Accused in health insurance CEO killing struggles with officers after arriving at courthouse

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Accused in health insurance CEO killing struggles with officers after arriving at courthouse

The suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO struggled with deputies and shouted Tuesday while arriving for a court appearance in Pennsylvania, a day after he was arrested at a McDonald’s and charged with murder.

Luigi Nicholas Mangione emerged from a patrol car, spun toward reporters and shouted something partly unintelligible referring to an “insult to the intelligence of the American people” while deputies pushed him inside.

Prosecutors were beginning to take steps to bring Mangione back to New York to face a murder charge while new details emerged about his life and how he was captured.

The 26-year-old Ivy League graduate from a prominent Maryland real estate family was charged with murder hours after he was arrested in the Manhattan killing of Brian Thompson, who led the United States’ largest medical insurance company.

At the brief hearing, defence lawyer Thomas Dickey informed the court that Mangione will not waive extradition to New York but instead wants a hearing on the issue. Mangione was denied bail after prosecutors raised concerns about public safety and a potential flight risk.

Mangione, wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, mostly stared straight ahead at the hearing, occasionally consulting papers, rocking in his chair or looking back at the gallery. At one point, he began to speak to respond to the court discussion but was quieted by his lawyer.

Suspected shooter Luigi Mangione is seen being led into the Blair County Courthouse for an extradition hearing December 10, 2024 in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania.
After emerging from the patrol car at the courthouse on Tuesday, suspect Luigi Mangione spun toward reporters and shouted something partly unintelligible referring to an “insult to the intelligence of the American people” while deputies pushed him inside. (Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)

Mangione likely was motivated by his anger with what he called “parasitic” health insurance companies and a disdain for corporate greed, according to a law enforcement bulletin obtained by The Associated Press.

He wrote that the U.S. has the most expensive health-care system in the world and that profits of major corporations continue to rise while “our life expectancy” does not, the bulletin said, based on a review of his hand-written notes and social media posts.

Mangione called Ted Kaczynski — known as the Unabomber — a “political revolutionary” and may have found inspiration from the man who carried out a series of bombings while railing against modern society and technology, according to the  police bulletin.

Mangione remained jailed in Pennsylvania, where he was initially charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm, forgery and providing false identification to police. Manhattan prosecutors have obtained an arrest warrant, a step that could help expedite his extradition from Pennsylvania.

End to five-day manhunt

Mangione was arrested in Altoona, Pa., about 370 kilometres west of New York City, after a McDonald’s customer recognized him and notified an employee, authorities said.

Officers found him sitting at a back table, wearing a blue medical mask and looking at a laptop, according to a Pennsylvania police criminal complaint.

McDonald's restaurant, where an employee alerted authorities to a customer who was found with a weapon and writings linking him to the the brazen Manhattan killing of UnitedHealthcare's CEO.
The McDonald’s restaurant in Altoona, Pa., where Mangione was arrested on Monday. (Gene J. Puskar/The Associated Press)

He initially gave them a fake ID, but when an officer asked Mangione whether he’d been to New York recently, he “became quiet and started to shake,” the complaint says.

When he pulled his mask down at officers’ request, “we knew that was our guy,” said police officer Tyler Frye.

Images of Mangione released Tuesday by Pennsylvania State Police showed him pulling down his mask in the corner of the McDonald’s while holding what appeared to be hash browns and wearing a winter jacket and beanie. In another photo from a holding cell, he stood unsmiling with rumpled hair.

New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Mangione was carrying a gun like the one used to kill Thompson and the same fake ID the shooter had used to check into a New York hostel, along with a passport and other fraudulent IDs.

NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said Mangione also had a three-page, handwritten document that shows “some ill will toward corporate America.”

A law enforcement official — who wasn’t authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity — said the document included a line in which Mangione claimed to have acted alone.

This booking photo shows Luigi Mangione, a suspect in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Mangione is the grandson of a wealthy, self-made real estate developer and philanthropist, and cousin of a current Maryland state legislator. (Pennsylvania Department of Corrections via AP)

“To the Feds, I’ll keep this short, because I do respect what you do for our country. To save you a lengthy investigation, I state plainly that I wasn’t working with anyone,” the document said, according to the official.

It also had a line that said, “I do apologize for any strife or traumas but it had to be done. Frankly, these parasites simply had it coming.”

Pennsylvania prosecutor Peter Weeks said in court that Mangione was found with a passport and $10,000 in cash, $2,000 of it in foreign currency. Mangione disputed the amount.

Thompson, 50, was killed Wednesday as he walked alone to a Manhattan hotel for an investor conference.

Police quickly came to see the shooting as a targeted attack by a gunman who appeared to wait for Thompson, came up behind him and fired a 9-mm pistol.

Investigators have said “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on ammunition found near Thompson’s body. The words mimic “delay, deny, defend,” a phrase used to criticize the insurance industry.

From surveillance video, New York investigators determined the shooter quickly fled the city, likely by bus.

From wealth and success to murder suspect

A grandson of a wealthy, self-made real estate developer and philanthropist, Mangione is a cousin of a current Maryland state legislator.

Valedictorian at his elite Baltimore prep school, he went on to earn undergraduate and graduate degrees in computer science in 2020 from the University of Pennsylvania, a spokesperson said.

“Our family is shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest,” Mangione’s family said in a statement posted on social media late Monday by his cousin, Maryland Del. Nino Mangione.

“We offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson and we ask people to pray for all involved.”

Suspected shooter Luigi Mangione is led into the Blair County Courthouse for an extradition hearing.
The 26-year-old Ivy League graduate from a prominent Maryland real estate family was charged with murder hours after he was arrested in the Manhattan killing of Brian Thompson, who led the United States’ largest medical insurance company. (Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)

From January to June 2022, Luigi Mangione lived at Surfbreak, a “co-living” space at the edge of the touristy Waikiki neighbourhood in Honolulu.

Like other residents of the shared penthouse catering to remote workers, Mangione underwent a background check, said Josiah Ryan, a spokesperson for owner and founder R.J. Martin.

“Luigi was just widely considered to be a great guy. There were no complaints,” Ryan said.

“There was no sign that might point to these alleged crimes they’re saying he committed.”

At Surfbreak, Martin learned Mangione had severe back pain from childhood that interfered with many aspects of his life, from surfing to romance, Ryan said.

Mangione left Surfbreak to get surgery on the mainland, Ryan said, then later returned to Honolulu and rented an apartment.

Martin stopped hearing from Mangione six months to a year ago.

Published at Wed, 04 Dec 2024 17:39:06 +0000

On the stand, Netanyahu switches from divisive wartime leader to defiant accused criminal

From the moment he stepped back into the prime minister’s job over two years ago, Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to do whatever he could to stop, defer or otherwise avoid this day.

On Tuesday, the 75-year-old became the first sitting Israeli leader to appear as a defendant in a criminal case when he took the witness stand and began testifying in his own defence.

Netanyahu was charged in 2019 with fraud, bribery and breach of trust but his trial was repeatedly delayed — first for the COVID-19 pandemic, then for the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, and subsequently because his lawyers argued Israel’s ongoing wars against Hamas and Hezbollah made Netanyahu too busy to attend.

But with his final appeals exhausted, a combative Netanyahu showed up surrounded by supporters at a high-security Tel Aviv courthouse Tuesday and proceeded to launch volley after volley of incendiary attacks against the media,  prosecutors and his political foes. 

People in support of Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu react outside the court where he took the stand for the first time in his long-running corruption trial, in Tel Aviv, Israel December 10, 2024.
Supporters of Netanyahu react outside the court where he took the stand for the first time in his long-running corruption trial on Tuesday. (Stoyan Nenov/Reuters)

Answering softball questions from his own defence lawyer, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister spent most of his time as a witness railing against ‘leftist” media, saying they are so irrelevant he’d never waste his time trying to gain their favour — a key aspect of the prosecution’s case against him.

On the three counts of corruption he’s facing, he said it was “simply absurd” that he and his wife, Sara, accepted almost $200,000 Cdn in gifts — cigars, champagne and jewelry — from rich businessmen in exchange for political favours.   

On the charge that he traded favours with the owners of a prominent Israeli newspaper to get positive coverage,  Netanyahu went on another tirade, accusing reporters and media publications of “bias” and being a “great danger” to Israeli democracy.

And finally, on the question of whether he used his position as the head of Israel’s government to bestow regulatory favours on an Israeli telecommunications firm to — again — get more positive media coverage, he denied any wrongdoing.

“There was no ‘understanding,’ no corruption, no nothing,” he said, suggesting the entirety of the cases against him were politically motivated.

‘Witch hunt’

The evening before, at a combative press conference, Netanyahu called the trial a “political witch hunt” that had “ruined the lives of dozens of people” caught up in it.

For Israel’s longest-serving prime minister and leader, the personal and political risks of the trial could not be greater.

If found guilty,  the criminal penalties could be up to 10 years in prison. 

People wear white as they take part in a silent protest demanding the return of the hostages kidnapped during the deadly October 7, 2023 attack, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, outside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence in Jerusalem, December 4, 2024.
People wear white as they take part in a silent protest demanding the return of the hostages kidnapped during the deadly Oct. 7, 2023 attack. The protest took place on Dec. 4 outside Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem. (Ronen Zvulun/Reuters)

But as he began what’s expected to be a month of testimony, it appeared that Netanyahu was most concerned with his political legacy.

“For sure, he would not want his legacy to be … him on a defendant’s seat in a courtroom,  but rather as a leader who instructs commanders of the military in a strategic point in the Golan Heights,” said Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute, a Jerusalem-based political think tank. 

Plesner told CBC News that although Netanyahu got off to a predictably combative start, it’s unclear how his belligerence will play once he faces cross-examination by prosecutors or has to speak directly to the panel of judges.

“Netanyahu is the most divisive figure in the country’s history,” said Plesner.

His supporters frame him as a defender of Israel, who is tough on security and espouses a strong sense of Jewish national identity, Plesner said. 

However, Netanyahu’s many detractors blame him for eroding Israel’s democratic institutions, bringing about record levels of polarization in society and “overseeing the worst security catastrophe in the country’s history” with the Oct. 7 attacks, Plesner added. 

As his testimony unfolds over the next month that he’s expected to be on the witness stand, observers expect Netanyahu will continue to attack the justice system for putting him on trial while at the same time trying to drag out the proceedings as long as possible. 

Smoke rises from an explosion following an airstrike in Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, near the Israel-Gaza border, as seen from Israel, May 20, 2024.
Smoke rises from an explosion following an airstrike last May in Gaza. (Amir Cohen/Reuters)

Defence strategy 

“There are two layers of his defence,” said Gayil Talshir, author of a book on the politician and a professor at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University.

“One is to say, ‘The courts are just persecuting me because they are part of the opposition and the opposition cannot win in elections,'” she said.

“The other line is that Netanyahu is going to say that he was not part of it … that he didn’t know a lot about the issues that the state is actually prosecuting him for, [that] he has more important security issues to deal with.”

Talshir also told CBC News that Netanyahu will likely continue to draw out the case as long as possible.

“He doesn’t want to get to the verdict,” she said. 

Indeed, Netanyahu’s political rivals repeatedly accused him of dragging out the war in Gaza and sacrificing the lives of both Israeli hostages and Palestinians in Gaza to give him an excuse to avoid taking the witness stand.

Netanyahu’s Likud party is part of a coalition of far-right Jewish parties whose members have been vocal about their desire to continue with the war, arguing that the best outcome for Israel would be to push much of the Palestinian population out of Gaza and resettle the territory with Jews.

Both sides of Israel’s highly polarized society were on display outside the Tel Aviv courtroom where Netanyahu was testifying. 

People protest in support of Palestinians in Gaza as the conflict between Israel and Hamas continues, at the headquarters of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has ongoing investigations into potential atrocity crimes carried out by Hamas in Israel, and by Israelis in the Gaza Strip going back to 2014, and which also covers the current conflict, in The Hague, Netherlands October 18, 2023.
People protest in support of Palestinians in Gaza at the headquarters of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in October 2023. (Piroschka van de Wouw/Reuters)

Yael Navon was among the protesters demanding he resign immediately, saying being the defendant in a major criminal trial and leading the country are fundamentally incompatible. 

“All of us want our hostages out and in his position, he can’t do it,” she told CBC News.

Meanwhile, Asaf Sokolowski said he believed the charges against Netanyahu were politically motivated.

“We see this as an attack on us, his supporters. An attack on at least half of Israelis,” he said. 

Netanyahu will face legal troubles if ever leaves Israel, too. 

Last month,  the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for him, accusing Netanyahu of crimes against humanity in relation to Israel’s 14-month war in Gaza.

He has also been accused by rights groups, such as Amnesty International, of leading a genocide against Palestinians and waging an immoral war against civilians.

But as Netanyahu settled in for what will be a marathon of thrust-and-parry with prosecutors over the next month, the prime minister’s focus appeared exclusively on winning over a domestic audience.

In the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Canadian-Israeli columnist Dahlia Scheindlin wrote that Netanyahu gave long-winded answers to present himself as a “global statesman” and the only person able to stand up to the “nefarious forces” challenging Israel.

It’s a line of defence that may have little relevance to the criminal charges he’s facing. But it could be very important in solidifying his position with Israeli voters at election time.

Published at Tue, 10 Dec 2024 20:58:02 +0000

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