The reverend, after Abagnale told him he was a furloughed TWA pilot, became suspicious and called the airline where he was told that Abagnale was a fraud. The reverend introduced him to Louisiana State University faculty, who determined he was an "obvious phony". 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. Īfter his release on December 24, 1968, twenty-year-old Abagnale disguised himself as 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. However, 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 serving only two years of his sentence, he was released into the custody of his mother. Abagnale was sentenced to three years at the Great Meadow Prison in Comstock, New York. He obtained a uniform at a Manhattan uniform company, however, he was arrested in Tuckahoe, New York days later.
Airline pilot Īfter being released into the custody of his father to face the stolen car charges, 17-year-old Abagnale decided to impersonate a pilot. On June 2, 1965, this stolen car case was transferred to the Southern District of New York. Abagnale was also charged with impersonating a US customs official, although this charge was subsequently dropped. 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 pictured in the local newspaper, seated in a car, being questioned by special agent Richard Miller of the FBI. In 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. He was discharged after less than three months and was arrested for forgery shortly thereafter. In December 1964, he enlisted in the United States Navy at the age of 16. In his autobiography, Abagnale says, because of this crime, he was sent to a reform school in Westchester County, New York (fitting the description of the Lincolndale Agricultural School) run by Catholic Charities USA. Ībagnale 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. After the divorce, Abagnale moved with his father, and his new stepmother, to Mount Vernon, New York. His parents separated when he was 12 and divorced when he was 15 years old. He spent his early life in Bronxville, New York. 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.
state of Louisiana, a hospital physician in Georgia, and impersonated a Pan American World Airways pilot and logged over two million air miles by deadheading. Īmong others, Abagnale claims to have worked as an assistant state attorney general in the U.S. Abagnale runs Abagnale and Associates, a consultancy firm.
The book later inspired the film of the same name directed by Steven Spielberg in 2002, in which Abagnale was portrayed by actor Leonardo DiCaprio. In 1980, Abagnale co-wrote his autobiography, Catch Me If You Can, which built a narrative around these claimed victimless frauds. Abagnale targeted individuals and small businesses yet gained notoriety in the late 1970s by claiming a diverse range of victimless workplace frauds, many of which are now in doubt. ( / ˈ æ b ə ɡ n eɪ l/ born April 27, 1948) is an American author and convicted felon. 3 years in Great Meadow Correctional Facility, NY (age 17–20)įrank William Abagnale Jr.3 years, 3 months, and 7 days in a US federal prison.