On Catching a Trickster

If you can con millions of dollars by the time you are nineteen years old by posing as a pilot, a doctor, an attorney and a prosecutor, you just may be a trickster. Such was the case of Frank Abagnale, Jr., upon whose life-escapades the movie, Catch Me If You Can, was based.

Now, what, specifically made Mr. Abagnale, Jr. a trickster?

·         He undermined the rules of the culture. “Rules of the culture” could be another way of saying “Laws.” Most of Frank’s money gathering depended on his ability to forge checks and impersonate certified professionals. Highly illegal activities.

·         He worked alone. He was not part of a group and didn’t associate with a clique in his trickster activities.

·         He used wit and ingenuity to win. His cons were not based on physical strength; rather they had their genesis in being smart and creative enough to conceive of and execute actions that moved him toward his goal of amassing wealth through illegal means.

·         He used language as power. Frank Abagnale, Jr. was a slick fast-talker. He used his gift of gab to convince people that he had received professional certifications, which in turn, gave him a platform from which to launch his check fraud schemes.

·         He brought enlightenment to the masses. Not willingly, and not at first, but eventually, as a way to serve part of his sentence, he ended up working in the check fraud unit of the FBI, helping these federal agents shut down other check fraud criminals.

·         He crossed boundaries while undermining them. This man was all about breaking the law, and yet, there is something about the brilliance of his crimes that demands respect from law- abiding citizens and even the FBI check fraud unit. Regardless of personal scruples that keep most people well within the bounds of the law, his cleverness opens the door to imagining perpetrating similar schemes and so escaping the restrictions we allow our society to impose upon us.

“Where most criminals try to leave no evidence, the con artist builds a monument to his creativity and wit.” —John Leland (170).

I wonder if having your life story immortalized in both written and film form qualifies as a monument?