'Free Luigi' Chants In NYC, Kirk Killing Underscore US Divisions

(MENAFN- Live Mint) The scenes at the Manhattan courthouse illustrated the sharp divides searing American society: Inside, a shackled Luigi Mangione sat solemnly facing state murder charges over the shooting of a health-insurance executive, who left behind a wife and two children.

Outside, dozens of Mangione fans were cheering him. They waved Italian flags and sported T-shirts saying“Free Luigi” and“Cougars for Luigi.”

Mangione, accused of killing UnitedHealth Group Inc. executive Brian Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel last year, has been held up as a hero to those who consider the shooting a form of justice against the ills of the insurance industry. It's a deeply divisive phenomenon - one that's been brought into stark relief in recent days after the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

The viral nature of social media, which has spawned its own form of celebrity, is inflaming political divisions, anti-establishment sentiment, perceptions about the ills of capitalism and creating competing narratives online. That's bleeding into the real world, sparking fractious debates over violent vigilantism, extremism and free speech.

On Tuesday, when the judge overseeing the Mangione case dismissed first-degree murder charges in court, while allowing a lesser count to go to trial, supporters excitedly gasped.

“We are opening the champagne tonight,” said Abril Rios, 26, who said she waited in line for nearly 30 hours to attend the hearing.

While Thompson's killing last year was decried by political leaders on both sides of the aisle, Mangione continues to draw supporters who view him as a crusader against corporate greed. Kirk's assassination last week also drew widespread condemnation from Republicans and Democrats.

But President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance have blamed the killing on inflammatory left-wing rhetoric and have vowed to investigate left-leaning organizations in response. People who celebrated the death or offered negative viewpoints of Kirk - a polarizing figure who took staunchly conservative stances on issues such as race and gender - have faced online vitriol and lost their jobs.

“We are in a bad place right now as a society,” said Harvey Silverglate, a civil rights lawyer and co-founder of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.“These assassinations and attempted assassinations for political speech are very disturbing.”

Still, he notes that responses to the killings are fundamentally protected.

“We need to have a movement that elevates the ability of people to speak to each other even if it is hateful speech, even if it is vicious - as long as it doesn't involve physical violence,” he said.

FBI Director Kash Patel this week addressed social media platforms and whether they're fueling political violence. Data showed that online networks were“wildly out of control” in driving radicalization, he said. Patel supports stripping companies of their shield under Section 230, a rule that protects internet platforms from legal liability for content posted by their users.

Support for Cause

Since his arrest at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, Mangione has attracted legions of supporters who have found countless ways to show their support, from sending him heart-shaped messages, projecting his face on a building in downtown Manhattan to donating more than $1 million to his defense fund.

Tuesday's hearing, the first in the case since February, provided those fans with a rare opportunity to show their affection for him in person.

As Mangione, 27, shuffled out of the courtroom while wearing shackles around his ankles, supporters waved in his direction as he nodded in appreciation. Many were clad in green, a reference to the Luigi character from the Super Mario video game series.

The judge's decision to drop first-degree murder charges ensures Mangione won't face the prospect of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. He still faces a separate federal trial where prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Alexa Modugno, who arrived at the courthouse wearing a pink T-shirt with a heart-shaped photo of Mangione, said she doesn't believe in violence, yet considers his alleged crime“a necessary evil” to ignite change.

“I think Luigi is like a vigilante and a martyr and also a saint,” said Modugno, 35.

For several of the supporters, the murder was tied to what they see as a broader good of drawing attention to inequities in an American health-care system they see as profiting from suffering.

“Somebody like Luigi is a necessary instigator for a very important conversation,” said Veda Rivers, 26.“Yes, murder is wrong. It is wrong and it needs to be punished, which is why I also believe that CEOs of health-care companies deserve to face the music, because denying people health care, affordable, accessible health care is murder.”

Nadine Seiler, 60, who wore the“Cougars for Luigi” T-shirt, woke up at 1 a.m. on Tuesday to travel to the courthouse from her home Maryland. Though she acknowledged some people support because of Mangione's physical attractiveness, she said that many of the supporters wanted to express their disgust at the health-care system.

“I'm sure it ranges from people who just think that he's cute to some people who are really about the issue of health-care reform,” Seiler said.“I just know that I'm here based on the issue.”

Support for killers goes back a long way into history, said Steven Levitsky, a professor of government at Harvard University and author of How Democracies Die, who noted people cheered the assassination attempt on former President Ronald Reagan. What's different now, he said, is that social media amplifies extreme views that may only apply to a tiny percentage of the population.

“I think that what's most important in these situations is that anyone with any influence - political leader, media commentators, religious leaders - that they come out and forcefully repudiate violence under all circumstances, especially when it is violence against their perceived rivals,” he said.

With assistance from Patricia Hurtado and David Voreacos.

©2025 Bloomberg L.P.

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