Luigi Mangione received 'heart-shaped notes' hidden in socks before last court appearance
Luigi Mangione, the suspect accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson from behind in New York City last year, allegedly received a "heart-shaped" note from a supporter smuggled inside a pair of socks included in a change of clothes his defense team brought to court for his hearing, according to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office.
The 26-year-old former Ivy Leaguer showed up shackled, wearing khaki pants, Rockport penny loafers and a green sweater under a bulletproof vest in a wink at supporters, who urged one another to wear green in reference to the character Luigi from Nintendo's "Super Mario" franchise.
To spare him from appearing in a jail jumpsuit, Mangione's defense allegedly gave a bag of clothes to Major Mike McKee, a New York State Court officer who was overseeing inmate transport, according to prosecutors. Investigator Sgt. Louis Capolupo conducted a search before giving the items to the defendant.
LUIGI MANGIONE WINKS AT SUPPORTERS WITH GREEN SWEATER UNDER BULLETPROOF VEST
"Among the items of clothing was a new pair of argyle socks wrapped around cardboard," Assistant Manhattan District Attorney Joel Seidemann wrote in a new court filing.
"Secreted in the cardboard were two personal heart-shaped notes, one addressed to an unknown person named ‘Joan’ and the other to Luigi stating in part, ‘know there are thousands of people wishing you luck.’"
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Capolupo seized the notes but allowed Mangione to wear the socks. However, "he felt that ‘they did not look good’" and took them off, according to prosecutors.
"Fortunately, the items smuggled were handwritten notes and not contraband capable of harming the transporting officers," Seidemann added.
Mangione's team declined to comment but shared a separate filing his defense made Wednesday, in which his attorneys asked for additional discovery materials and also addressed the letters.
"This was obviously inadvertent as one of the two heart-shaped notes was not even addressed to Mr. Mangione," defense attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo wrote to the judge. "The District Attorney’s Office ostensibly realized the innocent nature of this event, and that it was not a genuine danger or concern, as they did not bother to alert the Court at the time. If this ‘incident’ is the basis for the danger the prosecution is referencing, we submit that this does not meet the standard to allow them to deny our reasonable requests."
The back and forth comes as prosecutors are asking the court to deny Mangione's request to have a laptop in his jail cell – which they say is an unnecessary privilege – and additional discovery materials.
"We are demanding discovery regarding civilian witnesses, any police identification of Mr. Mangione by San Francisco police officers, discovery surrounding the prosecution’s theory of terrorism, and the contents of any electronic devices recovered from Mr. Mangione," Friedman Agnifilo added.
In another filing, Assistant Manhattan District Attorney Zachary Kaplan listed a number of pieces of physical evidence police have recovered in addition to the suspected murder weapon.
Mangione had nearly $8,000 in cash on him when police arrested him, two Faraday bags, which can be used to block phone signals, multiple hard drives and a laptop, three wallets, an iPhone, "33 miscellaneous pills" and other items. Police recovered another phone near the crime scene and DNA evidence on discarded food packaging.
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In a designer backpack he allegedly ditched in Central Park after the slaying, police found "Monopoly" money and a black Tommy Hilfiger jacket. They also seized two display laptops from a Best Buy store.
Mangione faces federal and state charges in connection with Thompson's assassination – which New York prosecutors allege was an act of terrorism, something the defense argues is a false narrative.
He is accused of stalking the CEO, a married father of two, and shooting him in the back outside a shareholder conference in early December.
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Despite the allegations of cold-blooded murder, Mangione has received vocal support online, including hundreds of thousands of dollars donated to his defense.
Early in the investigation, police said that they recovered bullet casings at the scene with handwritten messages on them: "defend," "depose" and "deny" – an apparent reference to a book critical of the health insurance industry's tendency to deny claims.
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After the slaying, Mangione allegedly skipped town. However, police found him at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after people inside recognized him from a smiling suspect photo in an NYPD wanted poster.
Altoona police allegedly captured him with the suspected murder weapon, a fake ID and a manifesto slamming health insurers.