Offline Thoughts

Privilege and Violence: Why Luigi Mangione Is No Robin Hood


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In the early hours of 4 December 2024, 26-year old Luigi Mangione walked up behind UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and shot him dead. What followed was a five-day manhunt for Mangione. What made this case stand out in the public's imagination were many factors - an attractive and wealthy perpetrator from a powerful family, the theatre of the killing (a 3-D printed gun and silencer, engraved bullets, a manifesto railing against a broken healthcare system and corporate greed) and the public's jubilant support of the killer. But is Luigi the people's hero or a common terrorist?

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Materials you might find helpful:

Mangione Indictment – final as filed:

https://manhattanda.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Mangione-Indictment-FINAL-as-filed.pdf

BBC (2024), Tracing the powerful family roots of suspected killer Luigi Mangione:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crl3jkjxp75o

BBC (2024), Who was Brian Thompson, healthcare CEO gunned down in New York?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgpl2qn7l5o

ABC News (2024), What we know about Luigi Mangione, Ivy League grad charged in CEO's murder:

https://abcnews.go.com/US/unitedhealthcare-ceo-shooting-suspect/story?id=116460289

CNN (2024), I never got the impression he would self-destruct:’ Friends of suspect in fatal CEO shooting left in shock:

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/12/09/us/luigi-mangione-what-we-know-monday/index.html

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Offline ThoughtsBy Nessa Kwizera