A D.C. bar is hosting an event Monday for patrons to write love letters to Luigi Mangione, the man charged with murder in the shooting death of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO in New York City last year.
Mr. Mangione, 26, has become a cult hero and heartthrob for those upset with the nation’s health care system. Snappy’s Small Bar in Petworth announced the event for lovesick patrons yearning to connect with Mr. Mangione while he is locked up in a federal prison in Brooklyn. Mr. Mangione, an Ivy League graduate who comes from a prominent Baltimore family, is facing terrorism-related murder and a litany of other charges in the Dec. 4 slaying of UHC executive Brian Thompson.
“We are going to get out our best stationary so you can pen down some lusty sentences, but don’t go throwing the book at him. Yeah that’s correct we are gonna mail your love letters to Luigi!” Snappy’s wrote on Instagram about the Valentine’s Day-themed event. “We have seen your out cries on the walls of the snoopy bathroom to liberate your sweet little alleged assassin from right outside of charm city and we want to make a safe space for you to get your lead out and make your feelings known.” In honor of Mr. Mangione’s Italian roots, the bar will offer a supersized version of its Spaghetti house cocktail for Monday night only.
The Washington Times contacted Snappy’s for comment about the event.
Social media confessionals about sending the accused killer letters — and how it makes the authors’ hearts go pitter-patter — became a trend in the weeks Mr. Mangione’s his arrest. “Honestly, it feels cathartic and sexy to want to do something and then do it — I mean writing a letter,” one TikTok user said in a video posted late last year, according to the New York Post. “Even the act of just mailing something, mailing your words in the mailbox, mmph!” Another TikTok user told the newspaper she finds Mr. Mangione “fine” and that he “didnt really do anything wrong [to be honest].”
“Killing someone that has taken thousands of people’s lives himself is not wrong [in my opinion],” she told the New York Post.
Being considered a hunk helped elevate Mr. Mangione into a cultlike figure in some activist circles, where his biggest fans view the health care industry as predatory and unsupportive of people needing treatment. The words “deny,” “defend” and “depose” were written on three bullet casings found at the scene of Thompson’s killing. They are thought to refer to common phrases insurance companies use to refuse claims. Mr. Mangione’s alleged manifesto also railed against rising costs but poorer health outcomes.
“A reminder: the US has the #1 most expensive healthcare system in the world, yet we rank roughly #42 in life expectancy. United is the [indecipherable] largest company in the US by market cap, behind only Apple, Google, Walmart. It has grown and grown, but as our life expectancy? No,” Mr. Mangione allegedly wrote.
The manifesto said health care companies “have simply gotten too powerful, and they continue to abuse our country for immense profit because the American public has allwed them to get away with it.”
An online campaign has raised nearly $295,000 for Mr. Mangione’s legal defense. The fundraiser aims to raise half a million dollars.
An intensive, multistate manhunt for Thompson’s killer ended when Mr. Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s in central Pennsylvania. Police said Mr. Mangione had the murder weapon, a fake ID he used to check into a hostel in New York City and the manifesto when he was arrested. Investigators later matched his DNA with samples taken at the crime scene.
Thompson, 50, left behind his wife and two children.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.