Luigi Mangione has reportedly earned the reputation of an “ambassador” among inmates at the federal facility where he is currently being held, awaiting trial on federal and state charges for the assassination of former UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
The 27-year-old has been described as a “model prisoner” at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center. This is the same facility where music mogul Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs was detained prior to his federal sex trafficking trial, according to New York defense attorney Arthur Aidala, who shared insights with PEOPLE.
Aidala noted that Mangione has taken on the role of assisting fellow inmates as they arrive at the detention center, offering guidance and support.
“He has been remarkably kind to newcomers,” said Aidala, who represents other inmates at the facility but not Mangione himself. “When people first enter and are disoriented, he steps in to ease their apprehensions and guide them on navigating life within the Metropolitan Detention Center, advising them on what to do—and sometimes more crucially, what to avoid.”
Additionally, Mangione has reportedly fostered a positive rapport with the prison staff, Aidala mentioned.
Mangione is also very well-liked by the prison guards, Aidala claimed.
‘He gets very high marks from people in and around the jail system,’ the lawyer said, adding that by all accounts, Mangione has exhibited exemplary behavior during his time in custody.
‘My understanding is that he is a rule follower, unlike a lot of folks in there.
Accused assassin Luigi Mangione, 27, has been hailed as an ‘ambassador’ at the federal detention center where he is awaiting both state and federal trials
Mangione reportedly welcomes new inmates to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn
‘A lot of folks in there, you know, they figure out a way to get in contraband, whether that be drugs or unauthorized cellphones and things like that,’ the lawyer explained. ‘But my understanding is he’s not like that and he hasn’t been written up for any violations of any sort.’
Staten Island-based defense attorney Louis Gelormino, though, offered a different explanation of why Mangione is so well-liked in the general population.
‘When you murder somebody and it’s a high-profile case, you automatically get a certain status in jail, sadly,’ Gelormino told Fox News Digital.
‘The second part that gives him status is that he probably has a lot of money in his commissary because he comes from a very rich family… You’re able to manipulate, buy people things and trade things.’
Mangione’s family runs a network of assisted living facilities in Maryland, and were able to send the alleged killer to an elite private high school in Baltimore and an Ivy League school.
But Mangione has also received $40,000 to spend on commissary items, including vitamins, deodorant, laundry detergent and non-alcoholic drinks, from his adoring fans who also inundate the inmate with letters and gifts.
Some of those letters ‘can get hot and heavy,’ TMZ previously reported, citing one letter in which a woman told the detainee she wanted to ‘but out on his d**k.’
One source claimed Mangione can receive as many as 200 letters a day from his fans who have been by his side since his arrest following a five-day long manhunt last year.
Mangione is facing both state and federal charges for the murder of former UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, 50
Mangione has been held at the Brooklyn prison since his arrest
Mangione’s family runs a network of assisted living facilities in Maryland, and were able to send the alleged killer to an elite private high school in Baltimore and an Ivy League school
At times, Mangione even writes back to his fans – recently telling one that he has been listening to Taylor Swift and Charli XCX on his prison tablet as he walks in the prison yard.
The Ivy league graduate admitted he’d never really listened to the singers before, but decided to try them after a fake list of his ‘favorite artists’ went viral online.
The accused murderer’s fans have said that he had taken a ‘bite out of corruption’ when he allegedly shot Thompson, 50, dead.
Mangione, an Ivy League graduate, has become a ‘symbol’ for the fight for healthcare reform, his supporters said.
He allegedly wrote ‘deny’, ‘depose’ and ‘delay’ on the bullets in a sign of his anger at the healthcare system which reportedly sprang from long-term back problems.
But Mangione has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, and scored a small win in court recently when the state terrorism charges against him were dropped.
Judge Gregory Carro said that the evidence was ‘legally insufficient’ for the counts of murder in the first degree in furtherance of an act of terrorism, and murder in the second degree as a crime of terrorism.
The alleged assassin garnered a fanbase following his arrest after a four-day manhunt
Last month, lawyers for Mangione also asked that his federal charges be dismissed and the death penalty be taken off the table as a result of public comments by US Attorney General Pam Bondi.
In April, Bondi directed prosecutors in New York to seek the death penalty, calling the killing of Thompson a ‘premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America.’
Murder cases are usually tried in state courts, but prosecutors have also charged Mangione under a federal law on murders committed with firearms as part of other ‘crimes of violence.’
It is the only charge for which Mangione could face the death penalty, which is not used in New York state.
