came face-to-face with David and Patrick Fraser. They were not the fierce, tattooed armed robbers I had imagined but softly spoken, charming, and witty men who freely admitted to having lived life on the wrong side of the law but who had long since put their gun-toting days behind them. They said they needed to check me out before deciding whether or not I could meet their father, Frankie Fraser, who was by then infirm and living in sheltered accommodation in Peckham.

Despite his advancing years, Frank was still no stranger to trouble. His lengthy spell at Her Majesty’s Pleasure was over but he had only recently received an ASBO for affray with another care home resident in an argument over a comfy chair. So, meeting Frank for the first time was rather nerve wracking. I had read up on some of his most famous exploits. The sweet, dapper little old man I met and came to know over the months that followed was nothing like this monster. Despite suffering the early stages of Alzheimer’s he still had a fantastic recall for his glory days but he found interviews tiring, so we had to take things slowly. However, when he recalled slicing a rival with an axe, he practically leapt from his armchair as he relived the moment of the attack, and he had such a fierce look behind his eyes that I didn’t doubt for a minute that he was fully capable of this - and worse - violence. When I asked if there had been a lot of blood - which I found shocking - he remarked that the most shocking thing for him was his victim “kept getting back up for more.” He viewed the violence he meted out as just part of his world, his job: “It was only those who had it coming who got hurt on my watch and I was a bit handy with a razor or an axe.”

I was keen to tell the whole story of the Fraser crime clan for the first time, as although Frank had gained notoriety both in and out of prison - with protection rackets on the outside and riots and protests behind bars - there was a rich history of lives lived outside the law to unravel. Once Frank, David and Patrick started to reminisce, we realised that the entire Fraser family had spent some 100 years inside.

“That was quite an achievement,” Frank remarked, with typical candour. Patrick and David had their regrets for dedicating their life to crime but Frank didn’t do remorse; he did express regret once - but that was only for getting caught.

Wednesday: Getting to know Mad Frankie Fraser

MAD FRANK AND SONS, by David Fraser, Patrick Fraser and Beezy Marsh is published by Sidgwick and Jackson on June 2