I first met Frank in the dungeon of Wandsworth Prison. He’d just been moved I think it was from Chelmsford. They’d smashed him to pieces; he just survived there. And I was in the dungeon. I had a bit of a, bit of a talk with the Governor. I dived on him. And his telephone – you know the wire on the telephone – wrapped round his neck a few times. But it was an accident; he was trying to do me for attempted murder. And that’s when I first met Frank in ’76. A lot of people in prison today: six foot six, twenty stone, big biceps, and they’re all muppets, all on drugs, steroids, think they’re hard. You’ve seen Frank, have yer, a tiny man, but he’s got the heart of a lion. It doesn’t matter how big these people are with the muscles. They’re never going to have the heart Frankie Fraser had, ever. Charles Bronson, recorded message Mad Frank
At least seven betting shops have been bombed in the last six to nine months. A pattern which looks horribly like the Chicago days of the 1930s where the mobs moved in on gambling. BBC News
[Frankie] Fraser has spent forty years, the equivalent of his girlfriend’s lifetime, in prison. The Underworld: Robbery
Twenty-eight-year-old Jimmy Nash defied certainty to escape the rope and taught the underworld how to get away with murder. The Underworld: Getting Away With Murder
One of six brothers from an Islington family. ibid.
This was one of the first trials where witnesses and jurors received police protection. ibid.
The Nash’s were true sons of north London. ibid.
Charlie and Eddie Richardson were two Lambeth boys who ran their own company when they were still in their teens. ibid.
The yards became a front for a criminal empire of fraud and violence. ibid.
Fraser was a henchman for London underworld boss Billy Hill. When Hill fell out with his former gangland partner Jack Spot each began plotting to kill the other. Fraser led a street attack on Spot to teach him a lesson. ibid.
This crime is still popular today – it’s called a long-firm fraud. ibid.
The street markets of South London were an ideal distribution network for the Richardson’s gang. ibid.
North of the river, resentment was brewing: the Krays’ long-firm frauds were much less successful. ibid.
After the gun battle at Mr Smith’s, one man was dead and Eddie Richardson and Frankie Fraser had gunshot wounds. ibid.
The police began to realise there was a link between the fraudulent companies and the violence. ibid.
The main architect of the frauds was Jack Duval. He built a pyramid of shady companies. ibid.
These men were so callous they took meal breaks while they tortured others. ibid.
In June 1967 the man who had given the orders had to take some: Charlie Richardson was sentenced to twenty-five years for crimes of violence and demanding money with menaces. Eddie Richardson and Frank Fraser got fifteen years apiece. ibid.
Ronnie and Reggie Kray, the East End twins who have become the most notorious gangsters in recent British history, in 1969 they were jailed for life for two premeditated murders. But the Krays were only the latest in a long line of gangland bosses. For the previous twenty years London’s underworld had been dominated by three men: Billy Hill, Albert Dimes and Jack Spot. Gangster Kings of the Underworld: Jack Spot
Whitechapel, East London ... Jack Comer, better known as Jack Spot ... Jack Spot grew up in the hub of the Jewish East End. ibid.
Spot became a sort of hero to Jews for his street battles with anti-Semites. In 1936 he was singled out by Oswald Moseley for leading a violent attack on Moseley’s black shirts as they marched through the East End. But by this time Spot was combining community protection with protection rackets. Spot’s menace was reinforced with the razor. ibid.
But Spot had his eyes on another gambling racket: protecting bookmakers at England’s richest racecourses. ibid.
Spot found himself thwarted by an ambitious thief who had spent many years in jail – Billy Hill. ibid.
Hill himself was setting up the most audacious robberies of all: in 1952 a team of his stole more than £200,000 from a post office van. ibid.
He decided he didn’t need Jack Spot any more. ibid.
Albert Dimes – the leader of a rising generation of Anglo-Italians. ibid.
Spot was no longer the hunter but the hunted. ibid.
In the 1960s Albert Dimes was the most respected gangster in London. But at the height of his power he died. ibid.
A quiet lay-by in Essex. December 22nd 1989. An accountant with gangland connections and his girlfriend are being executed. Godfathers: The Adams North London
We get the gangstas we deserve. For we are the people who make them multi-millionaires. ibid.
Gangland still depends largely on family loyalties. ibid.
Most powerful of all are the brothers Adam. ibid.
Tommy hit the big time. He was the key player in Britain’s biggest heist when raiders escaped with £26,000,000 of gold ingots ... Tommy Adams was acquitted. ibid.
The drugs business: they were about to enter the criminal super-league. ibid.
Gradually, the Adams brothers extended their presence across north London, even the West End. ibid.
In the 1920s ... six times as many gangs in Glasgow than even London. Gangs of Britain s1e1, CI 2013
Since the 1900s as many as seventy gangs have fought it out on London’s streets. Gangs of Britain with Gary and Martin Kemp s1e5: London E&W
The Sabinis from Clerkenwell ... by the forties they were gone. ibid.
The Watney Streeters – originally an Irish fighting gang ... During 1919, 1,500 people were arrested for cargo poaching. ibid.
Pilfering was organised by the older dockers. ibid.
A hundred years later a new wave of Asian immigrants were arriving ... One of the gangs was the Tooti Nungs [the Worthless Ones]. ibid.
Southall: Holy Smokes v Tooti Nune: Operation Shampoo was about to lift the lid off of organised crime in Southall. ibid.
By 1956 the [Kray] Twins were making serious money. They controlled an area from Bethnal Green east to Mile End, Stepney, Bow and north to Hackney and Walthamstow. ibid.
The Krays were a new breed of criminal – unpredictable, violent and ruthless. ibid.
Operation Shampoo: it would unearth one of the largest heroin smuggling operations ever discovered in Britain. ibid.
The Tooti Nungs were bringing in ten kilos a day ... for ten years. ibid.
By 1989 prominent members of the Tooti Nungs had become exposed. ibid.
Organised crime has moved into our financial markets. Thousands of victims across Britain have lost their livelihoods. The most vulnerable are the prime targets. Tonight, the City of London police investigated a gang making millions. Fraud Squad I, ITV 2011
Fraud is the new goldmine for criminal gangs. 3.2 million people in Britain have become victims. Organised crime’s latest enterprise is to con people into purchasing shares in companies that don’t exist. ibid.
The City of London police have a specialist department tackling fraudsters nationally and internationally. They have identified 1,200 boiler rooms making criminals over £3 million per year. ibid.
Criminal gangs share the list of people they have conned. ibid.
The sale of fake shares requires a sophisticated network. [George] Abrue’s criminal organisation uses bogus websites, shell offices, glossy brochures and mass-market emails. ibid.
Criminal gangs share the lists of people they have conned. ibid.
The City of London Police have arrested nine people. They are accused of selling millions of pounds of fake shares to hundreds of British victims. Fraud Squad II, ITV 2011
Ringleader Abrue has been arrested in Sweden for assault. ibid.
Fraud is one of the fastest growing crimes in Britain. ibid.
Nine suspects are charged with sixteen offences. ibid.
Detectives have seized £1 million in assets from the gang. The victims have lost £20 million. ibid.
London: where drugs fuel a twenty-four-hour work-hard play-hard lifestyle. London is the cocaine capital of Europe. On the streets competition among dealers is fierce. A boom in home-grown marijuana has turned Britain into an exporting country. Drugs Inc s3e10: Coke Kings and Queens, 2013
There are a quarter of a million regular users of cocaine in London. ibid.
In East London marijuana is king. ibid.
9 out of 10 drug suspects arrested are foreign nationals. ibid.