Moment that changed everything for suspected smiling CEO ‘assassin’ Luigi Mangione
A possible motive has emerged in the cold-blooded killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
As investigators continue to piece together a possible motive for the cold-blooded killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, it has emerged that the murder suspect may have developed a grudge against the US health system following a back injury.
Luigi Mangione, 26, who has been charged over the shooting death of Mr Thompson, 50, in a brazen attack outside a Hilton in New York on December 4, was reported missing by his mother on November 18, police sources told The NY Post.
The suspect had reportedly not been in touch with his family since undergoing back surgery in 2023 for an injury sustained in a surfing accident, according to accounts from several of his friends and social media posts.
Mangione, who was born and raised in Maryland, has known ties to San Francisco and a last known address in Honolulu, police revealed.
One of his former classmates at the Gilman School in Baltimore told The New York Times that Mangione’s peers were forwarded a message earlier this year because the suspect’s family was trying to find him.
The classmate, Aaron Cranston, said the message indicated Mangione’s relatives hadn’t heard from him since his operation, the outlet reported.
Meanwhile, R.J. Martin – a friend and former roommate in Hawaii — told CNN that Mangione had previously spoken of his back issues.
“When I first interviewed him, before he moved in, I remember he said he had a back issue, and he was hoping to get stronger in Hawaii,” Martin said.
The roommate said Mangione’s back issues were so “traumatic and difficult” that one basic surfing lesson left him bedridden for a week.
When he underwent surgery, Martin said his friend sent him images of the X-rays.
“It looked heinous, with just giant screws going into his spine,” he said.
Several sources said Mangione may have held a grudge against the UnitedHealthcare executive because of his interactions with the medical industry — pointing to an X-ray photo on his X account showing four pins in a spine.
Jack Mac, a staffer at Barstool Sports, said high school friends of the alleged shooter claim he was “crazy” after being injured.
“Spoke with a source that had a lot of friends that went to high school with Luigi Mangione,” he wrote.
“What keeps coming up is a back surgery that ‘changed everything’ for him and he went ‘absolutely crazy’.
“Back injury happened when he was surfing in Hawaii. Surgery didn’t go great. Moved to Japan. His contact with family stopped about a year ago. Recently the family reached out to his friends from high school asking if they had info on him.”
In a handwritten manifesto recovered by investigators during his arrest on Monday, Mangione denounced healthcare companies, pointing to UnitedHealthcare as one of the biggest in the US by market capitalisation.
“The reality is, these [companies] have gotten too powerful, and they continue to abuse our country for immense profit,” Mangione wrote in the Two-and-a-half page document addressed to “the Feds”, according to The NY Post.
“These parasites had it coming. I do apologise for any strife and trauma, but it had to be done.’
Mangione also had five books involving chronic back pain on his reading list on his GoodReads account, CNN reports.
They included titles such as “Crooked: Outwitting the Back Pain Industry and Getting on the Road to Recovery,’’ and “Why We Get Sick: The Hidden Epidemic at the Root of Most Chronic Disease―and How to Fight It.’’
They were added to his virtual bookshelf between May 2022 and February 2023.
The reading list also included a raft of books related to alternative medicine and psychedelics and linked to a handwritten note detailing his workout routine and stating that he was suffering from spondylolisthesis, the slippage of a vertebrae in the spine.
He also wrote a review of the manifesto drawn up by ‘Unabomber’ Theodore Kaczynski, who planted bombs which killed three Americans before finally being caught in 1996.
“He was a violent individual - rightfully imprisoned - who maimed innocent people,” Mangione wrote. “While these actions tend to be characterised as those of a crazy luddite, however, they are more accurately seen as those of an extreme political revolutionary.”
“When all other forms of communication fail, violence is necessary to survive. You may not like his methods, but to see things from his perspective, it’s not terrorism, it’s war and revolution.”
The developments came as Mangione was arraigned and ordered held without bail during a brief court hearing Monday night.
Following a week-long manhunt, Mangione was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania after he was recognised by a McDonald’s employee.
Luigi Mangione’s family empire revealed
It earlier emerged that Mangione comes from a wealthy well-known family which owns a holiday resort and a country club in suburban Maryland.
Mr Mangione’s grandfather, Nicholas Mangione, was a multi-millionaire developer and owner of a palatial hotel known as Turf Valley Resort, along with a country club called Hayfields in suburban Maryland.
According to reports, Nicholas Mangione, who died in 2008, had 10 children and 37 grandchildren. Many of those family members now manage the family’s real estate holdings, including the general manager of Turf Valley, who according toThe Real Deal, is Luigi’s uncle.
Turf Valley Resort is described as a “peaceful retreat” that is surrounded by 1,000 acres and two pristine golf courses.
The resort, which the Washington Post claim Nicholas Mangione purchased in 1978, provides a conference centre, a pool and spa and an onsite restaurant — all alongside a 220-room hotel.
26-year-old Luigi Mangione approached Mr Thompson on the footpath, pulled out what appeared to be a handgun with a silencer and fired multiple shots at his back, shocking surveillance footage of the incident showed.
Mr Thompson dropped to the ground after he was hit in the back and right calf, with the gunman quickly running off before grabbing an E-bike and riding away.
He was rushed to Mount Sinai hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
According to the Baltimore Banner, Nicholas Mangione — Luigi’s grandfather — was a “self-made multi-millionaire by becoming a real estate developer who owned country clubs, nursing homes and radio stations while supporting an array of civic causes.”
Initial reports suggested Mangione hated the medical community because of how it treated a sick relative, with a document he was carrying indicating he had “ill will towards corporate America”.
The bullets used in the shooting of Mr Thompson had “Deny,” “Defend” and “Depose” on the casings, according to reports.
Mr Thompson’s wife, Paulette “Pauley” Thompson, 51, said that before the shooting, the family had received threats relating to her husband’s job leading America’s largest private insurer, NBC News reports.
“There had been some threats,” she said, according to NBC. “Basically, I don’t know, a lack of coverage? I don’t know details. I just know that he said there were some people that had been threatening him.”
Mr Thompson was promoted in 2021 to CEO of UnitedHealthcare, where he earned nearly $US10 million ($15.5 million) the next year, according to the Economic Research Institute.
News.com.au has contacted Turf Valley Resort for comment
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