History never runs short of people who convince themselves that crime is courage. Every generation produces its share of confused souls who mistake lawlessness for liberation, who see a killer and somehow spot a savior. The phenomenon tells us less about the criminals they worship than about the moral rot spreading through a society that’s lost its bearings.

Luigi Mangione sits in a Brooklyn detention center awaiting trial for allegedly assassinating UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson—a father of two shot in the back of the head on a Manhattan street last December. The 26-year-old Ivy League graduate has pleaded not guilty. Federal prosecutors initially sought the death penalty, though a judge recently took that option off the table. The legal system, slow and imperfect as it may be, grinds forward.

But for some, the courts move too slowly. A disturbing cult of personality has formed around the accused killer. Supporters have flooded his jail with love letters, clothing, and personal photographs. His defense fund has ballooned past $1.4 million. Many view his alleged act as a “symbolic strike” against a broken healthcare system, conveniently ignoring that he allegedly executed an unarmed man from behind. I wish I were exaggerating.

A Pizza Cutter and a Prayer

This worship reached its pathetic crescendo last Wednesday evening when 36-year-old Mark Anderson walked into the Metropolitan Detention Center claiming to be an FBI agent with a court order to release Mangione. Let me repeat that for the people in the back.

From ‘The Sun’:

Prison guards snatched the bag and found a BBQ fork and a “circular steel blade resembling a pizza cutter” inside, prosecutors said. Anderson, 36, then threw a stack of papers at the workers, which the complaint claims were related to suing the US Justice Department, and was quickly cuffed.

Anderson, a Minnesota transplant working at a New York pizzeria after a job opportunity fell through, apparently believed kitchen implements and delusion would spring an accused murderer from federal custody. He now faces charges for impersonating a federal agent. You genuinely cannot make this up.

The Road to Nowhere

The absurdity almost distracts from the darkness underneath. When authorities arrested Mangione, they allegedly recovered a manifesto denouncing America’s healthcare industry. “Frankly, these parasites had it coming,” he reportedly wrote.

Call me old-fashioned, but that chills my blood. The logic that transforms insurance executives into “parasites” deserving death eventually targets anyone we find inconvenient. Disagree with a politician? Parasite. Dislike your landlord? Parasite. Where exactly does it end?

We settle our grievances at the ballot box, in the courts, through advocacy and argument. The alternative isn’t revolution—it’s chaos. It’s pizza cutters and manifestos.

Brian Thompson wasn’t an abstraction. He was a husband and father with people who loved him. Whatever complaints anyone harbors about healthcare, they don’t justify widowing a wife or orphaning children. When we celebrate killers, we dishonor victims. When we glorify violence, we guarantee more of it.

The admirers sending love letters to an accused assassin should ask themselves one question: What kind of country are you building? Because it has no room for civilization at all.

Key Takeaways

• A delusional Mangione supporter attempted a jailbreak armed with a pizza cutter and BBQ fork
• Over $1.4 million has poured into the accused assassin’s defense fund from misguided admirers
• Celebrating vigilante violence—regardless of the target—erodes the foundations of civilized society
• Americans must settle grievances through votes and courts, not bullets and manifestos

Sources: The US Sun, ABC News