NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – Luigi Mangione, the suspect accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO, was indicted on murder charges as an act of terrorism, prosecutors announced Tuesday.
Mangione, 26, was indicted for the Dec. 4 murder of 50-year-old Brian Thompson outside the Hilton Hotel in Midtown. He faces three counts of murder and a maximum sentence of life without parole.
“We allege that Luigi Mangione carried out the brazen, targeted and fatal shooting of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Midtown Manhattan,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said. “This type of premeditated, targeted gun violence cannot and will not be tolerated, and my office has been working day in and day out to bring the defendant to justice. I want to extend my heartfelt prayers to Mr. Thompson’s loved ones as they continue to grieve.”
Mangione now faces a terrorism-related murder charge. Under New York law, this charge applies when a crime is committed with the intent to “intimidate or coerce a civilian population, influence government policy through intimidation or coercion, or affect government conduct through murder, assassination, or kidnapping.”
Mangione’s New York lawyer has not commented on the case.
According to court documents, Mangione arrived at Port Authority on a bus on Nov. 24, and checked in at the HI New York City Hostel on the Upper West Side. He allegedly used a fake New Jersey ID under the name Mark Rosario and then extended his stay at the Hostel multiple times.
On Dec. 4, around 5:34 a.m., Mangione allegedly left his hostel and traveled to Midtown on an e-bike. Between 5:52 a.m. and 6:45 a.m., he was seen walking near the Hilton Hotel. At approximately 6:15 a.m., he purchased a water bottle and granola bars at the Starbucks located at 1290 6th Avenue.
Between 6:38 a.m. and 6:44 a.m., Mangione allegedly stood against a wall on West 54th Street across from the Hilton, where Minnesota-based UnitedHealthcare — the largest medical insurer in the U.S. — was holding an investor conference, wearing a mask and hood.
At 6:45 a.m., he crossed the street to the Hilton Hotel and, armed with a 9-millimeter 3D-printed ghost gun equipped with a silencer, approached Thompson from behind and shot him once in the back and once in the leg, according to prosecutors.
Mangione then allegedly fled northeast on 54th Street and took an e-bike uptown. He eventually got into a taxi and was dropped off at West 178th Street and Amsterdam Avenue and then fled the state.
Thompson was taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Two of the discharged shell casings had the words “DENY” and “DEPOSE” written on them, and the word “DELAY” was written on a bullet, all found at the scene, according to prosecutors.
On Dec. 9, Mangione was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after being spotted at a local McDonalds. Police recovered a 9-millimeter handgun with a 3D-printed receiver, two ammunition magazines, multiple live cartridges, a homemade silencer, and the fake New Jersey ID used at the hostel, according to prosecutors.
According to the new indictment, Mangione was charged with one count of murder in the first degree, in furtherance of terrorism; two counts of murder in the second Degree, one of which is charged as killing as an act of terrorism; two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree; four counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the third Degree; one count of Criminal Possession of a weapon in the fourth Degree; and one count of criminal possession of a forged Instrument in the second degree.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch denounced what she described as a disturbing glorification of violence during a press conference on Thursday.
“Let me be perfectly clear,” Tisch said, “in the nearly two weeks since Mr. Thompson’s killing, we have seen a shocking and appalling celebration of cold-blooded murder.”
Tisch pointed to troubling activity on social media, where praise for the attack has surged. Posters depicting Thompson’s image with an “X” over it—framing him as a “trophy”—have circulated, alongside threats targeting other CEOs. Tisch also pointed out a New York Post report detailing a deck of cards allegedly circulated by extreme activists, featuring other corporate leaders as assassination targets.
“These are the threats of a lawless, violent mob,” Tisch said. "There is no heroism in what Mangione did. This was a senseless act of violence… a cold and calculated crime that stole a life and put New Yorkers at risk.”
After his arrest in Pennsylvania, Mangione was charged with gun and forgery offenses and locked up there without bail. His Pennsylvania lawyer has questioned the evidence for the forgery charge and the legal grounding for the gun charge. The attorney also has said Mangione would fight extradition to New York.
Mangione has two court hearings scheduled for Thursday in Pennsylvania, including an extradition hearing, Bragg noted.
Hours after his arrest, the Manhattan district attorney’s office filed paperwork charging him with murder and other offenses. The indictment builds on that paperwork.
Investigators’ working theory is that Mangione, an Ivy League computer science grad from a prominent Maryland family, was propelled by anger at the U.S. health care system. A law enforcement bulletin obtained by The Associated Press week said that when arrested, he was carrying a handwritten letter that called health insurance companies “parasitic” and complained about corporate greed.
Mangione repeatedly posted on social media about how spinal surgery last year had eased his chronic back pain, encouraging people with similar conditions to speak up for themselves if told they just had to live with it.
In a Reddit post in late April, he advised someone with a back problem to seek additional opinions from surgeons and, if necessary, say the pain made it impossible to work.
“We live in a capitalist society,” Mangione wrote. “I’ve found that the medical industry responds to these key words far more urgently than you describing unbearable pain and how it’s impacting your quality of life.”
He was never a UnitedHealthcare client, according to the insurer.
Mangione apparently cut himself off from his family and close friends in recent months. His family reported him missing to San Francisco authorities in November.
Thompson, who grew up on a farm in small-town Iowa, was trained as an accountant. A married father of two high-schoolers, he had worked at the giant UnitedHealth Group for 20 years and became CEO of its insurance arm in 2021.
His killing kindled a fiery outpouring of resentment toward U.S. health insurance companies, as Americans swapped stories online and elsewhere of being denied coverage, left in limbo as doctors and insurers disagreed, and stuck with sizeable bills.
The shooting also rattled C-suites, as “wanted” posters with other health care executives’ names and faces appeared on New York streets and an outpouring of online vitriol prompted police to warn that there could be an “elevated threat.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.