Federal authorities filed a total of four counts against Luigi Mangione, who is accused of killing Brian Thompson, the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare.
By Arpita Roy | Dec 20, 2024 at 11:04 a.m. ET Updated
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.
The federal complaint, which is dated Wednesday, accuses Mr. Mangione of traveling across state lines — from Atlanta to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York, where he arrived shortly after 10 p.m. on Nov. 24 — to stalk and ultimately kill Mr. Thompson, which would give the federal government jurisdiction to prosecute him.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have filed four charges against Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare’s chief executive. Mr. Mangione, 26, also faces state charges in the killing of the executive, Brian Thompson, 50, who was gunned down on a Manhattan sidewalk in early December.
Read the criminal complaint
Mr. Mangione was taken Thursday afternoon before a federal magistrate judge in Manhattan, who advised him of his rights. His lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, did not ask for bail.
Edward Y. Kim, the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement that Mr. Mangione had traveled to the city to stalk and shoot Mr. Thompson “all in a grossly misguided attempt to broadcast Mangione’s views across the country.
“But this wasn’t a debate, it was murder,” said Mr. Kim, who announced the charges with James E. Dennehy, head of the F.B.I.’s New York office, and Jessica S. Tisch, the New York police commissioner.
Mr. Kim said that the state prosecution by the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, is expected to proceed to trial before the federal case. Mr. Bragg’s office said in a statement that it was coordinating with federal law enforcement agencies.
In court, Mr. Mangione, wearing a dark quarter-zip sweater over a white dress shirt, khaki pants and ankle shackles, sat quietly between Ms. Agnifilo and her husband and co-counsel, Marc Agnifilo. Mr. Mangione spoke only briefly at the 15-minute hearing, answering “yes” when the judge, Katharine H. Parker, asked if he understood his rights and the charges, and if he had seen a copy of the complaint.
At times, Mr. Mangione cocked his head, looked down at papers and ran his fingers through his curly hair, which appeared newly cut.
In court, Ms. Agnifilo made it clear to the judge that she was unhappy at what she called a “highly unusual situation.” She noted that when the district attorney’s office announced charges against Mr. Mangione this week there was “absolutely no mention that Mr. Mangione was going to be charged federally.”
She said she had been prepared to appear in state court at 2 p.m. on Thursday for Mr. Mangione’s arraignment. “I find out today all of a sudden we are here,” in federal court, with her client facing charges including one that carries a potential death penalty.
She also called Mr. Mangione’s situation confusing. She said the state’s argument that Mr. Mangione committed terrorism that would have an impact on many people and the federal charge of stalking a single person appeared to be in conflict.
“I’d like to seek clarity from the government,” she said.
A prosecutor, Dominic A. Gentile, responded that the government was prepared to address any legal argument in the proper forum. Judge Parker asked that the two sides meet after the proceeding, to discuss the state and federal actions.
The federal and state prosecutions would continue in parallel, though the trials would be staggered. The federal case could take much longer to reach trial, thanks to the complexities of death penalty litigation. The ultimate decision to seek the death penalty if Mr. Mangione is convicted would rest with the attorney general, presumably one appointed by President-elect Donald J. Trump.
The new federal charges came just over two weeks after the predawn killing of Mr. Thompson on Dec. 4.
Surveillance footage showed a gunman approaching Mr. Thompson outside a Hilton hotel in Midtown Manhattan, lifting a handgun fitted with a suppressor and firing at him several times before fleeing.
The authorities have said the suspect then fled uptown on an e-bike and soon left New York.
The complaint includes images of what it says was the shooter traveling to and from the scene of the killing in the early morning. One image shows him at about 5:35 a.m., walking while wearing a gray backpack; in another, he is riding an e-bike down Central Park West to a location near the Hilton in Midtown.
Other images in the complaint show him after the killing, which occurred around 6:45 a.m. One shows the shooter, after he fled on foot to West 55th Street and mounted an e-bike, riding toward Central Park. Another shows him leaving the park near West 77th Street and Central Park West, riding north. In that image, he is no longer carrying the gray backpack.
Mr. Mangione was arrested on Dec. 9 in a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pa., as he was eating hash browns and looking at his laptop. A fellow customer had told a friend that the patron resembled the person in photos that the police had shared widely, and an employee, overhearing the conversation, called the police.
On Thursday, Mr. Mangione appeared at the courthouse in Hollidaysburg, Pa., arriving handcuffed and clad an orange jumpsuit for an extradition hearing that he did not contest. His journey to New York was swift. Just after noon, Mr. Mangione landed at Long Island MacArthur Airport in Ronkonkoma; he was led into a Police Department helicopter that took off 23 minutes later, according to Flightradar24, a flight tracking website, and arrived at Downtown Manhattan Heliport.
When he disembarked, Mr. Mangione was immediately surrounded by at least 40 police officers and F.B.I. agents, as well as Mr. Adams, who himself has been indicted by the Southern District on corruption charges. He has pleaded not guilty. Also present were Commissioner Tisch and Joseph Kenny, the chief of detectives who spearheaded the Mangione investigation — a rare entourage.
Thursday’s federal criminal complaint charging Mr. Mangione provides new details about a notebook found with him when he was arrested. The notebook, separate from a short note addressed to “feds” that the authorities later described as a manifesto, expressed “hostility towards the health insurance industry and wealthy executives in particular” across several handwritten pages, the complaint said.
In an entry marked “8/15” — apparently written in August, months before the shooting — a notebook entry said “the details are finally coming together,” adding that the writer was glad to have procrastinated because it had left time to learn more about UnitedHealthcare, according to the complaint.
Two months later, on Oct. 22, another notebook entry described an upcoming investor conference as “a true windfall” — and went on to describe an intent to “wack” the chief executive of an insurance company.
The description in the entry corresponds with the date of the UnitedHealthcare investor meeting Mr. Thompson was attending when he was killed.
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