FRANK ABAGNALE 2 After watching the movie “Catch Me If You Can”, I was immediately intrigued with the brilliant mind of Frank Abagnale. Famous for impersonating a pilot, doctor, lawyer, and professor as well as forging over 2.5 million dollars in bad checks around the world, one can not deny that he was truly a genius in his own right. Although he may have initially invested his talents down a rather devious path, he is one of the only federal criminals I know of that now actually works for the government. Frank was born one of four children to Frank and Paulette Abagnale in Bronxville, New York. Growing up, his father was interested in politics, theater, and the arts and served as his biggest role model. He performed his first con at the age of fifteen when his father gave him a truck and a credit card for gasoline to commute to and from his part time job. In order to get money for a date, he devised a scheme to buy car related items from various autopart stores with his credit card. He then returned the parts and convinced the employees at the stores to give him cash back for everything. This resulted in his father being liable for an incredibly high credit card bill. When Frank's parents divorced he was devastated and when he was told he had to choose which parent to live with he decided to leave home at the young age of sixteen. He headed to New York City with no plan, no formal education, and only $200 in his pocket. Frank was able to find a job at a stationary firm where he developed and honed his forging skills. He first realized his ability to create realistic ... ... middle of paper ... ...me sociopathic tendencies, as he felt very comfortable living a lie for years. He was also very charming and had no problem being manipulative to get what he wanted. However, he was shaken up when the child came to the hospital while he was responsible for overseeing things as a medical supervisor. If he was a true sociopath, I do not think he would have felt any empathy or fear for hurting any patients. He also has said that he felt he owed it to the United States to provide free services to the FBI after all of the financial havoc he caused with forging checks. Frank never actually hurt anyone and really only put himself at risk. If anything, Abagnale has learned how to harness his talents and unique way of thinking and use his abilities for the better. I chose to research him not only because his story is so interesting, but because it ends on a positive note.
Franklin W. McCormack, a medical x-ray technician from San Francisco, California was born in Illinois in 1882. He married a girl from Missouri named Anna G before moving to California. According to a 1920 United States Census Mr. and Mrs. McCormack had two children, Donald and Marjorie. McCormack was the first to put the paralleling technique into use in intraoral dental radiography. In 1911 he opened one of the first dental x-ray lab in San Francisco, California. He hand wrapped dental films in black paper, to add support he placed a metal plate with the films and then wrapped both in wax paper to put in the patient’s mouth.
Emiliano Zapata, born on August 8, 1879, in the village of Anenecuilco, Morelos (Mexico), Emiliano Zapata was of mestizo heritage and the son of a peasant medier, (a sharecropper or owner of a small plot of land). From the age of eighteen, after the death of his father, he had to support his mother and three sisters and managed to do so very successfully. The little farm prospered enough to allow Zapata to augment the already respectable status he had in his native village. In September of 1909, the residents of Anenecuilco elected Emiliano Zapata president of the village's "defense committee," an age-old group charged with defending the community's interests. In this position, it was Zapata's duty to represent his village's rights before the president-dictator of Mexico, Porfirio Díaz, and the governor of Morelos, Pablo Escandón. During the 1880s, Mexico had experienced a boom in sugar cane production, a development that led to the acquisition of more and more land by the hacienderos or plantation owners. Their plantations grew while whole villages disappeared and more and more medieros and other peasants lost their livelihoods or were forced to work on the haciendas. It was under these conditions that a plantation called El Hospital neighboring Zapata's village began encroaching more and more upon the small farmers' lands. This was the first conflict in which Emiliano Zapata established his reputation as a fighter and leader. He led various peaceful occupations and re-divisions of land, increasing his status and his fame to give him regional recognition.
Otto Frank, born on May twelfth, 1889 in Frankfurt am Main in Germany belonged to a Jewish liberal family with three siblings(www.biography.com). He studied art history and economics at the University of Heidelberg, eventually leading him to working at a bank and then to accepting an internship position at Macy's Department Store in Manhattan. His father's death held him back from gaining the business experience he longed to discover at first, but determined the young Otto Frank continued his business(www.biography.com). In 1911, Otto Frank left America for his home in Germany, and eventually during 1914, became conscripted into the German army on the Western Front and earned the title of lieutenant(www.annefrank.org). Once the war ended, Frank took over the family bank, married his first wif...
A dark haired boy with fair skin, little Frankie was forced to wear the same clothes day after day and be happy that he even had anything. The family's breakfast consisted of tea and sometimes bread. Dinner was usually a piece of fried bread dipped in more tea and supper was bread and tea and jam and sometimes mashed potatoes with butter and salt. Born to a father who became an alcoholic at a early age, Frank was used to those long waits on Friday nights, payday. The day when all the other fathers came home and gave the money to their families and then took some for themselves to go out and drink. Malachy McCourt was different, he took all his money, spent it on the drink and came home singing songs from his days in Ireland. He would stumble in the door and get the two young boys up and make them promise to die for Ireland. He would teach them his favorite song and they would all sing until Malachy passed out.
Alphonse Capone was born on January 17, 1899. He grew up in rough neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY where he would attend school only up to the sixth grade, when dropped out. Capone got his nickname “Scarface'; from a knife attack by the brother of a woman whom Capone had insulted. The attack left him with three scars across his face and a new nickname.
Frank’s mother, Dorothy loved working, but as Frank got older his father made her relinquish working to stay home and supervise Frank. Working made her feel like she could be her own woman and be free of a standard marriage of the wife just running the home. Franks states, “My mother did not work then, though she had worked at waitressing and in the bars in town-and she liked working.” (Ford 33). This reveals that she liked the constant change of people that go in and out of bars and restaurants. She felt freedom in this. Frank’s father not allowing Frank’s mother to work
Human interactions around the world have also been marred by various issues and in some instances; it has ended up resulting in permanent enmity. Marital problems for instance, have been on the increase in the past years and most of them have ended up with separation. Individuals who took the scared vows to be together forever began turning against each other. For instance, the number of divorce cases that have been reported in the past decade across the globe are alarming. Some of these individuals carry on with their bitterness after their separation. Apparently, this is a perfect example of permanent enmity, and this is evident in the film. Frank’s parents divorced when financial problems set in the family and this turns the once good friends into enemies. The family ends up losing their home after the investigations by the IRS on his father’s financial affairs, and this further deepens the hatred between the couple. This shows that in as much as a friendship may last it may in some occasions collapse and turns to permanent enmity due to different marital issues.
Michael E. Kelly ran a Ponzi scheme that embezzled life savings of over 8,000 retired/elderly investors out of $500 million. However, this case was a little different than most Ponzi schemes where the investors were left with nothing. In this case, Kelly had millions in real-estate property, which allowed the investors who he swindled to receive some type of reimbursement. Kelly was held in Federal Custody for six years and
In conclusion, both Bourdin and Abagnale are notorious imposters, and although they were similar in their methods of deceiving others, as well as the fact that they both came from broken homes, their outcomes resulted in different scenarios. Although Bourdin’s cons left him poor and resented by people around the globe, and Abagnale’s resulted in fame, a successful career and millions of dollars, both con artists’ relative success was because of their observational skills and
How did being both Irish and Catholic influence and shape his life? With Irish people, they are typically known to have religion as their top priority, and with Catholics they have certain standards that you must abide by or they will be outcast by your peers and family. This doesn’t help Frank because his friends, family, and school masters were all trying to force him to do things. Some of his friends made him do things he wasn't supposed to, so he got in trouble with his family and school masters and his church. It shaped/influenced his life because he learned what he needed to do and was forced to do them or he was outcast.
These symptoms were evident in the portrayal of both of the killers in Silence of the Lambs. Buffalo Bill felt no regret for murdering and skinning several young women for his own personal gain, a suit made out of human skin, or for violating basic social norms by kidnapping girls and keeping them in a hole for extended periods of time. This blatant indifference towards the wellbeing and feelings of others is one of the key indicators of ASPD (Meloy). He also demonstrated aggressive behavior towards his kidnapped victim, Catherine, by spraying her with a hose when she would not comply with his demands. Hannibal Lector also demonstrated several characteristics of antisocial personality disorder. One of the first and most obvious indications is that he feels no regret for murdering and eating multiple people and continues to do so at every chance he gets. Another reason is that he is insensitive to the feelings of others (National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health). When talking to Catherine’s mother while he is being transferred to a new facility, he makes several sexual comments while discussing her daughter’s disappearance. Most people would respect an anxious and devastated mother’s feelings and tread lightly on most subjects, but Lector did not feel the need to, nor did he see anything wrong with his actions. Hannibal Lector also is extremely deceitful and manipulative, almost to the point where he seems amused by his own cleverness. These characteristics indicate the presence of antisocial
Frank McCourt was born in Brooklyn, New York, on August 19, 1930. He was the eldest of his seven siblings. His dad Malachy was an alcoholic who spent most of his time in pubs while his mom Angela was a housewife. McCourt experienced and witnessed grief at his early age. His sister Margaret, died a few weeks after she was born. McCourt’s dad was somehow improved from his selfish behavior when Margaret was alive, it’s shown on page 24-25 “ Mam tells Minnie MacAndorey, He’s in heaven over that child. He hasn’t touched a drop since she was born. I should’ve had a little girl a long time ago.”. The main cause for the family to flee from New York to Limerick was the Great Depression on top of Malachy’s (Frank’s dad) alcohol problem, the death of his little sister and his mother depression. As mentioned in the introduction the Great Depression in America made life difficult. Many people were out of
Consequently, this made him resort to theft, violence and giving donation to people so he can survive. Since Frank did not have any education, he did not run his financial operations effectively and this made him keep large amounts of cash at home. He also collaborated with a lot of police men to shield himself from the law through constant bribery and this made his organization to lack the stability it required. In the movie, he was characterized as a ruthless organized crime boss who did not accept any form of objection. Basically, he ruled with fear and this caused people that were working for him to resent his autocratic ways of management. in addition, some of them were police informers that became disloyal to Frank due to his unforgiving
J.D. Salinger’s Novel The Catcher in the Rye depicts the challenges of mentally growing up into a mature adult. The book illustrates a teenager, named Holden who no one seems to understand, therefore he faces many challenges in his life that create a difficult journey into adulthood. His childhood was quickly taken away from him when his brother Allie died, from then on his parents slowly faded away and started sending him to private schools for structure.This all made his transition into adulthood more difficult. Holden is not an ordinary teen, but Salinger takes us through relatable difficulties we all face when growing up.
The movie ‘Catch Me If You Can’ is based on the true-life story of Frank Abagnale. He was the youngest person to ever be put onto the FBI’s most wanted list. The movie tells his story. Frank Abagnale impersonated many people and forged many documents (many to include paychecks) over the period of 5 years. He was said to be the world’s greatest liar. Some of the documents that he forged included, but were not limited to, false identification cards, birth certificates, and of course paychecks. He got into the forgery business by learning from his ‘conman’ father. Frank traveled around the world impersonating doctors, airline pilots, and even the assistant attorney general. The FBI was always on his trail, but seemed to be one step behind him. The final showdown, or rather when he was caught, was when the FBI found him in his warehouse mass-producing paychecks. The lead detective was so vastly impressed with his skills at forgery that he was able to work out a deal with Frank and got him out of prison after only five years. This was done on the stipulation that Frank would come to work for the FBI to aid in the measures to identify forged documents. Many of these practices helped with the security measures still in place today. This was the end to the movie, thus telling a great tale of one man’s life, and the FBI’s weakness for forgery at that time.