Eric Adams & the NYPD Held a Theatrical Photo Shoot With Luigi Mangione

In 2015, after police apprehended white supremacist Dylann Storm Roof for murdering nine people in a Black church, they made a stop by Burger King to get him a bite. Meanwhile, on Thursday, a militarized squadron of NYPD officers, clad in tactical gear and armed with extremely scary-looking weapons (including what appears to be a machine gun???), escorted Luigi Mangione to a Manhattan courthouse in a highly theatrical perp walk, as he arrived in the city from Pennsylvania. Mayor Eric Adams was there, too—say what you will about the guy, but considering he was indicted on charges of bribery and fraud just three months ago, he has nothing but audacity!

Mangione, 26, stands accused of shooting and killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on December 4. He evaded police for nearly a week before being apprehended at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania. In that state, he faces several gun and forgery charges. In New York, this week, a Manhattan jury indicted Mangione on three murder charges including a first-degree count for terrorism that carries a maximum penalty of life in prison without parole. Mind you, Roof, whose horrifying manifesto detailed his goal of inciting a “race war,” didn’t face terror charges. Mangione’s 250-word manifesto, by contrast, railed against the cruelty and violence of the for-profit health insurance industry.

This would almost be comical if the NYPD's annual $6 billion budget didn't render them one of the most expensive militarized forces, not just in the U.S. but in the world. I don't know how much they spent staging Thursday’s ridiculous photoshoot, with Adams and every officer by his side cosplaying as Batman escorting the Joker to the Arkham Asylum, but whatever the amount, it was too much. I'm not sure who feels safer watching any of this, except maybe a handful of CEOs hiding out in their Manhattan high-rises.

Luigi Mangione arriving in NYC. pic.twitter.com/dMSunkZTY0

— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) December 19, 2024

Earlier this week, reports surfaced that New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) is developing a hotline devoted to CEOs who feel threatened or unsafe in the aftermath of Thompson's death. School shooting survivors, by contrast, are so generously offered “thoughts and prayers.” Last week, a Florida mother of two was arrested for telling her insurance company, “Delay, deny, depose. You people are next." She's currently being held on $100,000 bail. 

Since apprehending Mangione, law enforcement and elected officials have capitalized on an opportunity to pander to CEOs who line their pockets by making all of our lives worse. But their attempts to make an example of Mangione, who’s fast becoming a symbol of anti-capitalist resistance in some spaces, are really only further exposing the blatant hypocrisies of the justice system. 

☒ serving time

☑ serving face card https://t.co/S1ypR7K3jU pic.twitter.com/SFoZMhrgoQ

— Luigi Nation (@mangionethinker) December 19, 2024

Later on Thursday, Adams explained to reporters why he came to personally walk Mangione to the courthouse: “I’m not going to just allow him into the city. I wanted to look him in the eye and say you carried out this terroristic act in my city, the city that the people of New York love.” Of course, the 57-page indictment against Adams on fraud, bribery, and solicitation of a contribution by a foreign national from September suggests he loves Turkey a lot more than New York City. After all, he’s spent his entire term slashing funding for life-saving public programs to further bolster an NYPD that largely spends its days chasing (and sometimes shooting) subway fare evaders.

Ironically, as hordes of social media users have argued, all Adams and the NYPD really achieved on Thursday was making Mangione look… even cooler??? Last week, we learned the New York Times leadership argued the newspaper shouldn’t publish his mugshot, fearing the sympathy he could garner on account of being—in technical terms—a hottie. UnitedHealthcare is reportedly, inexplicably issuing legal threats for copyright infringement against artists who have created designs and merchandise glorifying Mangione. His very image has become evocative of discontent and outrage toward a system that’s sucked most of us dry and cost some people loved ones—quite unsurprisingly, among young people in particular, Mangione has a higher favorability than unfavorability rating.

The Arrest of Christ, German artist, 1480-1495, ???? by @1ontapdigital pic.twitter.com/sfPGZa24Z6

— ArtButMakeItNow (@artbutnow) December 20, 2024

With Mangione’s Thursday perp walk, some social media users are drawing comparisons to Superman being detained by the U.S. military, and even Jesus Christ and the Romans. Others questioned the optics of the grand political display, just months after Congress welcomed and gave a standing ovation to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin—who’s spent the last year leading a genocide in Gaza—in July.

the US invited Benjamin Netanyahu who is committing a genocide in palestine to speak to congress and this is how they’re treating a guy who killed one guy https://t.co/HsHm638VhW

— onion person - @junLper.beer on Bluesky (@CantEverDie) December 19, 2024

Long before Thompson's death, the U.S. health insurance system has been a source of rage and pain. Private insurers reject one in seven claims from individuals seeking coverage. United rejects a third of claims, with the help of a dehumanizing AI model. It’s not just guns—policy also kills. But with each dramatized photoshoot and self-valorizing quote from law enforcement or Eric Adams, the message being impressed on us is that Mangione, not the systems that terrorize us each day, is the only villain here.