Suspect in killing of CEO faces US murder charge
A suspect in the killing of an American healthcare boss is being charged with federal murder and stalking crimes, according to a court document.
The charges against Luigi Mangione, 26, are additional to state murder and terrorism charges previously announced by New York prosecutors.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan will charge Mangione with the federal crime of murder using a firearm, two charges of stalking and a charge of using an illegal gun silencer, according to a criminal complaint.
The complaint accused him of spending months planning the attack on UnitedHealth Group CEO Brian Thompson, driven by his contempt for the health insurance industry and wealthy corporate executives.
Mangione was transferred into the custody of New York City police earlier on Thursday (US time) after he waived his right to extradition proceedings in court in Pennsylvania, the state where he was arrested following a five-day manhunt.
According to the federal complaint, a notebook Altoona police found in Mangione’s possession included handwritten pages that “express hostility towards the health insurance industry and wealthy executives in particular”.
A notebook entry dated October 22 described an intent to “wack” the chief executive of an insurance company at its investor conference.
You might like
“This investor conference is a true windfall,” one entry found in the notebook said, according to the complaint.
“Most importantly – the message becomes self evident.”
Police also said Mangione was carrying a letter addressed “To the Feds” that stated: “I wasn’t working with anyone,” according to the complaint.
“This was fairly trivial: Some elementary social engineering, basic CAD, a lot of patience,” the letter said, using an abbreviation for computer-aided design.
Earlier this week, a grand jury in New York indicted Mangione on 11 counts of breaking state law including first-degree murder and murder as an act of terrorism.
He has been in custody since his arrest and has not yet entered a plea.
Stay informed, daily
His New York defence lawyer Karen Friedman Agnifilo has said Mangione has been “overcharged” and that he would fight the charges in court.
Mangione was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on December 9, five days after Thompson was fatally shot outside a Manhattan hotel before a company conference in what law-enforcement officials have called a pre-meditated assassination.
While the killing of Thompson has been broadly condemned, Mangione has been feted as a folk hero by some in the US who decry the steep costs of healthcare and the power that insurance companies have to deny paying for some medical treatments.
Federal charges potentially allow prosecutors to pursue the death penalty, which has been abolished in New York for decades.
Prosecutors say that Mangione “travelled in interstate commerce” by taking a bus from Atlanta to New York before Thompson’s killing and also used his mobile phone and the internet to plan and carry out his attack, and so have jurisdiction.
Mangione will make an initial court appearance on the federal charges before US Magistrate Judge Katharine Parker in Manhattan later on Thursday.
“The federal government’s reported decision to pile on top of an already overcharged first-degree murder and state terror case is highly unusual and raises serious constitutional and statutory double jeopardy concerns,” Friedman Agnifilo said.
“We are ready to fight these charges in whatever court they are brought.”
In Pennsylvania, police said Mangione had a self-assembled nine-millimetre handgun in his backpack and a homemade silencer when he was arrested after being spotted at a McDonald’s.
The handgun resembled the weapon used to kill Thompson, the head of America’s biggest health insurer.
At the Blair County courthouse on Thursday, Mangione, appearing in an orange jail jumpsuit, had a preliminary hearing for the Pennsylvania charges, immediately followed by a second on New York’s extradition request.
A small crowd of supporters stood outside the courthouse, some waving signs that condemned the health insurance industry.
Mangione spoke only briefly at the extradition hearing, saying he understood his rights and telling Judge David Consiglio he consented to surrender to New York police.
