Luigi Nicholas Mangione, the suspect within the deadly taking pictures of a healthcare government in New York Metropolis, apparently was residing a charmed life: the grandson of a rich actual property developer, valedictorian of his elite Baltimore prep college and with levels from one of many nation’s high non-public universities.
Associates at an unique co-living area on the fringe of touristy Waikiki in Hawaii the place the 26-year-old Mangione as soon as lived broadly thought of him a “nice man,” and footage on his social media accounts present a match, smiling, good-looking younger man on seashores and at events.
Now, investigators in New York and Pennsylvania are working to piece collectively why Mangione might have diverged from this path to make the violent and radical determination to gun down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in a brazen assault on a Manhattan avenue.
The killing sparked widespread discussions about company greed, unfairness within the medical insurance coverage trade and even impressed folk-hero sentiment towards his killer.
However Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro sharply refuted that notion after Mangione’s arrest on Monday when a buyer at a McDonald’s restaurant in Pennsylvania noticed Mangione consuming and seen he resembled the taking pictures suspect in security-camera images launched by New York police.
“In some darkish corners, this killer is being hailed as a hero. Hear me on this, he’s no hero,” Shapiro stated. “The actual hero on this story is the one that referred to as 911 at McDonald’s this morning.”
Mangione’s household and upbringing
Mangione comes from a outstanding Maryland household. His grandfather, Nick Mangione, who died in 2008, was a profitable actual property developer. Considered one of his best-known tasks was Turf Valley Resort, a sprawling luxurious retreat and convention middle exterior Baltimore that he bought in 1978.
The Mangione household additionally bought Hayfields Nation Membership north of Baltimore in 1986. On Monday, Baltimore County cops blocked off an entrance to the property, which public information hyperlink to Luigi Mangione’s dad and mom. Reporters and photographers gathered exterior the doorway.
The daddy of 10 kids, Nick Mangione ready his 5 sons — together with Luigi Mangione’s father, Louis Mangione — to assist handle the household enterprise, in response to a 2003 Washington Put up report. Nick Mangione had 37 grandchildren, together with Luigi, in response to the grandfather’s obituary.
Luigi Mangione’s grandparents donated to charities by way of the Mangione Household Basis, in response to a press release from Loyola College commemorating Nick Mangione’s spouse’s demise in 2023. They donated to varied causes, together with Catholic organizations, schools and the humanities.
Considered one of Luigi Mangione’s cousins is Republican Maryland state legislator Nino Mangione, a spokesman for the lawmaker’s workplace confirmed.
“Our household is shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest,” Mangione’s household stated in a press release posted on social media by Nino Mangione. “We provide our prayers to the household of Brian Thompson and we ask folks to wish for all concerned.”
Mangione’s schooling and work historical past
Mangione, who was valedictorian of his elite Maryland prep college, earned undergraduate and graduate levels in laptop science in 2020 from the College of Pennsylvania, a college spokesman advised The Related Press.
He discovered to code in highschool and helped begin a membership at Penn for folks inquisitive about gaming and sport design, in response to a 2018 story in Penn Immediately, a campus publication.
His social media posts counsel he belonged to the fraternity Phi Kappa Psi. In addition they present him participating in a 2019 program at Stanford College, and in images with household and associates on the Jersey Shore and in Hawaii, San Diego, Puerto Rico, and different locations.
The Gilman College, from which Mangione graduated in 2016, is one in all Baltimore’s elite prep colleges. The youngsters of among the metropolis’s wealthiest and most outstanding residents, together with Orioles legend Cal Ripken Jr., have attended the varsity. Its alumni embody sportswriter Frank Deford and former Arizona Gov. Fife Symington.
In his valedictory speech, Luigi Mangione described his classmates’ “unbelievable braveness to discover the unknown and check out new issues.”
Mangione took a software program programming internship after highschool at Maryland-based online game studio Firaxis, the place he fastened bugs on the hit technique sport Civilization 6, in response to a LinkedIn profile. Firaxis’ mum or dad firm, Take-Two Interactive, stated it will not touch upon former workers.
He extra lately labored on the car-buying web site TrueCar, however has not labored there since 2023, the pinnacle of the Santa Monica, California-based firm confirmed to the AP.
Time in Hawaii and studies of again ache
From January to June 2022, Mangione lived at Surfbreak, a “co-living” area on the fringe of touristy Waikiki in Honolulu.
Like different residents of the shared penthouse catering to distant staff, Mangione underwent a background verify, stated Josiah Ryan, a spokesperson for proprietor and founder R.J. Martin.
“Luigi was simply broadly thought of to be an awesome man. There have been no complaints,” Ryan stated. “There was no signal which may level to those alleged crimes they’re saying he dedicated.”
At Surfbreak, Martin discovered Mangione had extreme again ache from childhood that interfered with many points of his life, together with browsing, Ryan stated.
“He went browsing with R.J. as soon as but it surely didn’t work out due to his again,” Ryan stated, however famous that Mangione and Martin typically went collectively to a rock-climbing fitness center.
Mangione left Surfbreak to get surgical procedure on the mainland, Ryan stated, then later returned to Honolulu and rented an condominium. A picture posted to a social media account linked to Mangione confirmed what seemed to be an X-ray of a metallic rod and a number of screws inserted into somebody’s decrease backbone.
Martin stopped listening to from Mangione six months to a 12 months in the past.
An X account linked to Mangione consists of latest posts concerning the adverse affect of smartphones on kids; wholesome consuming and train habits; psychological theories; and a quote from Indian thinker Jiddu Krishnamurti concerning the risks of changing into “well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society.”
Police report a darker flip
Mangione possible was motivated by his anger at what he referred to as “parasitic” medical health insurance corporations and a disdain for company greed, in response to a regulation enforcement bulletin obtained by AP.
He wrote that the U.S. has the costliest healthcare system on this planet and that the earnings of main firms proceed to rise whereas “our life expectancy” doesn’t, in response to the bulletin, primarily based on a evaluation of the suspect’s handwritten notes and social media posts.
He appeared to view the focused killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO as a symbolic takedown, asserting in his word that he’s the “first to face it with such brutal honesty,” the bulletin stated.
Mangione referred to as “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski a “political revolutionary” and will have discovered inspiration from the person who carried out a sequence of bombings whereas railing in opposition to fashionable society and know-how, the doc stated.
