White Collar: Neal’s 10 Best Cons, Ranked

White Collar’s Neal Caffrey is one of the most impressive con men in film and television history. These are his greatest moments.

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Neal Caffrey is White Collar’s great conman, second to no one, except possibly his best friend and partner Mozzie. He also befriends FBI agent Peter Burke and becomes a valuable asset to the White Collar crime division. His many cons and forgeries in the high-end art world over the years make him the perfect candidate to mete out cons and get a chance to stay out of prison for the remainder of his sentence.

The story in this series is actually loosely based on the true story of Frank Abagnale Jr., a forger and con man who also worked for the FBI to avoid staying in jail during his sentence. Neal’s story diverges largely from Frank’s but the mysticism of the artwork he deals with and the explosive twist at the end make these cons worth watching!

10 The Childhood Cons

Neal’s real name isn’t even Neal! As a toddler, he believed his father to be dead and had to become Neal when he and his mother went into witness protection.

When this is revealed near the end of the series, it is also revealed that baby Neal conned his teachers by turning back the clocks a half-hour to avoid being late to school and forged his own bus pass to get free rides!

9 Mozzie’s Partner In Crime

From the very first “find the queen” shell game to the Pink Panthers treasury con, Mozzie has been by Neal’s side the entire time. Without this partner, many of Neal’s best cons would never have worked.

In that way, Mozzie himself is part of Neal’s conning. His behind the scenes work makes him Neal’s greatest tool and a subtle com in everything they pull off together.

8 Getting Out Of Prison

Neal plans his prison escape for weeks but in the end, Peter still finds him because he is sidetracked once again by Kate. The real con is Neal convincing Peter that he can be useful and thus getting him out of prison as an FBI consultant.

It seems perfectly legitimate but at the same time, Neal skirts the rules from his first steps out of the prison to his next ones back into the FBI without cuffs.

7 Evidence Retrieval At The Empire State Building

This show ultimately revolves around Neal’s life and that culminates in his long lost father returning and trying to gain his favor. Through their interactions, fans find out that James (Neal’s father) was framed and the evidence that could prove it was hidden by his (now dead) former partner.

Under the watchful eye of a new supervisor and racing against an enemy that also wants the evidence, Neal pulls a con to retrieve it from inside the floor, get it up to the top of the Empire State Building, and send it along to the right hands using a drone that he had to smuggle up there and assemble on the spot!

6 Art Expertise Is All Self Taught

Neal comes on the scene with the ability to forge like a pro but he never says where those skills came from. Fans know later that he finished high school because he intended to apply for the police academy. Neal exhibits expertise and talent for art that is equivalent to someone with a master’s degree and he makes it in the world of fine art without missing a step.

It may surprise you to know that these skills were all 100% self-taught. He even poses successfully as an English Literature teacher for a prominent private school during one of the cases he works on with Peter!

5 Evading Sara’s Pursuit (And Then Returning) The Raphael Painting

Sara Ellis is introduced as an insurance investigator that testified against Neal during his original trial for bond forgery. She implies then and at many other times that a “Raphael” painting was stolen by Neal and never returned. There’s a running gag throughout their relationship about the painting and how they met.

In order to escape being caught as the person who stole the painting, Neal concocts and executes a con that takes him to Roosevelt Island and back to Sara’s firm, and having his friends help him open a case confirming Neal as the authentication expert for the painting. He makes it just under the wire, while D.C. Art Crimes is in hot pursuit.

4 Concealing The U-Boat Treasure With A Daring Con

The FBI is in hot pursuit of the Degas from the U-Boat treasure that Mozzie sold in order to put out a bounty on Mathew Keller’s head. Agent Kramer shows up from D.C. Art Crimes determined to catch Neal in the act.

To keep them from discovering the stolen Degas at their buyer’s home, Neal and Mozzie launch a con that has Neal BASE jumping off the roof of the buyer’s building with the stolen painting and leaving behind a forgery…and he pulls it off! He even has time to catch his fedora with the classic Neal spin when he hits the ground walking.

3 Pink Panther Treasury Con

One of the last cons Neal runs in the show is to fake his death after teaming up with a group of pro thieves called the Pink Panthers. Their big play is to steal a huge bounty of treasury cash slated to be destroyed as out of circulation bills. No one would miss them so the Panthers wouldn’t get caught.

Neal figures out how to use old postal tubes to siphon the money to an agreed-upon spot, of course with a hearty bounty for himself and Mozzie. In the end, he finishes the con by faking his death, which is the only way he could ever truly be free.

2 Turning In Robert McLeish When He Is Discovered On Cape Verde

At one point, Neal and Mozzie escape to a little island with no extradition called Cape Verde when agent Kramer uses trumped-up charges to bungle Neal’s commutation hearing. Agent Collins, a particularly aggressive bread of federal bounty hunter is sent to bring Neal back “dead or alive.”

Peter, on vacation time with no jurisdiction, comes to Cape Verde to help. Together with Neal’s island love interest, they run a con to expose the island’s protector, Mr. Dobbs, as America’s #4 most wanted Robert McLeish. Not only are they successful with Neal headed back to NY with a new deal, but Neal pulls most of the con with a bullet in his leg.

1 Catching The Bad Guys

Mathew Keller, Kurtis Hagan, Rachel Turner, and Vincent Adler are villains that appear over several episode arcs throughout the series. Each one brings on several cons that couldn’t possibly be covered in a list of ten or less.

Each person put someone Neal cared about in danger in an attempt to get him to buckle but you can’t con this con man! Neal rises to the occasion every time and comes out of the mess with style.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/white-collar-neal-caffrey-greatest-cons/