Freddie Foreman

"Brown Bread" Freddie Foreman (born March 5, 1932) was a British mobster and freelance enforcer for the Kray twins during the 1960s, and involved in the gangland slayings of Jack "The Hat" McVitie and Ginger Marks. He is also the father of actor Jamie Foreman.

Early life

Born in South London, England, Foreman became involved in juvenile crime and, at the age of 16, was first arrested on an assault charge in 1948. Joining the Forty Thieves, a local shoplifting gang, he was convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to nine months imprisonment at Wandsworth Prison in 1952.

Criminal career

By 1956, Foreman headed his own criminal organisation or "crime firm" which included Buster Edwards, Tommy Wisbey and Billy Hart. The organisation committed freelance work in London's underworld until 1959 when he was forced into hiding in London's East End after a failed armed robbery in Southampton. Although later serving three months in Wandsworth for the Southampton robbery, following his release in 1960, he was eventually enlisted by Ronnie and Reggie Kray during their war with the Richardson Gang during the 1960s.

Under the protection of the Krays, he formed a new gang and began to targets banks, post offices, security vans, bullion, wages and payrolls. However, while the firm was largely successful during this period, in one incident it failed to steal $2 million when the gang were forced to flee from armed police officers during a payroll robbery in Bow, East London on December 14, 1961. In April 1963, the firm declined an offer of an estimated $100,000 each to rob the gold reserves of Panama's main bank, but on May 24 of that year participated in the robbery of $5 million in gold bullion, one of the biggest thefts in London's history. Despite this success, Foreman declined an offer from former gang members Buster Edwards and Tommy Wisbey to join with Gordon Goody and Bruce Reynolds to participate in the Great Train Robbery in June.

In July 1965, Foreman provided a safehouse for Ronnie Biggs following his escape from Wandsworth and, the following year, arranged a deal for Edwards to turn himself into police on September 19 in exchange for a reduced sentence.

According to "Mad" Frankie Fraser [http://www.madfrankiefraser.co.uk/frankiefraser.htm?story/marks.htm~mainFrame] , Foreman and several others were involved in the kidnap-murder of Ginger Marks outside the Repton Boys Club in January 1965 after he and jewel thief Jimmy Evans had ambushed Foreman's brother George, who had been having an affair with Marks' wife, and shot him in the groin after luring him out onto the balcony of his South Lambeth apartment. Although Foreman attempted to lure both men into the open on the pretence of joining him on a jewel heist, Evans was able to escape by hiding under a parked car and would later testify against him for Marks' murder in November 1975. Although he was acquitted of murder charges, he later admitted to murdering Marks with Alfie Gerrard.

Underworld enforcer

Foreman later shot and killed Frank "The Mad Axeman" Mitchell, supposedly as a personal favour to Ronnie Kray, on December 24, 1966.

In 1967, Jack McVitie damaged his club on Balham High road during a drunken brawl in which McVitie had threatened the Krays before he was thrown out [http://www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters_outlaws/mob_bosses/kray/removal_12.html] and, on October 28, he helped Charlie Kray dispose of McVitie's body after he was stabbed to death by Reggie Kray earlier that night. He would later be tried for his role in McVitie's death and convicted with Charlie Kray for his involvement in the murder, and sentenced to ten years imprisonment on March 4, 1969. He was also charged with the murder of Mitchell on May 16, but was acquitted due to a lack of evidence.

Return to crime

Released shortly before his his trial at the Old Bailey for the murder of Ginger Marks, he fled to the United States in November 1979 after his connection to a $2.5 million drug raid, in which a customs officer had been killed, was discovered. Returning to visit an old friend in 1981, Foreman was arrested by London police and received a two year suspended sentence. After organising a robbery of $7 million from Security Express, he again fled the country to Marbella, Spain to escape from authorities. After living in Spain for several years, he was taken into custody by Spanish authorities while on board a plane and extradited to the United Kingdom on July 28, 1988. Although found not guilty of participating in the robbery, he was convicted for laundering the stolen cash and was sentenced to nine years imprisonment on April 4, 1990.

Recent years

A model prisoner during his stay, Foreman helped resolve a prison riot in Full Sutton. Released from Maidstone Prison in 1995, he was a pallbearer at the funeral of Ronnie Kray in March.

In 2001, Foreman was involved in an altercation with the 76 year old Fraser outside a cafe in Maida Vale, West London, supposedly for unfavourable comments made towards him in Fraser's autobiography. Though Foreman has not commented on the incident, Fraser has provided a detailed description of his version of the incident, strongly criticising the accuracy of the original report in the News of the World.

The main character of the film "The Long Good Friday", played by Bob Hoskins, is largely based on Foreman's life.

In November 2007, Foreman released an updated and reworked autobiography 'Brown Bread Fred', ghost-written by Jeff Maysh (John Blake Publishing)

Further reading

*Bronson, Charles and Stephen Richards. "Legends: Volume I". Gateshead, UK: Mirage Publishing, 2000. ISBN 1-902578-22-8
*Burke, Roger Hopkins (ed.) "Hard Cop, Soft Cop: Dilemmas and Debates in Contemporary Policing". Willan Publishing, 2004. ISBN 1-84392-047-6
*Donaldson, William. "Brewer's Rogues, Villains, and Eccentrics: An A-Z of Roguish Britons Through the Ages". London: Orion Books Ltd., 2004. ISBN 0-7538-1791-8
*Knight, Ronnie, Knight, John, Wilton, Peter. "Gotcha!" 2003. Pan. ISBN 0-330-48602-0
*Maysh, Jeff. "Brown Bread Fred". London. John Blake., 2007. ISBN 978-1-84454-483-7
*Wright, Alan. "Organised Crime". Portland: Willan Publishing, 2006. ISBN 1-84392-140-5

External links

* [http://www.gangland.net/freddief.htm Gangland.net - Freddie Foreman]
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20020803233239/http://www.freddieforeman.com/ FreddieForeman.com] official website (archived at the Wayback Machine)
* [http://www.thekrays.co.uk/gangnews13.html The People's Voice: "Mad" Freddie Beats Up "Mad" Frankie]
* [http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brown-Bread-Fred-Freddie-Foreman/dp/1844544834 Brown Bread Fred on Amazon.co.uk]