So It Turns Out That Frank Abagnale Jr. Allegedly Lied About A Lot Of His Lies And "Catch Me If You Can" Was A Bunch Of Bullshit
(SOURCE)
You probably know the name Frank Abagnale Jr. best from the hit 2002 film Catch Me If You Can starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
The film was supposedly based on the true story of a conman of the same name who, in his bestselling memoir, claimed that he had impersonated a pilot, a doctor, a lawyer, and a professor, and cashed over 17,000 bogus checks amounting a $2.5 million.
A new report from the New York Post claims that Frank Abagnale Jr actually 'lied' about his 'lifetime of lies'.
In his book, Frank claimed that, between ages 16 and 21, he impersonated a Pan Am pilot.
He also claims that he posed as a doctor in Marietta Georgia, and a lawyer in the attorney general's office in Louisiana, and as a sociology professor at Utah's Brigham Young University.
But after attending one of Abagnale's talks back in 1981 about turning his life around, Jim Keith didn't believe a word he said. So he decided to do some digging.
According to about 87 pages of evidence, Frank Abagnale Jr did forge checks, he did impersonate a pilot, and he did escape jail. But a lot of his claims were 'inaccurate, misleading, exaggerated, or totally false' according to Keith.
He also allegedly found that Abagnale's supposed impersonations of a university professor, a lawyer and a member of the US Senate Judiciary Committee never happened.
Not only that, but he couldn't have done all that con work between ages 16 and 21, since he apparently spend most of those years in prison.
And if that's the case, then there's no way he could have cashed $2.5 million worth of checks.
So let me get this straight. The dude that had a movie made about all the lying he did lied about all the lying he did? Ya don't say!!! Sounds like a lot of people were conned by a conman. Here's the thing though: don't hate the player, hate the game. Let's fire up Google:
Not a bad grift, if I do say so myself! Abagnale laughed all the way to the bank because of suckers like you and me. I don't know what he made off the movie personally, but I'm sure it's enough to comfortably live with his metal mouth wife down in Louisiana or wherever the fuck else they wanna live.
It's just hilarious that in the end, the con wasn't Abagnale posing as a doctor:
Or a pilot:
Or some kid cashing bogus checks:
Advertisement
It was conjuring up wild shit that never happened, but wild shit he knew Hollywood would lap up out of a bowl like a thirsty puppy.
I can't hate it. The itself movie was fine. Watchable. Solid enough. Pretty good. That's it. On the pantheon of all Leo and on the pantheon of all Hanks movies it's middle of the pack. Not incredible, not bad. Just fine. Pretty good.
But that doesn't matter, because if Leo and Hanks co-star in a movie, we watch. It's that simple. So credit to him for lying his way all way to the bank. I don't hate it. If I were smart enough to hatch a scheme like that, I would - and you would too.
Guy sucks ass though. Fuck him.