Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, has been transported back to New York City after waiving the right to challenge his extradition early Thursday morning. His return to the state comes as federal prosecutors in Manhattan have filed additional charges against the 26-year-old.
A federal criminal complaint unsealed Thursday lists four new charges against Mangione, including murder through use of a firearm, two counts of stalking, and a firearms offense. Mangione was officially arraigned on the counts in a federal courtroom Thursday afternoon.
In a statement, Mangione’s attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo said, “The federal government’s reported decision to pile on top of an already overcharged first-degree murder and state terror case is highly unusual and raises serious constitutional and statutory double-jeopardy concerns. We are ready to fight these charges in whatever court they are brought.”
The filing also revealed additional details into Mangione’s mind-set prior to the murder, gleaned from a notebook he was carrying when he was apprehended at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s last week. Per authorities, Mangione’s notebook contained handwritten pages that “express hostility toward the health-insurance industry and wealthy executives in particular.” One entry from August 15 read, in part, that “the details are finally coming together” and “I’m glad — in a way — that I’ve procrastinated, bc it allowed me to learn more about [acronym for Company-1].” The entry also said “the target is insurance” because “it checks every box.”
Another entry from October 22 describes wanting to “wack” a CEO of an insurance company at its investors conference, calling such a gathering a “true windfall.”
On Tuesday, Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg unveiled his office’s indictment against Mangione, levying 11 counts against the suspect including first-degree murder in the furtherance of terrorism. Mangione faces a possible maximum sentence of life in prison without parole. Prosecutors allege that he traveled to New York days in advance with the intent of killing Thompson and waited for the CEO for nearly an hour outside the Hilton hotel in midtown Manhattan. They allege that once Thompson appeared, a masked Mangione came up behind him and shot him multiple times in the back and leg. Thompson was transported to a nearby hospital where he was later pronounced dead.
Mangione fled the scene and led authorities on a nationwide manhunt. He was found with a 3-D-printed gun, silencer, and multiple fake IDs as well as a handwritten note some have described as a “manifesto.” In Pennsylvania, he also faces five counts including forgery and carrying a firearm without a license.
