Aug. 14, 2026

Luigi Mangione Pleads Guilty in Federal Court, Then Moves to Dismiss the New York Murder Case

Show Notes
Transcript

Luigi Mangione pleaded guilty Friday morning in Manhattan federal court to two counts of stalking resulting in death in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. There was no plea agreement and no agreed sentencing range. Reading a statement to U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett, Mangione said he shot Thompson and that he knew what he was doing was illegal; his attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo said he has accepted full responsibility for Thompson's death. Members of Thompson's family, including his mother, sat in the front row alongside UnitedHealthcare executives. Garnett found Mangione fully competent to plead and told him he faces a maximum of life in prison, that he would serve at least 85 percent of any term, and that a state sentence could be added to it. U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald said prosecutors intend to seek the maximum. Within the hour, Mangione's lawyers moved to dismiss the New York murder case on double jeopardy grounds, arguing dual prosecutions arising from the same event violate his rights. That state trial is set for September 8. Sentencing is December 18.

Join our new FB groups page here. Take the poll!

Join the Daily Crime & Justice community on social media! We're building a passionate group of true crime enthusiasts who love diving deep into the most shocking cases in America.
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram by searching "Daily Crime & Justice" on either platform.

You'll get exclusive behind-the-scenes content, breaking news updates on cases we're covering, and early alerts when new episodes drop. Our social media is where Garret Fisher's hottest takes live, including reactions that don't make it into the show.

But more importantly, it's where YOU come in. Share your theories, debate the verdicts, and connect with fellow listeners who are just as obsessed with justice as you are. Did the jury get it right? What questions do you still have? Your comments and insights often shape future episodes.

We cover the trials that matter, but our community makes the conversation unforgettable. Come for Garret's signature cynical commentary, stay for the incredible discussions with thousands of true crime fans who get it.

WEBVTT

1
00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:11.759
Caalaroga Shark Media. This is a breaking news bulletin from

2
00:00:11.880 --> 00:00:15.880
Daily Crime Injustice from Calaroga Shark Media, powered by AI.

3
00:00:16.359 --> 00:00:20.359
I'm Garrett Fisher. It's Friday afternoon, August fourteenth, twenty twenty six.

4
00:00:21.000 --> 00:00:23.280
This morning I told you Luigi Mangone was due in

5
00:00:23.320 --> 00:00:26.160
federal court at eleven o'clock for a hearing. Nobody would explain.

6
00:00:26.559 --> 00:00:30.600
Now we know, Luigi Mangone pleaded guilty. He stood up

7
00:00:30.600 --> 00:00:33.479
in a Manhattan federal courtroom in front of Brian Thompson's

8
00:00:33.479 --> 00:00:36.880
widow and admitted he did it. His words and they

9
00:00:36.920 --> 00:00:40.920
were short. I shot mister Thompson in Manhattan and he died.

10
00:00:41.600 --> 00:00:44.880
I knew what I was doing was illegal. Twenty months

11
00:00:44.920 --> 00:00:48.560
of not guilty, please, suppression fights, a death penalty push,

12
00:00:48.640 --> 00:00:52.719
and a dismissed murder count. It ended in about ninety minutes.

13
00:00:53.200 --> 00:00:56.520
Here's what happened, what it means, and what it does

14
00:00:56.719 --> 00:01:03.719
not mean. Brian Thompson was fifty years old, trained as

15
00:01:03.759 --> 00:01:07.359
an accountant, twenty years at United Health Group, chief executive

16
00:01:07.400 --> 00:01:10.359
of its insurance arm since twenty twenty one. Not a

17
00:01:10.400 --> 00:01:13.920
famous man outside his industry. He had a wife, Paulette,

18
00:01:14.079 --> 00:01:15.879
and two sons who were in high school when their

19
00:01:15.920 --> 00:01:20.280
father was killed. On the morning of December fourth, twenty

20
00:01:20.319 --> 00:01:23.359
twenty four. He was walking to an investor conference in

21
00:01:23.480 --> 00:01:26.200
midtown Manhattan when he was shot in the back on

22
00:01:26.239 --> 00:01:29.640
the sidewalk. Friday morning, his wife and his mother sat

23
00:01:29.640 --> 00:01:31.959
in the front row of a federal courtroom. It was

24
00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:34.920
the first time the family had appeared in court. Judge

25
00:01:34.920 --> 00:01:39.239
Margaret Garnett ran the plea colloquy. Mangione twenty eight, gave

26
00:01:39.319 --> 00:01:42.200
his full name and said he holds a master's degree

27
00:01:42.200 --> 00:01:45.920
in computer science from the University of Pennsylvania. He said

28
00:01:45.959 --> 00:01:49.480
he'd never been treated or hospitalized for mental illness or addiction,

29
00:01:49.799 --> 00:01:52.400
and that the trazodone he'd taken two nights earlier to

30
00:01:52.439 --> 00:01:55.959
sleep wasn't affecting him. Asked whether his mind was clear,

31
00:01:56.159 --> 00:01:59.239
he said he believed it was. Garnett found him competent

32
00:01:59.760 --> 00:02:01.760
then when she told him what he was walking into.

33
00:02:02.120 --> 00:02:05.439
Two counts, each carrying up to life no parole in

34
00:02:05.480 --> 00:02:08.319
the federal system. He should expect to serve at least

35
00:02:08.360 --> 00:02:12.080
eighty five percent of whatever he gets. Prosecutors put the

36
00:02:12.080 --> 00:02:14.879
guideline range at roughly two hundred ninety two to three

37
00:02:14.960 --> 00:02:17.599
hundred and sixty five months, which is twenty four to

38
00:02:17.680 --> 00:02:21.599
thirty years. But Garnet stress that number does not bind her,

39
00:02:22.120 --> 00:02:25.840
and she told him plainly, whatever sentence I impose, I

40
00:02:25.879 --> 00:02:29.400
will not let you withdraw this plea. He said he understood,

41
00:02:29.759 --> 00:02:32.360
and then Manjoni read a statement, and he read it

42
00:02:32.439 --> 00:02:34.520
fast enough that the judge had to ask him to

43
00:02:34.599 --> 00:02:37.719
slow down. He said that after years of pain from

44
00:02:37.719 --> 00:02:40.759
a broken back, and after watching other people go through

45
00:02:40.800 --> 00:02:44.879
similar experiences, he learned United Healthcare would hold its annual

46
00:02:44.919 --> 00:02:48.680
investor conference in December of twenty twenty four. The location

47
00:02:48.840 --> 00:02:52.159
wasn't public, so he researched it and he emailed the

48
00:02:52.159 --> 00:02:55.719
company's leadership, posing as an investor at a firm managing

49
00:02:55.800 --> 00:02:59.919
over fifty billion dollars, asking for information about the conference.

50
00:03:00.719 --> 00:03:03.039
And this is the line that I suspect is going

51
00:03:03.080 --> 00:03:06.560
to outlive this entire case. He said that, unlike his

52
00:03:06.639 --> 00:03:11.080
previous dealings with insurers, he got a response within the hour. Look,

53
00:03:11.240 --> 00:03:13.479
I'm going to be honest with you. I heard that

54
00:03:13.680 --> 00:03:15.960
and felt something I did not want to feel, and

55
00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:18.680
I'd rather name it than pretend it isn't there, because

56
00:03:18.719 --> 00:03:21.039
a lot of you felt it too, that's a man

57
00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:23.240
telling a courtroom that the only way to get a

58
00:03:23.280 --> 00:03:25.960
health insurer to answer him promptly was to pretend to

59
00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:29.560
be rich. It is also and hold both of these

60
00:03:29.599 --> 00:03:32.240
at once, a man describing how he found his way

61
00:03:32.280 --> 00:03:35.719
to somebody he had already decided to kill. He printed

62
00:03:35.719 --> 00:03:38.159
the gun on a three D printer before he traveled.

63
00:03:38.439 --> 00:03:40.439
He told the court he came to New York intending

64
00:03:40.439 --> 00:03:43.560
to shoot Brian Thompson. That's not a grievance that boiled

65
00:03:43.599 --> 00:03:47.680
over on a sidewalk. That's a plan with steps. Prosecutor

66
00:03:47.719 --> 00:03:50.400
Dominic Gentile laid out what the government would have proved

67
00:03:50.439 --> 00:03:54.000
at trial, security footage of Mangioni arriving in New York

68
00:03:54.039 --> 00:03:57.479
by bus on November twenty fourth, footage of him following

69
00:03:57.520 --> 00:04:01.319
Thompson around Midtown in the days before, and footage of

70
00:04:01.319 --> 00:04:05.159
the shooting itself, in which Gentile said Thompson was shot,

71
00:04:05.400 --> 00:04:08.400
turned around and faced the defendant as he was shot

72
00:04:08.439 --> 00:04:12.240
a second time. At one point, Judge Garnett asked the

73
00:04:12.280 --> 00:04:15.719
prosecution directly whether Thompson was aware of what was happening

74
00:04:15.759 --> 00:04:18.360
in the interval between the first bullet and the second.

75
00:04:19.199 --> 00:04:23.079
The prosecutor said he was CNN's reporters in that room

76
00:04:23.160 --> 00:04:26.279
describe gas from the family in the front row, Paul

77
00:04:26.279 --> 00:04:29.399
Att Thompson breathing heavily, gripping the arm of the woman

78
00:04:29.439 --> 00:04:33.639
beside her. Family members holding each other's hands, fighting back tears.

79
00:04:34.079 --> 00:04:36.680
Someone put an arm around her and held on. I

80
00:04:36.720 --> 00:04:39.480
want to sit there a second, because that detail is

81
00:04:39.560 --> 00:04:43.240
the entire reason this show exists. For twenty months, this

82
00:04:43.360 --> 00:04:47.439
case has been an argument about health insurance, posters, memes,

83
00:04:47.639 --> 00:04:51.319
a fan base, a national conversation about whether an industry

84
00:04:51.399 --> 00:04:54.959
deserves what it gets. And Friday morning, a judge asked

85
00:04:54.959 --> 00:04:58.000
a clinical question about the timing of two gunshots, and

86
00:04:58.040 --> 00:04:59.839
a woman in the front row heard the answer of

87
00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:04.199
her husband, Brian Thompson knew in between those two shots.

88
00:05:04.399 --> 00:05:08.560
He knew someone has to say his name, Brian Thompson,

89
00:05:09.160 --> 00:05:12.720
fifty years old. Now there's a detail from that hearing

90
00:05:12.759 --> 00:05:15.439
that most of the coverage is burying, and it changes

91
00:05:15.480 --> 00:05:18.560
how you should read this entire thing. There was no

92
00:05:18.639 --> 00:05:23.040
plea agreement. Judge Garnett asked defense attorney Karen Friedman Agnafhilo

93
00:05:23.120 --> 00:05:25.839
to confirm it on the record, and she did. No

94
00:05:26.120 --> 00:05:30.879
deal with the government, no agreed sentencing range. Garnett asked

95
00:05:30.879 --> 00:05:34.040
Mangeoni whether anyone had promised him anything or threatened him

96
00:05:34.040 --> 00:05:37.720
into pleading guilty. He said no, that's what lawyers call

97
00:05:38.079 --> 00:05:42.040
pleading open. He pleaded guilty to the whole indictment and

98
00:05:42.120 --> 00:05:45.279
threw himself on the judge's discretion with nothing locked in.

99
00:05:45.920 --> 00:05:49.199
She can give him anything up to life. Everybody spent

100
00:05:49.279 --> 00:05:52.160
this week speculating about a plea deal. There isn't one

101
00:05:52.800 --> 00:05:56.240
which raises the obvious question, why would a man facing

102
00:05:56.279 --> 00:05:59.279
life plead guilty to everything and get nothing in writing

103
00:05:59.319 --> 00:06:15.800
for it. I'll tell you why after the break, what

104
00:06:15.839 --> 00:06:19.360
it means and what it doesn't because of what happened.

105
00:06:19.399 --> 00:06:21.959
About an hour after he walked out of that courtroom,

106
00:06:22.399 --> 00:06:25.639
Mangoni's lawyers filed a motion in state court to dismiss

107
00:06:25.680 --> 00:06:29.120
the New York murder and weapons charges on double jeopardy grounds.

108
00:06:29.519 --> 00:06:34.199
That's the play, that was always the play. Here's the mechanism.

109
00:06:34.639 --> 00:06:37.680
Federal and state governments are normally separate sovereigns and can

110
00:06:37.720 --> 00:06:41.600
both prosecute the same conduct. But New York's own statute

111
00:06:41.639 --> 00:06:45.319
is more protective than the federal constitution requires. Under New

112
00:06:45.399 --> 00:06:48.240
York law, double jeopardy can attach when a prior prosecution

113
00:06:48.399 --> 00:06:51.279
for the same conduct ends in a conviction by guilty plea.

114
00:06:51.800 --> 00:06:55.199
He just gave them a conviction by guilty plea. His

115
00:06:55.240 --> 00:06:57.759
state trial was set to start with jury selection on

116
00:06:57.839 --> 00:07:02.360
September eighth, second degree murder, twenty five to life. Agna

117
00:07:02.439 --> 00:07:05.040
Filo set outside court that this was a single, tragic

118
00:07:05.079 --> 00:07:07.720
event and her client is being prosecuted twice for the

119
00:07:07.759 --> 00:07:12.240
same conduct. The Manhattan District Attorney's office is not conceding anything.

120
00:07:12.879 --> 00:07:16.560
They say they've been preparing since December of twenty twenty four,

121
00:07:16.959 --> 00:07:20.680
that they're encouraged the family got a measure of accountability

122
00:07:20.920 --> 00:07:24.680
and that they're prepared to litigate the defense motions they've argued.

123
00:07:24.680 --> 00:07:28.360
The stalking counts and the murder count address different harms.

124
00:07:29.000 --> 00:07:32.319
That fight goes to Judge Gregory Carro, and it is

125
00:07:32.560 --> 00:07:36.240
genuinely unsettled. Anybody who tells you they know how it

126
00:07:36.319 --> 00:07:40.079
comes out is guessing. And there's a third jurisdiction people

127
00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:43.879
keep forgetting. Pennsylvania still has charges from the arrest in Altoona.

128
00:07:44.199 --> 00:07:47.600
The Thompson family mentioned it in their statement, So here's

129
00:07:47.639 --> 00:07:51.000
where this stands. Luigi Mangioni has admitted an open court

130
00:07:51.040 --> 00:07:54.000
to killing Brian Thompson. He faces up to life and

131
00:07:54.040 --> 00:07:57.560
will be sentenced December eighteenth. He is not walking out

132
00:07:57.560 --> 00:08:01.160
of anything. Whatever happens in state court. The federal conviction

133
00:08:01.279 --> 00:08:04.319
stands and the federal sentence is coming. What the state

134
00:08:04.360 --> 00:08:07.319
case would add is the word murder. And for that family,

135
00:08:07.439 --> 00:08:11.040
I suspect that word matters a great deal. Two responses

136
00:08:11.079 --> 00:08:14.439
outside the courthouse deserve airtime. The US Attorney for the

137
00:08:14.480 --> 00:08:18.160
Southern District, Jamie McDonald, said there can be no celebrity

138
00:08:18.160 --> 00:08:21.759
in assassination and that MANGIONI tried to send a message

139
00:08:21.800 --> 00:08:27.319
through violence, but a different message emerged today. An NYPD Commissioner,

140
00:08:27.399 --> 00:08:31.319
Jessica Tish spoke directly to the people who idolize this defendant.

141
00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:35.000
Violence is not a cause, Murder is not a message.

142
00:08:35.440 --> 00:08:38.639
A killer is not a hero. You can believe every

143
00:08:38.679 --> 00:08:42.600
single thing you believe about American Health insurance denied claims,

144
00:08:42.720 --> 00:08:46.639
prior authorizations, families ruined by a decision made in an

145
00:08:46.639 --> 00:08:49.679
office by somebody who never met them. I believe most

146
00:08:49.679 --> 00:08:52.679
of it. This show has spent years on corporate conduct

147
00:08:52.679 --> 00:08:55.639
that kills people and never sees a courtroom. And I'm

148
00:08:55.639 --> 00:08:58.600
not taking a word of it back today. None of

149
00:08:58.600 --> 00:09:00.679
it is a reason a man gets shot in the

150
00:09:00.720 --> 00:09:04.559
back on a sidewalk. The Thompson family called today an

151
00:09:04.559 --> 00:09:08.240
important step toward justice, said nothing eases the pain of

152
00:09:08.279 --> 00:09:11.000
losing him and asked the court to make the sentence

153
00:09:11.039 --> 00:09:14.480
reflect the severity of the crime. That's a family that

154
00:09:14.519 --> 00:09:16.960
waited twenty months to hear somebody say out loud what

155
00:09:17.000 --> 00:09:20.080
happened to their husband and father, and today they heard

156
00:09:20.120 --> 00:09:23.919
it from the man who did it. Accountability doesn't have

157
00:09:23.960 --> 00:09:27.960
a legal department today, it had a courtroom. Sentencing is

158
00:09:28.000 --> 00:09:31.960
December eighteenth. The state fight starts now. We're back Monday

159
00:09:31.960 --> 00:09:34.759
with the double jeopardy motion. Whatever comes out of Plymouth

160
00:09:34.759 --> 00:09:37.960
in the Lindsay Clancy trial and opening statements in the

161
00:09:37.960 --> 00:09:41.960
Tupac Shakur murder trial in Las Vegas. If this bulletin

162
00:09:42.080 --> 00:09:45.720
was useful, send it to one person. That's how this

163
00:09:45.840 --> 00:09:49.080
show grows. I'm Garrett Fisher. This has been a breaking

164
00:09:49.080 --> 00:09:52.720
news bulletin from Daily Crime and Justice from Calaroga Shark Media.

165
00:09:53.159 --> 00:09:57.600
Do Better. Disclaimer. This bulletin is based on courtroom reporting,

166
00:09:57.720 --> 00:10:00.639
official statements, and wire coverage of Availa at the time

167
00:10:00.679 --> 00:10:05.559
of recording within hours of the hearing described. Luigi Mangoni

168
00:10:05.600 --> 00:10:09.240
pleaded guilty on August fourteenth, twenty twenty six, to two

169
00:10:09.320 --> 00:10:14.039
federal counts of stalking resulting in death. Judge Margaret Garnett

170
00:10:14.120 --> 00:10:19.320
accepted the plead. Sentencing is scheduled for December eighteenth. Statements

171
00:10:19.320 --> 00:10:23.080
attributed to Mangione, council, and the court are drawn from

172
00:10:23.159 --> 00:10:27.240
reporters present in the courtroom and are paraphrased except where

173
00:10:27.279 --> 00:10:31.120
briefly quoted. Mangoni has not been convicted of murder in

174
00:10:31.240 --> 00:10:35.200
any jurisdiction. Charges remain pending in New York State Supreme

175
00:10:35.240 --> 00:10:38.840
Court and in Pennsylvania, and he is presumed innocent as

176
00:10:38.879 --> 00:10:41.960
to those charges. His motion to dismiss the New York

177
00:10:42.080 --> 00:10:45.600
charges on double jeopardy grounds has been filed but not decided,

178
00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:49.240
and the Manhattan District Attorney's Office has said it intends

179
00:10:49.279 --> 00:10:52.840
to litigate it. Nothing in this program should be understood

180
00:10:52.879 --> 00:10:56.919
as predicting that outcome. Sources differ slightly on the wording

181
00:10:56.919 --> 00:11:00.240
of Mangioni's statements in court and on the exact BacT

182
00:11:00.320 --> 00:11:03.840
figure he cited regarding the investment firm he claimed to represent.

183
00:11:04.679 --> 00:11:08.039
CNN issued a correction on that point during its live

184
00:11:08.120 --> 00:11:12.759
coverage reporting on the sentencing guideline Range reflects the prosecution's

185
00:11:12.799 --> 00:11:15.919
position as stated in court and is not binding on

186
00:11:16.039 --> 00:11:20.320
the sentencing judge. Descriptions of the reactions of Brian Thompson's

187
00:11:20.399 --> 00:11:24.679
family come from reporters present. This episode discusses gun violence

188
00:11:24.679 --> 00:11:27.159
and the death of a victim in a shooting. If

189
00:11:27.200 --> 00:11:29.559
you are someone you know as struggling, the Suicide and

190
00:11:29.600 --> 00:11:32.519
Crisis Lifeline is available around the clock by calling or

191
00:11:32.600 --> 00:11:33.799
texting nine to eight eight