Frank William Abagnale Jr. The book inspired the film of the same name directed by Steven Spielberg in , in which Abagnale was portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio. He has also written four other books. Abagnale runs Abagnale and Associates, a consulting firm. Abagnale claims to have worked as an assistant state attorney general in the U. Logan provided evidence he claims proves the majority of Abagnale's story was invented or at best exaggerated.
His parents separated when he was 12 and divorced when he was 15 years old. Abagnale was only 15 at the time. Moreover, no alumni recall Abagnale ever attending the high school. In December , he enlisted in the U. Navy at the age of He was discharged after less than three months, and was released on February 18, 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. In June , 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. After being released into the custody of his father to face the stolen-car charges, 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, , informed local media that he was a graduate of the American Airlines pilot school in Fort Worth, Texas , [ 23 ] but he was arrested for theft of checks in Tuckahoe, New York days later.
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, , 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.
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.
