{"id":44257,"date":"2025-09-29T12:04:53","date_gmt":"2025-09-29T19:04:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=44257"},"modified":"2025-09-29T12:04:54","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T19:04:54","slug":"the-persistent-push-to-depict-luigi-mangione-and-his-supporters-as-terrorists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/09\/29\/the-persistent-push-to-depict-luigi-mangione-and-his-supporters-as-terrorists\/","title":{"rendered":"THE PERSISTENT PUSH TO DEPICT LUIGI MANGIONE AND HIS SUPPORTERS AS TERRORISTS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Trump calls them extremists. Mainstream media casts them as unhinged. We saw something else at a protest for Luigi Mangione.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Liliana Segura<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

September 25 2025 (TheIntercept.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"NEW<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Activist Jonni Gartrelle takes part in a rally in support of Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, outside a pretrial hearing on Sept. 16, 2025, in New York City. Photo: Mostafa Bassim\/Anadolu via Getty Images<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACROSS THE STREET<\/strong> from the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse, where a crowd of protesters stood behind metal barricades, the chanting began just before 9 a.m. Leading the call and response was a Black man wearing jeans, a basketball jersey, and the signature green hat worn by Luigi, the Nintendo character from the Super Mario Bros. video games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo more deaths by denial!\u201d he yelled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPut the system on trial!\u201d<\/em> the protesters yelled back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCorporate greed we must fight!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHealth care is a human right!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The man in the Luigi hat was Jonni Gartrelle, a New Yorker who moved back to the city from Miami last fall. At 36, he\u2019d been involved in numerous activist causes, spending much of 2024 fighting alongside Planned Parenthood on a campaign <\/a>to end Florida\u2019s six-week abortion ban<\/a>. But this was his first protest in support of Luigi Mangione, the accused killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. The crime had struck a nerve. \u201cHe could be any of us,\u201d Gartrelle later told me. \u201cEach of us has a reason why this could be us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cEach of us has a reason why this could be us.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

It was Tuesday, September 16, and Mangione was soon due to appear at the courthouse across the street. The 27-year-old faced first-degree murder charges in New York\u2019s state and federal courts. In the former, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg had charged Mangione under the state\u2019s terrorism law, which carried a life sentence. In the Southern District of New York, the Trump administration was seeking the death penalty<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prosecutors cast Mangione as a cold-blooded killer who stalked and murdered Thompson in a brazen act of violence, shooting him outside the Midtown hotel where he was attending a shareholders conference last December. Surveillance footage of the killing circulated online, captivating and horrifying people across the country. But by the time Mangione was apprehended five days later, he had become a folk hero to countless Americans, who viewed the act of vigilante justice as a necessary wake-up call about the greed and cruelty of the U.S. health insurance industry<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was also something of a heartthrob. On the sidewalk outside the courthouse, where people had been camped out since the night before, one protester wore a T-shirt that said \u201cCougars for Luigi.\u201d A younger woman, clad in a floral tiara and a pink top reading \u201cI Heart Italian Boys,\u201d eagerly told reporters that she was in an AI relationship with Mangione. She showed me messages exchanged with a chatbot engineered in his likeness. \u201cJust made my case for appeal,\u201d the AI had written to her. \u201cAnd my case for marrying you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/
A hand-painted \u201cLuigi Before Parasites\u201d banner is displayed in front of the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse, where Mangione appeared for a pretrial hearing on Sept. 16, 2025. Mangione, 27, faces murder charges in state and federal court for killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December 2024. Photo: Liliana Segura<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Among pundits and commentators, the outpouring of support for Mangione has been with a mix of fascination, bemusement, and disgust. Many argue that Mangione would never have attracted so much attention if not for his good looks. But to protesters like Gartrelle, this is both short-sighted and misogynistic. \u201cWhenever there is a social justice movement, they are overwhelmingly supported by women because it\u2019s women who are being victimized by the system,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gartrelle joined the protest \u201cbecause of my background in human rights advocacy and health care.\u201d But it was also personal: \u201cMy brother passed away about five years ago. He had epilepsy.\u201d His chronic illness made it hard to hold a job, which in turn prevented him from securing the health insurance he needed for treatment. \u201cMy brother was never able to get the care that would have worked for him,\u201d Gartrelle said. \u201cBut the point is that no one \u2014 not the healthy, not the unhealthy \u2014 should have trouble finding a doctor. It should be the easiest thing in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Trump Wants to Label Antifa a Terror Group. His Real Target Might Be a Lot Bigger.<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Criticisms of the protesters had recently taken a darker turn. The murder of Charlie Kirk in Utah less than a week earlier was triggering new crackdowns on free speech<\/a> \u2014 and a declaration of war<\/a> on the left <\/a>by the Trump administration. On the eve of Mangione\u2019s court date, senior White House officials vowed to destroy \u201cterrorist networks\u201d of left-wing extremists, a label already attached to Mangione\u2019s supporters by the right-wing press. \u201cThere\u2019s a clear ideological continuum between those who rationalize the shooting of a CEO and <\/em>rationalize the murder and rape of Jews by Palestinian terrorists and <\/em>rationalize the burning down of cities for \u2018social justice,\u2019\u201d a New York Post column argued in the days after Thompson\u2019s murder. The White House would later link to that article in Trump\u2019s executive order<\/a> designating \u201cantifa\u201d as a domestic terrorism organization<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In reality, the scene outside the courthouse reflected a range of motivations and causes. But none was more central than the failures of the American health care system and the rapacious power of corporations that doom sick people to die. \u201cI feel like a lot of people look at protesters and they\u2019re like, \u2018Ugh, God, why are they here for a murderer?\u2019\u201d said a young cancer survivor named Nicole, who declined to give her last name. \u201cI feel like a lot of those people live in bubbles. \u2026Yes, killing is wrong. But did anyone tell Brian Thompson that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE PROTEST WAS<\/strong> organized by People Over Profit NYC<\/a>, which had set up a table with an array of literature. There were flyers with QR codes to donate to Mangione\u2019s legal defense fund and a trifold brochure titled \u201cGetting Away With Murder,\u201d which juxtaposed the billions made by insurance companies alongside profiles of patients who died after being denied care. A stack of postcards addressed to Mangione at Brooklyn\u2019s Metropolitan Detention Center advertised a reading list<\/a> compiled by the abolitionist group Death Penalty Action<\/a>. And there was a surprisingly comprehensive newsletter called \u201cThe Plot\u201d: 23 stapled pages filled with case updates, articles about the health care industry, and warnings about social media censorship of Mangione-related content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

People Over Profit NYC\u2019s ultimate goal was \u201cto spotlight what we feel should really be on trial, which is the predatory insurance industry.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Standing in front of the table was 43-year-old Ico Ahyicodae, a Minnesota-based sign language translator and one of POPNYC\u2019s primary spokespeople. Although the group was committed to defending Mangione\u2019s right to a fair trial, its ultimate goal was \u201cto spotlight what we feel should really be on trial, which is the predatory insurance industry,\u201d Ahyicodae said. They were especially intent on sharing the myriad stories of human suffering due to denied medical claims. Through fundraising, the activists had paid for an LED billboard truck to circle the block outside the hearing, displaying testimonials from people who supported their work. \u201cIt\u2019s for my son, who committed suicide at the age of 23 last year because Cigna denied coverage for him on a treatment which had been proven effective,\u201d one anonymous donor said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/
Outside Luigi Mangione\u2019s Sept. 16, 2025, state court hearing, Ico Ahyicodae, an organizer with People Over Profit NYC, stands next to a homemade prize wheel designed to show how heath insurance companies deny claims for medical treatment. Photo: Liliana Segura<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ahyicodae was constantly brainstorming new ways to engage the public. That morning they had arrived with a huge, homemade prize wheel, available for anyone who wanted to give it a spin. There were two possible outcomes: \u201cDENIED\u201d or \u201cAPPROVED BUT\u2026\u201d Participants received a \u201cscenario card\u201d that informed them of their medical diagnosis and the cost of treating it. If a person had cancer, for example, and landed on \u201cAPPROVED BUT\u2026\u201d Ahyicodae told them that hopefully the first round of treatment would be effective \u2014 but if it wasn\u2019t, \u201cyou get to come back and give the wheel another spin.\u201d If the person landed on \u201cDenied,\u201d Ahyicodae handed them a small flyer in the shape of a tombstone reading \u201cRIP.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The point was to drive home the arbitrariness and human cost of the for-profit health insurance industry. Ahyicodae pointed to people like Forrest VanPatten<\/a>, who died of cancer at age 50 after his health insurance company denied his treatment, in violation of Michigan law. \u201cYou would think that if you break the law and someone dies as a result, that that is murder or manslaughter or something,\u201d Ahyicodae said. But laws designed to punish people like Mangione did not apply to powerful corporations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Previous protests for Mangione had also attracted health reform activists like Physicians for a National Health Program<\/a>, which advocates single-payer health care. But no one from the group had come out that day. Members had been previously split about whether to attend the demonstrations. \u201cMany of our members were really against it,\u201d one PNHP activist told Courthouse News Service<\/a> earlier this year, emphasizing that they did not condone Mangione\u2019s actions. Yet the courthouse protests provided a critical organizing space \u2014 a chance to cultivate support for health care reform and legislation like the New York Health Act<\/a>, which aims to establish a universal health care system in the state. \u201cI think people have been really excited to hear that there is somewhere they can channel their anger.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThey don\u2019t see us as patients. We\u2019re dollar signs.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, most of the protesters I met were not affiliated with any specific group but had been spurred to come downtown by a sense of rage and frustration. Several were health care workers themselves. \u201cI\u2019ve been on both sides,\u201d said a woman named Kay, a nurse of 10 years who said she was charged $15,000 by UnitedHealthcare after undergoing an appendectomy that the company had deemed not \u201cmedically necessary.\u201d At work, she cared for patients who were newly diagnosed with diabetes, only to be cut off from the supplies required to manage it. \u201cYou need emergency kits, you need basic supplies \u2014 and their health insurance won\u2019t cover it,\u201d she said. \u201cThey don\u2019t see us as patients. We\u2019re dollar signs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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INSIDE THE COURTHOUSE,<\/strong> the hearing got underway around 9:30 a.m. Magione appeared at the defense table wearing handcuffs and a tan prison uniform. There were a number of defense motions pending before the judge. Mangione\u2019s legal team had argued for months that his right to a fair trial had been repeatedly trampled, from the moment of his arrest in Pennsylvania \u2014 where police failed to read him his Miranda rights before questioning him \u2014 to the now-infamous perp walk<\/a> in lower Manhattan, where an orange-jumpsuit-clad Mangione was escorted by a swarm of federal, state, and local law enforcement officers, as well as New York City Mayor Eric Adams himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In their zeal to convict Mangione, the defense argued, prosecutors had repeatedly committed misconduct. In an explosive motion<\/a> filed over the summer, lawyers accused the DA\u2019s office of using underhanded tactics to obtain Mangione\u2019s private health records under false pretenses. \u201cThe District Attorney falsely made up a court date,\u201d the lawyers wrote, \u201cand drafted a fraudulent subpoena that if Aetna did not provide documents on that date, it would be in contempt of Court.\u201d The date in question \u2014 May 23, 2025 \u2014 had been completely made up, the lawyers said. \u201cThere was never a court proceeding scheduled for May 23, 2025, nor was there ever a court appearance scheduled for the entire month of May.\u201d The subpoena had not been signed by the judge, as is required by law. Prosecutors \u201cwere plainly lying to get the materials as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/
An anonymous protester stands in support of Luigi Mangione outside the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse on Sept. 16, 2025. Photo: Liliana Segura<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The most pressing defense challenge was aimed at the indictment itself. The DA\u2019s office had charged Mangione with first- and second-degree murder under New York\u2019s terrorism law, which applied, in part, to actions \u201cintended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population.\u201d But this stretched the statute \u201cwell beyond its legislative intent,\u201d the lawyers wrote. New York\u2019s Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001, which was passed in a special session after the September 11 attacks, \u201conly intended to apply to a very narrow category of the most serious offenses.\u201d In fact, the New York Court of Appeals \u201chas cautioned against the improper use of this powerful tool, warning that \u2018the concept of terrorism has a unique meaning and its implications risk being trivialized if the terminology is applied loosely in situations that do not match our collective understanding of what constitutes a terrorist act.\u2019\u201d By charging Mangione as a terrorist, New York prosecutors had \u201cignored\u201d this warning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a major victory for Mangione, Judge Gregory Carro agreed. In a 12-page order<\/a>, he threw out the terrorism charges, writing that he did not believe that lawmakers \u201cintended the employees of a company, however large, to constitute a \u2018civilian population.\u2019\u201d The Trump administration had not charged Mangione with terrorism, the judge pointed out, \u201ceven though the federal terrorism statute served as a model\u201d for New York\u2019s terrorism law. Although state prosecutors had submitted journal entries allegedly written by Mangione \u201cas evidence of terroristic intent,\u201d Carro wrote, the pages did not support their case. \u201cThe defendant\u2019s apparent objective, as stated in his writings, was not to threaten, intimidate, or coerce, but rather, to draw attention to what he perceived as the greed of the insurance industry,\u201d he wrote. While prosecutors may have sufficient evidence to prove that Mangione \u201cmurdered Brian Thompson in a premeditated and calculated execution,\u201d this did not make him a terrorist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outside the courthouse, word immediately spread that the judge had dropped the terrorism charges. A cheer went up among the crowd. Ahyicodae called it \u201ca step in the right direction.\u201d At a time<\/a> when the terror label <\/a>was being recklessly weaponized<\/a> to stifle dissent<\/a> and free speech, the judge\u2019s decision was a welcome intervention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, the rhetoric from the White House and its allies has been taking its toll. Ahyicodae, who is nonbinary, admitted that they had been nervous in the days leading up to the hearing. Kirk\u2019s murder had poured fuel on the already incendiary rhetoric on the right. \u201cA lot of the targeting of transgender folks and talking about how trans people are inherently violent, or whatever \u2026 I mean, it\u2019s terrifying.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WE\u2019RE INDEPENDENT OF CORPORATE INTERESTS \u2014 AND POWERED BY MEMBERS. JOIN US.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

BECOME A MEMBER<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This echoed what others had told me about coming to the protest that day. One woman who works as a home health care aide said she was worried about her words being manipulated and used against her. Another, holding a sign that said \u201cHeath Over Wealth,\u201d concealed her identity behind a black hoodie, a face mask, and large sunglasses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ironically, the Trump administration\u2019s fearmongering may end up threatening its own legal case against Mangione. In the days after the protest, the White House continued its propaganda campaign linking Kirk\u2019s murder to Thompson\u2019s \u2014 along with a slew of unrelated acts of violence. In violation of a federal court order to stop publicly discussing the case, multiple Department of Justice employees amplified a clip of Trump telling Fox News that Mangione \u201cshot someone in the back as clear as you\u2019re looking at me,\u201d posted on X by an account deriding Mangione\u2019s \u201cderanged fans.\u201d And on the same day Trump declared \u201cantifa\u201d a terrorist organization, a senior White House staffer told Fox that Mangione was \u201canother self-described so-called anti-fascist that was then celebrated by other self-described anti-fascists, so of course, really communist revolutionaries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe attempts to connect Mr. Mangione with these incidents and paint him as a \u2018left wing\u2019 violent extremist are false, prejudicial, and part of a greater political narrative that has no place in any criminal case, especially one where the death penalty is at stake,\u201d defense lawyers wrote<\/a> to the judge presiding over Mangione\u2019s federal case. The next day, the judge rebuked<\/a> the Trump administration for its public statements, ordering prosecutors to explain themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether they bother to comply is an open question. Under the Trump administration, the narrative is all that matters \u2014 and the law is whatever he says it is.Share<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CONTACT THE AUTHOR:<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liliana Segura<\/a>liliana.segura@theintercept.com<\/a>@lilianasegura<\/a>on X<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trump calls them extremists. Mainstream media casts them as unhinged. We saw something else at a protest for Luigi Mangione. Liliana Segura September 25 2025 (TheIntercept.com) Activist Jonni Gartrelle takes part in a rally in support of Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, outside… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44257"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44257"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44257\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44258,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44257\/revisions\/44258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}