Sean ‘Diddy‘ Comb’s attorney Marc Agnifilo has joined the defense team of alleged assassin Luigi Mangione, in a bizarre overlap of two the nation’s most famous ongoing criminal cases.
Mangione landed in Manhattan on Thursday to be arraigned for the murder of UnitedHeathcare CEO Brian Thompson, and Agnifilo was one of the attorneys waiting to represent him in court.
The alleged killer of Unitedhealthcare CEO Brian Thompson had already retained Agnifilo’s wife, former Manhattan Chief Assistant District Attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo.
But it was a surprise when Marc Agnifilo was also spotted walking into the Manhattan federal court where Mangione was arraigned on Thursday.
The power couple reportedly met with Mangione before his arraignment, where he was charged with federal crimes of murder, stalking and weapons violations, escalating the case after his indictment on state charges.
They also drove to see Mangione in jail in Pennsylvania earlier this week.
Marc Agnifilo has worked for various high-profile defendants including cult leader Keith Raniere and ‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli.
Mangione was taken on a private plane from Pennsylvania to New York after he waived extradition in a hearing in Pennsylvania. He was then switched to a helicopter and flown to downtown Manhattan to be indicted for murder charges.
He has since been ordered held in custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn – the same facility where Diddy is awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
The newly unsealed federal indictment against Mangione includes more details of the notes police say they found on his notebook when he was arrested last week – including his desire to ‘wack’ the CEO of an insurance company.
Mangione repeatedly wrote about his disdain for the health insurance industry and its executives, per prosecutors. In an entry from August 15, Mangione allegedly wrote how ‘the details are finally coming together’ and that ‘the target is insurance’ because’ it checks every box.’
On October 22, Mangione allegedly wrote: ‘1.5 months. This investor conference is a true windfall… and – most importantly – the message becomes self evident.’ In the same entry, Mangione describes his intent to ‘wack’ the CEO of an insurance company.
Mangione appeared in Manhattan court wearing street clothes — a white button-down shirt, navy three-quarter zip pullover and khaki pants. He had no shackles on his hand but there were shackles around his ankles.
He has not yet entered a plea.
In addition to separate state charges in New York and Pennsylvania, Mangione faces federal charges of murder through use of a firearm, stalking and a firearms offense, according to the complaint.
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.
One of the federal charges against Mangione, murder by firearm, could bring the possibility of the death penalty, though prosecutors have not said whether they will seek it.
Earlier on Thursday, fans with placards in Pennsylvania 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.
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.
In a court filing last week, Mangione’s Pennsylvania 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.
