An eerie public show of support for Luigi Mangione outside New York Supreme Court on Monday drew comparisons to The Manson Family.
A few dozen masked young women swayed and sang as the alleged UnitedHealthare CEO killer pleaded not guilty plea on terrorism charges.
The 26-year-old sported a collared shirt, maroon sweater and orange shoes as he leaned over to a microphone to enter his plea.
During his court appearance, he smiled at times when talking with his attorneys and stretched his right hand after an officer removed his cuffs.
Mangione was seen at the court without any family members accompanying him. However, a report mentioned that around 24 female supporters managed to secure seats in the courtroom galley.
The scene outside the court was reminiscent of Charles Manson’s cult followers from the 1960s. Several supporters, around a few dozen, wore masks while chanting ‘Free Luigi’ amidst the sound of a trumpet playing loudly.
Some even were seen visibly singing, as a few masked Mangione fans sang ‘The Hanging Tree’ from the film series The Hunger Games.
The song’s lyrics include a repeated line: ‘They strung up a man/They say who murdered three.’
Natalie Monarrez, a 55-year-old resident of Staten Island, explained that she participated in the demonstration because she had suffered losses. She revealed that she lost both her mother and life savings due to denied insurance claims.
‘As extreme as it was, it jolted the conversation that we need to deal with this issue,’ she said of the shooting. ‘Enough is enough, people are fed up.’
The fandom led many to compare the women present to the members of The Manson Family.
Manson led a cult of around one hundred disaffected young people in the 1960s, which he named the Manson Family, and dispatched his followers to murder Los Angeles’ rich and famous in 1969.
The notorious Manson Family were convicted for nine murders after embarking on the killing spree that terrorized the city fifty years ago.
Members of the Manson Family stabbed, beat and shot young actress Sharon Tate, who was heavily pregnant, to death at her Hollywood Hills home on August 8 1969.
They also killed her friends, celebrity hairstylist Jay Sebring, coffee heiress Abigail Folger, aspiring screenwriter Wojciech Frykowski and teenager Steven Parent, who had been visiting an acquaintance at the estate’s guesthouse.
The next night Manson and some of his followers struck again, this time murdering wealthy grocer Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary at their home.
Manson and his followers also killed musician Gary Hinman and Hollywood stuntman Donald ‘Shorty’ Shea.
Experts have since speculated that the group could have been responsible for more unsolved murders.
Despite the gruesome allegations, legions of fans have also flocked to Mangione’s defense.
Those who support this modern-day murderer Mangione see him as a vigilante-style hero, who allegedly took drastic action to send a message to the healthcare industry.
Thompson’s slaying ignited scrutiny of the sector after bullet casings inscribed with the words, ‘deny’, ‘defend’ and ‘depose’ were found at the scene.
The messages bear similarity to a book by Jay M Feinman entitled, ‘Delay, Defend, Deny: Why insurance company don’t pay claims, and what you can do about it’, which discusses the insurance industry’s allegedly unethical practice of delaying and denying legitimate claims.
Meanwhile, other ghoulish fans have been fixating on the suspect’s good looks.
He has been flooded with support, including by donors keen to fundraise for his legal defense.
Mangione’s followers watched Monday as attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo urged the judge to ensure her client gets a fair trial as she warned Mangione is being prejudiced by statements made by government officials.
She added that he was being used a ‘political fodder’ by the ‘warring’ jurisdictions involved in the case, as she slammed the showy perp walk he has been subjected to as ‘unconstitutional’.
Agnifilo also took aim at New York City mayor Eric Adams and questioned why he was present at a press conference about the case.
The Manhattan district attorney formally charged Mangione last week with multiple counts of murder, including murder as an act of terrorism.
His initial appearance in New York state’s trial court was preempted by federal prosecutors bringing their own charges over the shooting.
The federal charges could carry the possibility of the death penalty, while the maximum sentence for the state charges is life in prison without parole.
Prosecutors have said the two cases will proceed on parallel tracks, with the state charges expected to go to trial first.
Authorities say Mangione gunned down Brian Thompson as he was walking to an investor conference in midtown Manhattan on the morning of December 4.
Mangione was arrested in a Pennsylvania McDonald´s after a five-day search, carrying a gun that matched the one used in the shooting and a fake ID, police said.
He also was carrying a notebook expressing hostility toward the health insurance industry and especially wealthy executives, according to federal prosecutors.
At a news conference announcing the state charges last Tuesday, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg said the application of the terrorism law reflected the severity of a ‘frightening, well-planned, targeted murder that was intended to cause shock and attention and intimidation.’
‘In its most basic terms, this was a killing that was intended to evoke terror,’ he added. ‘And we´ve seen that reaction.’
Karen Friedman Agnifilo, an attorney for Mangione, has accused federal and state prosecutors of advancing conflicting legal theories. In federal court last week, she called their approach ‘very confusing’ and ‘highly unusual.’
