An unverified blog post described as Luigi Mangione’s online “manifesto” has spread widely on social media, even though it appeared to have been created after his arrest in connection with the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
A Substack post called “The Allopathic Complex and Its Consequences” went online on Monday evening after Mangione, 26, was detained at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
The post tells the story of the author’s mother suffering from “severe neuropathy”, the cost of her treatment, and the limits, it alleges, of UnitedHealthcare’s coverage. It also mentions the author’s back pain, which Mangione also reportedly suffered.
Mangione was initially arrested on weapons charges after police found him carrying a gun, a fake ID from New Jersey with the same identification as the suspect used to check into a New York hostel, and identification with his real name.
In addition to the gun and fake identification, police also found a three-page handwritten note on Mangione in which he appeared to express “ill will toward corporate America,” Joseph Kenny, the chief of detectives at the New York City Police Department, said at a news conference Monday.
By Monday evening, prosecutors in Manhattan had added a murder charge, and he is expected to be extradited to New York.
Despite Mangione’s arrest and charges being a matter of public knowledge, the Substack went live on Monday evening, with a Wayback Machine record showing that it had been “launched” for two hours as of 9:43 pm ET. Page data suggests the post was published at around 6:06 pm ET.
However, Mangione was arrested on Monday morning as per New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch’s statement the same day. Although Substack posts can be scheduled to be published at a set time, the timeline leading to Mangione’s arrest suggests he may have had little opportunity to write a post, not least of all the counterintuitive move of publishing digital content that could help trace his identity and location.
The Substack post also does not include the line “These parasites had it coming.” Multiple outlets have reported that line was in a handwritten manifesto recovered from Mangione’s person during his arrest, citing law enforcement sources.
In a statement, Substack appeared to confirm to Newsweek that the article in question was not published by Mangione.
“We’ve removed this post for violating Substack’s Content Guidelines, which prohibit impersonation,” the company said.
