A NOTORIOUS London gangster started on the path to a life of crime after a chance meeting with a gang leader in Chelmsford Prison, a new book about his life has revealed.

Criminal “Mad” Frankie Fraser, a rival to the Krays, who spent more than 42 years behind bars for protection rackets and violence, was recruited as a teenager by a leg - endary 1940s gang boss, who was impressed by his tough reputation.

During the early days of the Second World War, Fraser had already been birched for assaulting a prison officer and was transferred to Chelmsford where he fell in with Billy Hill, later the Boss of Soho and the architect of daring heists which were forerunners of the Great Train Robbery and the Brinks Mat Bullion Raid.

In the final interviews before his death in November 2014, Fraser said: “I respected him hugely but I guess there is always the thought of “What if he sets up against me?”

“There was something special about him. You just knew you were talking to the Boss.”

Fraser’s sons, David and Patrick, went on to become bank robbers in the 1970s and then to the Costa Del Crime in the decades which followed.

The Frasers, who spent nearly 100 years behind bars, have revealed their secrets of life on the wrong side of the law in a new biography, Mad Frank and Sons, co-written by former Daily Mail journalist Beezy Marsh.

The authors will be signing copies of Mad Frank and Sons at Waterstones, Unit 69, Lakeside Shopping Centre, Thurrock, RM202ZG from 12.30pm to 2.30pm on Saturday.

David Fraser said: “People are still fascinated in that whole era of the Krays and the thing is, we were there, we knew them in prison and our dad Frank knew them from being little boys and what we aimed to do with the book was give a very honest view of our lives which were, let’s face it, more dishonest than most.”