The book Catch me If You Can is an autobiography of Frank Abagnale. Abagnale tells the story of how he cashed 2.5 million worth of bad checks by impersonating important people ranging from doctors, teachers, and attorneys. He is noted to be one of the most successful con-artists of the time, which was very impressive for the short amount of time he was in the business. He quickly was one of the most looked at con artists, who everyone who was involved in that business wanted to know what his tricks where and how he made his 2.5 million.
After years of cashing in fake checks and impersonating professionals Frank Abagnale was caught by the FBI, who were chasing and tracking almost every move of his. He was caught while living in France, where he started his sentence. He served 5 years in france before being transported to France then Sweeden for two, six month periods. He finished his sentence of in the U.S. with a 4 year sentence. The book and Frank Abagnale are both significant to this time period because money was precious and everyone wanted it. The great depression taught people that money was a scarce resource and needed to be kept safely. Abagnale was only after the money, he would get it any way he could.
Later when Frank was put into jail the officers there quickly found a good job for him, something he was very talented at. His job was to review and inspect checks to see if they have been forged or are fake. He soon became on of the best at his job finding over hundreds of fake checks, some even using the same tricks he used.
In 2002 Steven Spielberg directed the award winning film "Catch Me IF You Can". Which starred Leonardo Dicaprio as Abagnale and Tom Hanks as Hanratty.
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