Luigi Mangione latest: Public donates $130,00 to defense as UnitedHealthcare suspect hires high profile lawyer

Mangione hired Karen Friedman Agnifilo to represent him in New York.

She is a veteran of New York City’s criminal justice system, having worked in criminal justice, litigation and trials for three decades, after graduating from the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Georgetown University Law Center.

The majority of her career was spent as a public servant, working at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, including as its chief assistant district attorney.

She worked as second-in-command under DA Cyrus Vance for seven years, from 2014 to 2021, having previously served as chief of the office’s trial division for four years.

Ms Agnifilo has also been general counsel to the New York City mayor’s office’s criminal justice coordinator, where she worked for Michael Bloomberg, who was mayor at the time, on overhauling the city’s criminal justice policy.

She has been in private practice since 2021, and is currently partner at Agnifilo Intrater LLP.

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Luigi Mangione, the alleged perpetrator in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, reportedly suffered from chronic back pain.

Posts on the content-sharing platform Reddit under the now-defunct username “Mister_Cactus” appeared to reference the 26-year-old’s extensive health problems. The user referred to “spondy,” which is commonly known as spondylolisthesis.

Spondylolisthesis is a condition caused by a vertebra slipping out of place and putting pressure on the bones below. While it commonly occurs in older adults due to a type of arthritis, a common disease that causes joint inflammation and stiffness, it can also be brought on by trauma, spinal destabilization, bone disease, or a birth defect.

Julia Musto has the full story.

Luigi Mangione supporters have donated tens of thousands of dollars to “defense funds” set up for him after he was arrested on suspicion of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

The anonymous fund “December 4th Legal Committee” surpassed more than $100,000 in donations on the crowdfunding website GiveSendGo by Sunday morning.

The group’s name is an apparent reference to the day the 26-year-old allegedly gunned down the healthcare executive on a busy Manhattan street.

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Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator who has campaigned for a national healthcare system, has said the UnitedHealthcare CEO’s shooting underscores people’s frustration with the industry.

Sanders, an Independent who caucuses with the Democrats, made the remarks on Meet the Press on Sunday morning.

“What I think has happened in the last few months is that what you have seen rising up is people’s anger at a health insurance industry, which denies people the health care that they desperately need while they make billions and billions of dollars in profit,” the senator told the show’s host Kristen Welker in response to a question about whether now is the right time to be discussing health insurance policy.

Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the murder, allegedly gunned down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on December 4 in New York City. He was arrested days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania. At the time, police said they found a handwritten manifesto on him outlining his motive.

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Saturday Night Live jumped into the nation's morbid fascination with Luigi Mangione, the man accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

The cold open kicked off with Sarah Sherman’s incredulous true crime entertainer Nancy Grace, who complained that “women and gay guys alike” have made Mangione into a “sex symbol.”

She said Mangione looked like “Dave Franco with Eugene Levy's eyebrows.”

Graig Graziosi has the story.

The McDonald’s employee in Altoona, Pennsylvania who called in the tip that led to the arrest of Luigi Mangione is eligible for law enforcement’s $60,000 reward — but he may not collect it for a while.

The manhunt for the masked gunman suspected of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on December 4 came to an end after six days when Larry, a McDonald’s employee, called 911, saying he recognized a customer nibbling on hashbrowns from the photos circulated by NYPD. Now, that worker is eligible to collect tens of thousands of dollars in reward money.

Mangione, 26, has been charged with second-degree murder in New York in connection to Thompson’s death. He also faces gun charges in Pennsylvania, where he was arrested.

The FBI was offering up to $50,000 and NYPD Crime Stoppers was offering $10,000 for information that led to an arrest or conviction.

“The individual in Pennsylvania, who called in a tip, is eligible to receive the reward,” the Police Foundation board said in a statement Wednesday.

Since most rewards require a conviction, Larry might have to wait until a trial completes, which could take a year or more, the Associated Press reported.

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A TV anchor managed to interview men at the alleged shooter’s jail as they watched her program from their cells.

Mangione is at a state correctional facility in Huntingdon. The prisoners there complained about their living conditions and meals by screaming yes or no to the anchor’s questions.

Watch the interaction here:

Luigi Mangione’s family couldn’t merely afford medical care. They could afford to donate more than $1 million of their own money to healthcare.

That’s according to a report Monday from The Baltimore Banner, which chronicles the wealthy family history of the man charged with murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

Following the news of Mangione’s arrest Monday, his family released a statement saying they were “shocked.”

Io Dodds has the full story.

Luigi Mangione has retained a top New York attorney for his legal defense in connection with the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

The Independent understands that Karen Friedman Agnifilo has been officially retained to represent Mangione, 26, in New York, after the executive, 50, was gunned down outside the New York Hilton in Midtown Manhattan on 4 December.

Here, The Independent takes a look at what we know about Ms Agnifilo: