Luigi Mangione latest: Top New York attorney tapped by CEO murder suspect as Manhattan DA says extradition fight may end
Karen Friedman Agnifilo to represent suspect as he faces second-degree murder charge while donations pour into GiveSendGo fundraiser and GoFundMe reportedly takes down another
The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday
Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US
Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US
A top New York City attorney has been hired to represent Luigi Mangione in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Karen Friedman Agnifilo will be representing Mangione in New York. The suspect is also facing charges in Pennsylvania and is currently fighting extradition to New York, CNN reported. Police sources believe Mangione took a train to Pennsylvania, where he was captured on Monday.
Agnifilo has worked in private practice since 2021 and has experience in New York City’s criminal justice system. She spent seven years as the chief assistant district attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
Mangione’s supporters are donating thousands of dollars for “defense funds” that have been established for him. Amid fears the shooting suspect is being turned into a martyr, several fundraisers have been set up for him online, with one created by anonymous group ‘The December 4th Legal Committee’ surpassing more than $90,000 in donations on the crowdfunding website GiveSendGo by Saturday.
The group’s name is an apparent reference to the day the 26-year-old allegedly gunned down Mr Thompson in Midtown Manhattan.
Other campaigns soliciting donations for Mangione’s defense have been taken down by sites, such as GoFundMe, reported ABC News.
Police in California had IDed shooting suspect four days before arrest
California police had identified the UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting suspect as Luigi Mangione and alerted the FBI four days before he was eventually arrested in Pennsylvania, according to a report.
An officer in the San Francisco Police Department’s Special Victims Unit is said to have tipped off the bureau on December 5 after recognizing Mangione in images circulated by the NYPD, sources told the San Francisco Chronicle.
Mangione had actually been on the radar of San Francisco authorities two weeks prior to the December 4 shooting of Brian Thompson.
Mangione’s mother, Kathleen Mangione, had reported her son missing on November 18 after the family had been unable to contact him since July 1, the sources told the Chronicle. An acquaintance told The New York Times the suspect had lost touch with friends and family after undergoing major surgery for debilitating, chronic back pain in July 2023.
Read the full story.
California police identified CEO shooting suspect Luigi Mangione days before arrest
Luigi Mangione’s mother had reported her son missing to California police two weeks before the shooting of Brian Thompson
UnitedHealth Group CEO admits healthcare system ‘doesn’t work as well as it should’
The CEO of UnitedHealth Group, the parent company to UnitedHealthcare, admitted that the US health system “doesn’t work as well as it should”.
Writing in a New York Times op-ed on Friday morning, Andrew Witty lamented the loss of Brian Thompson, the chief executive of United Healthcare, and addressed the US’s “patchwork” healthcare system.
The health insurance executive also wrote that he understood people’s frustrations with the health care system.
“We know the health system does not work as well as it should, and we understand people’s frustrations with it,” he wrote. “No one would design a system like the one we have. And no one did. It’s a patchwork built over decades.”
He continued: “Our mission is to help make it work better. We are willing to partner with anyone, as we always have – health care providers, employers, patients, pharmaceutical companies, governments and others – to find ways to deliver high-quality care and lower costs.
“Clearly, we are not there yet. We understand and share the desire to build a health care system that works better for everyone. That is the purpose of our organization.”
WATCH: Luigi Mangione’s mugshot emblazoned on stickers and t-shirts after murder charge
Timeline of the manhunt
December 4: The suspect set off from an Upper West Side hostel before dawn. He was seen on surveillance video walking back and forth at 54th Street and Sixth Avenue, near the Hilton Hotel where the UnitedHealthcare Group was holding its conference. After opening fire, the suspect fled by bike through Central Park before getting into a cab and was later spotted at a bus station. A manhunt ensued.
December 5: Investigators revealed a cryptic message carved onto the shell casings: “delay,” “deny” and “depose.” NYPD also released images of the suspect.
December 6: Police announce they believe the suspect has left New York City, expanding the desperate search. A backpack, thought to belong to the suspect, was found in Central Park and sent in for forensic testing. The now-viral “flirtatious” photo of the suspect speaking to a hostel worker was released.
December 7: NYPD releases another photo of the suspect, this time in the back of a taxi. The FBI also joined the hunt for the suspect, offering a $50,000 reward for information.
December 8: Although no leads on the suspect’s whereabouts were made public, investigators revealed the contents of the backpack included Monopoly money and a Tommy Hilfiger jacket.
December 9: A private service for Brian Thompson was held. Also that day, a McDonald’s employee in Altoona, Pennsylvania tipped recognized Mangione from the photos circulated by police. He was arrested in Pennsylvania on gun charges and hours later faced a murder charge in New York.
ICYMI: UnitedHealthcare says it didn’t insure Luigi Mangione
UnitedHealth Group, the parent company to UntiedHealthcare, said that Luigi Mangione was not a customer of the health insurance company.
There is no record that the 26-year-old shooting suspect was ever insured by the company, UnitedHealth Group told NBC News.
Police also confirmed that there is “no indication” that Mangione was registered with UnitedHealthcare, whose CEO was murdered on December 4 in Midtown Manhattan.
“We have no indication that he was ever a client of United Healthcare, but he does make mention that it is the fifth-largest corporation in America, which would make it the largest health care organization in America,” Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told NBC New York.
Search warrant issued for shooting suspect’s cell phone
Police have issued a search warrant for the cell phone believed to have been dropped by the Brian Thomspon shooting suspect as he fled the crime scene last week, sources say.
The phone was recovered in an alley outside a Hilton hotel in Midtown Manhattan, where the UnitedHealth CEO was gunned down in the street on December 4.
Authorities are still looking to access a phone recovered by police in an alley following the shooting that is believed to be linked to the suspect, sources told ABC Action News 6 on Thursday. A search warrant has been obtained for the phone, sources said.
A search warrant has also been issued to the HI New York City Hostel on Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan where the suspect stayed, sources said.
UnitedHealth Group CEO breaks silence on Brian Thompson murder
The boss of the UnitedHealth Group, the parent company to UnitedHealthcare, has broken his silence over Brian Thompson’s shooting death, and addressed the “legacy” he had left behind.
Writing in a New York Times op-ed on Friday morning, Andrew Witty lamented the loss of his “brilliant” UnitedHealthcare CEO.
“As Brian Thompson’s family, friends and colleagues mourn his killing, we are bearing a grief and sadness we will carry for the rest of our lives,” he wrote. “Grief for the family he leaves behind. And grief for a brilliant, kind man who was working to make health care better for everyone.”
Witty wrote of Thompson’s humble Iowa roots, and said he “never forgot where he came from”. He added that the slain health insurer was a mover and shaker in the industry and “never content with the status quo”.
He continued: “Brian was never content with the status quo. That’s why he pushed us to build dedicated teams to help the sickest people navigate the health system.”
Thompson wanted to make health care more affordable and transparent, according to Witty.
“That’s Brian’s legacy, one that we will carry forward by continuing our work to make the health system work better for everyone,” he concluded.
McDonald’s worker who tipped off police about Luigi Mangione may receive a huge payday
The tipster who alerted police of Luigi Mangione’s whereabouts in an Altoona, Pennsylvania, McDonald’s on Monday may be due a $60,000 payday.
The FBI offered a $50,000 reward for information about the wanted man, while the NYPD offered $10,000. The NYPD will require an arrest and conviction before the money is paid. The same is likely true concerning the FBI reward.
The fast food worker, who remains anonymous, called 911 after recognizing the 26-year-old shooting suspect inside the McDonald’s.
“The individual in Pennsylvania, who called in a tip, is eligible to receive the reward,” the NYC Police Foundation said in a statement to the Washington Post.
What you should know about Luigi Mangione
Luigi Mangione has been charged with murder in connection to the death of the UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside his Manhattan hotel on December 4.
Mangione, 26, was spotted eating a meal inside a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on Monday morning, with an employee calling the tip into police.
He is currently being held in a Pennsylvania jail without bond as he awaits extradition to New York where he faces a murder charge. He also faces charges for gun law violations in Pennsylvania.
Read the full piece below.
Who is Luigi Mangione? What to know about murder suspect in CEO shooting
Mangione has been denied bail and is fighting extradition after being charged with murder in New York in connection with Brian Thompson’s death
Woman charged after threatening health insurer with ‘delay, deny, depose’
A Florida woman was charged after threatening a health insurer with the phrase “Delay, Deny, Depose” – which was carved onto the spent rounds at the scene were UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson, was shot dead.
Briana Boston, 42, was arrested at her Lakeland home on Tuesday after allegedly making threats on a call to BlueCross BlueShield regarding the denial of a recent medical insurance claim, according to WFLA.
She was charged with one count of written threat to kill or injure in connection to conducting a mass shooting or an act of terrorism.”
“Delay, deny, depose. You people are next,” the mom-of-three said in a recorded conversation to a telephone operator, according to Lakeland police.
When officers arrived at her home, she told them that “healthcare companies played games and deserved karma from the world because they are evil”.
According to the news station, Boston said she does not own any firearms and told cops “was not a danger to anyone”.
The gunman who murdered Thompson in a horror early morning shooting a week ago left behind the cryptic message at the scene, carving the three words “depose,” “deny,” and “defend” into the live rounds and shell casings near the scene.
The three words bear a striking resemblance to a professor of law at Rutgers Law School Jay Feinman’s 2010 book: Delay, Deny, Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don’t Pay Claim and What You Can Do About It.
