Who is Luigi Mangione? Suspect in CEO killing investigation from prominent family

NEW YORK CITY - Luigi Mangione was in custody in connection with the UnitedHealthcare CEO killing investigation, officials announced Monday.

According to reports, the 26-year-old man was a star student from a prominent Maryland family who "had everything going for him." Here is what’s known about Mangione: 

Luigi Mangione in custody

Mangione was taken into custody Monday morning in Pennsylvania to be questioned in connection with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

He was taken into custody at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Penn., which is about 300 miles outside of New York City, after police got a tip from a worker. The tipster thought Mangione looked like the suspected gunman in photographs shared by police. He "had the same eyebrows," law enforcement sources said.

He was found with a "ghost gun" – a type of weapon that could have been assembled with a 3D printer at home without a serial number.

Along with the gun, police found a silencer, fake IDs and writings apparently critical of the health insurance industry.

Police confirmed in a news conference Monday afternoon that Mangione was being questioned in the ambush killing on Dec. 4 of Thompson, who was stalked, shot and killed outside of a Hilton hotel in Midtown Manhattan.

"This just happened this morning. We’ll be working, backtracking his steps from New York to Altoona, Pennsylvania," NYPD Chief of Detectives Joe Kenny said.

United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot and killed in Manhattan. (United Healthcare)

The ‘manifesto’

Police said Mangione was found with writings that link him to the ambush attack.

The three-page, handwritten document appeared to be critical of the health insurance industry and suggested the suspect had "ill will toward corporate America," according to police.

It "speaks to both his motivation and mindset," NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.

Luigi Mangione background

Authorities said Mangione was born and raised in Maryland, and he was the valedictorian in the 2016 class at Baltimore’s private Gilman School. In his graduation speech, he talked about his classmates’ "incredible courage to explore the unknown and try new things," the Associated Press reported.

"Quite honestly, he had everything going for him," said Freddie Leatherbury, a former classmate. Leatherbury described Mangione as a smart, friendly and athletic student who came from a wealthy family, even by the private school’s standards.

He earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in computer science in 2020 from the University of Pennsylvania, a spokesman told The Associated Press on Monday.

A screenshot from surveillance footage released by the NYPD shows the alleged suspect wanted for the shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Midtown Manhattan on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (NYPD Crime Stoppers )

He learned to code in high school and helped start a club at Penn for people interested in gaming and game design, according to a 2018 story in Penn Today, a campus publication.

His posts also suggest that he belonged to the fraternity Phi Kappa Psi. They also show him taking part in a 2019 program at Stanford University, and in photos with family and friends in Hawaii, San Diego, Puerto Rico, the New Jersey shore and other destinations.

In a statement, Stanford confirmed someone with the same name was previously employed as a counselor at the college.

"We can confirm that a person by the name of Luigi Mangione was employed as a head counselor under the Stanford Pre-Collegiate Studies program between May and September of 2019," a university spokesperson told our sister station KTVU.

According to his LinkedIn account, Mangione was employed with TrueCar, Inc. A spokesperson confirmed that "Mangione has not been an employee of our company since 2023."

 He also has ties to San Francisco and his last known address is in Honolulu, Hawaii. 

Mangione comes from a prominent Maryland family

One of his cousins is Republican Maryland state legislator Nino Mangione, a spokesperson for the delegate’s office confirmed Monday.

Luigi Mangione is one of 37 grandchildren of Nick Mangione Sr., according to a 2008 obituary.

Mangione Sr. grew up poor in Baltimore’s Little Italy and rose after his World War II naval service to become a millionaire real estate developer and philanthropist, according to a 1995 profile by the Baltimore Sun. He and his wife Mary Cuba Mangione, who died in 2023, directed their philanthropy through the Mangione Family Foundation, according to a statement from Loyola University commemorating her death. They donated to a variety of causes, ranging from Catholic organizations to higher education, to the arts.

Mangione Sr. was known for Turf Valley Resort, a sprawling luxury retreat and conference center outside Baltimore that he purchased in 1978. The father of 10 children, Nick Mangione Sr. prepared his five sons — including Luigi Mangione’s father, Louis Mangione — to help manage the family business, according to a 2003 Washington Post report.

The Mangione family also purchased Hayfields Country Club north of Baltimore in 1986. On Monday afternoon, Baltimore County police officers had blocked off an entrance to the property, which public records link to Luigi Mangione’s parents. A swarm of reporters and photographers gathered outside the entrance.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.