The heroes are all young and beautiful, sang Francesco Guccini in The Locomotive. It’s impossible not to think of the final verse of that famous song when talking about Luigi Mangione, the alleged killer of Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealtcare, a major insurance company in the United States. Thompson was in New York for the annual investor conference when he was shot and killed right in front of the hotel where the convention was supposed to be held. Thomposon’s killer left the scene of the crime on a bicycle, disappearing for a few days, triggering a manhunt complete with a reward of 10 thousand dollars for anyone who contributed to his capture.

The authorities had circulated some images of the alleged murderer taken by surveillance cameras: some showed him from behind, while others showed part of his face in which the alleged murderer appeared as a smiling and very attractive young man. His decidedly pleasant appearance had contributed to increasing general sympathy towards him, especially online: from the moment the photo of his face began to circulate online, several users – especially gay men – began explicitly to express appreciation for him him. Memes, celebratory videos began to appear and, when he was still wanted, in New York some sympathizers had improvised a look alike contest, i.e. a competition to identify the person most resembling the alleged killer (this type of event became popular after Timothée Chalamet took part in a contest organized in his honor).

The poor reputation of insurance companies in the United States

Also contributing to the killer’s fame was the lack of popularity enjoyed by health insurance companies in the United States where, in fact, there is no public health system and many families go bankrupt precisely because of the care they have to pay in the event of illness. or accidents. After Thompson’s murder, several people shared their stories on social media: stories of treatments denied by insurance, of medicines denied, of surgeries inaccessible because the people who would have benefited from them couldn’t afford them. Thanks to films and TV series, even abroad we have learned about stories like these – just think of Breaking Bad, in which the protagonist Walter White becomes a drug trafficker because he cannot afford to treat his tumor – which is why the murderer by Brian Thompson has received applause and solidarity from all over the world.

A few days after the murder, a young man was arrested on charges of being the CEO’s killer. by UnitedHealtCare. This is Luigi Mangione, arrested after a tip-off at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 400 km away from the scene of the murder. Mangione is currently under arrest in Pennsylvania and is awaiting extradition to New York where he will be tried for murder.

Who is Luigi Mangione (and how he became a “hero” on social media)

As soon as his details were released, many users began to “plunder” his social profiles in search of photos and information about him. Mangione is a boy from a good family, he attended a private high school, played sports all his life and studied mathematics and computer science at one of the Ivy League colleges (the most prestigious and expensive universities in the United States). The police defined him as “unsuspecting” even if, from what emerges, in the last year and following serious health problems, Mangione broke off all relationships with his family and with the people close to him. According to investigative sources, the young man became radicalized online without adhering to a particular political current, but developing a general hatred towards the “system” and in particular against health insurance companies. However, there was nothing to suggest that murderous intent was hidden behind that discomfort.

Based on what emerged during the investigation, Thompson’s murder would be a premeditated and carefully organized murder: the words “delay”, “deny” and “defend” appear on the bullets found on the victim. defend themselves), i.e. the strategy that according to detractors the insurance companies would use to deny treatment to their clients and their clients who would postpone the answers to their clients as much as possible, denying them treatment (estimated that only 1 in 7 people would receive full cost coverage) and they would deny any liability in the event of your death.

All this contributed to making Mangione a true popular hero. While the traditional press continues to draw attention to the gravity of Thompson’s murder, the web and in particular social networks are building a sort of legendary aura around his figure. A Robin Hood who takes justice into his own hands in the name of millions of people who die or go bankrupt every year due to an unfair system, a kind of photogenic Joker from a good family who receives the sympathy of the masses despite having been guilty of very serious crimes , the protagonist of a global real-time true crime series.

Luigi Mangione is all this also by virtue of the fact that he is objectively a nice guy. The news concerning him even before being arrested were accompanied by his photo of a smiling young man, but now that he is in custody his photos are bouncing around all social networks accompanied by declarations of love, marriage proposals and other decidedly less caste.

Mangione has become a symbol of the fight against injustice

However, attractiveness is not enough to explain Mangione’s popularity. As we have seen from the results of the last presidential elections, anger towards the status quo has not died down in the United States. Despite being part of it, Donald Trump has always sold himself as the person who would have messed up the cards at the highest levels of power by establishing himself as spokesperson for the categories that he considered to be the most penalized in American society. An evidently majority portion of the electorate is demanding profound and radical changes, is angry and exhausted and the Democratic Party has failed to intercept more than part of that frustration. By virtue of this context, the endorsements of Kamala Harris by major celebrities may have penalized her, contributing to creating around the Democratic candidate the image of a woman integrated into a corrupt and elitist system. Donald Trump, like many far-right populists, despite being part of the same system he promises to disrupt, presents himself as the antidote to injustices and inequities. Over time, this formula has proven successful in periods of profound value and economic crisis like the one we are experiencing.

It is in this context that a figure like that of Luigi Mangione becomes the symbol of the injustices that penalize the weakest people, those forced to resort to expensive health insurance, the same ones who go bankrupt due to cancer, diabetes or a particularly complicated birth. The people on the margins, those who are rarely heard, those who are the first to suffer the effects of a crisis and the last to emerge from it. Luigi Mangione has become a symbol and will probably soon end up in legend together with other outsider heroes, with all due respect to those who want to dismiss the issue as yet another social phenomenon.