Frank left home with a checkbook and $200 in his bank account and set off to New York City. He temporarily lived with the family of a young boy whom he met during his train ride to the city. It wasnt long before Frank also found a job at a stationery firm, using his experience from working in his fathers business.
It was more difficult to earn a decent living than Frank initially thought, especially without a high school diploma. If he were to ever live on his own one day, he would have to make more than the $1.50 an hour he was earning. Frank had an idea that would increase his net worth in terms of his wages.

He decided to alter his birth date on his drivers license by adding another ten years to his age. His tactic was believable because he was mature for his age and six-foot tall with premature graying hair. Frank also decided to push the envelope a little further. He began to exaggerate about his education, knowing that it would likely result in a further increase in his wages. However, he quickly realized that even if he lied about his age and education, the jobs available would pay only enough to provide for the bare minimum in comfort. Frank had higher expectations.

The easiest route presented itself in the form of a checkbook. As soon as Frank arrived in New York, he opened a checking account and received blank checks. He was determined to use the checks in a less conventional manner than what they were intended for.

Instead of earning a living, Frank decided to quit his job and write bad checks in order to support himself. Before long, he had written hundreds of bum checks and had overdrawn on his checking account by thousands of dollars. Frank knew that the police would eventually catch up with him if he stayed where he was. So, he decided it was best to move away and change his name. While he was in the midst of determining what to do and where to go, Frank had a revelation.


According to an article by About.com, he was struck with an ingenious idea to alter his identity after witnessing several airline pilots and stewardess enjoying themselves outside of New Yorks Commodore Hotel. Frank thought that if he were able to get a hold of a pilots uniform he would have more success with cashing checks all about town because pilots were generally more credible and respected professionals. Thus, bank tellers would less likely be suspicious of him swindling money when he went to cash his bad checks.
From that moment on, Frank set his elaborate scheme into motion. He decided that he would find a way to get a uniform and whatever else he needed so that he could pose as a pilot in order to cash his checks. It would prove to be a more difficult con to pull off than what he initially expected.


In an interview with Norman Swan in March 2000, Frank described how he went about acquiring a Pan American (Pan Am) uniform and impersonating an airline pilot. He contacted a purchasing agent at Pan American Airlines corporate headquarters and told them he was a pilot for the company and that the hotel he was staying at in New York lost his uniform. He was instructed by the agent to visit a company specializing in Pan Am uniforms on 5^th Avenue, which he promptly did. That very day, Frank was fitted with a Pan Am co-pilots uniform, which was charged to a fictionalized employee number he invented while filling out the paper work.


Frank walked out of the building with his uniform in hand, having conquered one of the first of what would be many obstacles in his scheme. However, to make his new persona more believable, he realized he needed a Pan Am pass card. After looking in the yellow pages and making several phone calls, Frank learned that the 3M Company was responsible for making passes and IDs for several airline companies, including Pan Am.
Frank contacted the company, pretending to be a purchasing officer interested in buying new ID cards for his company. He then set up an interview. During the meeting with the sales representative, Frank was shown catalogs of the IDs they offered. He noticed in a catalog that there was a sample ID similar to that used by Pan Am. He told the salesman that he wanted to take back a completely finished copy of the pass, using as an example his picture and name so that his imaginary colleagues could see what the end result of the product would look like. The salesman complied with Franks request and made him a sample pass with his name and picture on it. The card was almost an exact replica of the Pan Am pass, but without the logo.



Frank solved the emblem problem by buying a model Pan Am plane, which had a copy of the logo inclusive in the model kit. He removed the famous symbol and carefully placed it on the ID pass card. The finished product looked almost flawless. Another obstacle was removed from Franks grand plan.

Frank had two more areas to cover before his new identity was complete, an FAA license that was required by every pilot and knowledge concerning the airline business. First, he decided to obtain as much information as possible about aviation, piloting and terminology used by those in the industry. Much of what he learned about the field came from library books, although they were often outdated.

In an attempt to update his budding knowledge about the aviation industry, Frank decided that it would be more lucrative to obtain information first hand. He arranged several interviews with executives and personnel at Pan Ams headquarters posing as a student doing a research project on the company and pilots. It was a brilliant idea. He gained a wealth of relevant information, including knowledge of company policies and regulations about co-pilots, the types of planes used and the international hubs where the airline flew.


Most importantly, Frank learned about deadheading. Deadheading was an airline employee privilege that allowed a worker to fly to far-off destinations on other airlines to fulfill specific job requirements elsewhere. The employers would almost always cover the expenses of the trip. Frank was particularly interested with this concept, because if he were able to pose as a pilot he might also be able to hitch free rides on the airplanes around the world. He kept the knowledge in the back of his head and focused on accomplishing his plan.

The next issue Frank had to resolve was the FAA license. He learned that without the license he would not be able to impersonate a pilot, because the crew was often required to show the FAA license to airline personnel prior to outbound flights. Frank solved the problem by obtaining a plaque from a firm specializing in mounting licenses in silver. According to Abagnales book, the FAA had a mail-order branch within the company. Frank falsified his name as Frank Williams and sent away for the plaque. Upon receiving it, he took the plaque to a printer and had it downsized, mounted on special paper and laminated. Voila! Frank was ready to take off into the wild blue yonder.

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While stationed in Oran, Algiers during World War II, Frank W. Abganale Sr. met and fell in love with a beautiful and young French-born woman named Paulette. The two were married shortly thereafter and moved to the suburbs of New York following the war. While there, Frank Sr. established and ran what became a highly profitable stationery store on Madison Avenue.  The couple had one daughter and three sons including Frank W. Abagnale Jr. who was born on April 27, 1948.



Frank Jr. had an uncomplicated early childhood and maintained a good relationship with his parents, especially with his father with whom he was particularly close. However, in his mid teens Frank Jr.s life took an unexpected turn when his mother decided to leave his father. The separation was not only difficult for Frank Jr. and his siblings, but especially so for Frank Sr. who remained deeply in love with his wife.

Frank Jr.s life was forever changed by his parents separation and eventual divorce. Following the breakup, Frank Jr. chose to live alone with his father after moving from the family home in Bronxville, New York. The two shared a very close relationship and often spent time together. Frank Sr. would sometimes take his son with him on business outings where hed meet up with other prominent businessmen, street-wise blue collar workers and politicians. Frank Jr. learned a great deal from his interactions with his fathers associates, which greatly contributed to his already burgeoning store of knowledge. Yet, although Frank Jr. showed obvious signs of high intellect, it didnt prevent him from getting into trouble during his teenage years.

At around the time his parents divorced Frank Jr. got mixed up with a gang of juvenile delinquents, who often took part in petty crimes, including shoplifting. Eventually, Frank Jr. broke away from the gang whose practice of thievery was far too unsophisticated for him, especially after they were arrested and thrown temporarily into a juvenile detention center. The incident did not prevent him from stealing, but instead marked the beginning of an extensive criminal career. Frank Jr. was a clever teenager and began to develop more proficient and lucrative ways of obtaining money.

Despite his bad behavior, Franks father forgave him and even entrusted him with a 1952 Ford and a gas credit card. The car and gas card were to be used to help little Frank get to his new part-time clerical job at a nearby warehouse. However, Frank Jr. had other plans.


Like most teenage boys, girls were at the forefront of Franks thoughts. He was an attractive youth who didnt have much difficulty attracting attention from young ladies. To his delight, the car elicited even more notice from the opposite sex, which resulted in a steady flow of dates. The only problem was that he made a limited amount of money from his part-time job. He had to devise another method of being able to afford to take his girlfriends out. It wasnt long before he decided that the gas card could serve as a key to solving his problems.
Frank devised a clever, yet unethical scheme for obtaining money. Over a period of several months, Frank Jr. went about town charging items from the gas station onto his credit card. He made deals with numerous gas station attendants, in which he would charge countless numbers of tires, car batteries and other accessories onto the card and then be given in return only a fraction of the amount of the sale back in cash. The attendants pocketed the remaining part of the money, usually around 50%. It seemed like a win, win situation. The gas attendant made a buck, Frank Jr. obtained quick cash and the gas station also profited when it came time to collect on the bill. Yet, it wasn't necessarily a winning situation for Franks father who eventually got stuck with a gas bill of several thousand dollars.

Following his devious exploits, Frank was returned to his mothers custody and promptly placed in a private school for delinquent boys for the period of one year. Also around the time of his sons reckless caper, Frank Sr.s stationery business was undergoing financial difficulty. It is believed that the enormous credit card bill further exacerbated his monetary problems. Eventually, Frank Sr. faced financial ruin and the closing of his stationery store.

Frank Jr. later showed regret for having duped his father whom he loved and respected greatly. He was simply a young man with growing needs and an insatiable appetite for women and adventure. Unfortunately, money played an important role in the pursuit of his interests. None-the-less, Frank Sr. was a confident and forgiving man and showed little concern for his loss of fortune or anger at his sons misdeeds.

Due to the stress surrounding the divorce and his fathers financial misfortune, Frank left home in 1964 at the age of sixteen. He was determined to forge his own way in the world, which was exactly what he did. In fact, he would become one of the countrys most notorious forgers.

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