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  • February 14, 2025
Luigi Mangione, charged in the murder of CEO in NYC, had noticed that the said ‘parasites’ were coming

Luigi Mangione, charged in the murder of CEO in NYC, had noticed that the said ‘parasites’ were coming

ALTOONA, Pa. – Prosecutors began taking steps Tuesday to try the suspect for the murder of CEO of United Healthcare back to New York to face murder charges, as new details emerged about his life and how he was captured.

Luigi Nicholas Mangionea 26-year-old Ivy League graduate from a prominent Maryland real estate family was expected to appear in court a day after police arrested him at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania.

That was him accused of murder hours after he was arrested monday for the murder of Brian Thompsonwho led the largest health insurer in the United States.

Luigi Mangione

This Pennsylvania State Police photo shows Luigi Mangione, a suspect in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson at the police station in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on Monday, Dec. 9, 2024. (Pennsylvania State Police via AP)AP

Mangione remained imprisoned in Pennsylvania, where he was initially charged with possession of a firearm without a license, forgery and providing false identification to police. Prosecutors in Manhattan have issued an arrest warrant, a move that could help expedite his extradition from Pennsylvania.

Court officials have said Mangione does not yet have an attorney who could comment on the charges. When Mangione was asked at Monday’s arraignment whether he needed a public defender, he asked if he could “answer that in the future.”

Mangione was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania — about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of New York City — after a McDonald’s customer recognized him and notified an employee, authorities said.

Officers found him at a table in the back, wearing a blue medical mask and looking at a laptop, according to a criminal complaint from Pennsylvania State Police.

He initially gave them a fake ID, but when an officer asked Mangione if he had been to New York recently, he “became quiet and started shaking,” the complaint said.

When he pulled down his mask at the officers’ request, “we knew this was our guy,” rookie officer Tyler Frye said.

Luigi Mangione, New York Police Department, Homicide CEO

McDonald’s restaurant, where an employee alerted authorities to a customer found with a gun and writings linking him to the brutal murder of the UnitedHealthcare CEO in Manhattan, Monday, Dec. 9, 2024, in Altoona, Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Gene J .AP

Footage of Mangione released Tuesday by Pennsylvania State Police shows him pulling down his mask in the corner of the McDonald’s while holding what appeared to be hash browns and wearing a winter coat and hat. Another photo from a cell showed him without a smile and with messy hair.

New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Mangione had with her a gun like the one used to kill Thompson and the same fake ID the shooter used to check into a New York hostel, along with a passport and other fraudulent IDs.

NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said Mangione also had a three-page handwritten document showing “some ill will toward corporate America.”

A law enforcement official who was not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity said the document included a line in which Mangione claimed to have acted alone.

“To the FBI, I’ll be brief because I respect what you do for our country. To spare you a lengthy investigation, I clearly state that I have not collaborated with anyone,” the official said in the document.

It also included a sentence that said, “I apologize for any conflict or trauma, but it had to be done.” Honestly, these parasites just got it.”

Portrait of Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare.

This undated photo from UnitedHealth Group shows Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare. (AP Photo/UnitedHealth Group via AP)AP

Pennsylvania prosecutor Peter Weeks said in court that Mangione was found with a passport and $10,000 in cash, $2,000 of which was in foreign currency. Mangione disputed the amount.

Thompson, 50, was killed Wednesday as he walked alone to a Manhattan hotel for an investor conference. Police quickly viewed the shooting as a targeted attack by a gunman who appeared to be waiting for Thompson, coming up behind him and dismissed a 9mm pistol.

Researchers have said: ‘delay’, ‘denial’ and ‘impeachment’ were written on ammunition found near the body of Thompson, the leader of the largest subsidiary of Minnetonka, Minnesota-based UnitedHealth Group. The words mimic “defer, deny, defend,” an expression used criticize the insurance sector.

From surveillance footage, New York investigators determined that the gunman quickly fled the city, probably by bus.

Mangione is a grandson of a wealthy, self-made real estate developer and philanthropist and a nephew of a current Maryland state lawmaker.

Valedictorian at his elite prep school in Baltimore, he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science from the University of Pennsylvania in 2020, a spokesperson said.

“Our family is shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest,” Mangione’s family said in a statement released by his cousin, Maryland Del. Nino Mangione, posted on social media late Monday. “We offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson and we ask people to pray for everyone involved.”

From January to June 2022, Luigi Mangione lived in Surfbreak, a co-living space on the edge of touristy Waikiki in Honolulu.

Luigi Mangione

This booking photo released by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections on Monday, December 9, 2024 shows Luigi Mangione, a suspect in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. (Pennsylvania Department of Corrections via AP)AP

Like other residents of the shared penthouse that caters to remote workers, Mangione underwent a background check, said Josiah Ryan, spokesperson for owner and founder RJ Martin.

“Luigi was widely regarded as a great guy. There were no complaints,” Ryan said. “There was no sign whatsoever that would point to the alleged crimes they say he committed.”

At Surfbreak, Martin discovered that Mangione had had severe back pain since childhood that disrupted many aspects of his life, from surfing to romance, Ryan said.

“He went surfing with RJ once, but he couldn’t because of his back,” Ryan said, but noted that Mangione and Martin often went to a climbing gym together.

Mangione left Surfbreak to have surgery on the mainland, Ryan said, and later returned to Honolulu and rented an apartment.

Martin didn’t hear from Mangione six months to a year ago.