Luigi Mangione appears in court in April 2025
Luigi Mangione is reportedly working as a shower cleaner in the New York federal prison where he is being held on suspicion of murder.
The 28-year-old is accused of shooting and killing Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, at point-blank range last December in a protest against the US healthcare system.
Despite the charges against him – 15 in total – Mangione has engendered significant support from sections of the public, both for his supposed motive and his attractiveness – the latter resulting in him receiving thousands of letters from fans.
In a clip since deleted from social media, a young man named Michael Daddea recalled becoming friends with Mangione while they were in the same unit of the prison .
“I go up and I go to shake Luigi’s hand, I’m like, ‘Yo, it’s an honour to meet you”… He turns around and he goes to me, ‘You two are the first kids that came in here who knew who I was or even cared about it’.”
Daddea went on to claim that Mangione had become a “collie”, a term used to describe a prisoner who has a job while inside.
“So a collie could be like a unit boss that tells you what cell you’re going to,” he said. “Luigi just happened to be a collie that cleans the showers.”
Mangione’s trial is expected to begin at some point in 2026.
