NEED TO KNOW
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Luigi Mangione backpacked through Asia months before he was charged with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
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The New York Times detailed Mangione’s travels, which included stops in Japan, Thailand and India.
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At one point Mangione reportedly texted a joke about paying a prostitute with “Porn Star Pokemon” cards.
Several months before he was accused of shooting to death the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, Luigi Mangione backpacked through Asia.
Mangione faces state and federal murder charges in connection with the death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, who was fatally shot while walking down a street in Midtown Manhattan in December 2024.
The New York Times reported on Mangione’s travels throughout Asia, including in Thailand and the mountains of Japan in spring 2024.
According to the newspaper, Mangione made friends abroad and kept in touch with them during his trip.
At one point, Mangione was in Osaka, Japan, and texted a photo to his friend, joking that he had tried to pay a Yakuza boss (an organized crime leader) for a prostitute using “Porn Star Pokémon” cards instead of yen, the Times reported.
Mangione also reportedly told friends he was looking for a slower pace in Japan’s Nara Mountains, where he hoped to “rest,” according to the newspaper.
He Times reported that Mangione, a Maryland native who lived in Hawaii after graduating from college, traveled from Japan to Mumbai, India, before returning to the United States.
Mangione reportedly settled briefly in San Francisco in July, five months before the New York City shooting.
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Mangione has pleaded not guilty to all charges he faces.
Thompson, a Minnesota resident, had been in New York to attend an annual UnitedHealthcare investor conference. He was the father of two children.
Federal prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Mangione.
Read the original article on People