Catch Me If You Can: Johnny Carson did catch Frank Abagnale

Frank W. Abagnale is one of the world's most respected authorities on the subjects of forgery, embezzlement and secure documents. For over forty years he has lectured to and consulted with hundreds of financial institutions, corporations and government agencies around the world.

Mr. Abagnale has been associated with the FBI for over four decades. He lectures extensively at the FBI Academy and for the field offices of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He is a faculty member at the National Advocacy Center (NAC) which is operated by the Department of Justice, Executive Office for United States Attorneys. More than 14,000 financial institutions, corporations and law enforcement agencies use his fraud prevention programs. In 1998, he was selected as a distinguished member of "Pinnacle 400& by CNN Financial News. Today Mr. Abagnale is a member of the Board of Editors for Bank Fraud and IT Security, as well as the Financial Fraud Law Report. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the LexisNexis Fraud Defense Network, as well as an Advisory Board Member of the University of New Haven Masters in Investigation Program.

So here's the big question — is the movie based on a true story? Drumroll, please ... Yes! Sort of. Frank Abagnale Jr. was out there in the '60s and '70s, cashing fake checks and posing as a professional in a bunch of different industries. He began conning at 15 and was hunted by the FBI for years. As for FBI Agent Carl Hanratty, the Tom Hanks character is fictional. Hanratty is said to be a combination of a number of FBI agents who worked to catch Abagnale, but the relationship between the two is loosely based on Frank's relationship with one specific FBI agent, Joseph Shea. According to Abagnale (via City & State), their friendship lasted 30 years, until Shea's death in 2005.

Special Agent Shea was the head of the FBI investigative team chasing after Frank and had spent several years looking for him. While pursuing Abagnale, Shea initially believed his suspect was in his late 20s to mid-30s, because of how sophisticated the crimes and forgeries were. Just like Hanratty in the movie, Shea became Abagnale's most important connection to the FBI: he convinced the agency to use the criminal for undercover work (without pay) to investigate forgeries, frauds, and scam artists.

Now that we've cleared up the big picture, let's get into the nitty-gritty: DiCaprio's Frank gets up to some pretty wild hijinks, making great plane escapes and pulling off wild scams. Naturally, the impulse is to revisit every scene from the movie, squint really hard at the screen and wonder did that really happen? Well, look no further than this article, where we'll walk you through the many lies of "Catch Me If You Can."

By the way, Frank’s father did not care much for what his son had done as all fathers. We want to be proud of our children. Not proud of them, breaking the law and taking advantage over people. Much like the IRS much like the federal government taxing the poor people it’s not a Robin Hood thing it’s evil!