Man posed as FBI agent in try to interrupt Luigi Mangione from jail, police say | EUROtoday

A person falsely claiming to be an FBI agent informed officers at a New York City federal jail on Wednesday that he had court docket orders to launch Luigi Mangione, authorities stated.

Mark Anderson, 36, from Mankato, Minnesota, was arrested and charged with impersonating an FBI agent in an try to free Mangione on the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. Mangione is awaiting state and federal homicide trials within the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

The prison grievance in opposition to Anderson didn’t title the inmate, however a regulation enforcement official confirmed it was Mangione. The official spoke on situation of anonymity.

Anderson is predicted to seem in Brooklyn federal court docket on Thursday. Court information don’t record a lawyer for him, and a message was left for Mangione’s authorized crew searching for remark.

According to the prison grievance, Anderson approached the jail consumption space round 6:50 p.m. Wednesday and informed uniformed jail officers that he was an FBI agent in possession of paperwork “signed by a judge” authorizing the discharge of a particular particular person in custody on the jail.

When the officers requested for his federal credentials, Anderson confirmed the officers a Minnesota driver’s license, threw quite a few paperwork at them and claimed to have weapons, the prison grievance stated. Officers searched Anderson’s bag and located a barbecue fork and a round metal blade which was stated to resemble a small pizza cutter wheel, the grievance stated.

Anderson had traveled to New York from Mankato, about 67 miles (107 kilometers) southwest of Minneapolis, and was working at a pizzeria after one other job alternative fell by, the regulation enforcement official stated.

The try to free Mangione occurred throughout a essential stretch in his authorized instances.

Hours earlier than Anderson’s arrest, the Manhattan district lawyer’s workplace despatched a letter urging the choose in Mangione’s state case, Gregory Carro, to set a July 1 trial date.

On Friday, Mangione will probably be in court docket for a convention in his federal case. The choose in that case, Margaret Garnett, is predicted to rule quickly whether or not prosecutors can search the loss of life penalty and whether or not they can use sure proof in opposition to him.

Last week, Garnett scheduled jury choice within the federal case for Sept. 8, with the remainder of the trial occurring in October or January, relying on whether or not she permits prosecutors to hunt the loss of life penalty.

Mangione has pleaded not responsible in each instances. The state fees carry the potential of life in jail.

A trigger célèbre for individuals upset with the medical health insurance business, Mangione has attracted legions of supporters, a few of whom have repeatedly turned up at his court docket appearances. Some have donned inexperienced clothes, the colour worn by the Mario Bros. online game character Luigi, as an emblem of solidarity, and a few have introduced indicators and shirts with slogans akin to “Free Luigi” and “No Death For Luigi Mangione.”

Thompson, 50, was killed on Dec. 4, 2024, as he walked to a midtown Manhattan lodge for UnitedHealth Group’s annual investor convention. Surveillance video confirmed a masked gunman capturing him from behind. Police say “delay,” “deny” and “depose” had been written on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase used to explain how insurers keep away from paying claims.

Mangione, a 27-year-old Ivy League graduate from a rich Maryland household, was arrested 5 days later at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of Manhattan.

After a number of days of court docket proceedings in Pennsylvania, Mangione was whisked to New York and despatched to the Metropolitan Detention Center.

The jail can also be house to former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his spouse, Cilia Flores, who’re going through drug trafficking fees. Its former inmates embrace hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs and cryptocurrency fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried.