The suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s chief executive has been charged in Manhattan federal court on four counts, including murder, stalking and firearms offences.
The federal criminal complaint against Luigi Mangione was unsealed two days after state prosecutors announced a grand jury indictment against him in the murder of Brian Thompson, who was shot dead on the streets of Manhattan.
The federal criminal complaint unsealed on Thursday charges Mr Mangione with stalking – travel in interstate commerce, stalking – use of interstate facilities, murder through use of a firearm and a firearms offence.
The complaint alleges that Mr Mangione was caught with evidence directly tying him to Thompson’s murder.
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Mr Mangione was found “to be in possession of a loaded 9mm pistol and silencer consistent with the weapon used to kill the victim, clothing that matched apparel that the shooter wore in the security camera videos, a notebook ... several thousand dollars in cash ... and a letter addressed ‘To the Feds’,” the complaint states.
It adds: “The notebook contained several handwritten pages that express hostility towards the health insurance industry and wealthy executives in particular.”
[ Do you cry for a dead health-insurance boss, or for the victims of his industry?Opens in new window ]
The complaint claims in an entry marked as “8/15” a passage describes how “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],” which the complaint states is UnitedHealthcare.
The entry also states “the target is insurance” because “it checks every box” the complaint claims.
Another entry marked “10/22” allegedly states: “1.5 months. This investor conference is a true windfall ... and – most importantly – the message becomes self evident.”
“And later in the notebook it describes an intent to ‘wack’ the CEO of one of the insurance companies at its investor conference”, the complaint states.
The notebook is separate from a letter addressed “To the Feds”, the complaint says, in which Mr Mangione allegedly wrote: “I wasn’t working with anyone” and “PS you can check serial numbers to verify this is all self-funded”.
“This was fairly trivial: Some elementary social engineering, basic CAD, a lot of patience,” the complaint alleges Mr Mangione wrote in the letter.
The complaint also alleges Mr Mangione travelled to New York for the “purpose of stalking and killing” Thompson and that while in the city, he “stalked and then shot and killed” the executive.
Prosecutors also have put together an alleged timeline of Mr Mangione’s movements from November 24th up to and including December 4th, the date that the killing occurred, through hundreds of hours of security footage recordings.
They say that he arrived in New York City on November 24th on a bus that originated in Atlanta, Georgia. He then took a taxi to the area around the hotel where Thompson was shot, and stayed in the area for around an hour before taking another taxi to a hostel located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
At the hostel, they allege that he registered under the name Mark Rosario and provided a fake New Jersey ID.
On the day of the murder, the suspect allegedly left the hostel at around 5.35am in the morning, and rode an electric bike down to a location near the Midtown hotel, wearing a grey backpack.
After arriving in the area, Mr Mangione allegedly walked around and at one point purchased items from a nearby coffee shop and then returned to a bench in the vicinity of the hotel.
At around 6.45am the suspect allegedly saw and approached Thompson and shot him multiple times, and then fled on foot, then electric bike, then taxi, dropping his backpack on the way.
Earlier on Thursday, Mr Mangione appeared in court in Pennsylvania, where he was arrested last week after five days on the run, and agreed to be extradited to New York.
He waived a preliminary hearing on the Pennsylvania charges in exchange for the prosecutor giving him a 20-page investigative report from the Altoona police department.
Mr Mangione reportedly arrived in New York later on Thursday.
The 26-year-old Ivy League graduate is accused of ambushing and shooting Brian Thompson on December 4th outside a Manhattan hotel, where the head of the United States’ largest health insurer was walking to an investor conference.
Authorities have said Mr Mangione was carrying the gun used to kill Thompson, a passport, fake IDs and about $10,000 when he was arrested on December 9th while eating breakfast at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
Earlier this week, Mr Mangione was indicted by a New York grand jury and charged with state murder charges including first-degree murder, two counts of murder in the second degree, along with other weapon and forgery charges.
The New York state case against Mr Mangione will happen alongside the federal case against him.
Mr Mangione is also facing separate charges in Pennsylvania for carrying a gun without a license, forgery, falsely identifying himself to the authorities and possessing “instruments of crime”. – Guardian