Luigi Mangione extradited to New York to face federal murder, stalking charges
The suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson is being charged with federal murder and stalking crimes, according to a court document filed on Thursday, alongside state murder and terrorism charges previously announced by New York prosecutors.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are charging Luigi Mangione, 26, with the federal crime of murder using a firearm, two charges of stalking and a charge of using an illegal gun silencer, according to a criminal complaint.
The complaint accused Mangione of spending months planning an attack driven by his contempt for the health insurance industry and wealthy corporate executives.
Mangione was transferred into the custody of New York City police earlier on Thursday after he waived his right to extradition proceedings at a court hearing in Pennsylvania, the state where he was arrested following a five-day manhunt.
Luigi Mangione now also faces a terrorism charge in New York, for what prosecutors say is the ‘brazen, targeted and premeditated shooting’ of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
According to the federal complaint, a notebook Altoona police found in Mangione’s possession contained several handwritten pages that “express hostility towards the health insurance industry and wealthy executives in particular.” A notebook entry dated Oct. 22 described an intent to “wack” the chief executive of an insurance company at its investor conference.
“This investor conference is a true windfall,” one entry found in the notebook said, according to the complaint. “Most importantly — the message becomes self evident.”
Police also found a letter in the suspect’s possession addressed “To the Feds” that stated: “I wasn’t working with anyone,” according to the complaint.
“This was fairly trivial: Some elementary social engineering, basic CAD, a lot of patience,” the letter said, using an abbreviation for computer-aided design.
Mangione has been ‘overcharged,’ lawyer says
Earlier this week, a grand jury in New York indicted Mangione on 11 counts of breaking state law, including first-degree murder and murder as an act of terrorism. Mangione has been in custody since his arrest and has not yet entered a plea. His New York defence lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, has said Mangione has been “overcharged” and that he would fight the charges in court.
Mangione was arrested in Altoona, Pa., on Dec. 9, five days after Thompson was fatally shot outside a Manhattan hotel before a company conference in what law-enforcement officials have called a premeditated assassination.
While the killing of Thompson has been broadly condemned, Mangione has been feted as a folk hero by some Americans who decry the steep costs of healthcare and the power that insurance companies have to deny paying for some medical treatments.
Federal charges potentially allow prosecutors to pursue the death penalty, which has been abolished in New York for decades.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch called any attempt to rationalize Luigi Mangione’s alleged actions ‘vile’ and ‘reckless.’ Her comments came at a press conference on Tuesday announcing Mangione’s indictment for murder in the killing of UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson.
Prosecutors say that Mangione “travelled in interstate commerce” by taking a bus from Atlanta to New York before Thompson’s killing and also used his cellphone and the internet to plan and carry out his attack, and so have jurisdiction.
Mangione is due to make an initial court appearance on the federal charges before U.S. Magistrate Judge Katharine Parker in Manhattan on Thursday afternoon.
“The federal government’s reported decision to pile on top of an already overcharged first-degree murder and state terror case is highly unusual and raises serious constitutional and statutory double jeopardy concerns,” Mangione’s lawyer Friedman Agnifilo said in a statement. “We are ready to fight these charges in whatever court they are brought.”
Supporters crowd courthouse
In Pennsylvania, police said Mangione had a self-assembled 9-mm handgun in his backpack and a homemade silencer when he was arrested after being spotted at a McDonald’s restaurant. The handgun resembled the weapon used to kill Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, the largest U.S. health insurer.
Mangione, a Maryland native who had lived in Hawaii, also had multiple fake identification documents, including a fake New Jersey ID that was used to check into a Manhattan hostel days before Thompson’s shooting, police said.
In Pennsylvania, Mangione has been charged with forgery and illegally possessing an unlicensed gun.
At the Blair County courthouse on Thursday morning, Mangione, appearing in an orange jail jumpsuit, had a preliminary hearing for the Pennsylvania charges, immediately followed by a second on New York’s extradition request. A small crowd of supporters stood outside the courthouse, some waving signs that condemned the health insurance industry.
The Pennsylvania prosecutors told the court they had agreed to pause the Pennsylvania proceedings until after the conclusion of the New York prosecutions.
The suspected killer of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, Luigi Mangione has been receiving a startling amount of online praise recently. David Gilbert, a reporter at Wired, discusses what he’s seen online and why some might be glorifying Mangione.
Mangione spoke only briefly at the extradition hearing, saying he understood his rights and telling Judge David Consiglio he consented to surrender to New York police.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office is accusing Mangione of an act of terrorism under New York law because Thompson’s killing was intended to intimidate or coerce civilians or “influence the policies of a unit of government.”
Published at Sun, 15 Dec 2024 09:00:00 +0000
Outgoing U.S. ambassador worries that Canadians feel disrespected by the United States
As U.S. president-elect Donald Trump and his supporters continue to troll Canada about becoming the 51st state, the outgoing U.S. ambassador to Canada says he worries Canadians could feel Americans don’t respect them.
David Cohen told CBC’s The House in 2022 that Canadians felt “betrayed” because “they don’t think their affection and respect for the United States has been reciprocated by the United States.”
In a follow-up interview on Tuesday with The House, Cohen was asked whether Canadians feel disrespected again as Trump continues to joke about Canada joining the U.S.
“I think it’s fair to say I worry about that,” Cohen told Catherine Cullen, host of CBC’s The House, in an interview airing Saturday.
“A lot of my message to Canadians over the past three years was that you’re suffering from a bit of an inferiority complex which you don’t deserve.”
Cohen, who will leave his posting in Ottawa early next year, also said that to “have a healthy relationship, there has to be a mutual respect” between the two countries.
The outgoing ambassador also added, “I don’t know that being a 51st state is a terrible thing.”
Over the last two weeks, Trump has suggested repeatedly that Canada should become a U.S. state, sometimes citing the trade imbalance between the two countries. He’s also referred to the prime minister as “Governor Justin Trudeau” multiple times.
Top Canadian officials — included Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who attended a dinner in Florida with the president-elect — have suggested that Trump is merely trolling and is not seriously suggesting Canada become a American state.
Cohen pointed out that “Canadians had a pretty good retort, which is maybe it’d be better for the United States to become Canada’s 11th province … You can have banter and not necessarily a lack of respect.”
He said the Canada-U.S. relationship is “much deeper” than the president and prime minister and extends to Congress, the business community and state legislatures.
“And I hear nothing but continued respect, appreciation and admiration of Canada from all of those sources,” Cohen said.
During a press conference on Monday, LeBlanc discussed his dinner with the president-elect in Florida and said he viewed Trump’s comments about Canada becoming the 51st state as “cheerful banter.”
“He’s gone on to say some of this stuff on social media,” LeBlanc said. “Again, our government’s job is not to respond to everything that Trump posts.”
LeBlanc said he’ll be meeting Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, after Christmas to discuss Canada’s proposed $1.3 billion plan to secure the Canada-U.S. border.
“I’m confident that we have a cordial, collaborative discussion with Trump’s incoming administration, but we have a lot of work to do,” he Blanc said.
Published at Thu, 19 Dec 2024 21:19:08 +0000
