Summary

Sam Beard, organizer of Luigi Mangione’s legal defense fund, claims the dramatic “perp walk” resembling Hannibal Lecter’s treatment backfired on New York authorities, boosting donations to over $743,000.

Mangione, charged with murder and terrorism for allegedly killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, received heightened security during extradition, drawing public sympathy.

Critics argue the campaign glorifies violence, while supporters emphasize fair trial rights.

Mangione, who pleaded not guilty, faces the death penalty if convicted.

    • A_Union_of_Kobolds@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      127
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      4 months ago

      “Okay guys, we’ve got an attractive man with a huge amount of public support behind him regardless of guilt. How can we not turn him into a martyr?”

      “Hannibal Lecter walk?”

      “Yeah that won’t backfire at all!”

    • nova_ad_vitum@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      10
      ·
      4 months ago

      They read the room they cared about just fine. They wanted to let rich people know they’ll always go above and beyond for them, and they did.

  • Triasha@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    187
    ·
    4 months ago

    His treatment caused about . 02% of the support for him.

    United Heaths treatment of the rest of us caused the rest.

    • whotookkarl@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      58
      ·
      edit-2
      4 months ago

      Exactly, if he allegedly murdered the CEO of an organization that doesn’t profit from the death and destruction of it’s customers then the public reaction would be completely different regardless of any perp walk PR stunt.

      For profit insurance glorifies violence, not resisting it

    • ysjet@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      39
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      4 months ago

      Well, also the fact that he looks literally nothing like the dude from the security camera stills, the police have been bungling every single step of the evidence process since before they “caught” Mangione, annnd finally all the work theyve done to preprejudice the public into thinking he did it by organizing documentaries demonizing Mangione while being too busy to provide the details of their “evidence” to Mangione’s legal council (which they are legally obligated to do!)

      • BradleyUffner@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        13
        arrow-down
        6
        ·
        edit-2
        4 months ago

        Well, also the fact that he looks literally nothing like the dude from the security camera stills

        I don’t know where this keeps coming from. I’ve got prosopagnosia, and even i can see they look the same.

        • SkyezOpen@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          8
          arrow-down
          4
          ·
          4 months ago

          It’s the most insane cope I’ve ever seen and I don’t get it either. It’s an absolutely stupid theory for multiple reasons, mainly because all the “real” killer has to do is pop another CEO and suddenly the feds look very fucking stupid. Second, if Luigi really isn’t the guy, it is trivial to prove he wasn’t there. The shooter was tracked basically from the moment he set foot in new York, surely there would be some footage of Luigi literally anywhere else during that time.

  • unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    126
    ·
    edit-2
    4 months ago

    “It’s horrible when anybody has their life cut short by another person, especially when it could have been prevented,” Beard says on Luigi. “But the same logic has to apply both ways, right?

    “Preventing people from getting the healthcare that they need – that you and your company have access to and could provide them, but don’t do so because it would threaten your business model – that’s an act of violence, too,” Beard says.

    Hello based department, we got a candidate here for you.

    “Luigi” in reference to the name of his podcast not the person Luigi Mangione

  • meeeeetch@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    110
    ·
    4 months ago

    The optics the recently indicted (and later hastily pardoned) mayor being one of the guys perp walking the sympathetic suspect probably didn’t help them either.

    • YonderEpochs@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      33
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      4 months ago

      Right? Most corrupt fuckin cop, there strictly for his own photo op of course, escorting a political-divide-spanning legitimate American folk hero. Seems like a pretty predictable response to me.

  • ceenote@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    85
    ·
    edit-2
    4 months ago

    What they don’t seem to realize is that Mangione himself isn’t all that important. Whether they kill him or successfully vilify him, in a few years people won’t be thinking about the man himself all that much. Their continued hardship will be what they think about, and as long as it’s the capital class’s fault, the anger will keep growing.

    • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      96
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      4 months ago

      This isn’t about a man anymore. It’s about an idea.

      I hope the jury nullifies the charges, but he’s become a symbol for the common people of America because he acted on the fury and frustration that hundreds of millions of us feel. You can’t really kill an idea once it gains hold in the minds of that much of the populace.

    • ieatpwns@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      56
      ·
      4 months ago

      The shooter is immortal with or without Luigi. The shooter showed us they bleed and they’re scared and stumbling now to stay in control.

      They have to sit and marinate with their mortality now. It scares them knowing they aren’t that different from us

      • meco03211@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        28
        ·
        4 months ago

        This. Especially because it took days to actually find him. Imagine how pants-shittingly-scared the oligarchs would be if one got capped and they couldn’t find the killer?

        • painfulasterisk1@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          21
          ·
          4 months ago

          And that’s why I think that he’s not the one. They scrambled to find whatever evidence and pinpoint to anyone remotely similar to make an example out of him (this comment can be full of conspiracy). My take is they will pin someone, make an example out of him and demotivate future Green Guys.

          But the issue is just a social class problem. A CEO is killed, media labels him as a domestic terrorist, a narcissist destroys the whole country (Elmo) and he’s a “hero”, especially if he uses one of his 13 meat shields.

          • OccultIconoclast@reddthat.com
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            4 months ago

            Don’t forget that Elmo is also an autist. You could just as easily and just as truthfully say an evil autist is destroying the country.

            I don’t know why you’d want to politicise a mental disorder like that, but since you’re already doing it, you might as well go all the way.

              • OccultIconoclast@reddthat.com
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                4 months ago

                Psychiatrist never diagnosed him with ASD. Psychiatrist never diagnosed him with NPD. It’s all rumours and stereotypes. He wants the sympathetic stereotype, Lemmy users who think they’re leftists want the unsympathetic stereotype. How about we leave stereotypes out of the conversation to talk about the piece of shit he actually is, instead of which neurodivergencies we think we can use as weapons against him?

        • henfredemars@infosec.pub
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          4 months ago

          Exactly. They would allege some look-alike did it, so you wouldn’t know about it. That might even be what happened here.

          • procrastitron@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            17
            ·
            4 months ago

            I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what happened here.

            The odds of finding the real culprit after they’ve already eluded capture for 5+ days are extremely low.

            Additionally, the evidence they supposedly found on him is extremely suspicious:

            1. An untraceable gun that he allegedly kept on him the entire time even though the shooter discarded everything else.
            2. A confession note that starts by talking about how much he respects the cops.

            That doesn’t just sound like the sort of thing that would be planted on him… that sounds like the sort of thing that would be planted on him by an idiot.

            Unless they have actual body cam footage of them catching him and finding the evidence, I have to assume he was framed.

        • OccultIconoclast@reddthat.com
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          4 months ago

          Imagine how pants-shittingly-scared the oligarchs would be if one got capped and they couldn’t find the killer?

          I don’t have to. That’s how scared they are now. Luigi is a cope. He didn’t do that, he’s just there to make the oligarchs feel better like a night light

  • bean@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    61
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    edit-2
    4 months ago

    This image is so ridiculous. Like he’s a danger so much that it took a platoon of people to parade this dude in cuffs. He allegedly killed one dude, he didn’t EAT the guy. It was blatantly obvious for everyone that this was a show of force, and it ironically makes them look weak as fuck.

    You want me to respect your strength? Go put handcuffs on Trump. The rule of law is broken. The weak suffer the most and the rich pay to stay out of it.

    I’m not a violent man. A death of another human is a complicated introspection for most people. Then there are others who don’t even consider the value or even a difference in perspective. Luigi is not some psychopath. Allegedly, he deliberately chose impact at the highest level he could. The representation of a broken and predatory system. It’s not ok that faceless entities who aren’t doctors can choose the life and death choices over the recommendations of doctors.

      • VitoRobles@lemmy.today
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        21
        ·
        4 months ago

        Yep. He didn’t do anything. Innocent into proven guilty.

        If you want to be accurate, he was the primary suspect of the CEO shooting.

    • sadicarnot@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      4 months ago

      That is what gets me, all these people who need guns and such to feel strong and tough. The pirates did that. The purpose of the Jolly Roger was to instill fear, but ultimately they wanted the other ship to surrender quickly and without a fight. Pirates were all about show to make victims be afraid of them. But ultimately they were just men in poor health.

  • vane@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    58
    ·
    edit-2
    4 months ago

    Given the success He should start his Presidental run right now. ( I want at least to see this movie )

    • itspatato@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      32
      ·
      4 months ago

      A president once said “ I could shoot someone on fifth Ave. and not lose any votes”

    • SleepyBear@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      4 months ago

      Ya know, a certain citizen gone president recently employed the tactic to avoid persecution for his crimes… Can we drag the Mangione case another 3 ish years so Luigi can declare for presidency? Then (based on precedent) his case has to stall until after the election.

  • Etterra@discuss.online
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    45
    ·
    4 months ago

    These government gooners literally cannot comprehend why people live this guy and hate them. It’d be funny if it wasn’t so irritating that these are the assholes in charge.

      • null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        4 months ago

        I agree. Lemmy seems unable to grasp this. He looks like a super nice, ordinary guy that you’d like to hang out with.

        He probably is, but what about all the other people who don’t look like him? No one talks about jury nullification for their cases.

          • null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            4 months ago

            That’s pretty much what I meant.

            The core criticism of Jury Nullification is that it’s dependent on the jury’s feelings towards the defendant.

            12 people might agree that Luigi shouldn’t be punished regardless of what the law says, but is that just as likely to happen for someone who’s ugly, or from a minority, or even just socially awkward?