BINDERY
Ni 202 PATTEE
Candid con artist reveals crimes
By. IRIS NAAR
and MIKE HEIMOWITZ
Daily Collegian Staff Writers
♦ At age 16 he posed as an airline pilot,
at age 18 he became a pediatrician•, at
age 19 he worked as a lawyer, and at 20
he taught as a college professor.
Renowned con artist Frank W.
Abagnale Jr., Colloquy's first speaker of
the year, brought the crowd of 850 last
night at Eisenhower Auditorium to their
feet after he told his amazing life story.
Abagnale, whom The Wall Street
Journal once called "the world's
greatest con artist," said in his talk and
in an interview that he began his life in
crime at age 16 after his parents' divorce
shattered him.
"I was one of four children and my
parents divorced when I was 16. The
divorce struck me very hard," he said.
He ran away from his home in upstate
New York to New York City, and after
working in several menial jobs began to
cash bad checks from his own checking
account.
"The checks started bouncing, so at
age 16 I was walking down 42nd Street
and I stopped at the front door of the
Commodore Hotel," he said. "I saw an
Eastern Airlines flight crew, and
thought, what a perfect front. I could
pose as a pilot and travel everywhere for
free."
Abagnale convinced a purchasing
agent from Pan American World Air
ways that he was a Los Angeles-based
pilot who had lost his uniform and
needed one within a few hours to make
Phis next flight. He received the uniform
free and also conned a professional
airline identification card from a dealer.
Abagnale said he never had to do any
actual flying while posing as a pilot
beCause he never flew with Pan
'Leaders of Syria, Libya
discuss merger for unity
t TRIPOLI, Libya (UPI) With a half
million Libyans chanting "one nation,
not two," Syrian President Hafez'Assad
and Libyan strongman Col. Moammar
Khadafy began talks yesterday on how
to merge their countries into a united
front against Israel.
* Clapping, stomping and shouting their
support, 500,000 Libyans gathered near
Tripoli's airport to hear Khadafy and
Assad sing the praises of Arab unity and
Ipy 'the - groundwork for the mergerof
Syria and Libya, the state-run Libyan
neWs agency JANA reported.
"This unity," Khadafy said, "is to
confront Israel, Sadat, America and the
Arab ractionaries. . . . In order to
. establish a greater Arab unity we should
start with Syria and Libya."
It-was the mercurial Libyan leader
who proposed the merger scheme on
Sept. 1, the 11th anniversary of his rise to
power. Assad, who has become seriously
isolated both domestically and
regionally, was quick to embrace
Khadafy's proposal and called for im
mediate steps to effect the union.
"Unity would be a health potion for us
and the death knell for our enemies,"
11. 1 ;Assad told the crowd, which repeatedly
interrupted his speech with chants of
"one 'nation, not two" and "long live the
merger of two nations."
"For confrontation, for Palestine, for
'I view this bill as merely the first step in an
ongoing effort to restrict abortions in every way
possible by every means possible.'
—State Rep. Gregg L. Cunningham
4 COP:,
Posed as a lawyer, pilot, pediatrician
American. As part of an airline
reciprocal agreement, he was allowed to
occupy a seat in the cockpit and become
what he called a "deadhead" on any
flight.
As a bogus pilot, Abagnale was able to
cash checks at any airline desk at any
airport. At one airport he spent eight
hours cashing checks at every airline
desk. "What happened then? Shift
change! And I went all the way around
again," he said.
The FBI was on Abagnale's trail by
the time he was 18. So, he said, he
decided to make a new life in Atlanta,
Ga., this time posing as a pediatrician.
After a hospital staff member left,
Abagnale was asked to work five nights
a week as a resident.
One of Abagnale's duties as a resident
was to fill in nurses' charts, though he
knew nothing of the medical profession.
He said he noticed that other doctors
seemed to write unintelligibly, so he just
scribbled on the charts. The New York
Times publication of the charts show
"they say absoulutely nothing," he said.
Abagnale's next stop was Baton
Rouge, La., where he posed as a lawyer.
"What the hell, I was a doctor. I could be
a lawyer," he said.
Abagnale, who said he has a
photographic memory and an IQ of 136 to
140, passed the bar exam after his third
attempt. He worked on the attorney
general's staff and even tried some
cases in court.
He stayed in Louisiana for about a
year, then moved to Brigham Young•
University to pose as a college professor.
"I read one chapter ahead of the
students and I had no problem atall," he
said.
After spending some time at the
university, Abagnale began to research
our dignity and for our liberation, we
want unity and we shall walk together on
the same path," said Assad.
He was accompanied to the Libyan
capital by Prime Minister Abdel Raouf
Kasai, Foreign Minister Abdel Halim
Khaddam, Information Minister Ahmed
Iskandar Ahmed and Deputy Premier
for Economic Affairs Abdel Kader
Qaddoura.
In what appeared to be an allusion to
past failed attempts, at Arab unity and
the difficulty of merging two countries
700 miles apart with completely dif
ferent histories and personalities,
Khadafy said "It may be difficult to
have such a merger between Libya and
Syria, but this merger is going to go
through no matter what."
The two leaders and their aides began
discussions on various' technical aspects
of unifying their countries immediately
after their speeches.
There was no indication how long
Assad would remain in Tripoli but Arab
press reports in Beirut speculated that
when tale talks are completed, Khadafy
may fly to Damascus to formally
proclaim the merger. ' •
Arab diplomatic sources say Sept. 28,
the 10th anniversary of the death of
former Egyptian President Gamel
Abdel Nasser, is a likely date for of
ficially uniting the two countries,
the entire banking system. He became
so skilled at forging checks that the FBI
named him one of 121 known master
forgers.
Abagnale told about his most suc
cessful con, which netted $42,000 in two
days.
At 18, he said, he opened a checking
account in• a Chicago bank. With
magnetic ink he printed his account
number on blank deposit slips available
at the bank. After that, everyone who
made a deposit that day put the money
into Abagnale's account.
The law caught up with him, though,
as he eventually was arrested by In
terpol in France. "Twenty-six countries
immediately filed extradition requests,"
he said.
He was sent to a French prison. "It
makes the Mexican prison look like a
Holiday Inn. It was built in the 17th
century. There was no plumbing and no
electricity," he said.
Abagnale was placed in a 5-foot by 5-
foot cell with a 5-foot ceiling. "I'm 6 feet
tall. I could neither sit down nor. stand
up. The only thing in the room was a
bucket," he said.
He said he was served meals of bread
and water, bread and soup and bread
and coffee. He was not allowed to make
any noises and was kept in the room for
six months. "Keeping one's sanity was
an absolute feat," he said.
He went from 198 pounds to 109, he
said, had double pneumonia and almost
had a vitamin deficiency. "I would have
lost my life if I was there much longer,
he said." .
The next country to extradite him was
Sweden. He was sentenced to six months
in a Swedish prison, which is "very
much like a Holiday Inn. There is
the
daily
j(icl.ge...,splits',...delpn_dpri.ts...i....frorn,./4.bscam tria
PHILADELPHIA (UPI) Two of the
four Philadelphia men scheduled to go
on trial in the nation's third Abscam
case were severed from the trial
yesterday by the presiding judge.
During a pretrial hearing shortly
before jury selection got under way in
the $70,000 bribery trial, U.S. District
Judge John P. Fullam Jr. separated the
cases of Philadelphia Councilman Louis
C. Johanson and his former law partner,
Howard L. Criden, from the trial of two
other city councilmen charged with
conspiracy, ruling there was a "sub
stantial legal question" over whether
'Criden and Johanson can be tried again.
Fullam said defense lawyers John
Duffy for Johanson and Richard Ben-
Veniste for. Criden "have raised 'sub
stantial double jeopardy and due process
points" because the charges apparently
Cunningham introduces legislation
Anti-abortion bill goes
By TOM BOYER
Daily Collegian Staff Writer
A bill prohibiting nearly all state-funded abortions
has been introduced in the state House of Represen
tatives by Rep. Gregg L. Cunningham, R-Centre
Region.
"I view this bill as merely the first step in an ongoing
effort to restrict abortions in every way possible by
every means possible," Cunningham said Sunday in an
interview with The Daily Collegian.
The bill will restrict state funding of Medicaid
abortions for the poor and disabled in the same way that
federal funds for Medicaid abbrtions are restricted.
Federal money may only be used for abortions in
cases of rape and incest, or when the mother's life is in
jeopardy.
However, state Welfare Department regulations
permit Medicaid-funded abortions if a woman can get
two doctors to certify that her physical or mental health
might be injured by childbirth. Cunningham said
amounts to "abortion on demand."
Cunningham said there is "virtually no question" the
bill will pass in the House, A similar bill has already
been passed by the state Senate.
"I would say that there's a very strong likelihood that
this will be the law prior to the first of the year," he
said.
Cunningham said his bill is the result of a recent U.S.
Supreme Court decision "that paves the way for the
states to cut off funding for abortions to the same extent
that the federal government restricts funds for abor
tions."
The bill is written in such a way that, as more
stringent federal laws are passed, the law will
"automatically adjust itself" to concur with federal
guidelines, he said.
He said Congress will probably eliminate federal
funding for abortions even in cases of rape and incest
when it acts on this year's version of the Hyde Amen
dment.
If this law passes, Pennsylvania also will not fund
abortions for rape or incest victims, Cunningham said.
"The availability of the rape exception option has
given rise to staggering fraud. The huge proportion of
the women who are claiming to have been raped to
procure federal funding is completely out of proportion
nothing to dehumanize you at all," he
said.
He was then sent back to the United
States. FBI agents were anxiously
awaiting his arrival at New York's
Kennedy Airport. However, Abagnale
managed to escape through a hatch
under the toilet as the plane was taxiing
down the runway. The headline in The
New York Times read, "Skyway Man
Disappears 30,000 Feet in the Air."
In an incident at Chicago's O'Hare
Airport, police surrounded the airport
looking for the criminal. Abagnale
persuaded a bystander to answer the
phone if a page came for Frank
Abagnale. Abagnale had himself paged,
and as the bystander went to answer the
phone, policemen caught him im
mediately.
Abagnale was finally apprehended in
Canada where officials turned him over
to United States authorities. "I was
wanted in all 50 states, counties and
municipalities everywhere," he said.
While waiting for his trial to begin,
Abagnale was placed in Atlanta Federal
Penitentiary, renowned for the
maximum security of any prison in the
country. Abagnale said there are now
two plaques on the wall of the prison
commemorating Frank Abagnale as the
youngest prisoner ever to serve time
there, and the first prisoner to escape
from the institution.
"I impersonated • a federal prison
inspector and walked right out the front
door," he said.
But Abagnale said he regrets his past.
"I think I gave up a great deal for what
little I gained. I'm 32 years old and when
I look back, that's ten years of my life
that I wasted. To me it was a total
waste," he said.
"And I think about little things, like I
stemmed from a single conspiracy.
"There is a "substantial legal question
on whether they (Johanson and Criden)
can be tried," Fullam said; adding he
was taking the matter under con
sideration.
Former council President George X.
Schwartz and former council Majority
Leader Harry P. Jannotti, who lost their
leadership roles when they were in
dicted, should be tried separately,
Fullam said, because the Aug. 23 con
victions of Johanson and Criden in a New
York federal court could prejudice
jurors.
"In view of the recent convictions (of
Johanson and Criden) which received so
much publicity here it would be unfair
for the remaining defendants to have to
select a jury which may or may not know
that the two other defendants have
to all of the other statistics," he said.
Cunningham said his bill is "only the beginning" of a
sequence of anti-abortion legislation to be introduced in
the state Legislature.
The bill is part of a series of "stop-gap" measures
designed to prevent as many abortions as possible until
a constitutional amendment banning abortion is
passed, he said.
"We can't do anything but snipe away at this thing
until we get a human life amendment, but snipe away
we will," he said.
'The availability of the rape ex
ception option has given rise to
staggering fraud. The huge
proportion of the women who are
claiming to have been raped to
procure federal funding is
completely Out of proportion to all
of the other statistics.'—State Rep.
Gregg L. Cunningham
Cunningham said the legislation is being developed
gradually because "there are pro-abortion federal
court judges who would like nothing better than to get
all of this pro-life legislation in the same bill so they can
strike the whole thing down. We're not going to give
them that opportunity."
He said the new legislation has been drafted carefully
within the wordings of past court decisions so that it will
withstand any court challenge.
The next step for anti-abortion legislation in Penn
sylvania will be to reduce the amount of time a rape
victim has to report the crime in order to receive public
funding for an abortion, he said.
Current federal regulations allow a reporting period
of 60 days. Cunningham said he thinks this period is too
long.
"Sixty days is a very cynical and transparent effort to
promote fraud because the average person who
Con artist Frank Abagnale Jr. revealed his life of crime to a crowd of 850 last
night in Eisenhower Auditorium. His criminal record includes impersonations,
forgeries and elaborate escapes from the law.
don't know what it's like to have gone to
a senior prom, to a high school football
game, to have had a girlfriend in high
school, to remember friends," he said.
In November, Abagnale will host the
Johnny Carson Show, on which he has
appeared five times. He has made
numerous other television appearances.
Tuesday, Sept. 9, 1980
Vol. 81, No. 32 18 pages
already been convicted," Fullam said.
Fullam also said by severing Johanson
and Criden from the other defendants,
the availability of Johansen and Criden
as witnesses will be greatly enhanced.
Reacting to Fullam's severance
decision and comments on double
jeopardy, Duffy said,'"Super!"
"We have a motion pending on this
double jeopardy issue," Duffy said. "We
took the position from the beginning
Howard (Criden) has four indictments
. againgt him and Lou (Johanson) has
three. The government indicted them
multiple times in different jurisdictions
simply to harass them into pleading
guilty."
All four are charged with sharing the
payoff money from undercover FBI
agents in return for helping a bogus
Arab sheik who wanted to build a hotel
His story is told in a recently released
book called "Catch Me If You Can."
A movie about his life will be released
next summer. It stars Dustin Hoffman,
Katharine Ross, Cybil Shepherd and
Genevieve Bujold, among other stars.
Abagnale will play an FBI agent in the
film.
University Park, Pa. 16802
Published by Students of The Pennsylvania State University
complex in the city and develop
Philadelphia's port.
The FBl's case is based in part on
videotapes of the defendants allegedly
accepting the money from undercover
agents.
Johanson and Criden were convicted
along with Camden, N.J., Mayor Angelo
Errichetti and Rep. Michael Myers, D-
Pa., on Abscam-related bribery charges
in the Philadelphia Abscam case,
Johanson, who has been granted a paid
leave of absence from his legislative
duties in council, allegedly took $25,000.
Schwartz allegedly took $30,000, and
Jannotti was charged with taking
$lO,OOO.
Criden was charged with taking $5,000
in return for bringing the politicians to
Philadelphia's Barclay Hotel last
January to meet with agents.
House
becomes pregnant is aware of that within 60 days and is
able to go back after the fact and falsely report a rape,"
he said.
Reducing Pennsylvania's reporting period to 10 days
will largely prevent fraudulent rape claims, Cun
ningham said.
Cunningham said he is working on a comprehensive
package of anti-abortion legislation, to be introduced iii
the state legislature early next year. The legislation.
which Cunningham calls the "omnibus bill," would
require:
• Information about abortion, including photographs
of a human fetus, to be provided to the pregnant woman
by the doctor.
• A 48-to-72 hour "cooling off" period between the
time an abortion is approved and the time it is per
formed.
• Notice to the parents of a minor having an abortion
• Notice to the father of the fetus.
• Birth and death certificates, along with funeral
arrangements for the fetus.
Cunningham said the omnibus bill, if passed, would
be the toughest anti-abortion law in the United States.
"Unfortunately, this is one of those issues on whict.
there is no compromise. Either you kill the baby or you
don't," he said.
Cunningham.said he has received nearly twice as
many letters supporting his stand on abortion as he has
opposing it.
However, he said'his anti-abortion stance is a matter
of personal principle and does not depend upon what his
constituents prefer.
"I would vote this way on this issue if I was the only
person in the world who felt that this was the only ap
propriate course."
Hot and humid
The sun should shine long enough today to drive the
temperature up to 82, along with increased humidity.
But a strong cold front will spark shower and thun
derstorm activity tonight as the temperature drops to
60. Wednesday's weather will feature partly to mostly
cloudy skies and windy and cooler conditions, as the
mercury fights to reach 69.
Photo by Renee
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