What happened?
On December 4th, 2024, United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was walking in Manhattan when a mystery man sauntered up behind him without being detected and shot him in the back. This caused a person next to Brian to run away. The mystery man then shot him two extra times before fleeing the scene. Additionally a white van and another vehicle passed by during the exchange.
For the next week, the mysterious vigilante would be on the run before being identified by Nancy Parker, a local McDonald’s employee in Altoona, Pennsylvania, for a joint $60,000 from the New York Police Department and FBI. However, her claim was denied; a phrase that people with United Healthcare know intimately.
The Pennsylvania trial
The trial in Pennsylvania concerned his forgery and firearms charges and not the actual murder. He arrived at Blair County courthouse in Hollidaysburg in an orange jumpsuit and clean-shaven. Outside of the courthouse, people were wearing green hats like Luigi from Nintendo holding signs showing their support for Mangoini. His second trial in Pennsylvania was to formally extradite him to New York, where he agreed to be extradited.
Before the trial in New York
During his extradition to New York, Mangione was perp-walked to a Manhattan court in a display built to potentially sway public opinion against Mangione and paint him as a dangerous criminal. The perp walk was so important that even Mayor Eric Adams, mayor of New York City, had to join in and politicize it.
The Trial in New York
Mangione’s trial was originally set to occur on January 18th, but both the defense and prosecution have agreed to postpone the trial to February 17th. The politicization of the trial has his attorneys concerned about his right to a fair trial, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, one of his lawyers, says that the cases have turned Luigi into a “human ping-pong ball” and the mayor had turned him into a “political pawn” with that grand display in his perp walk.
Public Perception
When he was anonymous, the internet loved Mangione right off the bat. The people on the internet hailed him as a folk hero; someone who gave it all for the people. This energy stayed consistent when he was arrested, and the internet loved him, as proved by the absurd amounts of fanfiction on AO3, some of which are still ongoing. However, over time, his fame has subsided considerably in the wake of recent events that took the attention of the public.
Conclusion
Luigi Mangione represents the old saying “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable”. Based upon everything that has happened thus far, it stands to reason that Luigi is to be made an example of, based on the politicization of his perp walk. Despite everything happening, always remember the hero of the working class behind bars.
