Exclusive | Insurance industry leaned on DOJ to take Luigi Mangione case as deterrent against copycat killers: sources

Health insurance industry leaders leaned on the US Department of Justice to prosecute accused UnitedHealthcare CEO assassin Luigi Mangione — arguing a federal case against the twisted folk hero would act as a deterrent for possible copycat vigilante killers, sources said Friday.The feds swooped in with a four-count complaint against Mangione in the cold-blooded killing of Brian Thompson Thursday — scuttling Manhattan prosecutors’ hope of getting the first bite at the 26-year-old Ivy Leaguer in the courtroom.Mangione instead faced a judge in Manhattan federal court following his dramatic arrival in the Big Apple — blindsiding his defense attorneys.Sources told The Post that the federal charges came amid pressure from health insurance industry leaders to make an example out of Mangione, though it was unclear which specific entities petitioned the DOJ.A federal prosecution could be inherently harsher than the parallel state case leveled by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for one simple reason: only the feds can put the death penalty on the table.“They have the ultimate leverage,” veteran defense attorney Mark Bederow told The Post.How the feds with the Southern District of New York made their decision to charge and haul Mangione to court before Bragg remained unclear, although one source told The Post that it came from the top of the DOJ in Washington, DC.Regardless, the federal charges shocked Mangione’s defense team, who learned about them from reading The Post Wednesday evening.When Mangione’s attorney Marc Agnifilo arrived at Manhattan federal court for the hearing Thursday, he did so minutes after reporters were able to read the freshly unsealed complaint.“Please, let me take a look at the complaint first,” he quipped to a group of reporters flinging questions.Mangione’s lead attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo, who is Marc Agnifilo’s wife, was prepared that day to go to the state Manhattan Supreme Court case after the accused killer�...