CEO ‘assassin’ Luigi Mangione ranted online about debilitating IBS, agonizing back screws & ‘never being able to sleep’
The alleged shooter revealed what surgery he faced
LUIGI Mangione ranted online about debilitating irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), never being able to sleep, and agonizing back screws.
The 26-year-old, charged with the murder of CEO Brian Thompson, left a trail online revealing his mindset in the years leading up to the alleged assassination.
The health-focused posts on Reddit reveal a man who felt his life had been stolen from him by his myriad of medical issues.
Mangione’s history has come under scrutiny as people look for a motive to explain the shocking slaying caught on CCTV that cops say he’s responsible for.
Under the user name Mister_Cactus, Mangione wrote about changing his diet due to IBS, battling chronic back pain, and restless sleep.
In 2023, he posted about how he was suffering from chronic back pain after a vertebrae had slipped.
He wrote, “When my spondy went bad on me last year (23M) it was completely devastating as a young athletic person.
“Seemingly all I could read on the internet was that I was destined to chronic pain and a desk job for the rest of my life.
“That representation was terrifying, inaccurate, and completely destroyed me until I realized the silent majority of fusions are highly successful.”
In February this year, Mangione posted to the site saying he had surgery six months earlier to fix his back.
“Yea I had L5/S1 spinal fusion 6 months ago after 1.5 years of failed conservative treatment,” he wrote.
“Within 7 days of the fusion I was on zero pain meds.
“(That’s probably faster than most folks, but my point is just that your body isn’t supposed to be in pain and need meds. Even after getting my back sliced open and my spine drilled into, I wasn’t in much pain).”
Mangione was reportedly suffering from spondylolisthesis and had four screws placed deep into his spine to address the issue and help with the pain.
Former classmates of Mangione said he got surgery after he injured his back in a surfing accident – and that this could have driven him to the brink.
Mangione is said to have moved to Japan shortly after the accident and lived an almost silent life in seclusion away from family and friends.
One source, quoting former classmates, said they felt the wealthy former valedictorian turned “absolutely crazy” after the operation.
They believe that following the ordeal, “everything changed” in his life.
But the back issue was not the only health problem Mangione had recently faced.
He revealed in 2018 that he was not sleeping for more than four hours in a stretch and often waking up eight or nine times a night.
He wrote, “Sleeping longer than 8 hours has no effect, but getting any less than 8 hours causes extreme exhaustion during the day.”
Mangione wrote that he was not having caffeine, alcohol, or nicotine and was exercising regularly.
In 2018, he also revealed he was struggling with IBS and considered changing his diet.
The health issues are a stark contrast to shirtless photos that emerged of Mangione with a six-pack abs.
His username Mister_Cactus, meanwhile, has now been suspended due to Reddit’s policies around accounts linked to high-profile crimes.
It’s speculated that Mangione’s health could be a motive as bullets found at the murder scene appeared to have a message written on them.
Three shell casings had the words “deny,” “depose,” and “defend” scribbled on them.
The message is similar to a 2010 book, Delay, Deny, Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don’t Pay Claim and What You Can Do About It, written by insurance law expert and Rutgers Law School professor Jay M. Feinman.
What we know so far…
- Luigi Mangione’s attorney said his office has been flooded with offers to pay the suspect’s legal bills.
- Warped fans have spread sinister ‘Wanted’ posters of insurance CEOs amid a sick swell of support for the ‘assassin’
- A spiral notebook recovered from the inside of Mangione’s backpack detailed his sick “to-do list,” including plans to use a bomb to kill Brian Thompson, according to reports.
- Months before the December 4 assassination, Mangione stopped speaking to his friends and family.
- Friends of Mangione said he ‘went crazy’ after having giant screws put in his spine.
- Mangione’s mother, Kathleen, reported her son missing in San Francisco on November 18.
- The McDonald’s worker who reported Mangione to the police may lose out on the $60,000 reward after committing a critical error.
X-Rays posted by Mangione show his spine with the screws implanted.
Mangione, 26, had a wild outburst moments before his court hearing on Tuesday, screaming about an “insult to Americans” as he was shoved inside the courthouse.
A judge then denied his request for bail and prosecutors are now working to get an extradition warrant to haul him back to New York City to face murder charges.
He was arrested a day earlier while eating at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 280 miles west of the Hilton hotel in Midtown, Manhattan, where Thompson was killed.
A McDonald’s employee who took Mangione’s order called Altoona police after recognizing the alleged assassin from wanted posters out of New York.
When confronted by cops, Mangione gave them a fake New Jersey identification, which investigators suspect was the same document he used to check into a hostel in the Upper West Side before Thompson’s killing.
Mangione’s lawyer cast doubt on his client being the killer, saying there was “zero evidence” he’s the shooter.
However, on Wednesday, cops said fingerprints from Mangione matched prints found on discarded items at the murder site.
And the ghost gun found on Mangione at the time of his arrest matched shell casings found at the crime scene, police said.
Who is Luigi Mangione?
MANGIONE, 26, was regarded as a beloved, clever and wealthy man by his family, friends and all who knew him.
He was born and raised in Maryland where he was valedictorian of his high school graduating class at Gilman School in Baltimore.
He had no prior criminal history and was said to have been a model student, footballer and all-round athlete at high school.
One former student from the Gilman School told The U.S. Sun Mangione was “popular” and had a “big circle of friends.”
The former student, who asked not to be identified, said: “We went to the same school but didn’t really have the same friends. I’m really shocked by this whole thing.
“I think he played soccer, it was an all-boys school, so being a good athlete got you social currency for sure.”
After, Mangione graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied Computer and Information Science, according to his LinkedIn profile.
He also got his masters from the Ivy League school.
Mangione was reportedly a data engineer at a car company in California before moving to Hawaii.
His cousin is also Republican Maryland House of Delegates member Nino Mangione.
