Luigi Mangione to appear in Manhattan court to face state charges in
death of UnitedHealthcare CEO
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 [December 23, 2024]
NEW YORK (AP) — The man accused of fatally shooting the
CEO of UnitedHealthcare is expected to be arraigned in a Manhattan court
Monday on murder and terror charges in a state case that will run
parallel to his federal prosecution.
Luigi Mangione, 26, was formally charged last week by the Manhattan
district attorney with multiple counts of murder, including murder as an
act of terrorism. His initial appearance in New York State Supreme Court
was preempted by federal prosecutors bringing their own charges over the
shooting.
The federal charges could carry the possibility of the death penalty,
while the maximum sentence for the state charges are life in prison
without parole. Prosecutors have said the two cases will proceed on
parallel tracks, with the state charges expected to go to trial first.
Authorities say Mangione gunned down Brian Thompson as he was walking to
an investor conference in midtown Manhattan on the morning of Dec 4.
Mangione was arrested in a Pennsylvania McDonald’s after a five-day
search, carrying a gun that matched the one used in the shooting and a
fake ID, police said. He also was carrying a notebook expressing
hostility toward the health insurance industry and especially wealthy
executives, according to federal prosecutors.
At a news conference announcing the state charges on Tuesday, Manhattan
DA Alvin Bragg said the application of the terrorism law reflected the
severity of a “frightening, well-planned, targeted murder that was
intended to cause shock and attention and intimidation.”
“In its most basic terms, this was a killing that was intended to evoke
terror,” he added. “And we’ve seen that reaction.”
Karen Friedman Agnifilo, an attorney for Mangione, has accused federal
and state prosecutors of advancing conflicting legal theories. In
federal court last week, she called their approach “very confusing” and
“highly unusual.”
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Luigi Mangione, charged with the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare
CEO Brian Thompson, is escorted by police in New York, Dec. 19,
2024. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
Mangione is being held in a Brooklyn federal jail alongside several
other high-profile defendants, including Sean “Diddy” Combs and Sam
Bankman-Fried.
He was extradited from Pennsylvania on Thursday and quickly rushed
to New York City, where he was seen wearing an orange jumpsuit as he
was led away from a helicopter by heavily armed police officers and
New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Adams said he was hoping to send a message to the suspect: “I wanted
to look him in the eye and say you carried out this terroristic act
in my city — the city that the people of New York love,” the mayor
told a local TV station. “I wanted to be there to show the symbolism
of that.”
An Ivy-league graduate from a prominent Maryland family, Mangione
appeared to have cut himself off from family and friends in recent
months. He posted frequently in online forums about his struggles
with back pain. He was never a UnitedHealthcare client, according to
the insurer.
Thompson, a married father of two high-schoolers, had worked at the
giant UnitedHealth Group for 20 years and became CEO of its
insurance arm in 2021.
The killing has prompted some to voice their resentment at U.S.
health insurers, with Mangione serving as a stand-in for
frustrations over coverage denials and hefty medical bills. It also
has sent shockwaves through the corporate world, rattling executives
who say they have received a spike in threats.
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