Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Fraley grew up across the Delaware River in Woodbury, New Jersey. He graduated from Woodbury Junior-Senior High School in 1934, and was inducted into the school's hall of fame in 2010.
He worked for United Press International as a sports reporter from 1940 to 1965 but still managed to write during his free time. Over the course of his lifetime, Fraley penned 31 books, including Hoffa, The Real Story (Stein and Day, 1975).
In 1956, he was introduced to Ness while working as a reporter for UPI. It was this encounter that served as the inspiration for The Untouchables (1957). By 1957, Fraley had written most of the proofs for the manuscript of the book. Ness read these proofs shortly before his own death that same year, and the book was released a month after Ness's death.

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