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95-409: The 1,000 acres (4.0 km) of land that Great Meadow Correctional Facility sits on was purchased by the state of New York in 1905 from Isaac Baker. A mountain lake 2 mi (3.2 km) from the prison was the main source of water for the facility. The lake sat higher than the prison grounds allowing the transfer of water to be efficient. The original plans for the land was to build an institution for

190-401: A Honolulu Advertiser reporter that he was familiar with the toilet apparatus, squeezed himself through the opening, swung down through the lower hatch, landed on the pavement, ran across the runway, and hailed a cab. Abagnale claimed he moved the sewage container aside and that no one heard a thing: "I took off running. I thought they were right behind me. What I didn't know was that the door

285-474: A Scarsdale, New York , police officer and entered the apartment of a Mount Vernon, New York , resident claiming that he was investigating her teenaged daughter. Suspicious, the victim called the Mount Vernon police, who found Abagnale with a toy gun and a paper police badge. Abagnale was arrested and booked on a vagrancy charge after being identified in a lineup by the victim. The following day, Abagnale

380-553: A TWA pilot and moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana , where he talked his way into the house of a local music teacher, whose daughter was a Delta Air Lines stewardess he had met in New York. In Baton Rouge, Abagnale also befriended a local minister, claimed he had a master's degree in social work from Ithaca College , and sought work with vulnerable youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The reverend introduced him to Louisiana State University faculty, who determined he

475-533: A Pan American airlines pilot for two years. In addition, Abagnale claimed that he recruited female university students as Pan American flight attendants, traveling with them for three months throughout Europe. He also claimed he eluded the FBI with a daring escape from a commercial airline bathroom via the toilet bowl, while the plane was taxiing at the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. In 1978, Abagnale told

570-474: A brawl broke out between inmates and correctional officers. In total 28 people, including two guards, were injured. The brawl broke out at 11 A.M. and with the help of tear gas was brought under control within twenty minutes. A 38-year-old inmate died in 1982 after an encounter with prison guards. The altercation broke out when the inmate attacked a guard while being escorted back to his cell. September 2007: Guards used tear gas to break up an inmate quarrel. This

665-506: A chance to arrest Frank but lack grounds to do so for his known crimes. They invent vagrancy charges and book him on those instead. Frank is soon bailed out by a bondsman who goes by the name "Bail-Out" Bailey. FBI Agent O'Riley arrives to find Frank gone. He assesses how that happened and barks that, having been paid by check, Bailey has just become a fraud victim. Frank later takes measures to ensure that Bailey actually gets paid. Frank's wanderlust extends to international horizons. He forges

760-581: A consulting firm. Abagnale claims to have worked as an assistant state attorney general in the U.S. state of Louisiana , served as a hospital physician in Georgia , and impersonated a Pan American World Airways pilot who logged over two million air miles by deadheading . The veracity of most of Abagnale's claims has been questioned, and ongoing inquiries continue to confirm that they were fabricated. In 2002, Abagnale admitted on his website that some facts had been overdramatized or exaggerated, though he

855-526: A doctor: "When the girls came by, I always gave them a thorough examination and sent them on their way. I was young, but not stupid." In 2021, Louisiana State University Manship Chair in Journalism Robert Mann expressed his regret in not confronting Abagnale's claim of conducting physical examinations as a doctor: "Looking back on my story about the event [Abagnale's lecture], I am embarrassed by what I wrote about Abagnale's time posing as

950-411: A graduate of Berkeley Law School. He is again implored to fill a job opening and has the hiring conditions finagled for him. One requirement is that he pass the state bar exam. He attempts it with a mix of quick studying and common sense. As if it is standard practice, it is returned after his first two attempts with his wrong answers marked. Thus he manages to pass without cheating on the third try. He

1045-477: A hospital, though, they insist Frank is the best temporary fit. Frank hesitantly accepts the job and comes up with tricks to improve his façade as he goes. He forms a relationship with one Brenda Strong, but the romance is overshadowed by his fear that the FBI could be close to tracking him down. On one mortifying occasion, he is relieved that a tragedy is averted (no thanks to him) after he did not know what " blue baby " meant. After relocating again, Frank poses as

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1140-441: A hotel, Frank does some research on airline work culture. After some time, he successfully forges a pilot's license and lies his way into a warehouse. He gets a tailored uniform there identifying him as first officer for a commercial airline. Frank begins passing himself off as a deadhead (a pilot riding along in cockpits on the way to scheduled takeoff points) thus conning his way into free air travel. He explores cities throughout

1235-469: A line of credit for auto work that was never done and car parts that were never sold. His father forgives him, but his mother sends him to boarding school for boys. Between school terms, Frank is devastated when his parents decide to divorce. He runs away and takes up forging checks. He is easily mistaken for an adult, and uses this to his advantage by impersonating a 26-year-old in New York. Inspired when he sees smiling pilots and pretty stewardesses leaving

1330-741: A local business in Baton Rouge, and he was subsequently charged with theft and forgery. Unable to make bail, he was convicted on June 2, 1969, and was sentenced to 12 years of supervised probation, but he soon fled Louisiana for Europe. Two weeks after the Louisiana bench warrant was issued, Abagnale was arrested in Montpellier , France, in September 1969. He had stolen an automobile and defrauded two local families in Klippan , Sweden. He

1425-489: A long sentence at Perpignan 's prison, barely surviving the subhuman living conditions. His only sympathetic visitor is a U.S. liaison who regrets to inform him this is typical for inmates. After serving six months in Perpignan's prison, Frank is later transferred to Sweden. He stonewalls a few legal inquiries until he's made aware how fair their system is. With his cooperation, a defense attorney argues technicalities about

1520-465: A more varied criminal past. In December 1978, Abagnale's claims were again investigated after he visited Oklahoma City for a talk. As part of his investigation into the story, Perry spoke with Pan Am spokesman Bruce Haxthausen, who responded to the journalists' inquiry saying: This is the first we've heard of this, and we would have heard of or at least remember[ed] it if it had happened. You don't forget $ 2.5 million in bad checks. I'd say this guy

1615-507: A new career as a speaker and security consultant. During this time, he falsified his resume to show he had worked with the Los Angeles Police Department and Scotland Yard . In 1977, Abagnale gave public talks wherein he claimed that between the ages of 16 and 21, he was a pediatrician in a Georgia hospital for one year, an assistant state attorney general for one year, a sociology professor for two semesters, and

1710-439: A passport, then globetrots through different parts of Europe including France, trying to evade arrest. One day while grocery shopping, Frank finds himself surrounded by gendarmerie who hold him at gunpoint. He has a moment of genuine mortal terror because the surrender commands they shout are contradictory (Should he lie down, kneel, or stand with hands on head?). He pleads with them not to shoot and submits to arrest. He serves

1805-561: A pediatrician. Reading those words now, in which Abagnale bragged about sexual abuse, makes me sick." Abagnale has publicly claimed an intelligence quotient (IQ) of 140: "I have an I.Q. of 140 and retain 90% of what I read. So, by studying and memorizing the bar exam, I was able to get the needed score." In 2021, Abagnale gave the keynote speech at the American Mensa Conference in Houston . The organizers claimed he

1900-633: A pilot. Almost all of these claims have been refuted by journalists. In public lectures describing his life story, Abagnale has consistently maintained that he was "arrested just once," and that was in Montpellier, France. However, public records show Abagnale was arrested in New York (multiple times), California, Massachusetts, Louisiana, Georgia, and Texas. Despite public records showing Abagnale targeted individuals and small family businesses, Abagnale has long claimed publicly that he "never, ever ripped off any individuals." He made

1995-481: A real criminal, my victims were big corporations. I was a kid ripping off the establishment." Individuals criminally targeted by Abagnale, however, have described the long-term consequences of victimization: He had a key to our front door, it was never recovered. We changed the lock. I fed him. I cooked. I don't trust people as much anymore. His claim that he passed the Louisiana bar examination, worked for Attorney General Jack P. F. Gremillion , and closed 33 cases,

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2090-402: A seminar in 1978, two years before the book's publication, a San Francisco Chronicle reporter phoned a number of institutions that Abagnale mentioned to confirm his claims and found no evidence for them. Abagnale responded that he doubted anyone would confirm them due to embarrassment. He later said he had changed the names. In 2002, Abagnale addressed the issue of the book's truthfulness with

2185-499: A sociology professor in at least three books, two solely written by Abagnale himself, and an on-camera claim following the movie, it appears Abagnale as a BYU professor is mostly or entirely just another real fake. Leading up to 2020, author Alan C. Logan conducted an in-depth investigation for a book that focused on the perspective of Abagnale's victims. As part of this process, Logan combined earlier newspaper articles, numerous administrative documents, and public records that had not been

2280-408: A statement posted on his company's website which said (in part): "I was interviewed by the co-writer only about four times. I believe he did a great job of telling the story, but he also over-dramatized and exaggerated some of [it]. That was his style and what the editor wanted. He always reminded me that he was just telling a story and not writing my biography." Specifically he addressed details such as

2375-582: A summer children's camp in Texas, where he was arrested for stealing cameras from his co-workers. After he received only a fine, he obtained a position at a Houston-area orphanage by pretending to be a pilot with a master's degree. This job had him finding foster homes for the children living at the orphanage. This ruse was eventually discovered by his parole officer, who swiftly removed him from his orphanage work and moved him into living quarters above his own garage, so he "could keep an eye on him". His next position

2470-401: A year's worth of rent in the city of River Bend and lie low. He whimsically claims to be a doctor on his rental application. The application shows that he is graduated from Harvard University. At his first opportunity, he forges physician's credentials to supplement his cover. Members of the local medical community respect his preference not to work, at first. When a position opens for head of

2565-507: A year." Despite this admission, in public speeches, Abagnale would return to his claims of long-term impersonations of a doctor and for working for a year as an attorney. Abagnale's fees for speaking about his alleged life story are reported to be between $ 20,000 and $ 30,000. In 2006, KSL journalist Scott Haws challenged Abagnale with his claim that he worked as a PhD -holding sociology professor at Brigham Young University (BYU) for two semesters. Abagnale claimed that he could not recall

2660-422: A young man, he cashed $ 2.5 million worth of bad checks while impersonating a Pan Am pilot, a doctor, a teacher, and an attorney. The book is acknowledged to have been partly fictionalized, and the factual basis for the events contained in the book has been challenged. Co-written by Abagnale and Stan Redding, Catch Me If You Can was adapted into a film of the same name by director Steven Spielberg in 2002. In

2755-419: Is as phony as a $ 3 bill. In 2002, Abagnale addressed the issue of his story's lack of truthfulness with a statement posted on his company's website, which said in part: "I was interviewed by the co-writer only about four times. I believe he did a great job of telling the story, but he also overdramatized and exaggerated some of the story. That was his style and what the editor wanted. He always reminded me that he

2850-699: Is mired all the while by his lack of knowledge about campus life at Harvard. He must constantly bluff his way through conversations (or evade them) with the real Harvard grads he meets. When Frank resumes his pilot persona, he recruits his own fake airplane crew at a flight attendant school on pretense of a commission for advertising stills. As his confidence increases, so do the amounts on his forged checks. Investigators have one unwitting, face-to-face encounter with Frank. Keeping his cool, he flashes his wallet open and shut as if showing credentials. He then acts like just another law enforcement official until he can make an inconspicuous exit. On another occasion, police have

2945-441: Is prefaced with the statement: "This book is based on the true-life exploits of Frank Abagnale. To protect the right of those whose paths have crossed the author's, all of the characters and some of the events have been altered, and all names, dates and places have been changed." The character of FBI Agent O'Riley is known to be based on Joseph Shea , with whom Abagnale went on to form a lifetime friendship. After Abagnale spoke at

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3040-507: Is that a highly irregular matter needs Frank's immediate attention. The guards can verify this by calling a number provided for the proper authorization (actually the other payphone). Frank is let out and the girlfriend speeds him away. He then flees across the border into Canada where he's ultimately arrested again by Royal Canadian Mounted Police . Frank finally resolves to become a law-abiding citizen. Jobs aren't hard for him to get and managers tend to want to promote him. Consequently though,

3135-492: The Fort Worth Star-Telegram , three years before the publication of his co-written autobiography, effectively nullifying the claim his aforementioned co-author, Stan Redding, exaggerated the story. Despite Abagnale's website claim about his autobiography co-author Stan Redding, investigative journalist Javier Leiva discovered an obscure cover story of True Detective (January 1978) in which Abagnale told

3230-672: The Neil Simon Theatre on Broadway . The show starred Aaron Tveit as Abagnale, Norbert Leo Butz , Tom Wopat and Kerry Butler . Butz won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical at the 65th Tony Awards . The show closed September 4, 2011. Frank Abagnale Jr. Frank William Abagnale Jr. ( / ˈ æ b ə ɡ n eɪ l / ; born April 27, 1948) is an American security consultant, author, and convicted felon who committed frauds that mainly targeted individuals and small businesses. He later gained notoriety in

3325-508: The State Attorney General 's Office examined payments to all employees during the time Abagnale claimed he worked there and concluded that he never worked in the office using his name or an alias. After Abagnale appeared on The Tonight Show , then-First Assistant Attorney General Ken DeJean gave a reporter a series of questions to ask Abagnale about the description of then-Attorney General Gremillion. Abagnale failed to answer

3420-553: The Background section of the invention that KPMG and Abagnale and Associates are groups that affirm that cheque fraud is a significant problem. Logan, girded with public records, shared his findings in detail on the NPR program Watching America , August 13, 2021, broadcast on WHRO . In 2022, investigative journalist Javier Leiva independently obtained the public records first sourced by Logan. Leiva also confirmed that Abagnale

3515-702: The Cobb County jail and was picked up four days later in New York City. He was sentenced to ten years in 1971 for forging checks that totaled $ 1,448.60 (equivalent to $ 11,225.45 in 2024), and he received an additional two years for escaping from the local Cobb County jailhouse. In 1974, Abagnale was released on parole after he had served around two years of his 12-year sentence at Federal Correctional Institution in Petersburg, Virginia . Unwilling to return to his family in New York, Abagnale says he left

3610-606: The Connect IT Global 2022 conference in Las Vegas with prison and other public records in-hand. Leiva describes these events in his podcast series Pretend – The Real Catch Me If You Can (Part 1) . One of Abagnale's most controversial claims is his relationship with the FBI . In 1977, when Abagnale began claiming a five-year uninterrupted life on the run, involving multiprofession imposter scams, he did not claim to work for

3705-611: The FBI, but after this date, Abagnale was arrested for theft at a kids' camp in Friendswood, Texas , on August 29, 1974. In many interviews and speeches, Abagnale has claimed that he has earned millions of dollars from his patents. The United States Patent and Trademark Office website, to the contrary, does not list Abagnale—as a person—or Abagnale and Associates—as a business—as holders of any patents, and neither are listed as an inventor on any patent. In his cheque design patents, Canadian inventor Calin A. Sandru merely mentions in

3800-545: The FBI. He had financed his cross-country trip from New York to California with blank checks stolen from a family business located on the Bronx River Parkway . Abagnale was also charged with impersonating a US customs official, although this charge was subsequently dropped. On July 2, 1965, this stolen-car case was transferred to the Southern District of New York . After being released into

3895-622: The FBI. Abagnale was eventually caught by the gendarmerie while living in France and served approximately five years in prison—six months in France, six months in Europe , and four years in the United States. The book ends with an epilogue telling the story of Abagnale's final capture and his rehabilitation, which resulted in the creation of his security firm. Abagnale's parents discover his smalltime scheme. He has been profiting recklessly from

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3990-495: The FBI. He did, however, leverage the names of FBI personnel to bolster his new biographical claims. In 1978, journalist Ira Perry determined that Abagnale and his publicist were giving out the names of FBI agents to any party that asked for references or verification of his claimed biography; in particular, they gave out the name of Robert Russ Franck, who they claimed was the "former Atlanta agent" who knew all about Abagnale. When Perry contacted Franck, who had just retired as head of

4085-693: The Iona Preparatory School yearbooks from the time he ostensibly attended. Moreover, no alumni recall Abagnale ever attending the high school. In December 1964, he enlisted in the United States Navy at the age of 16. He was discharged after less than three months, and was released on February 18, 1965. Less than two weeks after his release, Abagnale was arrested for petty larceny in Mount Vernon on February 26, 1965. The following month, in March 1965, Abagnale identified himself as

4180-690: The New York State Archives, author Alan C. Logan demonstrated that Abagnale was in the Great Meadow Prison, in Comstock, New York , when he was 18. Abagnale's claim that he impersonated a doctor is not entirely without foundation, however. On the University of Arizona campus in 1970, he stated that he was a pilot and a doctor. According to Paul Holsen, who was an older university student and licensed commercial pilot at

4275-643: The Truth in 1977, and a regular slot on the British network TV series The Secret Cabaret in the 1990s. The book about Abagnale, Catch Me If You Can , was turned into a movie of the same name by Steven Spielberg in 2002, featuring actor Leonardo DiCaprio as Abagnale. The real Abagnale made a cameo appearance in this film playing a French police officer taking DiCaprio into custody. During his many speeches and his appearances on television, Abagnale has alleged many criminal exploits. These include stating that he

4370-450: The U.S. and stays well ahead of his expenses with increasingly innovative check fraud. One tense situation arises when he's brought in for questioning for reasons unclear. All those with whom he has direct interaction, though, see only a charismatic pilot with a license that looks real to their discerning eyes. He accepts their apologies for the inconvenience. (See also " Close calls " below.) Eventually, Abagnale uses his profits to advance

4465-438: The United States, 22-year-old Abagnale dressed in a pilot's uniform and traveled around college campuses, passing bad checks and claiming he was there to recruit stewardesses for Pan Am . At the University of Arizona , he stated that he was a pilot and a doctor. According to Paul Holsen, a student at the time, Abagnale conducted physical examinations on several female college students who wanted to be part of flight crews. None of

4560-510: The adaptation. The film is based upon his life and the autobiography and is mainly true to the source as Abagnale was a consultant to the writers, but some of the details were changed to create a more dramatic narrative for film. Abagnale is also credited in the film with a cameo as one of the French Police officers. Abagnale's life was adapted into a musical of the same name , which previewed on March 11, 2011, and opened on April 10 at

4655-446: The aliases he used. Abagnale's response was, "Due to the embarrassment involved, I doubt if anyone would confirm the information." He later said he had changed the names. Further doubts were raised about Abagnale's story after an October 1978 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson , with a news article saying: Abagnale is indeed a convicted confidence artist. But he is finding willing believers as he promotes and invents

4750-437: The amount of money he wrote in bad checks, and the years in which his crimes took place. In 2020, journalist Alan C. Logan made an in-depth investigation as part of publishing a book on Abagnale's life story, finding earlier newspaper articles that cast doubt on Abagnale's story and locating numerous administrative documents that contradicted many of Abagnale's claims. Logan's investigation found that Abagnale's claims were, for

4845-508: The book is "not worthy of a comment". Abagnale has told the press, "I was convicted on $ 2.5 million dollars' worth of bad checks" and that he later hired a law firm to get all the money back to hotels and other companies. Federal court records, though, show that Abagnale was convicted of forging 10 Pan American Airlines checks in five states (Texas, Arizona, Utah, California. and North Carolina), totaling less than US$ 1,500. Following his parole on February 8, 1974, he claimed he went to work for

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4940-458: The choice of parole location up to the court, which decided that he would be paroled in Houston, Texas. After his release, Abagnale stated that he performed numerous jobs, including cook, grocer, and movie projectionist; he was fired from most of those after he was discovered to have been hired without revealing his criminal past. He again posed as a pilot in 1974 to obtain a job at Camp Manison,

5035-502: The co-authored autobiography, and they also demonstrate that it was Abagnale who invented and exaggerated his life story, not Stan Redding. In 2002, at the Catch Me If You Can film premiere, Abagnale conceded to journalist Andy Seiler of USA Today that the impersonations in the autobiography were fabricated: "I impersonated a doctor for a few days, I was a lawyer for a few days. In the book, it's like I am doing this for

5130-425: The course of his one year at Cobb General, no one doubted his position as a physician: "So I made the rounds, picked up the clipboards, scribbled a few lines, initialed them, and everyone thought I was doing a fine job." However, hospital administrators told journalist Ira Perry that the hospital had no midnight-to-8 am shift, nor did the position of regular overnight pediatrician exist, at the time. Using records from

5225-624: The custody of his father to face the stolen-car charges, 17-year-old Abagnale decided to impersonate a pilot. He obtained a uniform at a Manhattan uniform company, purchased with the money he obtained from the forgery of checks and on July 7, 1965, informed local media that he was a graduate of the American Airlines pilot school in Fort Worth, Texas , but he was arrested for theft of checks in Tuckahoe, New York days later. Abagnale

5320-461: The details, and that his co-author Redding had exaggerated some things. Haws "refreshed Frank's memory" and showed him his own words, including the Catch Me If You Can movie book and the credits that rolled at the end of the film Catch Me If You Can , where Abagnale, not Redding, made the BYU professor claim. Abagnale conceded to Haws that he might have been a guest lecturer. So despite claiming to be

5415-400: The employers run background checks and see little choice but to fire him in light of his criminal record. He finally changes his life by offering his services (for free, at first) as a security consultant on a specialized lecture tour. He speaks to bank personnel, fully disclosing his forgery methods and ways to detect them. He goes on to found a firm that has been famous ever since. The book

5510-405: The film, Abagnale was portrayed by actor Leonardo DiCaprio . The book is loosely based on the real con artistry exploits of Frank Abagnale . It is written in the first person and describes how Abagnale cashed $ 2.5 million worth of bad checks. He assumed various jobs, such as pretending to be a Pan Am pilot, a doctor, a teacher, and a lawyer, and for these impostures was pursued by the police and

5605-441: The fraud charges and gets him a reduced sentence. He finds the prison system is much more hospitable. The prospect of Frank being handed over to other countries with harsh prison systems, like Italy, earns him some sympathy. One of the higher-ups pulls some strings to have him extradited to the United States so he can be in his home country, at least. Frank is flown home where officials wait to take him into custody as he disembarks

5700-420: The inmates had successfully finished walling themselves in. The wall encloses just over twenty-one acres. With the completion of building this wall Great Meadow became a maximum-security facility. In his pseudobiography, Catch Me If You Can (book) , Frank Abagnale claims to have been on the run for 5 years from 1965 to 1970, working as pediatrician, assistant attorney general, professor and pilot. However, he

5795-457: The late 1970s by claiming a diverse range of workplace frauds, many of which have since been placed in doubt. In 1980, Abagnale co-wrote his autobiography, Catch Me If You Can , which built a narrative around these claimed frauds. The book inspired the film of the same name directed by Steven Spielberg in 2002, in which Abagnale was portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio . He has also written four other books. Abagnale runs Abagnale and Associates,

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5890-552: The mentally insane; however, such an institution was never erected. Instead, in 1909 New York legislature appropriated $ 350,000 to build a new prison. Until the Great Meadows Correctional Facility was built, New York Prisons had been named after the places where they were built. No one knows how Great Meadow got its name, but it may have been named after the huge plot of land that the prison sits on. Construction began in 1909. The original cell block

5985-748: The most part, fabrications. Documents show that Abagnale was in Great Meadow Prison in Comstock, New York , between the ages of 17 and 20 (July 26, 1965, and December 24, 1968) as inmate #25367, the time frame during which Abagnale would claim to have committed his most significant scams. Logan's investigation uncovered numerous petty crimes that Abagnale has never acknowledged, and Logan offers evidence to argue that many of Abagnale's most famous scams in fact never occurred. The 2002 film Catch Me If You Can , directed by award-winning director Steven Spielberg , stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Abagnale and Tom Hanks as his FBI pursuer, renamed Hanratty in

6080-592: The plane. Instead, he escapes by unbolting the aircraft's toilet, dropping through to below-deck, dropping again to the runway, and legging it. After his subsequent arrest, prison officials become suspicious of his dispassionate demeanor. It's atypical of new inmates. They insinuate that he's the undercover inspector and might as well admit it. Frank fans the flame of that false belief. He uses his outside contact privileges to call an old girlfriend and recruit her as an accomplice. According to plan, she calls back from one of two nearby payphones that stand side-by-side. The ruse

6175-465: The prison was the south wing of the cellblock completed. Walter N. Thayer was the first warden, but was replaced only a few months later. In 1925, there were 782 prisoners, 515 of them were under the age of thirty. In 1925, 597 of the inmates at Great Meadow were white, 169 were black and 16 were other. In 1931 there were 1,103 inmates, 726 of whom were under the age of thirty. 847 of the inmates were white, 253 were black, and 3 were other. Great Meadow

6270-741: The questions correctly. The man is not an imposter, he is a liar. Abagnale claimed that when he was 18 years old, he worked for a year as a supervising pediatrician at the Cobb General Hospital in Marietta, Georgia . He maintained that he worked the midnight-to-8 am shift, supervising seven residents and 42 nurses. Abagnale claimed that he would visit the university library to memorize medical journals and textbooks: "With my photographic memory, I could easily memorize anything. That did not mean that I could comprehend it, but I could rattle it off verbatim." Abagnale told his audiences that over

6365-568: The same claim of never targeting individuals and small businesses to BBC journalist Sarah Montague and the Associated Press . According to Abagnale, the only individual he ever swindled was a Miami prostitute : "She tried to charge me $ 1,000 for an evening, so I gave her a $ 1,400 forged cashier's check, and got $ 400 in change." In 2002, Abagnale told the Star Tribune , "As long as I didn't hurt anyone, people never considered me

6460-559: The story of his life. In True Detective , Abagnale claimed to Redding that he passed the Louisiana bar exam, worked as an assistant attorney general, was employed as a sociology professor, worked as an Atlanta pediatrician, escaped from an airplane toilet, escaped from the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary, recruited University of Arizona students (and traveled with them throughout Europe for weeks), and cashed $ 2.5 million in checks. These claims antedate, by several years,

6555-427: The subject of scrutiny by major media outlets. Based on these documents, Logan provided a timeline that challenged the overall truthfulness of Abagnale's self-described criminal history and movements between 1964 and 1974. Logan maintains that his investigation found that Abagnale's account of his criminal past is, for the most part, a fabrication. Using records from the New York State Archives, Logan showed that Abagnale

6650-497: The time, Abagnale informed him that he was there on behalf of Pan Am to recruit and conduct physical examinations on candidates. In his autobiography, Holsen claimed that after Abagnale's ruse was discovered, authorities informed him that Abagnale had indeed conducted physical exams on students. University of Arizona officials acknowledge that Abagnale had interacted with 12 female students. Abagnale has openly acknowledged that he performed examinations on young women while impersonating

6745-605: The women were ever enrolled in Abagnale's fictional program, as his autobiography and film depict. After Abagnale cashed a personal check made to look like a Pan Am paycheck, on July 30, 1970, in Durham, North Carolina, he again came to the attention of the FBI. He was arrested in Cobb County, Georgia , three months later, on November 2, 1970, after cashing ten fake Pan Am payroll checks in different towns. Abagnale escaped from

6840-408: Was 12 and divorced when he was 15 years old. After the divorce, Abagnale moved with his father, and his new stepmother, to Mount Vernon, New York . Abagnale claims his first victim was his father, who gave him a gasoline credit card and a truck, and was ultimately liable for a bill amounting to $ 3,400. Abagnale was only 15 at the time. In his autobiography, Abagnale says, because of this crime, he

6935-657: Was an "obvious phony". The reverend, after Abagnale told him he was a furloughed TWA pilot, became suspicious and called the airline, which informed him that Abagnale was a fraud. The reverend notified the Baton Rouge Police Department , and Abagnale was arrested on February 14, 1969, initially on vagrancy charges. Upon his arrest, he was found to have illegally driven his Florida rental car out of state and to possess falsified airline employee identification. The following day, detectives determined that Abagnale had stolen blank checks from his host family and

7030-510: Was an alleged escape from the United States Penitentiary, Atlanta , in 1971: I was in one of the largest maximum-security federal prisons for two weeks when I impersonated a prison inspector and walked out, right past the machine guns and the guards. In 1982, Abagnale told the press, "I was and still am the only and youngest man to escape from that prison." The Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed, though, that Abagnale

7125-528: Was at Aetna , where he was fired and sued for check fraud . According to Abagnale, he approached a bank with an offer in 1975. He explained to the bank what he had done and offered to speak to the bank's staff and show them various tricks that " paperhangers " use to defraud banks. His offer included the condition that if they did not find his information helpful, they would owe him nothing; otherwise, they would owe him only $ 50, with an agreement that they would provide his name to other banks. With that, he began

7220-617: Was challenged by several journalists in 1978. No record has been found of Abagnale ever being a member of the Louisiana Bar, and no evidence shows he ever worked as an assistant attorney general in Louisiana's Attorney General's Office . In 1978, the Louisiana State Bar Association reconciled all those who took the bar exam and concluded that Abagnale never took the exam using his own name or an alias;

7315-482: Was dubbed a correction facility in 1954 when the governor Dewey said, "One of the most pressing needs at the present time is an institution for young offenders in need of rigid discipline." One year was given to the Prisons to clear out the older inmates and make room for the younger incoming inmates. In 1958 construction of a new cell block with 52 beds began and was completed in 1963. When Great Meadow first opened it

7410-428: Was fired and the guards used tear gas to break the fight up. August 1976: The inmates, in apparent protest, refused to leave their cells, administrators believe the protest to be due to overcrowding, lack of work for all inmates, and racism. A report on Great Meadow called the facility "the garbage heap of the state prison system." No one was hurt during the demonstration. May 1981: After an hour-long exercise period,

7505-448: Was home to mostly first time offenders, and therefore it did not need a wall for many years. But as inmate population grew Great Meadows Correctional Facility started receiving second- and third-time offenders from other New York prisons such as Sing Sing and Clinton. Still, without a good wall, many inmates could not be sent to Great Meadow Correctional Facility. In 1924 construction of a 3,000-foot (910 m) wall began. Four years later,

7600-520: Was in Great Meadow Prison in Comstock, New York , between the ages of 17 and 20 (July 26, 1965, and December 24, 1968) as inmate #25367, the time frame during which Abagnale claims to have committed his most significant scams. Logan's investigation uncovered numerous petty crimes that Abagnale has never acknowledged. Various media outlets have asked Abagnale to respond to Logan's book content, which included victim statements and citations to publicly accessible records. Abagnale has responded by stating that

7695-509: Was in prison between 17 and 20 and then convicted for theft in Baton Rouge in June 1969. Leiva also obtained the federal records connected to Abagnale's Pan Am checks and confirmed that his conviction, at 22 years old, was based on less than $ 1,500. Leiva says he calculated that between 1965 and 1970, Abagnale was only free for a matter of months and that his records show he was in prison most of that time. On June 23, 2022, Leiva confronted Abagnale at

7790-480: Was incarcerated at Great Meadow between July 26, 1965, and December 24, 1968 effectively eliminating any veracity to his claims of impersonation. August 17, 1955: 75 inmates armed with bats and clubs refused to move from the yard. The warden gave them five minutes and then authorized the state police to forcefully return them to their cells. May 1976: A fight broke out between two Muslim groups. They armed themselves with baseball bats and chunks of wood. A warning shot

7885-418: Was just telling a story and not writing my biography." However, Abagnale made the primary claims of working as a doctor for a year, an attorney for a year, a PhD professor, and his several escapes on national television in 1977 on the show To Tell the Truth and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson , which antedated the 1980 autobiography by several years. He also made these claims in print media, namely

7980-520: Was more than 1,000 feet (300 m) long and featured 1,168 individual cells. A new administrative building was built in 1932 while the original was remodeled as a hospital. All of the corridors of the prison opened up into one main corridor, called the Rotunda. The first inmates arrived in February 1911, although the official opening wasn't until June 8, 1911. Not until four years after the opening of

8075-567: Was named the AARP Fraud Watch Ambassador, where he helps "to provide online programs and community forums to educate consumers about ways to protect themselves from identity theft and cybercrime." In 2018, he began co-hosting the AARP podcast The Perfect Scam about scammers and how they operate. He has appeared in the media a variety of times, including three times as guest on The Tonight Show , an appearance on To Tell

8170-520: Was never housed in the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary: "He was never admitted, so I don't really see how he could have escaped," said acting Warden Dwight Amstutz. In 1978, after Abagnale had been a featured speaker at an anticrime seminar, a San Francisco Chronicle reporter looked into his assertions. Telephone calls to banks, schools, hospitals, and other institutions Abagnale mentioned turned up no evidence of his cons under

8265-766: Was not specific about what was exaggerated or omitted about his life. In 2020, journalist Alan C. Logan provided evidence he claims proves the majority of Abagnale's story was invented or at best exaggerated. The public records obtained by Logan have since been independently verified by journalist Javier Leiva. Frank William Abagnale Jr. was born in the Bronx, New York City, on April 27, 1948, to an Algerian-American mother who died in November 2014, and an Italian-American father who died in March 1972. He spent his early life in Bronxville, New York . His parents separated when he

8360-598: Was ordered by the court to be committed to Grasslands psychiatric institute, in Westchester County, for observation. In June 1965, the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Abagnale in Eureka, California , for car theft after he stole a Ford Mustang from one of his father's neighbors. Abagnale was pictured in the local newspaper, seated in a car, being questioned by Special Agent Richard Miller of

8455-650: Was sent to a reform school in Westchester County, New York (fitting the description of the Lincolndale Agricultural School ) run by Catholic Charities USA . In numerous interviews, Abagnale has claimed he attended an elite Catholic private school in Westchester, New York , Iona Preparatory School , through the 10th grade at age 16 in 1964. Abagnale is not mentioned by name, though, nor do any photographs of him appear in

8550-529: Was sentenced to four months for theft in France, though he served only three months in Perpignan 's prison. He was then extradited to Sweden, where he was convicted of gross fraud by forgery. He served two months in a Malmö prison, was banned from Sweden for eight years, and was required to compensate his Swedish victims (which he allegedly failed to do). Abagnale was deported back to the United States in June 1970, when his appeal failed. After returning to

8645-480: Was sentenced to three years at the Great Meadow Prison in Comstock, New York for these stolen checks. After serving only two years of his sentence, he was released into the custody of his mother, but he broke the terms of his parole with a stolen-car conviction in Boston , Massachusetts , and was returned to Great Meadow for one year. After his release on December 24, 1968, 20-year-old Abagnale disguised himself as

8740-554: Was spring loaded and when it slammed shut the whole assembly fell back into place. Nobody heard anything because of the engines' roar." He moved with his wife, Kelly, and their three sons to Tulsa, Oklahoma . He and his family lived in the same house for the next 25 years. After their sons left home for college and careers elsewhere, Kelly suggested that she and Frank leave Tulsa. They decided to move to Charleston, South Carolina. In 1976, he founded Abagnale & Associates, which advises companies on secure documents. In 2015, Abagnale

8835-413: Was the second time in one week that officers used gas to break up a fight. 43°27′27″N 73°25′59″W  /  43.45750°N 73.43306°W  / 43.45750; -73.43306 Catch Me If You Can (book) Catch Me If You Can is a semi-autobiographical book about criminal exploits allegedly engaged in by Frank Abagnale Jr. , an American onetime con artist . Abagnale claims that, as

8930-434: Was the subject of an FBI manhunt and cashed millions of dollars' worth of checks while impersonating a pilot and doctor. Despite claims of a photographic memory, when queried by USA Today journalist Andy Seiler regarding details of his imposter roles and movements in the 1960s, Abagnale responded by saying, "You get to a point in your life where you go, 'I don't remember what I did.'" One of Abagnale's most notable claims

9025-442: Was wanted in 26 countries, has worked extensively for the FBI, and escaped several times from FBI custody. He also claimed that he cashed over 17,000 bad checks, amounting to US$ 2.5 million, and worked as an assistant attorney general and a hospital physician. In addition, he stated that he started a fake stewardess trainee program, traveling with them throughout Europe for two months, and logged over three million air miles disguised as

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