Mangione admits to shooting insurance CEO, pleads guilty to federal charges
NEW YORK—Luigi Mangione pleaded guilty Friday to federal stalking charges in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and admitted that he shot the executive outside an investor conference in late 2024.
Mangione, 28, read a statement in court in which he described tracking Thompson to the conference in Midtown Manhattan and shooting Thompson with a 3D-printed gun equipped with a silencer.
Mangione had previously said he was not guilty of the state and federal charges against him in connection with Thompson’s killing. He is scheduled to stand trial next month on state murder charges.
Mangione faces a maximum of life in prison on the federal stalking charges. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for December.
The killing of a prominent corporate executive in broad daylight combined with Mangione’s grievances against what he called the “greed fueled” health insurance industry have made the case a focus of intense public interest.
Some view Mangione as a symbol of their anger with health insurance providers. Supporters wearing “Free Luigi” T-shirts have attended hearings in his case, and his story has generated memes, merchandise, even a musical.
Outside the courthouse Friday, Jamie McDonald, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, had strong words for those inclined to support Mangione.
“Any person who celebrates, encourages or excuses actions like these is fundamentally wrong,” McDonald said. “Violence is not a legitimate instrument to promote any political or social message.”
In a statement, Thompson’s family said that Friday’s guilty plea was an important step toward justice. “While nothing will ease the pain of losing him, we are grateful that the federal justice system has held the person responsible for this heinous act accountable,” the family said, and urged the court to “ensure that sentencing reflects the severity of this crime.”
Karen Friedman Agnifilo, Mangione’s lawyer, said he had endured “years of debilitating pain” after breaking his back and struggled to navigate the health insurance system.
Mangione “believed that the system had failed him and destroyed his life,” Friedman Agnifilo said. She accused prosecutors of trying to punish Mangione twice by launching both federal and state cases against him and said his legal team filed a motion Friday seeking the dismissal of the state case.
Mangione’s state trial on murder and weapons charges is set to start Sept. 8. But under New York’s double-jeopardy statute, state prosecutors are mostly restricted from pursuing cases if a defendant has already been convicted of a similar offense.
State prosecutors appeared to acknowledge that possibility in a letter last month to the judge in their case, where they said a guilty plea in the federal case might “operate to defeat a just outcome in the state prosecution.”
Because Mangione has pleaded guilty to federal charges, there is a “very good chance that double jeopardy will apply with respect to his state case,” said Anna Cominsky, a professor at New York Law School. State prosecutors will probably challenge any attempt to dismiss their case, Cominsky added.
Outside the courtroom on Friday, Nora Williams, 28, said Mangione symbolizes her grievances with the health care and criminal justice systems. Williams said Thompson didn’t deserve to die, but she also feels that Mangione is being mistreated by facing both federal and state charges.
“I believe accountability does not eclipse compassion, and that is largely what is missing from our [criminal justice] system,” said Williams, who lives in Durham, North Carolina.
Mangione’s evolution from Ivy League graduate to assassin baffled many who knew him. The scion of a prominent Baltimore family, Mangione was the valedictorian at his all-boys private high school and studied computer science at the University of Pennsylvania.
He suffered from years of painful back problems, friends said, and his behavior became increasingly disturbing. He expressed admiration for the writings of Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, in a public post and dropped out of contact with his family months before Thompson’s killing.
On Dec. 4, 2024, Thompson was shot from behind, police said, as he walked toward a Hilton hotel in Manhattan. The words “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on several shell casings, terms that appear to reference a critique of insurance companies.
The gunman vanished into Central Park, sparking an intense manhunt that ended five days later when customers at a McDonald’s hundreds of miles away recognized the suspect after seeing his face on the news. Shortly afterward, Mangione was arrested at the restaurant in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
At Mangione’s murder trial, state prosecutors planned to introduce items found in his backpack to jurors. They include a 3D printed pistol that matched the bullets fired at Thompson, authorities said, as well as several pages of handwritten notes. In an entry dated six weeks before Thompson’s killing, Mangione described his intent to “wack” an insurance company executive, the federal complaint states.
Lawyers for Mangione in June said they planned to pursue a psychiatric defense, arguing that he was suffering from extreme emotional disturbance at the time of the killing, but a day later backed away from the claim.
Earlier this year, a federal judge effectively barred the Justice Department from pursuing a death-penalty case. State-level terrorism charges against Mangione were also dismissed.
See also:
Judge in Luigi Mangione case speaks out about public access during proceedings
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