Sick to Death: Luigi Mangione guns down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson streets of New York

Gulf Coast Confidential with Mollye Barrows

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Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old man accused of assassinating the CEO of insurance giant UnitedHealthcare on the streets of New York, is being hailed as a hero by some who, like him, have experienced the pain, stress, and outrage over deteriorating health and stuck in a quagmire of what will and won’t be covered by insurance.

Police and others say he’s a murdering menace - a calculating killer who ambushed 50-year-old Brian Thompson, a husband and father of two teenage sons, and was lying in wait for the executive who never him coming until it was too late.

Mangione has since been extradited back to New York and has pleaded not guilty to murdering Thompson. It’s the start of a case that’s about more than murder for many.

It has struck a nerve with folks across the country who feel that people’s lives and quality of life are just the cost of doing business for the healthcare insurance industry.

A media circus surrounds the accused killer to the point that it took a small army for his “perp walk” and even Mangione and his lawyer appear to be “twinning,” in near matching outfits at his court hearing.
He has become such a pop icon that even universities and other countries are having look-like-Luigi contests and the prisoners incarcerated with him adore him.

It’s a hard to pill to swallow when a killer becomes a rock star.

Join us for the latest episode of the Gulf Coast Confidential podcast “Sick to death: Luigi Mangione guns down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson streets of New York.”

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