Big Frank, a 91-year-old Maltese gangster who ran Soho’s infamous vice scene during the 1960s and 1970s, has passed away.

Frank Mifsud passed away peacefully at his home on Sunday, surrounded by his family.

A former traffic policeman, Mr Mifsud gained notoriety as a crime boss – earning the nickname Big Frank – when he established one of the most powerful syndicates in Soho and the West End at the height of the Swinging 60s.

There was a time when he controlled the majority of strip clubs in Soho, which became known as the village of vices. He leaves behind his wife and three children.

Mr Mifsud last made headlines in 2014, when a court in Malta ordered him to take a paternity test to establish whether he was the biological father of a woman claiming to be his daughter.