Suspect in UnitedHealthcare CEO killing said he 'had it coming,' according to prosecutors
NEW YORK (AP) — Six weeks before UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was gunned down outside a Manhattan hotel in December, suspect Luigi Mangione mused about rebelling against 'the deadly, greed fueled health insurance cartel' and said killing the executive 'conveys a greedy bastard that had it coming,' prosecutors revealed Wednesday.
The Manhattan district attorney's office quoted extensively from Mangione's handwritten diary — highlighting his desire to kill an insurance honcho and praise for Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber — as they fight to uphold his state murder charges. They also cited a confession they say he penned 'To the feds,' in which he wrote that 'it had to be done.'
Mangione's lawyers want the state case thrown out, arguing in court papers that those charges and a parallel federal death penalty case amount to double jeopardy.
They also want state terrorism charges dismissed, have asked for the federal case to go first and say prosecutors should be barred from using evidence collected during Mangione's arrest, including a 9mm handgun, statements to police and the diary.
Manhattan prosecutors contend that there are no double jeopardy issues because neither case has gone to trial and because the state and federal prosecutions involve different legal theories.
His lawyers say that has created a 'legal quagmire' that makes it 'legally and logistically impossible to defend against them simultaneously.'
The state charges, which carry a maximum of life in prison, allege that Mangione wanted to 'intimidate or coerce a civilian population,' that is, insurance employees and investors. The federal charges allege that Mangione stalked an individual, Thompson, and do not involve terror allegations.
Mangione, 27, has pleaded not guilty in both cases. No trial dates have been set.
Mangione's 'intentions were obvious from his acts, but his writings serve to make those intentions explicit,' prosecutors said in Wednesday's filing. The writings, which they sometimes described as a manifesto, 'convey one clear message: that the murder of Brian Thompson was intended to bring about revolutionary change to the healthcare industry.'
They quoted excerpts in which Mangione discussed options for the attack, such as bombing UnitedHealthcare's headquarters, before deciding to target the company's investor conference in Manhattan. He wrote about plans to 'wack the CEO at the annual parasitic bean-counter convention' because it was 'targeted, precise and doesn't risk innocents.'
UnitedHealthcare, the largest U.S. health insurer, 'literally extracts human life force for money,' Mangione wrote, envisioning the news headline, 'Insurance CEO killed at annual investors conference.'
The company has said he was never a client.
Mangione is due back in state court June 26, when Judge Gregory Carro is expected to rule on his request for dismissal.
His lawyers asked Tuesday for his handcuffs and bulletproof vest to be removed during the hearing. They called him a 'a model prisoner, a model defendant' and said the security measures would suggest to potential jurors that he is dangerous. Carro has not ruled on that.
Mangione's next federal court date is Dec. 5, a day after the one-year anniversary of Thompson's death.
Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting Thompson from behind as he arrived for the conference Dec. 4 at the New York Hilton Midtown. Police say 'delay,' 'deny' and 'depose' were scrawled on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase commonly used to describe how insurers avoid paying claims.
Mangione was arrested Dec. 9 at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) to the west, and he is being held in a federal jail in Brooklyn.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has called the ambush 'a killing that was intended to evoke terror.'
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced in April that she was directing federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty for 'an act of political violence' and a 'premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.'
The killing and ensuing search for Mangione rattled the business community while galvanizing health insurance critics who rallied around him as a stand-in for frustrations over coverage denials and hefty bills. Supporters have flocked to his court appearances and flooded him with mail.
Mangione 'demonstrated in his manifesto that he was a revolutionary anarchist who would usher in a better healthcare system by killing the CEO' of one of the biggest U.S. companies, prosecutors wrote. 'This brutal, cowardly murder was the mechanism that defendant chose to bring on that revolution.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
34 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Israel says it has recovered the bodies of 2 Israeli-American hostages from the Gaza Strip
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel has recovered the bodies of two Israeli-American hostages taken in Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack that ignited the war in the Gaza Strip. Israeli strikes overnight and into Thursday meanwhile killed at least 22 people, including three local journalists who were in the courtyard of a hospital, according to health officials in the territory. The military said it targeted a militant in that strike. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the remains of Judih Weinstein and Gad Haggai were recovered and returned to Israel in a special operation by the army and the Shin Bet internal security agency. 'Together with all the citizens of Israel, my wife and I extend our heartfelt condolences to the dear families. Our hearts ache for the most terrible loss. May their memory be blessed,' he said in a statement. Kibbutz Nir Oz announced the deaths of Weinstein, 70, and Haggai, 72, both of whom had Israeli and U.S. citizenship, in December 2023. Weinstein was also a Canadian citizen. The military said they were killed in the Oct. 7 attack and taken into Gaza by the Mujahideen Brigades, the small armed group that it said had also abducted and killed Shiri Bibas and her two small children. The army said it recovered the remains of Weinstein and Haggai overnight into Thursday from Gaza's southern city of Khan Younis. A teacher who helped children and a chef who played jazz The couple were taking an early morning walk near their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz on the morning of Oct. 7 when Hamas militants stormed across the border and rampaged through several army bases and farming communities. In the early hours of the morning, Weinstein was able to call emergency services and let them know that both she and her husband had been shot and send a message to her family. Weinstein was born in New York and taught English to children with special needs at Kibbutz Nir Oz, a small community near the Gaza border. The kibbutz said she also taught meditation techniques to children and teenagers who suffered from anxiety as a result of rocket fire from Gaza. Haggai was a retired chef and jazz musician. 'My beautiful parents have been freed. We have certainty,' their daughter, Iris Haggai Liniado, wrote in a Facebook post. She thanked the Israeli military, the FBI and the Israeli and U.S. governments and called for the release of all the remaining hostages. The couple were survived by two sons, two daughters and seven grandchildren, the kibbutz said. Struggles continue to get aid to Palestinians U.N. efforts to distribute aid suffered a blow Thursday when the Palestinian organization that provides trucks and drivers said it was suspending operations after gunmen attacked a convoy, killing a driver. The Special Transport Association said the convoy of some 60 trucks was heading into Deir al-Balah in central Gaza Wednesday evening when gunmen attacked, killing one driver and wounding three others. The association said it was the latest in attacks on convoys 'clearly aimed at obstructing' aid delivery, though it did not say who it believed was behind the attack. Israel has accused Hamas of stealing aid and trying to block it from reaching Palestinians. Aid workers have said attacks on U.N. trucks appear to be by criminal gangs, some operating within sight of Israeli troops. The area where the association described the attack taking place lies on the edges of an Israeli military zone. After blocking all food and aid from entering Gaza for more than two months, Israel began allowing a trickle of supplies to enter for the U.N. several weeks ago. But the U.N says it has been unable to distribute much of the aid because of Israeli military restrictions on movements and because roads that the military designates for its trucks to use are unsafe and vulnerable to looters. The blockade pushed Gaza's population of more than 2 million to the brink of famine. Meanwhile, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a mainly American private contractor, resumed food distribution at two centers near the southern city of Gaza on Thursday. It had halted all distribution the day before, saying it was discussing greater safety measures with the Israeli military. Near daily shootings have erupted in the vicinity of the hubs, with Palestinians reporting Israeli troops opening fire. More than 80 people have been killed and hundreds wounded, according to Gaza hospital officials. The Israeli military has said it fired warning shots or at individuals approaching its troops in some instances. GHF said Thursday it has distributed the equivalent of nearly 8.5 million meals since its centers began operating on May 26 — enough for one meal a day for just over a third of Gaza's population. Strikes around Gaza kill 22 Two Israeli airstrikes in Gaza City on Thursday afternoon killed 9 people, including a child and a woman, according to health officials. Most were killed when the strike hit a busy street where people were gathered to buy bags of flour, said one witness, Abu Farah. 'We want to bring food to our children. We're not asking for anything more. We stopped demanding anything else other than food,' he said. At least 10 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes in Khan Younis overnight, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies. It was not immediately clear if the strikes were related to the recovery mission. In Gaza City, three local reporters were killed and six people were wounded in a strike on the courtyard of the al-Ahli Hospital, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. It did not immediately identify the journalists or say which outlets they worked for. The Israeli military said it struck an Islamic Jihad militant operating in the courtyard. The army says it only targets militants and blames civilian deaths on Hamas because it is embedded in populated areas. Over 180 journalists and media workers have been killed since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, the vast majority of them in Gaza, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. Israel has said many of those killed in its strikes were militants posing as reporters. Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7 attack and abducted 251 hostages. They are still holding 56 hostages, around a third of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israeli forces have rescued eight living hostages from Gaza and recovered dozens of bodies. Israel's military campaign has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were civilians or combatants. The offensive has destroyed large parts of Gaza and displaced around 90% of its population of roughly 2 million Palestinians. ___ Melzer reported from Nahariya, Israel and Shurafa from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip. Associated Press writer Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed. ___ Follow the AP's war coverage at
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Destruction in Beirut's southern suburbs following Israeli strikes on eve of Eid al-Adha
The Israeli military struck several sites in Beirut's southern suburbs that it said held underground facilities used by Hezbollah for drone production on Thursday, on the eve of Eid al-Adha. Several neighborhoods in Dahiyeh were targeted. There was no immediate word on casualties. (AP video shot by Fadi Tawil , Mahamad Anouti )
CBS News
2 hours ago
- CBS News
Men found guilty of supplying bomb that killed investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta
Two men have been convicted in Malta of supplying the explosives that killed journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in the Mediterranean island state in 2017. Following a six-week trial, Robert Agius, 41, and Jamie Vella, 42, were both found guilty late Thursday of complicity in the assassination of the 53-year-old investigative reporter by supplying the military-grade explosive used in the car bombing near her home. They're expected to be sentenced early next week, with prosecutors having asked for them to be given life in prison. The three hitmen who carried out the murder — brothers George and Alfred Degiorgio together with Vince Muscat — have already been convicted. Flowers and a candle lie in front of a portrait of slain investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia during a vigil outside the law courts in Valletta, Malta, Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2018. Jonathan Borg / AP Agius and Vella were arrested four years after the murder, after Muscat agreed to testify against them in return for a reduced sentence in that case, and a pardon for a separate murder. Muscat was also the prosecution's key witness in the latest, in which more than 150 people testified before the jury, including relatives of Caruana Galizia, members of the FBI and a former government minister. The murder of Caruana Galizia, who had written about cronyism and sleaze within Malta's political and business elite, drew international outrage. There were also large protests in Malta against prime minister Joseph Muscat over his perceived efforts to protect friends and allies from the investigation. He announced his resignation in December 2019. A public inquiry published in 2021 found no evidence of state involvement in Caruana Galizia's assassination, but found the government created a "climate of impunity" for those who wanted to silence her. In a statement, the Caruana Galizia family said the latest convictions brought them "a step closer to justice." "Yet, eight years after Daphne's brutal assassination, the institutional failures that enabled her murder remain unaddressed and unreformed," they said. Caruana Galizia, who was called a "one-woman Wikileaks," had reported on allegations of money laundering, bribery and corruption in Malta for 30 years. She relentlessly pursued politicians in her home country on her blog, Running Commentary. "She knew that the powerful people that she was writing about were closing in on her," Galizia's son Paul told 60 Minutes after her death. "They were using every possible means to shut her down. She knew that, and that frightened her deeply." The Degiorgio brothers are serving 40 years each in prison for the murder, while Muscat received a reduced sentence of 15 years. Police and forensic experts inspect the wreckage of a car bomb that killed journalist and blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia close to her home in Bidnija, Malta, on October 16, 2017. STR/AFP via Getty Images Businessman Yorgen Fenech, who had close ties with Joseph Muscat's government, is still awaiting trial on charges that he masterminded the murder. He was arrested in November 2019 aboard his yacht as he tried to sail out of Malta. He was granted bail in January 2025, with no date yet set for his trial.
