A graduate of a major American university, Luigi Mangione comes from a rich and influential family in Baltimore. Physical and psychological problems allegedly pushed him to abandon this life to isolate himself, then assassinate the CEO of UnitedHealthcare. This is the story of an extraordinary murderer.
Before putting on a mask and killing the CEO of UnitedHealthcare in the heart of Manhattan last weekend, Luigi Mangione had cut ties with his loved ones for six months.
In the three-page statement he carried when he was arrested, he called the murder of Brian Thompson a “symbolic attack,” according to an internal police report obtained by the New York Times.
The young man also describes his crime as a direct challenge to the “alleged corruption and power games” of the health sector.
Investigators said the suspect “probably saw himself as some sort of hero.”
AFP
But how can anyone get there?
Although this question remains unanswered, Luigi Mangione’s journey began to become clearer in the hours following his arrest.
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A well-known family
Luigi Mangione grew up in a wealthy and influential Italian-American family in Baltimore. His grandfather, Nick Mangione, was a multimillionaire real estate developer.
The Mangione family still owns several real estate assets, in addition to a radio station and a network of nursing homes in Maryland. Luigi reportedly volunteered there while in high school.
The Mangione clan is reportedly well known in Baltimore, where it has a long history of supporting local health care businesses, according to local media. The family is said to have donated more than a million dollars to Greater Baltimore Medical Centerone of the city’s largest hospitals.
A brilliant student
Luigi Mangione completed his high school education at a prestigious school in Baltimore, the Gilman School, where he finished as the best student in his class in 2016.
One of his former classmates told New York Times that Mangione was “probably the smartest” in high school where you currently have to pay $37,690 a year to study.
MEGA/IF
In college, Mangione excelled in computer science. He earned a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania, one of the best schools in the United States.
The university’s Class of 2020 graduation program describes Luigi Mangione as a member of Eta Kappa Nu, an academic “honor society” founded in 1904 that recruits top students in electrical engineering and computer science.
Injured and isolated
After his studies, Luigi Mangione settled for six months in Hawaii. He managed to join an exclusive co-working space called SurfBreak because of his skills and his “desire to help others”, according to what the founder of the place, MJ Martin, reported to New York Times.
However, painful back problems would have ruined his life, remembers his former colleague.
“He knew it was not possible to date and be physically intimate because of his back,” Mr. Martin told the New York Times.
Mangione left the island to undergo back surgery in the summer of 2023. He began self-isolating in the following months.
The traces he left on the internet illustrate his aversion to the American health system. He notably published an opinion on critical books in the field of health and laudatory comments on the manifesto of the “Unabomber”, an American terrorist who advocated the destruction of society to escape the influence of big companies, illustrate his aversion towards the American healthcare system.
The 262-word handwritten document, found on him the day of his arrest, also criticizes the fact that the market capitalization of UnitedHealthcare has increased in recent years, but not the life expectancy of Americans.
