Alan C. Logan - The Greatest Hoax on Earth: Catching Truth, While We Can

The truth always emerges, in spite of

our best efforts to conceal it.

Professor George Herbert Curteis, 1885

When truth has been submerged for too long, it will eventually rise to the surface. The time has come for the truth of this story to be told. It is a big story, about one of the most well-known figures in the world today, at least as he has become known through a best-selling book, a blockbuster movie, and a hit Broadway play. But few know the truth behind what has become one of the greatest hoaxes of our era.

The central character remains a mystery to most. Indeed, he has carefully concealed the real story of his life from the worldpapering over reality with a colorful, fantastical creation that has been sold as a true story. He has enthralled audiences the world overfor great fame and fortune. A man who, in telling the grand tale, proclaims to the world that he was one of the worlds greatest con menand indeed he may be, for his account has been believed. The story has been so magnified by others that it has become a legend. But it is really a myth. We may well ask if the title of his autobiographical enterprise is also an ongoing challengeto catch me out , if you can.

Our purpose here is not to catch him in lies, for that is too easy. It is to release the truth and those who have been bound by his lies.

We have been part of the story of Frank W. Abagnale Jr., the real version, and it has been a privilege to work with Alan C. Logan to bring the truth into the light. This is a myth that has become so large that it is hurting those who live in knowledge of the truthincluding the myth that victimless crimes have never hurt anyone. But it is bigger than that. This story is an example of the greater challenges facing a post-truth world where alternative facts can be created at will for profit and power, and the lines between fact and fiction have become so blurred that many cant tell the difference, or worse, dont care.

Our culture has shifted from a time when stories were told to inspire and to teach ethics and values for the greater good. Now, we live in a consumer society where our reality is bombarded with stories fabricated by those with largely ulterior motivesbe they individuals, corporations or political factions. The world is waking up to this. And beginning to bring change by taking on the big stories, the ones that a minority have known to be truly false. But first, in order to restore our power to choose the truth, we need an awareness of how falsehoods fly.

At the beginning of this venture, we did not know each other. We each held different pieces of the puzzle. One of us, Paula, is a retired Delta Airlines flight attendant who met Frank Abagnale in the 1960s long before he started telling the fabricated version of his life. She has knowledge of Abagnales very different actual life. His actions have had lasting effects on her family and community in Baton Rouge, bearing no resemblance to the stories he tells today. The other of us, Mark Zinder, was Frank Abagnales booking agent and advance man during the early days of his reinvented career after Abagnale had created a whole new life narrative in late 1970s Houston. Mark traveled with Abagnale on his speaking tours as he crisscrossed the country promoting his autobiography Catch Me If You Can into the early 1980s. He spent extensive time, night and day, with Abagnale and was able to share how the story unfolded during the early years of Abagnales rise to meteoric fame following the release of his book.

It was through Alan that we discovered each others truth. He had already conducted extensive research into the actual true storythrough uncovering a vast volume of criminal and civil court proceedings, police department records, military service records, penitentiary files, census documents, university campus newsletters, and, critically, National Archives records in the United States, Sweden and Francenot to mention thousands of newspaper articles.

Alans research had already shown a very different story, one which nobody had ever fully pieced together before. Others had found fragments, to be sure, but not the level of detail that Alan had compiled to fully dispel the myth. Even we did not know all the details. In the course of his research, he shared his findingsand invited us to add our voices to the story.

Our partnership was formed, and from there we started reaching out to others who had been part of the true events, including those personally affected by the story. We knew that these accounts would bring the truth to life in a way that the documents alone could not. This has been an opportunity to release our own truths and finally begin to heal the pain of seeing the truth suppressed for so long.

I teach ethics at the Federal Bureau of Investigation academy, which is ironic. But someone at the Bureau said, Who better than you to do this?

Frank William Abagnale Jr., 2015

At this time in history, we need heroes more than ever. Heroes who understand what the words ethics and integrity mean and how their definitions can be made real. Heroes who can help transform our society and provide meaning and purpose for the next generations. But those who deliberately deceive, sprinkling some grains of truth within a basket of lies, should have no place among our modern legends, save as a cautionary tale. Especially if they deceive in the name of ethics and truth while amassing a fortune.

For those of us who know the truth, the idea of Frank W. Abagnale teaching ethics at one of the worlds most prestigious law enforcement training grounds is beyond the pale. The pages of this book will reveal why. If someone at the Bureau did indeed tell Frank Abagnale who better than you? to teach ethics, we might hope they knew only the myth, not the reality of decades-long deception.

For almost forty years, Abagnale has challenged media, law enforcement, academics, experts from trusted institutions, and the public at large, to Catch Me If You Can . And indeed, in the pages of The Greatest Hoax, that challenge has been met. History will be rewritten, correctly, in these pages. But our greater purpose is truth, awareness and the kind of justice that comes from shedding light on falsehood so that something better may grow. It is not retribution. It is not vengeance. It is for the love of truth, in a world that needs more love.

It is also important to note at the outset that this is not the story of Frank W. Abagnale. This is our story. A story of the actual lives he poured himself into. Shaken and stirred.

Alan has drawn from the historical record to give voice to the names and faces otherwise erased from all discourse. He has found heroes. And villains. The emotional aspects of our story are built on a firm foundation of facts and verified evidence. In many ways, if not most, it is more incredible, more humorous and far more sinister than the Hollywood fiction weve all been sold.