Tipsheet

New Charges Allow Feds to Pave the Way to Execute Luigi Mangione

Luigi Mangione is now in New York to face charges over the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on December 4. Mangione has been formally charged in the murder, where he reportedly shot and killed Thompson in the early morning hours outside of the New York Hilton Midtown before an investor’s meeting. Thompson was shot multiple times with a suppressed, mostly 3D-printed firearm. He’s facing over a dozen state and federal charges regarding this crime. The latest federal charges make him eligible for the death penalty if convicted (via NYT):

Federal prosecutors on Thursday unsealed a murder case against the suspect in the shooting of UnitedHealthcare’s chief executive, holding out the possibility of the death penalty even after a trial on separate state charges. 

The federal criminal complaint against the suspect, Luigi Mangione, 26, includes one count of using a firearm to commit murder, which carries a maximum potential sentence of death, along with two stalking counts and a firearms offense. 

It came two days after the Manhattan district attorney filed state murder and terror charges against Mr. Mangione in the killing of the executive, Brian Thompson. Mr. Thompson, 50, was gunned down on a Manhattan sidewalk this month. 

The highest penalty Mr. Mangione could face if convicted in state court would be life in prison without parole. 

Mr. Mangione was brought back to the city on Thursday after an extradition hearing in Pennsylvania, shackled and escorted by a phalanx of law enforcement officers. Mayor Eric Adams and top police officials joined the dramatic tableau. 

He was arrested at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on December 9, after customers and workers at the location recognized him from the unmasked photos released by authorities. It was the photo of Mangione reportedly flirting with the hostel desk clerk. Police found the firearm, $8,000 in cash, and four fake IDs, one of which, a phony New Jersey driver’s license, was used to check in at the hostel before the murder.  

Mangione is also no working-class hero. He attended a posh private school, was educated at the University of Pennsylvania, and hails from a prominent family in Baltimore who, ironically, are very philanthropic in the healthcare industry. It’s possible that Mangione’s net worth was close to or even greater than that of Mr. Thompson, his alleged victim.