Joseph Shea

Joseph Gerald Shea (; September 20, 1919 – August 4, 2005) was an American law enforcement official who was a Special Agent for the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Early life and education Shea was born in Brookline, Massachusetts, on September 20, 1919. He was the third child in a family of four sons born to Frank Shea, an Irish American, and his Irish-born wife, Alice Mary. The family moved in with their paternal grandmother after his mother's death, when he was eight. Shea joined the Army in 1942, after working at the Ritz Carlton Hotel and the Boston Navy Yard. He served in the 36th Division as a First Sergeant. He joined troops being sent to Europe on the Queen Mary, which was being used to transport troops overseas. The ship nearly went down at sea when hit by a rogue wave, but it righted itself and the 15,000 troops aboard were safe. He served in North Africa, Italy, and France during World War II. Following the war, Shea attended Boston College and majored in accounting. According to Frank Abagnale, his deep friendship with Shea, as portrayed in the film, lasted 30 years until Shea's death. However, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Abagnale and Shea only reunited in the late 1980s, almost 20 years after Shea arrested him.

A stage musical based on Abagnale's story was produced on Broadway in 2011. Norbert Leo Butz played Hanratty and won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical.