A man from Minnesota allegedly orchestrated a bold plan to free Luigi Mangione from a New York jail by posing as an FBI agent, according to police reports.
Authorities charged 36-year-old Mark Anderson on Thursday with impersonating a federal officer after he attempted to liberate 27-year-old Mangione from the Metropolitan Detention Center located in Brooklyn.
ABC News reported that Anderson’s audacious escape plan involved entering the jail’s intake area to get near Mangione, who is accused of being a healthcare CEO’s murderer.
Anderson allegedly informed jail officials that he possessed court-approved paperwork authorizing Mangione’s release.
While the criminal complaint against Anderson does not explicitly mention Mangione as the breakout target, sources revealed that the murder suspect was indeed the intended focus of the operation.
The plot unraveled when prison personnel asked Anderson to verify his credentials, prompting him to present a Minnesota driver’s license and hurl numerous documents at the staff.
Anderson then allegedly warned staff that he had weapons in his bag, and a search of his belongings found a barbeque fork and a pizza cutter, according to the criminal complaint.
The alleged breakout plot came the day before Mangione is due back in court on Friday, where a judge may decide if the 27-year-old could face the death penalty if convicted with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
A Minnesota man allegedly tried to break accused healthcare CEO assassin Luigi Mangione out of jail in New York
The man arrested for allegedly trying to break Mangione out of jail, Mark Anderson (seen in his driver’s license) tried to bring a barbeque fork and a pizza cutter in his bag during the plot. The items are pictured in a criminal complaint filed Thursday against Anderson
The alleged breakout plot comes as Mangione nears the start of his high-profile trial for Thompson’s murder. The official start date has not been set.
Earlier this month, Mangione appeared to be playing to the cameras as he appeared in court for a pre-trial hearing, flashing a boyish grin as his flock of female admirers watched from the gallery.
Ahead of his trial, Mangione’s lawyers have attempted to bar key pieces of evidence against him from being heard by a jury, arguing a bungled investigation by police made the evidence inadmissible.
Mangione allegedly shot Thompson on a Manhattan sidewalk in the early hours of December 4, 2024, before fleeing the scene on a bike.
He was arrested almost a week later in a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, a small town over 300 miles away from the murder.
Police said that when he was arrested, they discovered a manifesto and a gun inside his backpack, alongside notes to himself to ‘check reports for current situation’ – a possible reference to news reports after Thompson’s death made headlines.
Mangione’s attorneys have argued that the chain of custody for the evidence found in his backpack was not appropriately followed, and they alleged he was not read his Miranda Rights.
Officers allegedly found a handgun that matched the firearm description of the weapon used to murder Thompson inside Mangione’s backpack
Mangione was arrested eating breakfast at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, five days after Thompson was shot, after suspicious customers recognized him and alerted staff, who dialed 911
Prosecutors say that the backpack was searched legally because Altoona police protocols require the immediate search of suspect’s property at the time of their arrest for dangerous items, and said police later obtained a warrant for the evidence.
Officers later said they only found a loaded magazine in the bag at first, but in a later search at a police station they discovered the gun and a silencer.
An inventory search then found a notebook and other notes, including an alleged ‘to do list’ for Mangione to follow after the shooting.
Among the evidence shown at the pretrial hearing was a Philadelphia transit pass purchased at 1.06 pm – a little more than six hours after the shooting – and a ticket for a Greyhound bus, booked under the name Sam Dawson, leaving Philadelphia at 6.30pm and arriving in Pittsburgh at 11.55pm.
Among the notes presented to the hearing was one with a heading ’12/5′ and a starred entry that said: ‘buy black shoes (white stripes too distinctive)’.
Another, also written in to-do list style, suggested spending more than three hours away from surveillance cameras and using different modes of transportation to ‘Break CAM continuity’ and avoid tracking.
Prosecutors also seized a handwritten diary from Mangione’s backpack during his arrest in Altoona, Pennsylvania that his attorneys are now trying to hide from jurors
Below that, it said: ‘check reports for current situation’ a possible reference to news reports about the search for Thompson’s killer.
A note with the heading ’12/8′ lists a number of tasks, including an apparent trip to Best Buy to purchase a digital camera and accessories, ‘hot meal + water bottles’ and ‘trash bag(s)’.
Under ’12/9,’ the day of Mangione’s arrest, the note lists tasks including ‘Sheetz,’ an Altoona-based convenience store chain, ‘masks’ and ‘AAA bats’. Mangione had a Sheetz hoagie in his backpack when he was arrested, along with a loaf of Italian bread from a local deli, police officers testified.
A note titled ‘Future TO DO,’ listed ‘intel checkin’ and ‘survival kit’.
This is a developing story and will be updated as information is confirmed.
