CEO ‘assassin’ Luigi Mangione ‘couldn’t have sex or date’ before murder and told roommate of his frustrations
THE man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare's chief executive was yearning for a normal lifestyle, but a severe back issue made it impossible for him to have sex, a former roommate revealed.
Luigi Mangione, 26, was arrested on Monday following a six-day manhunt and charged with the December 4 cold-blooded murder of healthcare CEO Brian Thompson outside the Hilton hotel in Midtown .
Mangione, a "well-educated" Ivy League graduate, comes from an affluent Italian-American family that owns a real estate empire in Baltimore County in Maryland.
His arrest shocked family members and friends, who described Mangione as a non-violent person and remembered him as more of a "friendly and thoughtful leader."
"He was a very thoughtful person. Communicated really well, was friendly. Had good relationships with everyone. He was even, in some ways, a bit of a leader," RJ Martin, the founder of Surfbreak, a co-living community in Honolulu, , told .
Martin, who befriended Mangione and initially interviewed him for a space at the co-living community, described the alleged assassin's back problems that at times left him bedridden from basic surf lessons.
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He knew that dating and being physically intimate with his back condition wasn't possible. I remember him telling me that, and my heart just breaks.
RJ Martin
"His back was kind of misaligned," Martin told .
"He said his lower vertebrae were almost like a half-inch off, and I think it pinched a nerve.
"Sometimes he'd be doing well and other times not."
Martin recalled the difficult and traumatic condition Mangione was in and confided in him and several other roommates how he was incapable of being in a relationship due to his back issues.
"He knew that dating and being physically intimate with his back condition wasn't possible," Martin added.
"I remember him telling me that, and my heart just breaks."
Mangione underwent back surgery in 2023 that left him with screws in his back, Martin told CNN.
"He sent me the X-rays. It looked heinous with just giant screws going into his spine," he added.
"After that, he called me once, I didn't pick up."
What we know so far...
- Luigi Mangione was charged in New York with the murder of Brian Thompson.
- Mangione was arrested at McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, with a ghost gun, silencer, and the same fake ID used by the killer at a NYC hostel.
- Police found the 'assassin's' backpack at Central Park and discovered Monopoly money inside.
- Photos showed the suspected killer smiling as he pulled down his face mask to flirt with a hostel receptionist.
- An expert said the killer's gun malfunction may have been ‘for show’ and linked to a secret message on bullets.
- The shooter milled around the entrance for minutes before sneaking up behind the CEO and unloading a barrage of bullets into his back and leg, eerie surveillance revealed.
The two texted back and forth briefly in April, and Mangione promised Martin they would catch up via phone but never did.
"Yo! You awake?" Martin texted Mangione in late May, according to the New York Times.
Mangione then checked into the HI New York City Hostel on Amsterdam Avenue, using a fake identification from , police said.
On the morning of December 4, surveillance footage captured the moment a hooded and masked gunman snuck up behind Thompson, 50, outside the Hilton hotel in Midtown Manhattan, firing several shots, striking the healthcare CEO in his back and leg.
Thompson was pronounced dead at Mount Sinai West.
The hooded assassin, believed to be Mangione, used a firearm equipped with a silencer and engraved the words "deny," "depose," and "defend" on shell casings of three bullets, investigators said.
The message is similar to a 2010 book, Delay, Deny, Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don't Pay Claim and What You Can Do About It, written by insurance law expert and Rutgers Law School professor Jay M. Feinman.
After the shooting, the suspect calmly walked away, hopped on an e-bike, and pedaled Uptown before zooming into Central Park, where police recovered a backpack believed to belong to Mangione.
The Peak Design backpack, which was found wedged between two rocks near the Central Park carousel, contained a Tommy Hilfiger jacket and Monopoly money inside.
Photos released by Pennsylvania State Police showed Mangione, wearing a dark-colored jacket and a khaki beanie, munching on a McDonald's hash brown just before an employee reported him to cops.
An Altoona man who's a regular at the McDonald's where Mangione was arrested told CNN he and his friends saw the alleged assassin and joked he looked like the UnitedHealthcare shooter.
The worker that took [Mangione's] order, she said his eyes and his eyebrows, she just thought it was him.
Larry, an eyewitness
"It started out almost like a joke, my one friend thought he looked like the shooter," the man, who identified himself as Larry, told the outlet.
"He probably heard us. That surprised me, he stayed there as long as he did," he added, saying Mangione sat about 10 feet away from him, toward the back of the fast-food restaurant.
"He had a mask, a hood, and a backpack from what my buddy told me.
"He saw him better than I did, actually.
"From what I was told, the worker that took his order, she said his eyes and his eyebrows, she just thought it was him."
Larry recalled how, after Mangione received his order, he headed straight to the back of the restaurant and sat there alone.
"I walked past him when I left," the McDonald's patron added.
"It's unbelievable. I still can't hardly believe it's for real, you know."
Altoona police found a ghost gun, silencer, and several fake IDs on Mangione when he was arrested, as well as a three-page handwritten manifesto that reportedly criticized healthcare companies.
Mangione was arraigned in Pennsylvania on Monday evening and charged with carrying a gun without a license, forgery, falsely identifying himself to authorities, and possessing "instruments of crime."
He's facing second-degree murder charges in New York in connection with Thompson's assassination.
Mangione was ordered held without bail at the State Correctional Institution Huntingdon in Pennsylvania.
He did not enter a plea in his first court appearance and is expected to be extradited to New York City at some point to face murder charges.
Mangione was seen shouting as he was dragged into the Blair County courthouse on Tuesday, for his hearing.
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The suspect, who is set to appear before a Pennsylvania judge, blasted that the situation was "out of touch and an insult to the intelligence of the American people."
Cops had to grab Mangione by the neck as he struggled against them.
Timeline of Brian Thompson's murder
BRIAN Thompson, the 50-year-old CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was shot to death in Manhattan in an execution-like killing.
Here is everything we know about Thompson's murder so far.
Monday, December 2 - Thompson travels from his home in Minnesota to New York City for an investor conference in Midtown Manhattan.
Wednesday, December 4, 6:45 am - Thompson walks from his hotel across the street to the New York Hilton Midtown and is murdered by a masked shooter. The execution was caught on surveillance, and the suspect was seen biking away toward Central Park. Cops spark a citywide search for the assassin.
11:30 am - Cops released disturbing images of the execution, offered a reward for information, and made a desperate plea for New Yorkers to keep their eyes out.
12:00 pm - Thompson's estranged wife Paulette revealed her husband had been threatened before he was shot.
2:45 pm - Cops released more eerie images of the suspect ordering at Starbucks that partially revealed his face. The U.S. Sun confirmed the coffee shop was just two blocks away from the shooting, but it's unclear when he stopped by.
December 5, 6 am - Reports claim the words "deny," "dispose," and "defend" were engraved on live rounds and shell casings left behind by the assassin. These words echo the book Delay, Deny, Defend, which is about the failings of the healthcare industry. The author of the book had no comment on the reports.
8 am- Cops raid a hostel in the Upper West Side of New York City where the suspect is said to have stayed. It's believed he wore a mask for most of the time he was there.
11 am - A person of interest in Thompson's murder is pictured. He's wearing a hood in the photo, but his full face could be seen breaking into a beaming grin. Still, no arrests have been made in the investigation.
Afternoon - Law enforcement confirms the suspect arrived in New York City on a Greyhound bus on November 24. It's also confirmed that the suspect dropped a burner cell phone near the scene of the shooting.
December 6, 3 pm - Police announce they believe the killer has left New York City via interstate bus. They release more surveillance footage that shows him taking a taxi to the George Washington Bridge Bus Station.
December 9 - Luigi Mangione, 26, is arrested as a "strong person of interest" at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania. He was carrying a three-page manifesto, fake IDs, and a gun similar to the one used in Thompson's murder.