A friend of Luigi Mangione has provided deeper insight into the alleged killer’s political views and what might have radicalized him.
Gurwinder Bhogal, a UK-based writer, told DailyMail.com that Mangione was “anti-woke” and expressed deep envy of the UK’s nationalized healthcare system.
Bhogal, who lives in Birmingham, England, suggested that Mangione, charged in the shooting death of health insurance CEO Brian Thompson, may have been radicalized by what he read on social media.
“Luigi sent me a direct message on Twitter on June 10, asking me to show him how to curate his social media feeds,” she told DailyMail.com.
“I forgot to talk to him again, and part of me wonders if I had helped him find good sources of information sooner, if he would still have allegedly shot the CEO.”
The pair began talking when Mangione, 26, became interested in Bhogal’s blog about politics and “the digital age” called The Prism, and approached him on X.
Bhogal said they exchanged more than a dozen emails, seen by DailyMail.com, before sharing a two-hour video conference while Mangione was traveling in Japan.
“He was left-wing in some things and right-wing in others,” Bhogal recalled. ‘For example, I was for equal opportunities, but against wokeness: for example, against DEI policy (and) against identity.
Luigi Mangione’s friend has provided deeper insight into the alleged killer’s political views and what might have radicalized him. (Pictured: Mangione arriving at his extradition hearing at the Blair County Courthouse in Pennsylvania on Tuesday afternoon)
Gurwinder Bhogal (pictured), a UK-based writer, told DailyMail.com that Mangione was “anti-woke” and expressed deep envy of the UK’s nationalized healthcare system.
Mangione has been accused of shooting Brian Thompson at point-blank range in New York
‘He opposed wokeness because he didn’t believe it was an effective way to help minorities.
“He expressed interest in more rational, evidence-based forms of compassion, such as effective altruism.”
“We briefly address the differences between the UK and US healthcare systems,” Bhogal added.
“Luigi complained about how expensive healthcare was in the US and expressed his envy of the UK’s nationalized healthcare system.”
Bhogal said they also talked about Ted Kaczynski, the ‘Unabomber’ who used terrorism to campaign against modern technology. Mangione had previously appeared praising Kaczynski on Goodreads.
“Luigi disapproved of the Unabomber’s actions, but was fascinated by his ideology and shared his concerns about rampant consumerism that was gradually eroding our agency and distancing us from ourselves,” Bhogal said.
‘He expressed fears about smartphone addiction. Luigi asked me how to maximize agency in a world that constantly tries to deprive us of it, so we discussed that too.
“Overall, the impression I had of him, in addition to his curiosity and kindness, was a deep concern for the future of humanity and a determination to improve himself and the world.”
Mangione is accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson at point-blank range on December 5
Luigi Mangione, 26, was arrested Monday afternoon on firearms charges.
Bhogal said his prevailing impression of Mangione was that he was “one of the kindest people I’ve ever met,” and that he even bought him a subscription to Readwise Reader, an app designed to help users retain more information from books.
The writer said he was “bewildered” when his friend was charged with the shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on Monday.
“He was so thoughtful and polite that he seemed like the last person you would suspect of murdering anyone,” Bhogal told DailyMail.com.
Mangione, an Ivy League engineering graduate, was arrested Monday morning moments after eating a hash brown at a McDonald’s in Altoona, PA.
Police closed in on the suspected killer after a restaurant employee recognized him from surveillance footage the NYPD shared online in the wake of the Midtown Manhattan shooting.
He was later charged with second-degree murder in the killing of Thompson, 50, shortly before 7 a.m. Wednesday outside the Hilton hotel, where the executive was scheduled to give a speech to fund the heavyweights. that same day.
Police closed in on the suspected killer after a restaurant employee recognized him from surveillance footage the NYPD shared online in the wake of the Midtown Manhattan shooting.
Mangione appears to have led police on a 280-mile search from New York City’s 6th Avenue to the small Pennsylvania town of Altoona, about 100 miles east of Pittsburgh.
He reportedly gave police a fake ID when they began questioning him.
He was located by staff members at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
The suspect was stopped at 86th Street and Columbus Avenue two minutes after leaving Central Park on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.
He left a trail of overt clues about his motive, including ammunition engraved with the words “delay,” “deny” and “depose” and a bag of money from the board game Monopoly in his backpack left in Central Park.
Officials believe the bullet etchings refer to the “three D’s of insurance,” tactics used by American insurance giants to deny patient claims.
This motive appeared to be even more clearly outlined in a handwritten manifesto that police confiscated from Mangione during his arrest on Monday, which NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said expressed “ill will toward corporate Americans.”
“To the feds, I will be brief, because I respect what you do for our country,” Mangione wrote in the three-page document. “To save you a long investigation, I clearly state that I was not working with anyone.”
“I apologize for any conflict or trauma, but it had to be done,” Mangione added in the document. “Frankly, these parasites just had it coming.”
Mangione also allegedly had a ghost gun believed to be the rare World War II-era inspired 9mm pistol used in Thompson’s murder. which, the New York Post reported, was a Swiss-made Brugger & Thomet VP9 and a silencer.
He was denied bail and was not represented by an attorney during his arraignment in Blair County Court in Pennsylvania on Monday night. Mangione will next appear in court in New York at a later date.