Suspect charged in healthcare CEO murder is Maryland native; cousin of MD Republican state delegate

Luigi Nicholas Mangione, who was arrested yesterday and charged in the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson on Dec. 4 outside a hotel in Manhattan, is a Towson, Md. native, 2016 valedictorian of the Gilman School in Baltimore and cousin of Maryland State Delegate Nino Mangione, (R-Dist. 42A, Baltimore County).

Mangione comes from a large, high-profile family in the Baltimore area, which owns the Turf Valley Resort in Ellicott City, Hayfields Country Club in Hunt Valley, Lorien Health Services nursing homes and WCBM Radio, among other businesses. Delegate Mangione is a radio host at WCBM who was elected to the Maryland General Assembly in 2018.

Mangione’s parents live at the Hayfields Country Club, which was blocked off by police Monday evening.

In a statement released by Delegate Mangione, the suspect’s family said they are “shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest.”

The note said that the family only knows the facts of the case that have been released in the news and they are “devastated by the news.”

“We offer prayers to the family of Brian Thompson and we ask people to pray for all involved,” the statement said, signed “The Mangione Family.”

Luigi Mangione, 26, was arrested at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pa. with a ghost gun – a homemade 3-D printed firearm – that police believe was used in the killing, as well as a silencer, fake ID and a handwritten, three-page document indicating his motivation. New York Police Department Chief Detective Joseph Kenny said the document in Mangione’s possession indicated some “ill will toward corporate America.”

After graduating from the Gilman School, a private all-boys elementary and secondary school, Mangione then attended the University of Pennsylvania, and graduated in 2020 with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science, according to his LinkedIn page.

Runaway spree comes to an end

When two police officers arrived to the Altoona McDonald’s after a call from an employee, they found a man “wearing a medical mask and a beanie” sitting “in the rear of the building at a table,” looking at a laptop, according to a criminal complaint released Monday.

Officers asked him to pull down the mask to see his face and “immediately recognized him as the suspect,” according to the criminal complaint.

The officers asked the man for identification and he gave them a New Jersey ID with the name Mark Rosario. When they asked whether he had been to New York City recently, he “became quiet and started to shake,” the criminal complaint says.

Police were unable to find any records that matched the ID given and told the man he was under an official police investigation. He then told officers his real name: Luigi Mangione.

Thompson, 50, was shot several times allegedly by Mangione who was lying in wait six days ago outside a Manhattan Hilton hotel where United Healthcare was holding an investors meeting.

He had been the CEO of United Heathcare since 2021. Thompson had been criticized for United Healthcare’s rejection of insurance claims, and his family reported that he had received death threats in the past.

After Thompson’s death, it was reported that he was facing a lawsuit accusing him and other executives of insider trading after he reportedly sold millions of dollars of stock while the company was the subject of a federal investigation that was not disclosed to shareholders, according to Pensions and Investments.

United Health was under a Department of Justice investigation since October 2023, and insiders including Thompson were able to sell $120 million of personally held United Health shares before the stock value dropped.

United Healthcare insures 49 million Americans with $281 billion in revenue for 2023, according to the company.

Additionally under Thompson’s leadership, United Healthcare began using artificial intelligence to automate claim denials, resulting in patients being unable to access needed medical care. A class action suit filed against United Health Group in November 2023 alleged the company knowingly employed an AI model that had a 90% error rate, according to Wikipedia.

In September 2024, a demonstration was held outside of United Health Group subsidiary and pharmacy services provider Optum’s headquarters in Eden Prairie, Minn., with protestors claiming Optum’s business practices inflate medicine costs and force independent pharmacies out of business.

United Healthcare, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and CVS Health, which operates Aetna, all removed photographs and other information about their executive leadership from their websites following Thompson’s killing, according to Wikipedia.

Mangione underwent a lumbar spinal fusion surgery to treat chronic pain linked to a pinched nerve earlier this year, according to a friend and former roommate who spoke to CNN. This picture is on Mangione’s X account.

He was an active contributor to r/spondylolisthesis. His account name was u/mister_cactus. The account has been suspended as of Monday.

Audrey Carpenter is the Northern Virginia Bureau Chief for All Virginia News. She can be contacted at: audreycarpenter@allvirginia.news.