Independent journalist Ken Klippenstein released a copy of Luigi Mangione’s “manifesto” on Tuesday, saying it’s a verified version of the real thing ― as opposed to one of the more convincing fakes to surface after the 26-year-old was arrested Monday as a suspect in the fatal shooting of health care CEO Brian Thompson.
New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Monday that Mangione had the three-page document on him at the time of his arrest.
The document, apparently written by hand, is addressed “to the Feds” and at times borders on contrition. It’s unclear when it was written.
“I do apologize for any strife of traumas but it had to be done,” the document reads after its author first expresses respect for law enforcement. “Frankly, these parasites simply had it coming.”
The document then launches into a critique of the U.S. health care system and the growing power of corporations at public expense. Mangione has chronic pain as a result of a back injury, an acquaintance told the Honolulu Civil Beat.
“The US has the #1 most expensive healthcare system in the world, yet we rank roughly #42 in life expectancy,” the manifesto adds.
“The reality is, these [indecipherable] have simply gotten too powerful, and they continue to abuse our country for immense profit because the American public has allowed them to get away with it.”
After acknowledging the complexity of the issue, the author suggests that decades of public inaction compelled him to respond with violence.
“It is not an issue of awareness at this point, but clearly power games at play,” he concludes. “Evidently I am the first to face it with such brutal honesty.”
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Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was shot to death early last Wednesday in Manhattan. Law enforcement spent the following days searching for his killer across multiple states.