Talk:Frank Abagnale

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Contents 1 Sociology teacher in Utah 2 Helping Authorities for Free 3 Cleanup 4 Williams, not Conners 5 New York City, Westchester County 6 Oklahoma? 7 OR material removal 8 Not really Brigham Young University 9 Citations?

[edit] Sociology teacher in Utah

The following website claims that Frank Abagnale worked as a Sociology teacher at Brigham University. http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/scams/frank_abagnale/7.html. This website was the same reference used in the section "legal industry jobs". I don't know how accurate this site is, but it would make sense to follow suit since we are using it as a credible source in other areas. --ciyean

[edit] Helping Authorities for Free

He was not released upon that condition. He had tried several jobs, then became fed up and approached a bank with an offer. He explained to the bank what he had done, and offered to speak to the bank's staff and show various tricks that "paperhangers" use to defraud banks. His offer was, if the bank did not find his speech helpful, they owned him nothing; otherwise, they owed him $50 and spreading his name to other banks. Naturally, they were impressed, and this event was how his new, legitimate life, began. (You may actually find what I wrote here to be usable in the article!)

-- Myria 2004/09/10

Added the info--thanks! I guess the previous information was gleened from the movie Catch Me If You Can which took a lot of "liberties." Thanks for the correct information! :-) — Frecklefoot | Talk 14:04, Sep 13, 2004 (UTC)

Check your facts. --208.187.180.214

I see you edited that information back in. Where did you get your information from? The only two sources I know are the book and the movie. The book took some liberties, but the movie was pure fantasy. Cite your source or I'll change it back. I suspect you're taking the movie as your source, which is fictional. — Frecklefoot | Talk 18:14, Apr 22, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Cleanup

Article is currently not very good. I am an avid fan of Frank Abagnale, but my only source has been Art of the Steal and Catch Me if You Can, and I know both are fictionalized to a certain extent. I for one was surprised, when reading the article, when Abagnale also claimed to have just been a TA. The whole filling-out-account-numbers con was listed in CMIFYC, but that was much later. Can someone who knows Abagnale better clean up the article and confirm facts? 71.108.156.252 02:43, 5 Jun 2005 (UTC)

The current state of the article is actually pretty good. That is, it is wikified, the grammar is correct, it flows nicely. Factual errors aren't a reason for placing the {{cleanup}} tag. If something really is factually wrong in the article, fix it. But don't place the cleanup tag in order to prompt others to check facts. You can bring it up here, as you have done, but every article is a work in progress. — Frecklefoot | Talk 16:47, Jun 6, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Williams, not Conners

According to the book Catch Me if You Can, Abagnale's medical 'career' was under the name Frank Williams. "Conners" seems to be an invention of Catch Me if You Can the movie. I've made the change. 64.231.226.174 06:29, 3 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] New York City, Westchester County

The article mentions he was "born and raised in New York City, Westchester County," but given that Westchester doesn't contain any of the boroughs of the city of New York I'm a little confused. I don't know his biographical information, however, should the article say he was born and raised in NYC and Westchester should one of those locations be deleted?

[edit] Oklahoma?

Why is this article under the categories Category:People_from_Oklahoma and Category:People_from_Tulsa,_Oklahoma? Frank Abagnale was born in New York and spent most of his childhood there. Does he live in Tulsa now? If so, is there any source to back up this claim? Thanks. Ufwuct 16:04, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] OR material removal

I attended a speaking engagement by Frank Abagnale at a dinner of the Raleigh-Durham Chapter of the Institute of Internal Auditors at which he described his imprisonment in France as being held in a 5x5x5 metal box. He stated that when extradited to Sweden, the first judge he saw had him to a hospital because of his emaciated physical condition. It was a very moving speech by a sincerely contrite man. Lincher 21:45, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Not really Brigham Young University

I attended a speaking engagement by Mr. Abagnale last night (19 January 2007) near Park City, Utah. Someone asked him if he really posed as a teacher at Brigham Young University, and he said "no", that the author of the book changed names and places, so listing Brigham Young University is not factually correct -- although he did pose as teacher somewhere.

[edit] Citations?

Jimbo has come down strongly on the side of User:CyberAnth in the CA's removal of unsourced material. Please get some citations on the bad stuff that Abagnale did or consider re-applying CA's deletions. You know: line up the sections with the external links. -- 71.141.246.35 02:48, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

Now I think I see what the problem is: Is all that info is from his book and is not cited? If so, then please just say it is from his book to clear up the matter. I am certainly not going to read his book so somebody else, please step up. Also: This guy cannot sue himself for libel, so if you think that his book has any "exaggerations" in it, then please tone it down to just the verifiable facts. I am sure that he spends a lot of time of entertaining, dramatic (or dramatized) moments that are, in the end, not notable. -- 68.127.172.142 04:25, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

There is nothing controversial here. If you or CyberAnth have specific concerns then put a "citation required" tag on the bits you find controversial. Jooler 18:49, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

Slapping a "citation required" tag on a BLP article isn't the right thing to do. It needs to be properly sourced or removed. Frise 08:39, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

Jooler, Frise is exactly correct. This is not an article about Bluebirds, who can only scantly be affected by what is said about them. Read WP:BLP and all policies appertaining carefully. Problematic BLPs on WP can stand to bring this entire Project down. They must be gotten right. CyberAnth 10:22, 31 January 2007 (UTC)