Murder in Manhattan! (Episode 5: "The Howling")

 

by Pa Rock

True Crime Fan

The murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson took place one week ago this morning on Sixth Avenue in Manhattan.  The victim was shot twice in the back and once in the back of the leg as he approached the Midtown Hilton Hotel, his destination for the morning.  The shooter, later identified as 26-year-old Luigi Mangione of Baltimore, Maryland, managed to escape the scene on foot and then on an electric bicycle before finally catching a cab and making his way to New York City's major bus terminal where he hopped on a Greyhound and fled the city.

Mangione, who quickly became the subject of a nationwide manhunt, was captured five days after the shooting by police in Altoona, Pennsylvania, as he was sitting in one of that city's McDonald's dining on a hash brown and working at his laptop computer.  The young shooter was found with a three-page, hand-written "manifesto" on his person, and his fingerprints have been matched to those at the crime scene.  He is facing some minor charges in Pennsylvania and has been indicted on a second-degree murder charge in New York.  The states of New York and Pennsylvania are cooperating in trying to extradite Luigi Mangione back to New York where he will stand trial on the more serious charge, but the prisoner is fighting the extradition effort.

The motive for the murder seems to have been what one Altoona policeman referred to as Mangione's "ill-will" toward corporate America, and in particular his disdain for the health insurance industry whose business model increases corporate profits when services to customers are limited or denied.  Mangione  seemed to have an interest or fascination with the crimes of the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski.  (A copy of the "manifesto" which Luigi Mangione had on him at the time of his arrest is available on the internet homepage of journalist Ken Klippenstein - it is easy to find and an insightful read.)

The thrust of this drama appears to be over, at least until the culprit is brought to trial, probably several months from now.   There is some fallout from the shooting, however, which is still reverberating through society and bears examination.  The shooting resulted in the death of a human being, and that is tragic, but on another level, it tapped into a surprisingly potent current of societal anger at health insurance companies and their perceived lack of compassion and fairness toward their customers.  Literally within minutes of the news of the shooting in Manhattan, social media posts started going up relating very personal accounts of how average people had been mistreated and cheated by their health insurance carriers.  People were attributing the deaths of loved ones to cruel and arbitrary decisions made by nameless bureaucrats ad autocrats hiding in the corporate labyrinth of giant insurance companies.

One meme that blazed across social media after the murder of the CEO of America's largest healthcare insurance provider was "Thoughts and prayers are out of network," a clear slap at a standard health insurance  excuse for denying care and service.  Another social media user posted this piece of insurance-related snark:  "If you would like to appeal the fatal gunshot, please call 800-555-1234 with case #123456789P to initiate a peer-to-peer within 48 hours of the fatal gunshot."

Cenk Uygar, a host on "The Young Turks," may have exposed the root of the public outrage with this post on X last Thursday:

"Shooting the UnitedHealthcare CEO is a terrible thing to do.  It's deeply immoral and solves nothing.  At the same time, 76,000 Americans die every year because of the health insurance industry.   I also mourn for them.  And I don't see any press coverage or concern for their deaths."

The gunshots in Manhattan last Wednesday were ricocheting across America - and insurance companies were having to duck and cover.

Stocks of major health insurers fell an average of six percent during the last week, and UnitedHealthcare (UNH) was down eight percent.

The McDonald's franchise in Altoona, Pennsylvania, also took some public abuse over the part it played in the capture of Luigi Mangione.  There was a sudden onslaught of bad reviews from customers on the internet, some of which referenced totally false things like rats in the kitchen.

Angry people were wanting the world to know that Brian Thompson was not the only victim.

Whether Luigi Mangione had intentionally created a diabolical design to become a folk hero or not, many seemed to be elevating him to that status.  He had been a lone wolf howling in the wind, and long-suffering Americans heard his wails and began seeding the winds with their own painful howls.  Maybe this time they will be heard.