Just watching Neal at work is simply astonishing, he has a certain way with people. From art forgery to blending himself into any facility is remarkable. Also I'm quite fascinated by the knowledge that Mozzie and Neal possess, are there any books that relate to their mindset and strategic thinking? I'm usually not the book kinda guy but watching these two at work makes me want to read and gain some knowledge.
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The movie Catch Me If You Can is based on Frank Abagnale, who inspired Neal Caffrey. Neal is essentially Batman, though. He always has the skills that he needs, regardless of how rare they are in the real world. I'd rate him as possible, but not plausible.
It's a certain combination of natural intelligence and ruthlessness. A lot of what Neal and Mozzie do causes some collateral damage that would stop normal people on their tracks.
As far as people being as astonishingly gifted as Neal, there's many famous individuals who I think stand toe to toe with him(well, before they started throwing random skills on Neal when the writers wrote themselves in a corner).
Dolph Lundgren(yes that one) is a succesful actor,black belt in Karate, has a master's degree in chemical engineering, fluent in several languages, and there were rumors he has an IQ of 160.
Viggo from the LOTR is fluent in four languages,writer,poet, an accomplished painter and musician, a world-class photographer, and of course an incredibly succesful actor.
And those are famous individuals, there's plenty of gifted individuals throught out the globe who just happen to not be famous or would rather live a private life.
Gerald Blanchard - Infamous because of the sisi star heist. One of the episodes even used his story as a plot device, IIRC. Fascinating read nonetheless.
Yes and no. There are people who are escape artists. There are people that are fantastic art forgers. Some people are break-in experts. Most aren't usually all in one body though.
Look up Frank Abagnale Jr. He wrote a book that was made into a movie. The movie stared Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, and Christopher Walken. The book is must read for anyone interested in the whole conman type crimes.
There was an AMA once with a person like Neal Caffrey. I tried to search for it but found out the user deleted his account. Here is what I found though. A cached copy of the AMA.
http://www.topiama.com/r/775/i-am-the-man-formally-known-as-the-most-infamous
wow, he sold a 80$ million Michelangelo. And it was a fake. lol.
These people printed fake art out of their home and warehouse and sold them on a QVC-style television show which they ran themselves. One of the biggest art frauds in dollars.
There's a great show on MSNBC that Stacey Keach narrates called "American Greed" that details some of the greatest schemes in recent American history. Many of which you've seen tangential reference to on the show. It's real and documentary-style so slower pace than white collar.
Both Penn Jillette and Ed McMahon were once "carnies" who suckered rubes. Ed worked in jam auctions for many years.
Kevin David Mitnick (born August 6, 1963) is an American computer security consultant, author and hacker. In 1999, he was convicted of various computer and communications-related crimes. At the time of his arrest, he was the most-wanted computer criminal in the United States. He now runs a security firm named Mitnick Security Consulting, LLC that helps test a company's security strengths and weaknesses, and is the Chief Hacking Officer of security awareness training company KnowBe4. Mitnick is an active advisory board member at Zimperium, a mobile defense firm that develops a mobile intrusion prevention system.
Interesting: Tsutomu Shimomura | Hacker (computer security) | Social engineering (security) | Freedom Downtime
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This is one of the most interesting aspects of the show, the almost superhero-like powers they seem to have that are entirely plausible and, yet, unlikely.
The flavor-of-the-decade on procedural(ish) shows like this seems to be the use of consultants by law enforcement. I wonder how many of those there really are? Would the FBI ever really have someone like Neal play such an active, front-lines role in investigations? I highly doubt it... but it makes for great TV.
You should check out /r/SocialEngineering . It relates to manipulating people (harmlessly, as far as I can tell) like Neal often does in White Collar. Manipulating them into letting him into places he shouldn't be, telling him info they shouldn't, etc. Apollo Robbins has a TED talk here about the art of misdirection, which Neal often employs as well, especially when pickpocketing or catching glimpses of day planners and people's schedules. Apollo Robbins also has other videos on youtube for pickpocketing and lying.
I've heard of one art forger and confidence man named Andy Behrman. He wrote a book called Electroboy, and has a website of the same name. He was similar to Neal, but not entirely like him. Maybe like Neal, but on a constant bender and also dealing with a mood disorder.
Hope this helps answer at least part of your question.