Five years after his final breakthrough with Titanic, Leonardo DiCaprio played the charming conman Frank Abagnale in Catch Me If You Can. Director Steven Spielberg’s film was a smash hit at the box office and earned Leonardo DiCaprio a Golden Globe nomination. Part of the recipe for success: The film was based on a true story. However, according to a report by the New York Post, doubts arise about various details.
What is the alleged real story behind Catch Me If You Can?
Catch Me If You Can is based on the autobiography of Frank Abagnale Jr., a con man and check fraudster who, after serving a brief stint in the 1970s, worked for the FBI’s Department of… check fraud worked. As the film progresses, we see the character played by Leonardo DiCaprio as something like pilot and doctor work without the necessary training. Tom Hanks plays FBI agent Carl Hanratty, who hunts Abagnale across the United States.
In 1980, Frank Abagnale Jr. sold the film rights to his life story and later assisted in the production of Catch Me If You Can as a consultant. In a short scene towards the end, Abagnale can even be seen in the film. But what is true about his version of his life story? Did the imposter also cheat with his biography?
These are the allegations against Frank Abagnale
dream works
The New York Post casts doubt on Abagnale’s story, or much of it. First of all: there are differences between the life story published as a book and its film version. According to Abagnale, he stole 2.5 million US dollars through check fraud, not 4 million as shown in the film. However, the allegations are not just about details, but about the pillars of the glamorous and spectacular imposter story, with which Abagnale in turn earned a lot of money – later as an author, but initially as a speaker.
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One of Abagnale’s speeches was attended by criminal justice professor William Toney and former security officer Jim Keith, who did not know each other at the time. First independently and later together, they began investigations into Abagnale. They compiled an 87-page dossier from newspaper reports, court documents and letters from institutions where Abagnale worked want. The New York Post report is largely based on this dossier and its findings.
There are doubts about these alleged professional stations of Frank Abagnale:
wants to have worked, can’t remember him
Night Shift Pediatrician at Cobb General Hospital at the time Abagnale claims it was exercised
So how much exactly did Abagnale lie? The scammer has stated in the past that he has changed various aspects of his life story, such as names and timing, to protect his victims. In addition, parts of his story turned out to be true even after the research. However, the lack of evidence for many of his alleged stations is overwhelming. So the report gives the impression that the imposter also cheated in creating his imposter life. The film with Leonardo DiCaprio thus receives an additional ironic note in retrospect.
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