Idolising Killers – Whatever Next?
United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot in New York on December 4, 2024. Instead of being condemned, the suspected killer became an internet sensation in the months following the incident. Could good looks be a lifesaver?
Good Looks Pay Well
There are perhaps only a few people who haven’t heard the name Luigi Mangione after he was named the prime suspect in the fatal shooting of CEO and businessman Brian Thompson. Found by police after making a quick stop for a much-needed McDonalds meal, Mangione is now facing state and federal charges, including first-degree murder in furtherance of terrorism, illegal weapon possession, and using a firearm to commit murder. The final charge carries a maximum penalty of death if a carefully selected jury finds him guilty.
However, despite these charges, Mangione seems to have won over some who were eager to take to social media, praising his looks and features. In the weeks after the murder, there was an endless array of edits and videos of the suspect, turning him into a ‘sex symbol’ and citing his ‘smile, physique and charisma’. This has enabled him to become a kind of ‘folk hero’ by making a connection between his desirable features and the apparent legitimacy of his actions. This phenomenon is best explained by the ‘halo effect’ and has since earned Mangione over $300,000 to spend on legal fees.
A Hero Emerges
The halo effect is a cognitive bias, where the positive perception of a person’s traits and characteristics will influence our judgment of their other qualities. In Mangione’s case, he was not only praised for his looks but also for his educational background. He comes from a family with several successful business ventures, he was valedictorian when graduating from a private secondary school in Baltimore and has a degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 2020. So not the typical suspect in a murder trial. However, these factors turn a cold-blooded killer into a hero who dares to take on one of the vultures exploiting the US healthcare system.
According to Dr Paul Kooistra, these ‘heroic criminals’ often emerge in times of widespread disillusionment with institutions. Thus, in this case, Mangione can ride the wave of general dissatisfaction with the privatised healthcare system in the US. In a climate where people pay thousands of dollars monthly for health insurance and tens of thousands for routine surgeries, Mangione was able to present his crime as one of ‘innovation’ – pursuing an illegal route where legitimate ones seem to be inaccessible. However, was murder the only solution? The US healthcare system has been described (quite fittingly) as Hydra, where if one head is cut off, two will grow in its place. Believing that the murder of a husband and father in cold blood is the only way of amplifying concerns over the US healthcare system is misguided and points towards a deeply desperate and disillusioned society.
Celebrity Felons’ Archetype
Another important factor to consider when examining the halo effect in Mangione’s case is that he is a white, tall, brown-haired, educated, well-off citizen. We must ask ourselves: if Mangione was considered unattractive based on conventional social standards, or if he was Black or Latino, would he be receiving the same kind of attention? There is evidence to show that news outlets often portray high-profile white male perpetrators more favourably as opposed to Black men. While there is often a search for complex motivations in the case of white criminals, there is no such consideration when talking about suspects of colour. In addition, aside from accounts from inside the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) indicating Mangione is being treated more favourably, his arrest also transpired without incident, whereas the arrest of Black suspects is statistically more likely to result in their murder.
Mangione is not the first ‘lucky’ criminal to be obsessed over by society. Ted Bundy, for example (the notorious serial killer found to have committed the murders of 30 women), was subject to sympathy and support for similar reasons as Mangione. A more recent example is the case of the Menendez brothers, who were crowned ‘America’s top celebrity felons’ by a satirical and scornful Forbes journalist. The Menendez brothers shot and killed their parents in 1989 and later claimed they had suffered years of sexual abuse. When examined more closely, there are several similarities between their case and that of Mangione. They, too, are white, were raised in a family of businessmen, and attended outstanding schools, gaining a high-quality education. To no one’s surprise, they too have been paraded around by the media for years, their popularity re-surging in the age of TikTok, where the ‘Menendez Movement’ has produced numerous edits and videos of their trials and other appearances.
What Next?
Mangione appeared in court on February 21, for a hearing lasting less than 30 minutes. On this occasion, his defence attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilo again highlighted the argument that Mangione’s right to a fair trial is being continuously impeded (a topic that is becoming a running theme of the trial).
Agnifilo also accused the police department of not handing over crucial evidence, which is in turn frustrating defence counsel’s ability to review information and draft motions.
The judge has set the deadline of April 9 for the submission of pre-trial motions, but a court date for the next hearing has not yet been discussed (at the time of writing). Therefore, only time will tell whether Mangione’s good looks, by sheer fortune, will be enough to sway the jury and save him from the death sentence.
By Laura Finch
