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Miami Herald
11 hours ago
- Business
- Miami Herald
UnitedHealthcare Is Struggling To Recover From Luigi Mangione
It was a personal and corporate tragedy that quickly became a national reckoning. When UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot dead on a Manhattan sidewalk six months ago, minutes before a company investor conference, the crime sent tremors through the healthcare industry and society more widely—tremors that continue to reverberate. The attack on the 50-year-old executive—allegedly by the now 27-year-old Luigi Mangione—immediately sparked an outpouring of public fury not at the gunman, but at UnitedHealthcare itself. Within hours, social media was awash with dark jokes. One viral comment said: "Thoughts and deductibles to the family. Unfortunately my condolences are out-of-network." Many expressed frustration over high costs and denied care from the industry. UnitedHealthcare in particular has suffered a prolonged backlash, seen its stock plummet and has been threatened by multiple lawsuits. The CEO who replaced Thompson, Andrew Witty, has also already stepped down from the role due to "personal reasons," adopting the position of adviser to the next appointed chief executive, Stephen Hemsley. Mangione is facing federal and state murder charges, to which he has pleaded not guilty, but still receives sympathy or even praise from some Americans. A crowdfunding campaign for his legal fees has attracted over $1 million, with donors expressing concerns his trial had become "politicized." Bullet casings at the crime scene were etched with the words "deny," "defend," and "depose," an apparent reference to the "delay, deny, defend" mantra that critics use to describe how insurers handle claims. Authorities were quick to attempt to dispel public sympathy for Mangione. "We don't celebrate murderers, and we don't lionize the killing of anyone," New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. "Any attempt to rationalize this is vile, reckless and offensive to our deeply held principles of justice." Investor confidence in UnitedHealthcare, once rock-solid in this blue-chip giant, has nonetheless been shaken. Executives have been in damage-control mode in public forums. In an earnings call days before stepping down, Witty said: "The health system needs to function better." "The mission of this company, why we exist, is to improve the system for everybody and help people live healthier lives," he added. "That means getting more people into high-quality value-based care and keeping them healthy in the first place." In a statement announcing the change, Hemsley said: "We are grateful for Andrew's stewardship of UnitedHealth Group, especially during some of the most challenging times any company has ever faced. The Board and I have greatly valued his leadership and compassion as chief executive and as a director and wish him and his family the best." While it is "impossible to say how much of the current challenges facing UnitedHealthcare are due, entirely, or even partly, to the murder of this executive," Dr. Howard P. Forman, a professor of radiology, economics and public health at Yale School of Management, told Newsweek, "it has changed some of the behaviors of the company and how they approach their work." YouGov polling shows a steady decline in popularity for UnitedHealthcare, dropping from a rating of 48.4 percent approval in January to 34.8 percent in April, which was the lowest percentage rating recorded since YouGov started tracking public favor of the company in October 2020. The shooting "tarnished UnitedHealthcare's reputation and disrupted its operational stability," Ge Bai, a professor of health policy and management at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Maryland, told Newsweek. "The public increasingly views insurance companies as barriers to care, using tactics such as 'delay, deny, and depose,' especially given how expensive premiums are in the first place," she added. In 2023, UHC dismissed roughly one in three claims, the highest denial rate of any major insurer, according to data from ValuePenguin, a consumer research organization. Bai also said that many are frustrated that "after paying tens of thousands of dollars for insurance premiums, when they're sick they still cannot get the care they want or are left to shoulder hefty medical bills." Richard Scheffler, a professor of health economics and public policy at University of California, Berkeley, told Newsweek: "The oversize profits at a time where health care is becoming even more unaffordable is a key factor in the negative view of company." Dr. Howard P. Forman said there has been "a steady drumbeat of bad news over the last few years about UnitedHealthcare group and their competitors." He pointed to the "federal investigations and charges, shareholder lawsuits, and press coverage of seemingly bad behavior by these companies, with UnitedHealthcare group drawing more attention than the others." "I think many people are fed up with feeling like their most desperate, challenging, and personally upsetting moments are being toyed with by companies that are not trained to practice medicine or make such important decisions," Forman said. However, while it's understandable for consumers to get angry at their health insurers, it is also important to remember "there is no easy answer" for such companies as they navigate costs and care, Jonathan Gruber, a professor of economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told Newsweek. As health insurers act as the middlemen between health care providers and patients, while they impose some costs, "the main driver of their spending is the underlying spending on health care providers," he said. To lower premiums for consumers, health insurers may then to implement actions that are less favorable, Gruber said, such as "limiting which providers patients can see and denying claims that are deemed inappropriate." These actions can impose "very high burdens" on consumers, he said, and patients "don't like this and would rather just get to use the care they and their doctors suggest." But allowing consumers to do that would result in higher premiums, Gruber added, so it leaves insurers in a tricky position. So, while insurers "are not blameless by any means," Gruber said, adding that "executives are overpaid and their methods are sometimes much too blunt," it's worth noting there aren't easy solutions to hand either. Forman also said that "the system, itself, and its cost remains a major problem and pointing fingers without self-reflection is not going to end well." UnitedHealthcare didn't become a household name overnight. It grew over decades into the nation's largest health insurer—a core division of UnitedHealth Group, a Minnesota-based healthcare conglomerate that ranks among the world's biggest companies. The group today touches almost every aspect of American healthcare, from insurance plans to clinics and pharmacies. Under the UnitedHealthcare brand, it sells health coverage to employers, individuals, and government program beneficiaries. With roughly $400 billion in annual revenue and about 400,000 employees as of 2024, UnitedHealth Group wields immense influence. However, in the months since the shooting, the stock price of UnitedHealth Group has significantly fallen. On December 4, the day Thompson was killed, the company's stock price was at $610.79. The following day, its stock price went down to $578.97. After a week, it was dropping faster, falling to $533.53. At the end of May, the stock price was less than $300—less than half what it was before the shooting. It is important to note, however, that in April the company's stock price sharply rose higher than before the shooting, so the decline has not been consistent. "The shooting contributed to the stock price crash, but other factors are also at play," Bai said. "Adverse financial results due to higher than expected claims" could also be a reason, Mark Pauly, a professor of health care management at Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania told Newsweek. UnitedHealth Group reported a higher-than-expected financial performance for fiscal 2024—an 8 percent year-over-year revenue increase to $400.3 billion. Higher-than-expected financial performance in companies could also lead to a drop in stock price for a number of reasons, including that investors might become more cautious about buying shares in a company until the foundations of the performance have been investigated. In the case of UnitedHealth Group, the fact the positive financial performance was released during a period of heightened scrutiny following the CEO's death may have added fuel to the fire. In April 2025, UnitedHealth Group cut its earnings forecast for the year, citing rising medical costs and a spike in care usage, especially by seniors. The disclosure wiped out over $100 billion of market value in a single day—UnitedHealth's stock plummeted 22 percent, hitting a four-year low. "We have paused guidance and in the next weeks and quarters we will take actions necessary to deliver the performance we are capable of while providing exceptional services and outcomes for customers, consumers, and care providers," a spokesperson for UnitedHealthcare told Newsweek. In May, a proposed class action lawsuit was filed in the Southern District of New York against UnitedHealth Group. The suit, brought by investor Roberto Faller, accuses it of misleading shareholders by failing to disclose the impact of public backlash following the killing of Thompson. The complaint alleges that UnitedHealth continued to project strong financial results despite the growing controversy. According to the lawsuit, UnitedHealth projected earnings per share of $29.50 to $30 in December 2024 and reaffirmed this forecast in January 2025. However, the suit claims these projections were misleading, as the company was internally struggling and facing mounting criticism for its high rate of insurance claim denials and its handling of the CEO's death. The failure to address these issues, the lawsuit claims, led to a loss of investor confidence and ultimately triggered the dramatic drop in the company's stock price on April 17. The legal action seeks class certification and damages for investors who purchased UnitedHealth shares between December 3, 2024, and April 16, 2025. In addition to UnitedHealth Group, the lawsuit names Chief Executive Andrew Witty and Chief Financial Officer John Rex as co-defendants, alleging they were directly involved in the dissemination of misleading information to investors during the affected period. Scheffler said the increased "scrutiny and investigation" of the company was also influencing public opinion. Shares in UnitedHealth Group fell sharply again after The Wall Street Journal reported on May 14 this year that the company was facing a Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation for possible Medicare fraud, citing anonymous sources. Newsweek has not verified the details of this reporting. Neither the DOJ nor UnitedHealth Group has made any public announcement confirming it. The WSJ report said that the investigation had been active since at least the summer of 2024, and is being led by the health care fraud unit of the DOJ's criminal division. The shares recovered substantially in the days following the report. The company responded at the time with a statement, saying: "We have not been notified by the Department of Justice of the supposed criminal investigation reported, without official attribution, in The Wall Street Journal today. "The WSJ's reporting is deeply irresponsible, as even it admits that the 'exact nature of the potential criminal allegations is unclear.' We stand by the integrity of our Medicare Advantage program." A class-action lawsuit was brought against the company alleging it uses artificial intelligence to assess coverage for some elderly patients who are on a Medicare Advantage plan, but that 90 percent of denials by the algorithm are later reversed following an internal appeal process or legal proceedings. The lawsuit was filed on November 14, 2023. It names UnitedHealth Group, UnitedHealthcare and NaviHealth as the defendants. It was brought by the families of two now-deceased patients who were denied coverage by UnitedHealthcare for stays at nursing homes. The suit is ongoing, and its claims have not been proved in court. "Claims that we use an AI algorithm to automatically deny claims are false," a UnitedHealthcare spokesperson said. "All adverse clinical determinations are made by medical directors, in accordance with CMS Medical coverage criteria. The lawsuit is based on unfounded allegations and mischaracterizes the incredibly valuable work of our experienced and compassionate clinicians." However, the last six months for UnitedHealthcare have clearly been rocky. "The fall of UnitedHealthcare will be studied for years to understand the root cause of an American health care system that is increasingly unaffordable, of poor quality for many and whose costs are unsustainable," Scheffler said. Related Articles Democratic Mayor's Budget Would Remove 25,000 People From MedicaidMore Than a Million Americans Removed From Health Care Plan in One MonthPrudential Group Insurance President: The Workforce Risk Employers Can't Afford to Ignore | OpinionMap Shows 14 States Offering Health Coverage To Undocumented Migrants 2025 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.
Newsweek
15 hours ago
- Business
- Newsweek
UnitedHealthcare Is Struggling To Recover From Luigi Mangione
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. It was a personal and corporate tragedy that quickly became a national reckoning. When UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot dead on a Manhattan sidewalk six months ago, minutes before a company investor conference, the crime sent tremors through the healthcare industry and society more widely—tremors that continue to reverberate. The attack on the 50-year-old executive—allegedly by the now 27-year-old Luigi Mangione—immediately sparked an outpouring of public fury not at the gunman, but at UnitedHealthcare itself. Within hours, social media was awash with dark jokes. One viral comment said: "Thoughts and deductibles to the family. Unfortunately my condolences are out-of-network." Many expressed frustration over high costs and denied care from the industry. UnitedHealthcare in particular has suffered a prolonged backlash, seen its stock plummet and has been threatened by multiple lawsuits. The CEO who replaced Thompson, Andrew Witty, has also already stepped down from the role due to "personal reasons," adopting the position of adviser to the next appointed chief executive, Stephen Hemsley. Mangione is facing federal and state murder charges, to which he has pleaded not guilty, but still receives sympathy or even praise from some Americans. A crowdfunding campaign for his legal fees has attracted over $1 million, with donors expressing concerns his trial had become "politicized." Bullet casings at the crime scene were etched with the words "deny," "defend," and "depose," an apparent reference to the "delay, deny, defend" mantra that critics use to describe how insurers handle claims. Authorities were quick to attempt to dispel public sympathy for Mangione. "We don't celebrate murderers, and we don't lionize the killing of anyone," New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. "Any attempt to rationalize this is vile, reckless and offensive to our deeply held principles of justice." Investor confidence in UnitedHealthcare, once rock-solid in this blue-chip giant, has nonetheless been shaken. Executives have been in damage-control mode in public forums. In an earnings call days before stepping down, Witty said: "The health system needs to function better." "The mission of this company, why we exist, is to improve the system for everybody and help people live healthier lives," he added. "That means getting more people into high-quality value-based care and keeping them healthy in the first place." In a statement announcing the change, Hemsley said: "We are grateful for Andrew's stewardship of UnitedHealth Group, especially during some of the most challenging times any company has ever faced. The Board and I have greatly valued his leadership and compassion as chief executive and as a director and wish him and his family the best." While it is "impossible to say how much of the current challenges facing UnitedHealthcare are due, entirely, or even partly, to the murder of this executive," Dr. Howard P. Forman, a professor of radiology, economics and public health at Yale School of Management, told Newsweek, "it has changed some of the behaviors of the company and how they approach their work." A UnitedHealthcare building, left, and Luigi Mangione. A UnitedHealthcare building, left, and Luigi Mangione. Kristoffer Tripplaar left) and Steven Hirsch right)/Sipa via AP (left and New York Post via AP (right How Public Opinion of UnitedHealthcare Has Changed YouGov polling shows a steady decline in popularity for UnitedHealthcare, dropping from a rating of 48.4 percent approval in January to 34.8 percent in April, which was the lowest percentage rating recorded since YouGov started tracking public favor of the company in October 2020. The shooting "tarnished UnitedHealthcare's reputation and disrupted its operational stability," Ge Bai, a professor of health policy and management at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Maryland, told Newsweek. "The public increasingly views insurance companies as barriers to care, using tactics such as 'delay, deny, and depose,' especially given how expensive premiums are in the first place," she added. In 2023, UHC dismissed roughly one in three claims, the highest denial rate of any major insurer, according to data from ValuePenguin, a consumer research organization. Bai also said that many are frustrated that "after paying tens of thousands of dollars for insurance premiums, when they're sick they still cannot get the care they want or are left to shoulder hefty medical bills." Richard Scheffler, a professor of health economics and public policy at University of California, Berkeley, told Newsweek: "The oversize profits at a time where health care is becoming even more unaffordable is a key factor in the negative view of company." Dr. Howard P. Forman said there has been "a steady drumbeat of bad news over the last few years about UnitedHealthcare group and their competitors." He pointed to the "federal investigations and charges, shareholder lawsuits, and press coverage of seemingly bad behavior by these companies, with UnitedHealthcare group drawing more attention than the others." "I think many people are fed up with feeling like their most desperate, challenging, and personally upsetting moments are being toyed with by companies that are not trained to practice medicine or make such important decisions," Forman said. However, while it's understandable for consumers to get angry at their health insurers, it is also important to remember "there is no easy answer" for such companies as they navigate costs and care, Jonathan Gruber, a professor of economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told Newsweek. As health insurers act as the middlemen between health care providers and patients, while they impose some costs, "the main driver of their spending is the underlying spending on health care providers," he said. To lower premiums for consumers, health insurers may then to implement actions that are less favorable, Gruber said, such as "limiting which providers patients can see and denying claims that are deemed inappropriate." These actions can impose "very high burdens" on consumers, he said, and patients "don't like this and would rather just get to use the care they and their doctors suggest." But allowing consumers to do that would result in higher premiums, Gruber added, so it leaves insurers in a tricky position. So, while insurers "are not blameless by any means," Gruber said, adding that "executives are overpaid and their methods are sometimes much too blunt," it's worth noting there aren't easy solutions to hand either. Forman also said that "the system, itself, and its cost remains a major problem and pointing fingers without self-reflection is not going to end well." UnitedHealth Group's Stock Price Plummets UnitedHealthcare didn't become a household name overnight. It grew over decades into the nation's largest health insurer—a core division of UnitedHealth Group, a Minnesota-based healthcare conglomerate that ranks among the world's biggest companies. The group today touches almost every aspect of American healthcare, from insurance plans to clinics and pharmacies. Under the UnitedHealthcare brand, it sells health coverage to employers, individuals, and government program beneficiaries. With roughly $400 billion in annual revenue and about 400,000 employees as of 2024, UnitedHealth Group wields immense influence. However, in the months since the shooting, the stock price of UnitedHealth Group has significantly fallen. On December 4, the day Thompson was killed, the company's stock price was at $610.79. The following day, its stock price went down to $578.97. After a week, it was dropping faster, falling to $533.53. At the end of May, the stock price was less than $300—less than half what it was before the shooting. It is important to note, however, that in April the company's stock price sharply rose higher than before the shooting, so the decline has not been consistent. "The shooting contributed to the stock price crash, but other factors are also at play," Bai said. "Adverse financial results due to higher than expected claims" could also be a reason, Mark Pauly, a professor of health care management at Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania told Newsweek. UnitedHealth Group reported a higher-than-expected financial performance for fiscal 2024—an 8 percent year-over-year revenue increase to $400.3 billion. Higher-than-expected financial performance in companies could also lead to a drop in stock price for a number of reasons, including that investors might become more cautious about buying shares in a company until the foundations of the performance have been investigated. In the case of UnitedHealth Group, the fact the positive financial performance was released during a period of heightened scrutiny following the CEO's death may have added fuel to the fire. In April 2025, UnitedHealth Group cut its earnings forecast for the year, citing rising medical costs and a spike in care usage, especially by seniors. The disclosure wiped out over $100 billion of market value in a single day—UnitedHealth's stock plummeted 22 percent, hitting a four-year low. "We have paused guidance and in the next weeks and quarters we will take actions necessary to deliver the performance we are capable of while providing exceptional services and outcomes for customers, consumers, and care providers," a spokesperson for UnitedHealthcare told Newsweek. In May, a proposed class action lawsuit was filed in the Southern District of New York against UnitedHealth Group. The suit, brought by investor Roberto Faller, accuses it of misleading shareholders by failing to disclose the impact of public backlash following the killing of Thompson. The complaint alleges that UnitedHealth continued to project strong financial results despite the growing controversy. According to the lawsuit, UnitedHealth projected earnings per share of $29.50 to $30 in December 2024 and reaffirmed this forecast in January 2025. However, the suit claims these projections were misleading, as the company was internally struggling and facing mounting criticism for its high rate of insurance claim denials and its handling of the CEO's death. The failure to address these issues, the lawsuit claims, led to a loss of investor confidence and ultimately triggered the dramatic drop in the company's stock price on April 17. The legal action seeks class certification and damages for investors who purchased UnitedHealth shares between December 3, 2024, and April 16, 2025. In addition to UnitedHealth Group, the lawsuit names Chief Executive Andrew Witty and Chief Financial Officer John Rex as co-defendants, alleging they were directly involved in the dissemination of misleading information to investors during the affected period. Investigations Into UnitedHealth Group Scheffler said the increased "scrutiny and investigation" of the company was also influencing public opinion. Shares in UnitedHealth Group fell sharply again after The Wall Street Journal reported on May 14 this year that the company was facing a Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation for possible Medicare fraud, citing anonymous sources. Newsweek has not verified the details of this reporting. Neither the DOJ nor UnitedHealth Group has made any public announcement confirming it. The WSJ report said that the investigation had been active since at least the summer of 2024, and is being led by the health care fraud unit of the DOJ's criminal division. The shares recovered substantially in the days following the report. The company responded at the time with a statement, saying: "We have not been notified by the Department of Justice of the supposed criminal investigation reported, without official attribution, in The Wall Street Journal today. "The WSJ's reporting is deeply irresponsible, as even it admits that the 'exact nature of the potential criminal allegations is unclear.' We stand by the integrity of our Medicare Advantage program." A class-action lawsuit was brought against the company alleging it uses artificial intelligence to assess coverage for some elderly patients who are on a Medicare Advantage plan, but that 90 percent of denials by the algorithm are later reversed following an internal appeal process or legal proceedings. The lawsuit was filed on November 14, 2023. It names UnitedHealth Group, UnitedHealthcare and NaviHealth as the defendants. It was brought by the families of two now-deceased patients who were denied coverage by UnitedHealthcare for stays at nursing homes. The suit is ongoing, and its claims have not been proved in court. "Claims that we use an AI algorithm to automatically deny claims are false," a UnitedHealthcare spokesperson said. "All adverse clinical determinations are made by medical directors, in accordance with CMS Medical coverage criteria. The lawsuit is based on unfounded allegations and mischaracterizes the incredibly valuable work of our experienced and compassionate clinicians." However, the last six months for UnitedHealthcare have clearly been rocky. "The fall of UnitedHealthcare will be studied for years to understand the root cause of an American health care system that is increasingly unaffordable, of poor quality for many and whose costs are unsustainable," Scheffler said.
Yahoo
a day ago
- General
- Yahoo
Luigi Mangione's team asks court to remove 'shackles,' bulletproof vest on UnitedHealthcare CEO murder suspect
Attorneys for Luigi Mangione have filed a motion urging a New York judge to allow the suspect in the 2024 assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson to appear in court without handcuffs or a bulletproof vest, arguing that the visible restraints are unnecessary. The Tuesday motion comes ahead of Mangione's scheduled court appearance on June 26. The request, submitted to Justice Gregory Carro of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, calls for Mangione to be allowed to sit at the defense table with unshackled hands and in standard courtroom attire. His legal team argues that the security measures, particularly the use of shackles and a bulletproof vest, serve no legitimate safety function and instead reinforce a damaging public narrative that depicts Mangione as dangerous. They argue that the visual impact of such restraints, frequently captured by the media, undermines his presumption of innocence. Luigi Mangione Argues Double Jeopardy In Bid To Drop Murder Case, Suppress Evidence Pointing to one photograph of Mangione's shackled ankles while seated in court that garnered more than 36 million views on X, his defense argued that it is impeding the accused killer of his right to a fair trial. Read On The Fox News App The motion also says that Mangione has not caused any trouble since his arrest in December 2024. He didn't resist arrest, cooperated with law enforcement, and hasn't been a problem in jail. He's being held in a regular part of the federal jail in Brooklyn, meets with his lawyers almost daily without shackles, and has been assigned work inside the prison. READ THE MOTION – APP USERS, Click Here Accused Ceo Assassin Luigi Mangione Indicted On Federal Charges The defense said that in federal court, where Mangione faces the possibility of the death penalty, he was only made to wear leg shackles and did not wear a bulletproof vest or handcuffs. They also say that making Mangione wear a bulletproof vest doesn't make sense because everyone is required to go through a metal detector. GET REAL-TIME UPDATES DIRECTLY ON THE True Crime Hub Mangione, a Maryland man, is the suspect in the assassination of Thompson on Dec. 4, 2024 in New York City. Thompson was shot from behind outside a New York City Hilton hotel just hours before a shareholder conference. At the crime scene, police discovered bullet casings with handwritten words: "depose," "deny," and "defend," which drew comparisons to the book "Delay, Deny, Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don't Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It." The now 27-year-old was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, while eating breakfast after a McDonald's customer and employee recognized him from a wanted poster. A federal grand jury indicted Mangione on four counts: murder through the use of a firearm, a firearms offense and two counts of stalking. If he is found guilty, he could be eligible for the death penalty. In addition to the federal indictment, Mangione has been charged in Pennsylvania and New York. In Pennsylvania, where he was arrested, Mangione has been charged with carrying a firearm without a license, forgery, providing false identification to law enforcement, and possession of instruments of crime. These charges remain pending. In New York State, Mangione faces 11 charges, the most serious being first-degree murder as an act of terrorism. Prosecutors allege the murder was committed to intimidate or coerce a group and to influence government policy. Other charges include multiple counts of criminal possession of a weapon related to a ghost gun and silencer, as well as criminal possession of a forged instrument for using a fake New Jersey driver's license to check into a hostel near the crime scene. His next state court appearance is set for June 26, while his federal court hearing is scheduled for Dec. article source: Luigi Mangione's team asks court to remove 'shackles,' bulletproof vest on UnitedHealthcare CEO murder suspect
New York Post
7 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
Miranda Devine: The left's assassination fixation only further normalizes political violence
The left's assassination obsession is escalating alarmingly and is being tacitly endorsed in all the wrong places. Some, like Elon Musk, believe it may be orchestrated. How else do you explain why lefty tech publication Wired has published a story and helpful YouTube video describing how to build a copycat replica of the ghost gun allegedly used by Luigi Mangione to murder UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson last December? The senior writer, Andy Greenberg, who covers hacking, cybersecurity and surveillance for Wired, boasts he used a 3D printer to create an 'exact clone' of Mangione's Glock-style handgun, 'down to the stippling on the weapon's plastic grip.' YouTube let the video rip despite a policy strictly prohibiting content showing how to make firearms, ammunition or gun accessories. A week after Israeli DC Embassy employees Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Lynn Milgrim were assassinated by an unhinged leftist in Washington, DC, the Condé Nast magazine's do-it-yourself gun video is still up on YouTube. Don't tell us this is an oversight by YouTube when it regularly cracks down on gun enthusiasts for far less explicit content. After two assassination attempts on Donald Trump during the 2024 election campaign; when Mangione became a cult heartthrob; Musk had to travel with up to 20 armed bodyguards; and even former FBI Director James Comey flirts with assassination memes, we can see where this is heading. Popular culture, social media and political and media figures on the left have reacted to their political marginalization since Trump's election by fantasizing out loud about assassination or making coded references to their dark desires. If you can't rub out Trump yourself, then you can make your feelings plain in oblique fashion by fetishizing Mangione as a sex symbol. It's not as if he is intrinsically more attractive than any other 27-year-old Ivy League brat, or that the evil deed was brave or imaginative. He allegedly shot Thompson in the back as the 50-year-old Minnesota father of two teenage boys was walking down Sixth Avenue to an investor meeting in the early morning of Dec. 4. But the lionization of Mangione, especially by lustful women, casts the violence as desirable, an aphrodisiac that other unhinged young men might want to emulate. Left-wing journalist Taylor Lorenz, formerly of The Washington Post and The New York Times, personified the Luigi fangirl last month when she gushed that the accused killer seemed 'morally good' and 'handsome.' 'A revolutionary' 'So you're going to see women especially that feel like, 'Oh, my God, here's this man who's a revolutionary, who's famous, who's handsome, who's young, who's smart, he's a person who seems he's like this morally good man, which is hard to find,' ' 40-something Lorenz told CNN. Besotted women bombard Mangione in jail with love letters and photos of themselves, so many that he had to post a message on his donation website asking his groupies to 'send no more than five photos at a time.' At Mangione's various court appearances, swooning supporters wear 'Free Luigi' shirts and caps worn by the Luigi character from Super Mario Bros. A GiveSendGo fundraiser for Mangione has gathered more than $1 million in donations from almost 30,000 disciples. There are Mangione fan accounts on Instagram. An online store sells merchandise featuring Mangione's mug shot on T-shirts and keychains with the slogan 'Free Luigi' or the words that Mangione allegedly etched on bullet casings found at the crime scene: 'Deny, Defend, Depose.' Women are getting tattoos of three bullets engraved with those words. Stand-up comic Bill Burr frequently says 'Free Luigi' when a camera is on him, including on ABC's 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' Kimmel dubbed Mangione 'Time's sexiest alleged murderer of the year' and 'the hottest cold-blooded killer in America.' A professor of bioethics at Saint Louis University, Yolonda Wilson, tweeted soon after Thompson's murder that she was 'not sad' about it because the company he worked for is 'evil . . . chickens come home to roost.' Democrat lawmakers Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Elizabeth Warren have defended the lionization of Mangione for his cold-blooded murder. 'Violence is never the answer,' said Warren, 'but people can be pushed only so far.' You might call all this assassination chic a harmless fad, but it is more sinister than that. It is a psychological conditioning of the public to normalize political violence. An Emerson College poll after the murder found that 41% of voters aged 18-29 thought the murder of Thompson was acceptable, while another 24% said it was 'somewhat' acceptable. The suspect in the murders of Lischinsky and Milgrim outside the Capital Jewish Museum, Elias Rodriguez, a socialist anti-Israel activist, openly praised Mangione on his X account: '80% of the country applauds the targeted annihilation of a healthcare insurance exec.' A man arrested outside the Capitol in January for allegedly plotting to kill officials in the Trump administration told prosecutors he was inspired by Mangione. Rutgers University's Network Contagion Research Institute has warned of 'a structured endorsement of political violence targeting figures like Donald Trump and Elon Musk. These attitudes are not fringe — they reflect an emergent assassination culture, grounded in far-left authoritarianism and increasingly normalized in digital discourse.' In a report last month, 'Assassination Culture: How Burning Teslas and Killing Billionaires Became a Meme Aesthetic for Political Violence,' the institute found 'disturbingly high levels of support for political violence, particularly targeting President Donald Trump and Elon Musk.' The report says this 'assassination culture' has migrated from social media into mainstream discourse. 'Somewhat justified' It found that 38% of Americans — and 55% of those identifying as left of center — said assassinating President Trump would be 'at least somewhat justified'; 31% (and 48% of those left of center), said the same about Musk. Some 40% of respondents (and 58% of those left of center) believed it was at least somewhat acceptable to 'destroy a Tesla dealership.' Musk is well aware of the threat, recently voicing fear of assassination because he is the world's richest CEO and also because of his work uncovering corruption in the federal government. 'They're making it sound like if you kill me, you're a hero. What they're doing is evil,' he told the Joe Rogan Experience podcast in February. He brought up the assassination attempt against Trump in Butler, Pa., surmising that unknown forces or the hive mind might have guided the 20-year-old shooter. 'For that assassin, it's kind of like that funny-looking sport, curling, you know, where they have the stone on the ice and then they throw the stone and then there's someone that's like brushing the ice, but you can't touch the stone. 'All you can do is just change the path of the stone a little bit, but you keep brushing the ice and you can steer that stone right into the bull's-eye. That's what I think happened in Butler with that assassin. Somebody was brushing the ice.' It's a good analogy. That's what all these coy Mangione references are for. They're just 'brushing the ice.'
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Yahoo
Opinion - Modern tech is making it harder and harder to get away with crimes
In the 2002 film 'Minority Report,' starring Tom Cruise and directed by Steven Spielberg, society has developed a system called 'Pre-crime,' where a trio of psychics predict murders before they happen. Law enforcement acts on these visions, apprehending would-be perpetrators and preventing crimes before they ever occur. While the story raises ethical and philosophical questions about free will and due process, it also presents a provocative vision of a world where violent crime is virtually eliminated through early intervention. We don't have psychics foreseeing crimes today, but modern technology is quickly closing the gap between when a crime is committed and when the offender is identified. Cutting-edge tools — such as automated license plate readers, networked video surveillance, drones, forensic analysis and advanced artificial intelligence platforms capable of rapidly ingesting and analyzing large volumes of data — are revolutionizing public safety. We are standing on the verge of a new era where committing a crime without being identified and caught is increasingly difficult. If the likelihood of being apprehended continues to rise, could this change the calculus for potential criminals? And if so, how might it reshape criminal behavior? Today's law enforcement environment is evolving rapidly thanks to the integration of several key technologies. Automated license plate readers capture and store data from passing vehicles, helping to solve crimes ranging from car thefts to violent felonies. In many cases, hits by license plate readers provide the first solid lead in an investigation, allowing law enforcement to quickly connect suspects to crime scenes. High-definition closed-circuit camera networks, increasingly supplemented by drone deployments, offer real-time situational awareness. Drones, particularly in first-responder programs, can arrive at scenes faster than ground units, providing live video feeds to responding officers and investigators. Gunshot detection systems and other environmental sensors alert authorities the instant an incident occurs. The integration of this data into real-time crime centers helps officers respond to crimes in progress and identify patterns across jurisdictions. Artificial intelligence and machine learning platforms are revolutionizing investigations by automating the analysis of massive volumes of data — from surveillance video to license plate records to social media. These tools can detect patterns and generate leads in minutes, not days. A recent example illustrating the power of this technological convergence is the case of Luigi Mangione. In December 2024, law enforcement arrested Mangione for the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, highlighting the power of public surveillance and community engagement. Despite attempts to conceal his identity with a mask, the clarity of the footage from various cameras that caught images of Mangione before and after the murder made identification and capture possible. This case exemplifies how the integration of real-time camera networks, public alerts and the human element of recognition accelerates apprehension timelines, reinforcing the notion that evading detection is increasingly untenable for premeditated offenders. Research consistently shows that the certainty of being caught has a greater deterrent effect on crime than the severity of punishment. Criminologist Daniel Nagin has emphasized that it is the likelihood of apprehension — not the severity of punishment — that primarily dissuades criminal activity. Most offenders, particularly those committing premeditated crimes, believe they will get away with it. In fact, studies suggest that many offenders perceive little or no risk of apprehension. However, as law enforcement leverages technology to more consistently and visibly close that gap, that perception may begin to shift. If potential offenders begin to see that crimes are solved quickly and that data trails are difficult to escape, the perceived risk of getting caught increases — and with it, the potential to deter criminal behavior. It is important to distinguish between different types of criminal behavior when discussing deterrence. Technologies that increase the certainty of apprehension are most likely to affect premeditated crimes such as burglary, car theft and organized retail theft. These crimes involve a level of planning, where offenders weigh risks and rewards. Crimes of passion or those committed in moments of emotional rage or fear are different. In such cases, offenders often act impulsively without considering consequences. These crimes are less likely to be deterred by the presence of cameras, sensors or forensic tools. Therefore, while the technologies discussed can significantly reduce deliberate criminal activity, their effect on impulsive or emotionally charged crimes will likely be more limited. As we continue to adopt increasingly advanced crime-solving technologies, we must also confront important ethical and legal questions. Surveillance, data aggregation and predictive tools raise legitimate concerns about privacy, civil liberties and bias. To ensure these technologies serve the public good, law enforcement agencies must implement strong oversight, transparency and accountability practices. Community trust is not guaranteed but must be earned and maintained through responsible use. Society may never reach the predictive capabilities portrayed in 'Minority Report,' but we are undeniably moving into a time where committing a serious crime and remaining unidentified is becoming harder with each passing year. That shift has real potential to reduce victimization, increase clearance rates and change the mindset of potential offenders. The challenge ahead will be ensuring that this new era of crime-solving is deployed in a way that is equitable, ethical and focused on public safety. If done right, we may find ourselves entering a golden age of justice — not because crime disappears, but because it becomes truly difficult to get away with. Mike Moulton is a retired chief of police for the City of El Cajon, California, with 29 years of service in law enforcement. He is a fellow at the Future Policing Institute and a member of the California Police Chiefs Association, the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the Police Executive Research Forum. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
