10 Details About Luigi Mangione's Life That People Are Romanticizing On Social Media
The internet seems to feel the murder suspect is a hero, not a villain.
Pennsylvania Department of Corrections Last Wednesday, December 4, the country was shocked to wake up to the news of the CEO of insurance company UnitedHealthcare, Brian Thompson, being shot and killed on the streets of New York.
Grainy images of a person of interest began to circulate as police began the hunt for a killer. Yesterday, they believe they found him at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania.
Luigi Mangione was initially arrested for gun-related charges but has since been charged with the murder of Thompson.
Here are 10 details about Luigi Mangione’s life that people are romanticizing on social media:
Mangione, who is 26, has caused quite a stir on the internet. Many people have pointed out that he is attractive. Others have attempted to defend his actions, saying insurance companies are an enemy to the general public.
Mangione has become some kind of folk hero, with people celebrating his actions and digging up information on who he is as a person. While much of what is known about him is still circumstantial, that hasn’t stopped people from romanticizing his life across social media.
1. He was high school valedictorian
The BBC reported that Mangione attended the Gilman School, a private high school for boys. School officials have confirmed this to media outlets.
On Mangione’s LinkedIn page, he stated that he attended the Gilman School from 2012 to 2016 and was indeed valedictorian. This, he said, meant he had the “highest cumulative four-year GPA.”
Several news outlets have obtained a video of Mangione’s valedictorian speech, including the Daily Mail. Comments on TikTok, where they shared the video, included, “Why are they framing this nice young man?” and “Luigi Mangione was having dinner with me at the time of the shooting. He’s 100% innocent.”
2. He attended an Ivy League school
Mangione’s good high school grades paid off, as he was able to attend the University of Pennsylvania for both undergraduate and graduate school.
Once again, according to his LinkedIn profile, Mangione said he received a Bachelor of Science in Engineering and a Master of Science in Engineering, both with a focus on Computer and Information Science. During his time at Penn, Mangione founded a “game development club” which had over 50 members, the Daily Pennsylvanian said.
While it does seem like Mangione must be book smart to have achieved so much in his educational life, people are romanticizing his supposed intelligence to grandiose proportions on the internet, with one X user named Addie calling him “an Ivy League Italian frat boy” who “is literally handmade for me.”
3. He came from a prominent family
Mangione’s family is said to be very wealthy and a pillar of their community. The BBC reported that Mangione “came from a wealthy family, even by that private school’s standards.” A former high school classmate named Freddie Leatherbury told the Associated Press that Mangione “had everything going for him.”
CBS reported Mangione and his family are from Maryland. “He is related to a prominent Maryland family that owns country clubs, health care facilities, and real estate companies,” they said.
Mangione said that he volunteered at one of his family’s holdings, Lorrien Health Systems, in 2014. Additionally, Mangione's cousin, Nino Mangione, is a Maryland state delegate.
Little is known about Mangione's actual family connections. And, since his family is so wealthy, some are turning on him when it comes to this.
4. He had a good job
Mangione apparently held quite an impressive job. On his LinkedIn, he identified himself as a data engineer at TrueCar, Inc. TrueCar is a platform similar to Carvana in that it allows people to buy and sell used cars.
Based on LinkedIn, it appears that Mangione was promoted twice during his four years with the company. However, NPR reported, “A spokesperson for the company said via email that Mangione ‘has not been an employee of our company since 2023.’”
This leaves Mangione’s work history as sketchy at best, but that hasn’t deterred social media users from highlighting it as one of his best qualities. @hafguy said on X that Mangione worked at a “promising start-up-in California,” at a very young age.
5. He lived in Hawaii
The NYPD said that Mangione’s last known address was in Honolulu. It’s been confirmed that he lived in a “co-living community” called Surfbreak “at some point,” per CBS.
Surfbreak told CBS, “We are aware that Luigi Mangione was a resident at the Surfbreak co-living’s Honolulu location in 2022. His alleged actions do not reflect the individual we knew, the values of Surfbreak as an organization or our community. Reasonable people may disagree but violence is never the answer.”
It’s unclear exactly what Mangione was doing in Hawaii, but Surfbreak’s website claims it is “designed for remote workers and creatives.”
Gripped Magazine reported that the founder of Surfbreak, R.J. Martin, said they often rock climbed together at HiClimb in Kaka’ako. The magazine shared a photo of Mangione rock climbing that is sure to set some hearts a-flutter.
6. He’s a reader
While social media users were quick to search for Mangione on all platforms, they found him on a surprising one — Goodreads. The website for book lovers allows you to keep track of the books you’ve read and review them. Mangione’s account is private.
According to a screenshot taken by Jenny G. Zhang, a senior editor at Slate, Mangione gave a four-star review to Unabomber Ted Kaczynski’s “Industrial Society and Its Future.”
“He was a violent individual — rightfully imprisoned — who maimed innocent people,” he said in his review. “While these actions tend to be characterized as those of a crazy luddite, however, they are more accurately seen as those of an extreme political revolutionary.”
Interesting words coming from someone who also committed murder.
Of course, Mangione’s apparent penchant for books has people convinced he is a thoughtful, scholarly sort of fellow. TikToker Johnny Chinnici filmed some of Mangione’s Goodreads profile. Someone who commented on the video said, “He writes eloquently, definitely has a wide variety of intellectual interests!”
7. He suffered a back injury
At some point, Mangione suffered an injury to his back, which appeared to be a pinched nerve, People Magazine stated. Martin said that he was in “chronic back pain” because of it.
Some have speculated that Mangione’s back injury was caused by a surfing accident. A photo that appears to be an X-ray of Mangione’s spine has made its way to social media. Also, on his aforementioned Goodreads account, Mangione logged that he read several books about back pain.
Social media users have run with the narrative that Mangione, who was 26, had just been taken off of his parents’ insurance and did not have acceptable coverage for his injury, forcing him to live in pain. They think this is what could have led him to shoot Thompson.
8. He lives an active lifestyle
According to news reports and social media rumors, Mangione has done everything from surfing to weight lifting to rock climbing. Mangione apparently lived quite the active lifestyle, at least before he sustained the injury to his back.
Of course, people love a guy who’s active and have said as much on social media.
Many have also speculated that Mangione’s injury led to the end of his active lifestyle, causing him to spiral in some way.
9. He’s attractive
It seems cliche to point out that Mangione is attractive, but that’s just what many people are doing. A photo of Mangione shirtless has made the rounds online. TikTok user Michelle Nguyen said he “looks like a model” and declared she would be “deleting Hinge and checking the prison registry.”
“Get in line, sister,” one person said in response to the TikTok, to which Nguyen responded she would “happily” do so.
One X user, @raspberryvape, theorized that this is the real reason behind Mangione’s popularity. “If Luigi Mangione wasn’t attractive nobody on social media would care and in fact would condemn him for the murder instead of praising him,” they said.
10. He’s bisexual
While women everywhere have been claiming they’d like to date Mangione, social media users have discovered yet another detail about the murderer to romanticize.
According to a rumor that has not been confirmed by any news source but has spread like wildfire on the internet, Mangione is bisexual.
Now, men have also taken part in swooning over Mangione, with TikTok content creator Andres Ochoa making a video with the Britney Spears’ song “Criminal.”
The lyrics state, “Mama, I’m in love with a criminal. And this type of love isn’t rational, it’s physical.”
While a few jokes are all in good fun, it’s important to remember who this man is.
It can be fun to participate in a social media trend and make jokes about something macabre to lighten the mood a bit. However, it’s important to remember that Mangione may be a murderer.
Regardless of how justified you believe the crime to be, he's been charged with murder, and that's generally a red flag when it comes to relationships. Then again, he's innocent until proven guilty.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.