4 days ago
Luigi Mangione had diary where he wrote about plans to kill UnitedHealthcare CEO
The Brief
Court documents are shedding new light on the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
New York state prosecutors say Luigi Mangione had a diary where he wrote about his plans to kill the healthcare executive, months before he was gunned down in New York City.
In Wednesday's 82-page filing, prosecutors justified adding terrorism to Mangione's first-degree murder charge.
NEW YORK (FOX 9) - Prosecutors say, to Mangione, Thompson and UnitedHealthcare were symbols of the healthcare industry and what the 27-year-old considered a deadly greed-fueled cartel.
What we know
When Luigi Mangione was arrested by police in Altoona, Pennsylvania, last December, prosecutors say they recovered a red notebook he used as a diary among his possessions.
They say the diary includes several entries that explain Mangione's intent and motive to deliberately assassinate Brian Thompson, the CEO of United Healthcare, the country's largest health insurance company.
The backstory
Prosecutors say an entry in August 2024 reads, "I finally feel confident about what I will do. The details are coming together. And I don't feel any doubt about whether its right/justified."
He goes on to write, "The target is insurance. It checks every box."
Then, in October of last year, about a month and a half before Thompson was shot and killed outside the midtown Manhattan hotel where United Healthcare's annual investors conference was scheduled to be held, Mangione writes: "The investor conference is a true windfall. It embodies everything wrong with our health system, and - most importantly -- the message becomes self-evident."
Prosecutors say Mangione references Ted Kaczynski, saying the Unabomber made some good points, but he crossed the line from anarchist to terrorist by indiscriminately mail bombing innocent people.
In his diary, prosecutors say Mangione writes "...instead of carrying out a bombing, one should "wack" the CEO at the annual parasitic bean counter convention. It's targeted, precise and doesn't risk innocents."
"The point is made in the news headline 'Insurance CEO killed at annual investors conference.'"
What they're saying
In the filing, prosecutors wrote, "If ever there were an open and shut case pointing to defendant's guilt, this case is that case. Simply put, one would be hard-pressed to find a case with such overwhelming evidence of guilt as to the identity of the murderer and the premeditated nature of the assassination."
