Luigi Mangione, the alleged Midtown assassin accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in front of a hotel earlier this month, returned to New York Thursday to face arraignment on federal murder charges.
The suspect arrived via helicopter at the Downtown Manhattan Heliport from Pennsylvania hours after a court hearing in which he chose to no longer fight his extradition back to the Big Apple. He had been held in Pennsylvania following his Dec. 9 arrest in Altoona on gun charges; he had been found in possession of the ghost gun and suppressor allegedly used in Thompson’s murder.
Days after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced a first-degree murder indictment against Mangione, the U.S. Justice Department stepped in and filed murder charges against Mangione of its own Thursday. The suspect is due to be arraigned in Manhattan Federal Court in Lower Manhattan on the complaint Thursday afternoon.
Death penalty if convicted?
A spokesperson for DA Bragg said the federal and state murder cases against Mangione would run “parallel” to one another.
But under federal law, Mangione could face the death penalty if he is convicted of the top murder charge. In New York, the maximum sentence would be life without parole; the death penalty was abolished in the Empire State 20 years ago.
The trip from Pennsylvania
Following the extradition hearing, Mangione was transferred into the NYPD’s custody and boarded onto a helicopter for a roughly 2-hour flight back to New York.
Mangione departed the helicopter in Manhattan still wearing his jail-issued bright orange jumpsuit while shackled and handcuffed. He was surrounded by an unprecedented number of NYPD and FBI agents, some of whom were heavily armored and carrying machine guns — ensuring that no one could touch the suspect or aid in any potential escape.
At one point, Mangione appeared to make faces — sticking his tongue in his cheek — at the spectacle.
He was then loaded into a waiting police van and taken to nearby Manhattan Federal Court for the arraignment hearing.
‘Methodically planned’
Mangione catapulted to global infamy following a nationwide manhunt for a masked assassin caught on camera taking deadly aim at Thompson, who was shot in the back outside of the Hilton Hotel on Dec. 4 as the CEO headed to an investor meeting.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, in announcing the federal indictment against Mangione Thursday, noted that the suspect allegedly stalked Thompson days before the homicide “methodically planning when, where, and how to carry out his crime.” Prosecutors noted that the suspect had arrived in New York in late November and stayed at an Upper West Side hostel.
At 6:45 a.m. on Dec. 4, authorities said, Mangione allegedly struck — approaching Thompson from behind and shooting dead with a 3D-printed ghost gun and suppressor. Following the execution, the suspect fled on a bicycle into Central Park and ultimately back to the Upper West Side hostel.
Thompson took two shots, to the back and leg. He was pronounced dead a short time later at a local hospital.
Law enforcement agents believed Mangione allegedly targeted Thompson for murder because he wanted “to initiate a public discussion about the healthcare industry.” Thompson’s death, as it turned out, was widely celebrated on social media — and Mangione evolved into something of a cult hero among those who celebrated the health insurance CEO’s killing.
“But this wasn’t a debate, it was murder,” acting U.S. Attorney Edward Kim of the Southern District of New York said Thursday.
