What We Know About the CEO Assassination: the Questions, the Controversy, and the Thirst Traps

Nika Berg and Natalia Cubides • January 1, 2025

What We Know About the CEO Assassination: the Questions, the Controversy, and the Thirst Traps

Nika Berg & Natalia Cubides

Introduction

It is impossible to find someone in the U.S. who is unaware of the recent assassination of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. The case was practically inescapable; both news channels and social media were constantly talking about the shooting. But what makes this particular assassination so notorious? Why is Luigi Mangione on everyone’s mind as of late? Well, there are many contributing factors to this. But first, the reason behind the assassination must be discussed first.

Background Information

Very few people knew Brian Thompson’s name until December 4, 2024, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that his impact was prevalent for many years leading up to his death.

The United States’ healthcare system has been mocked and criticized by citizens and foreigners alike, and not without reason. The amount of money citizens must pay for the preservation of their health is undeniably absurd. This is why health insurance exists; health insurance covers multiple aspects of medical assistance, such as surgeries and medicine, so the citizens don’t have to pay thousands of dollars for such remedies. Of course, insurance doesn’t cover everything, which is why citizens make requests to their insurance provider, which the latter will either approve of or deny entirely.

Different health insurance companies have varying procedures, which is why some are more successful than others. By far the most profitable health insurance company is United Healthcare. However, this doesn’t mean that this insurance company has the highest approval rate. Far from it, in fact. It is reported that United Healthcare has a daunting 35% rejection rate, meaning over ⅓ of their members have their insurance claims denied, AKA approximately 10 million people nationwide. Because of this high rejection rate, hundreds of thousands of people die daily due to the fact that they cannot afford proper medical treatment.

This has caused outrage among the American people, especially with the recent lawsuit against United Healthcare in November, stating that the company uses AI to manage the insurance claims they receive. With all of this prior information, it is no surprise that someone will take action.

Timeline

The events of the CEO assassination proceed as such (as of December 14, 2024):

December 4, 2024

5:30 AM – The assailant leaves the hostel he stayed in on a bicycle.

5:41 AM – He arrives at 54th Street and Sixth Avenue, at the Hilton, wandering the vicinity.

6:45 AM – 50-year-old United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson is shot in the chest and leg outside the New York Hilton Midtown Hotel (the bullet casings are later revealed to read “Deny,” “Defend,” and “Depose” on each, a quote from George Orwell’s novel, 1984).

6:48 AM – The assailant enters Central Park on 60th Street.

6:56-6:58 AM – He is seen out of the park on Central Park West and later 85th Street and Columbus Avenue riding a bicycle.

7:04 AM – He enters a taxi at 86th Street and Amsterdam Avenue.

7:30 AM – The assailant is last seen at a Port Authority bus station, near the George Washington Bridge.

December 4-9, 2024

A $60,000 reward is placed on the assassin for his return.
The authorities state that the suspect has traveled between Philadelphia & Pittsburgh.
The suspect’s backpack was retrieved, with only a jacket and Monopoly money being found inside.
Photos of the potential suspect have been revealed.

December 9, 2024

9:14 AM: Aloota police receive a call from a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania for reports of a man matching the description of the CEO assassin; the man is later taken in for questioning.

1:45 PM: NYC police commissioner announces that Luigi Mangione is a person of interest and has been arrested on firearms charges.

6:45 PM: Mangione is charged with forgery, possession of a firearm without a license, tampering with records or identification, possessing instruments of a crime, and providing false identification to law enforcement authorities after a preliminary arraignment.

10:45 PM: Manhattan prosecutors charge Mangione with Thompson’s murder, as well as three counts of criminal possession of a weapon and one count of possession of a forged instrument.

December 10, 2024

1:40 PM: Mangione is carried into Blair County, Pennsylvania, court, where he struggles and yells at said guards, saying, “This is an insult to the intelligence of the American people.”

Who Is Luigi Mangione?

Much of Mangione’s life has been spun into numerous rumors, and misinformation is rampant on TikTok and other social media platforms, but there is much known about his 26 years of life leading up to the assassination. Mangione comes from a prominent Maryland family that owned country clubs, nursing homes, and a radio station in Baltimore, Maryland. He was top of his class at the elite Gilman School and a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. After graduating, he lived for some time in a co-living surfing community in Hawaii called Surfbreak but left due to debilitating back pain and even had surgery on his back. According to a Goodreads account attributed to Mangione, he read books about back pain, as well as a manifesto by domestic terrorist Ted Kaczynski (also known as the Unabomber). In the months leading up to the assassination, he traveled to Asia, but it is unclear where exactly he had gone. In general, he lost contact with friends and family, which they say was uncharacteristic of him.

Internet Frenzy

When Mangione was supposedly voted “best at pick-up lines” in his college superlatives, I doubt any classmates suspected the extremes the internet would take this to. While some have been mortified at internet simps romanticizing a cold-blooded murderer, many have hailed Mangione as a hero, a David fighting the Goliath of the American healthcare system, ignoring the fact that he committed murder. However, this situation is less an example of toxic internet culture and more of the frustration the American public holds with these insurance companies. The reaction was unnerving and inhumane, but what sympathy can be left for Thompson and his company, responsible for so much death and devastation? The line between “stupid meme” and “reflection of societal frustration and anger” is finer than Luigi himself, but the best thing to do is to try to understand.

At first glance, the internet’s reaction has been bizarre. Within hours of the security camera photos at the Starbucks being released, TikTokers began making thirst traps of Mangione and waited with throbbing suspense for his mugshot to be released. The overall reaction to that happening was very enthusiastic, and the simps were not disappointed. Many joked that he couldn’t have done the murder by forging alibis, such as “He was at my house playing Fortnite at approximately 6:45 am on December 4th, I swear!!!”. Many others asserted his innocence from a moral view, arguing that Brian Thompson did not deserve sympathy and that karma had gotten him. A small minority voiced their opinion that even if Thompson was a bad person, he was still a person, and celebrating his murder is sick. Although this is an unpopular opinion, it is worth exploring.

Brian Thompson himself is difficult to judge. Only close family will ever be able to tell if he was a bad enough person to kill, and strangers cannot judge that. Although Andrew Witty, CEO of UnitedHealth Group, acknowledged that the fragmented American healthcare system “does not work as well as it should,” he said Thompson cared about his clients and was working to improve it. In short, the killing was less of a punishment for him but a violent expression of anger belonging to millions affected by the insurance industry, although United Healthcare claims Mangione was never their client.

Conclusion

It’s such a funny feeling to realize that you’re living through history… I’m sure the CEO assassination case will be remembered, whether just as an insane court drama or the beginning of a revolution against the insurance oligarchy, or just one of the biggest memes to wrap up 2024. Whether you pity Thompson or Mangione, whether you find the latter attractive or even the notion unsettles you, whether you think this is just another crazy guy with a gun or a frustrated antihero fighting for the common good, this is a story for the ages.

Links:

What We Know About the CEO Assassination: the Questions, the Controversy, and the Thirst Traps

The Paw Print

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