Luigi Mangione was extradited to New York to face federal murder and stalking charges

The suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson is charged with federal murder and stalking, according to a court document filed Thursday, along with murder and terrorism charges previously announced by New York prosecutors.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan are charging Luigi Mangione, 26, with federal murder with a firearm, two counts of stalking and one count of using an illegal silencer, according to a criminal complaint.

The complaint accused Mangione of spending months planning an attack motivated by his disdain for the health insurance industry and wealthy corporate executives.

Mangione was taken into New York City police custody earlier Thursday after waiving his right to extradition proceedings at a court hearing in Pennsylvania, the state where he was arrested after a five-day manhunt.

According to the federal complaint, an Altoona notebook found in Mangione’s possession by Altoona police contained several handwritten pages “expressing hostility toward the health insurance industry and wealthy executives in particular.” A notebook entry dated October 22 described an intent to “bother” an insurance company’s CEO at its investor conference.

“This investor conference represents a real windfall,” one entry in the notebook said, according to the complaint. “Most importantly – the message becomes self-evident.”

Police also found a letter in the suspect’s possession addressed to the feds that said: “I wasn’t working with anyone,” according to the complaint.

“This was fairly trivial: some rudimentary social engineering, basic computer-aided design, and a lot of patience,” the letter said, using shorthand for “computer-aided design.”

The lawyer says Mangione has been “overcharged.”

Earlier this week, a New York grand jury indicted Mangione on 11 counts of violating state law, including first-degree murder and murder as a terrorist act. Mangione has been in custody since his arrest and has not yet entered a plea. His New York defense attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, said Mangione had been “over-accused” and that he would face those charges in court.

Mangione was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on December 9, five days after Thompson was shot to death outside a Manhattan hotel before a company conference in what law enforcement officials described as an intentional assassination.

While Thompson’s killing was widely condemned, Mangione has been honored as a folk hero by some Americans who decry the high costs of health care and the power insurance companies have to deny payment for certain medical treatments.

The federal charges would likely allow prosecutors to pursue the death penalty, which was abolished in New York decades ago.

Prosecutors say Mangione “traveled in interstate commerce” by taking a bus from Atlanta to New York before Thompson was killed and also used his cell phone and the Internet to plan and carry out his attack, thus having jurisdiction.

Mangione is scheduled to appear in District Court on the federal charges before U.S. Magistrate Katherine Parker in Manhattan on Thursday afternoon.

“The federal government’s announced decision to add an already overblown first-degree murder and state terrorism case is highly unusual and raises serious constitutional and legal concerns of double jeopardy,” Mangione’s attorney, Friedman Agnifilo, said in a statement. “We are prepared to fight these charges in any court in which they are brought.”

Supporters crowd the courtroom

In Pennsylvania, police said Mangione had a self-assembled 9mm handgun in his backpack and a homemade silencer when he was arrested after being seen at a McDonald’s restaurant. The gun resembles the weapon used to kill Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare, the largest health insurance company in the United States.

Mangione, a Maryland native who had been living in Hawaii, also had several false identification documents, including a fake New Jersey ID that was used to check into a Manhattan motel days before Thompson was shot, police said.

In Pennsylvania, Mangione was charged with forgery and illegal possession of an unlicensed weapon.

In Blair County Circuit Court on Thursday morning, Mangione, who appeared in an orange prison jumpsuit, had a preliminary hearing on the Pennsylvania charges, which was immediately followed by a second hearing on his extradition request from New York. A small crowd of supporters stood outside the courtroom, some waving signs condemning the health insurance industry.

Pennsylvania prosecutors told the court they had agreed to pause the Pennsylvania proceedings until after the New York trials concluded.

Mangione spoke only briefly at the extradition hearing, saying he understood his rights and telling Judge David Concilio that he had agreed to surrender to the NYPD.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office charges Mangione with committing an act of terrorism under New York law because Thompson’s killing was intended to intimidate or coerce civilians or “influence the policies of a governmental unit.”