Luigi Mangione Plotted to 'Wack' an Insurance CEO for Weeks Before Brian Thompson's Killing: Feds

Weeks before allegedly shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, Luigi Mangione wrote that the company’s investor conference was a perfect place to “wack” a top insurance executive, federal prosecutors contend in a criminal complaint filed Thursday, Dec. 19. (The use of “wack” is an apparent misspelling of “whack.”)

Citing a notebook found in his possession upon his arrest in Altoona, Pa., the Justice Department alleges that Mangione had his eyes set on UnitedHealthcare’s investor conference as early as Oct. 22, six weeks before Thompson’s death, according to a copy of the complaint, which was still sealed Thursday afternoon but was published by The New York Times.

The notebook entry describes the investor conference as “a true windfall” where “the message becomes self-evident,” per the indictment. Later in the entry, Mangione allegedly describes his “intent to ‘wack’ the CEO of one of the insurance companies at its investor conference.”

Thompson, 50, would be fatally shot by a masked gunman outside the New York Hilton Midtown hotel early in the morning of Dec. 4, as preparations were underway for the conference. The Justice Department and the Manhattan District Attorney have identified Mangione as the suspect.

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According to the complaint, Mangione wrote in the notebook as early as August that “the details are finally coming together” and that “the target is insurance” because “it checks every box.”

It’s possible the plans were allegedly underway well before that as well, because the author acknowledges having “procrastinated” in order to learn more about an unnamed corporation.

Mangione, 26, is charged federally in New York’s Southern District with murder, stalking, and firearms violations; if convicted of the murder count, he could face the death penalty.

The University of Pennsylvania graduate from a prominent Maryland family has also been indicted on first and second-degree murder charges in New York State, where prosecutors accuse him of committing an act of terrorism. He also faces weapons and forgery charges in Pennsylvania.

The defendant arrived in New York by helicopter on Thursday and was immediately taken to the federal courthouse in Lower Manhattan to be arraigned. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, at an unrelated press conference, said the federal and state prosecutions will run “parallel” to one another.

Mangione has pleaded not guilty to the Pennsylvania charges; his plea in the New York and federal cases has not yet been filed.