A man impersonating an FBI agent tried to get Luigi Mangione out of
jail, authorities say
[January 30, 2026]
By MICHAEL R. SISAK
NEW YORK (AP) — A man claiming to be an FBI agent showed up to a federal
jail in New York City on Wednesday night and told officers he had a
court order to release Luigi Mangione, authorities said. He's now locked
up there too.
Mark Anderson, a 36-year-old Minnesota native who has a history of drug
and other arrests and disclosed last year in court papers that he
suffers from mental illness, was arrested and charged with impersonating
a federal officer in a foiled bid to free Mangione from the Metropolitan
Detention Center. Mangione is being held at the notorious Brooklyn jail
while awaiting state and federal murder trials in the killing of
UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
A criminal complaint against Anderson did not identify the person he
attempted to free. A law enforcement official familiar with the matter
confirmed it was Mangione. The official was not authorized to speak
publicly and did so on condition of anonymity.
Anderson was ordered held without bail after an initial appearance
Thursday in Brooklyn federal court. He was not required to enter a plea.
A day after getting stopped at the entrance, he is now jailed at the
Metropolitan Detention Center, according to federal prison records.
A message seeking comment was left for Anderson’s court-appointed
lawyer. A message was also left for a spokesperson for Mangione’s legal
team.
In a lawsuit last year alleging injuries from a fall at a city homeless
shelter, Anderson said he has “multiple disabilities” and has been ruled
by the Social Security Administration to be “fully disabled because of
mental illness.” He said he had no money and said he received state and
federal assistance.
According to public records, Anderson has had numerous drug and
alcohol-related arrests and convictions over the past two decades in his
native Minnesota and in Wisconsin, where he has also lived. He also has
cases pending in the Bronx, including one in which he's accused of
showing a gun.
Man had papers ‘signed by a judge’ and a pizza cutter, authorities
say
According to the criminal complaint, Anderson approached the jail intake
area around 6:50 p.m. Wednesday and told uniformed jail officers that he
was an FBI agent in possession of paperwork “signed by a judge”
authorizing the release of a specific person in custody at the jail.
When the officers asked for his federal credentials, Anderson showed
them a Minnesota driver’s license, threw documents at them and claimed
to have weapons, the criminal complaint said. The documents appeared
related to filing claims against the Justice Department, according to an
FBI agent who viewed them and prepared the complaint. Officers searched
Anderson’s bag and found a barbecue fork and a circular steel blade, the
complaint said. In a photo included in the complaint, the blade appeared
to be a small pizza cutter wheel.
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Anderson’s driver's license listed an address in Mankato, Minnesota,
about 65 miles (110 kilometers) southwest of Minneapolis. He moved
to New York for a job opportunity and started working at a Bronx
pizzeria when that fell through, the law enforcement official said.
Court records indicate he had been living in the city at least since
2023, including at motels, a shelter and a Bronx apartment.
Acting as his own lawyer, he has filed handwritten lawsuits against
the Pentagon, Chinese and Russian ambassadors and a Minnesota police
department, all of which have been thrown out. Another lawsuit,
alleging a Bronx pizzeria forced him to work 70 hours a week with no
overtime, is still pending.
Mangione due in court Friday as death penalty ruling looms
The alleged attempt to free Mangione added a bizarre wrinkle to a
critical stretch in his legal cases.
Hours before Anderson’s arrest, the Manhattan district attorney's
office sent a letter urging the judge in Mangione’s state case,
Gregory Carro, to set a July 1 trial date.
On Friday, Mangione will be in court for a conference in his federal
case. The judge in that case, Margaret Garnett, is expected to rule
soon whether prosecutors can seek the death penalty and whether they
can use certain evidence against him.
Last week, Garnett scheduled jury selection in the federal case for
Sept. 8, with the rest of the trial happening in October or January,
depending on whether she allows prosecutors to seek the death
penalty.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty in both cases. The state charges
carry the possibility of life in prison.
A cause célèbre for people upset with the health insurance industry,
Mangione has attracted legions of supporters, some of whom have
regularly turned up at his court appearances donning green clothing
— the color worn by the Mario Bros. video game character Luigi — as
a symbol of solidarity. Some have brought signs and shirts with
slogans such as “Free Luigi” and “No Death For Luigi Mangione.”
Thompson, 50, was killed on Dec. 4, 2024, as he walked to a midtown
Manhattan hotel for UnitedHealth Group’s annual investor conference.
Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting him from behind.
Police say “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on the
ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to describe how insurers avoid
paying claims.
Mangione, a 27-year-old Ivy League graduate from a wealthy Maryland
family, was arrested five days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona,
Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of
Manhattan.
After several days of court proceedings in Pennsylvania, Mangione
was whisked to New York and sent to the Metropolitan Detention
Center.
The jail is also home to former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro
and his wife, Cilia Flores. Former inmates include hip-hop mogul
Sean “Diddy” Combs and cryptocurrency fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried.
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