Social media users are suggesting that suspected assassin Luigi Mangione attempted to communicate secret messages to the public as he was being transferred to New York City from Pennsylvania.
Upon his arrival in Manhattan on Thursday for his arraignment in the case of UnitedHeathcare CEO Brian Thompson’s murder, Mangione was observed repeatedly pressing his tongue against his cheek throughout the day.
Although it is likely just a nervous tic, this action has led to speculation online that Mangione may have been trying to convey a message to his supporters, as various social media platforms are being inundated with unusual praises for the accused murderer.
One X user wrote: ‘Luigi, pushing his tongue against his cheek means “contempt”! Which Means DISRESPECT! He sent a signal to ALL!’
Another person on the discussion website called datalounge agreed, claiming Mangione was ‘showing his tongue up into his upper cheek. Wisdom tooth pain or secret terrorist signal?’
According to Vocabulary.com, the phrase ‘tongue-in-cheek’ describes an ‘exaggerated facial feature meant to convey contempt or irony.’
The 26-year-old was taken directly to the airport to board a private plane that flew to New York. He was switched to a helicopter and flown to Manhattan to face murder charges after he waived extradition.
Mangione was received at a downtown NYC helipad by dozens of armed NYPD officers as well as mayor Eric Adams and police commissioner Jessica Tisch.
He has been charged with the December 4 murder Thompson in midtown Manhattan. Around 700 people were tracking the flight path online.
Mangione was seen being escorted into the aircraft at an airport in Martinsburg by several NYPD officers shortly after leaving the Pennsylvania court.
Fans with placards flocked to see the alleged killer whose good looks have made him a pin-up for some internet users, outraging many others appalled by Mangione’s alleged crimes.
The alleged murderer waived a preliminary hearing on the Pennsylvania forgery and gun charges in exchange for the prosecutor giving him a 20-page investigative report from the Altoona Police Department. Mangione also agreed to be extradited to New York.
Earlier this week, he was indicted on charges of murder as an act of terrorism, under a NY state law that allows for stiffer sentences when a killing is aimed at terrifying civilians or influencing government.
NYPD officers were present in court for the extradition hearing, ready to take the suspect back to NYC. CNN has reported that Mangione will be flown to the city later on Thursday.
Mangione, who appeared to have also had a haircut since his last public appearance, left the Pennsylvania court in a black SUV with NY plates shortly after 10amEST.
Dozens of protesters showed up to court to support Mangione in a bizarre continuation of a public fixation with the alleged killer. They held signs with messages such as ‘Health insurance practices terrorize people!’ and ‘Death by denial is murder!’
At least two of them were dressed as Luigi from the Super Mario Bros video game.
Several TikTok users shared on the platform that they had driven as much as six hours to attend the court appearance.
Some reportedly flew in from as far as California to support the alleged assassin.
Mangione could appear in state court for arraignment Thursday afternoon or Friday.
In a court filing last week, Mangione defense attorney Tom Dickey argued prosecutors hadn’t shown there’s sufficient evidence to hold Mangione, that he was in New York when Thompson was killed or that he is a fugitive from justice.
Mangione, of Towson, Maryland, was arrested on December 9 when police were called to a McDonald’s restaurant on a commercial strip in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after he was reported to match the description of Thompson’s killer.
Thompson was gunned down on the street as he walked to the hotel where his Minnesota-based company was holding an investor conference.
The shooting was captured on security video, but the suspect eluded police before Mangione was captured about 277 miles (446 kilometers) west of New York.
Authorities say Mangione was carrying the gun used to kill Thompson, a passport, a fake ID and about $10,000 in U.S. and foreign currency.
His lawyer, Dickey, has questioned the evidence for the forgery charge and the legal basis for a gun charge. He had previously indicated Mangione would fight extradition to New York while being held in a Pennsylvania state prison.
Mangione, an Ivy League computer science graduate from a prominent family, was carrying a handwritten letter that called health insurance companies ‘parasitic’ and complained about corporate greed, according to a law enforcement bulletin obtained by The Associated Press last week.
Mangione had an outburst last week as he entered court, yelling at reporters for being ‘completely out of touch and an insult to the intelligence of the American people and their lived experience!’
The outburst occurred after someone asked the Ivy League graduate if he ‘did it,’ referencing Brian Thompson’s murder, per the Wall Street Journal.
He also shouted out ‘this is completely unjust and an insult to the American people’ as he wrestled with police officers while shackled and in prison attire.
