• Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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    21 hours ago

    This makes me believe it really wasn’t him. If he actually wrote a manifesto, he’d have declared himself guilty, taken credit, and done a speech about how he was now a martyr for the cause.

    If he’s sticking to his story, then I believe him. They couldn’t find the real killer so they just went with whoever “fit the description”, as per usual.

    • Zron@lemmy.world
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      2 hours ago

      Wouldn’t be surprised if he was in New York on some legitimate business, they caught him on camera at a Starbucks near the murder, blasted his image all over the news and social media, and just waited for someone to call.

      Then when they got the call, they grabbed a backpack with “evidence” and claimed he had it on him when they arrested him.

      Did anyone believe that he was wondering around for 3 days with a bag that was holding the murder weapon, fake IDs, and a hand written manifesto? He ditched another bag, and escaped on an e-bike. Why would he then run around for three days with the rest of the evidence.

    • wildcardology@lemmy.world
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      10 hours ago

      Innocent until proven guilty. It’s the government’s job to prove him guilty. He doesn’t have to help them.

    • Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world
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      10 hours ago

      Personally, I am sad that is all it takes for you to believe something. Businesses, media, governments, and more are trying to make people believe things (unrelated to luigi) that aren’t true. You need to raise the bar, not lower it. Maybe you want to believe he didn’t do it, but I hope you don’t actually believe that based on so little information.

      • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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        7 hours ago

        There’s too much that doesn’t add up, it’s just too convenient that he had the gun and manifesto on him.

    • sunbytes@lemmy.world
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      13 hours ago

      I mean, if he can away with it while not undermining his original intentions, why not do it?

      There’s various ways he could go unpunished that would prevent a retrial and so he’d then be set up to be influential in some kind of healthcare reform.

      Heavy on the cope though.

    • morrowind@lemmy.ml
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      19 hours ago

      That doesn’t explain why he keeps mogging the camera, or what he yells to the journalist in that one video.

      I don’t know if it’s him, but I think whoever it is, is just following their lawyer’s advice, not trying to be a martyr

      • DeLacue@lemmy.world
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        9 hours ago

        The thing is they’ve actually made a mistake charging him with terrorism. It is surprisingly narrowly defined so even without a sympathetic jury he might get a not guilty verdict for it and it weakens the whole case against him. But most of all by including it they’ve made all his intentions and politics central issues to the case. All the evidence and his statements about this will have to go into the public record. If he had pleaded guilty that wouldn’t happen nor would there be a chance for jury annulment. Pleading not guilty is simply the smarter option to take.

  • Fedizen@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Its fucked up the news is acting like Sandy Hook wasn’t a decade ago. All this guy is accused of is shooting a CEO.

    • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
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      3 hours ago

      I don’t really think it’s a conspiracy of sorts, it’s just news media being news media. They want the most clicks, doesn’t matter much what for or what the consequences are. it’s the same reason why trump yet again got so extremely much news coverage. Had news organizations all decided not to waste their time with trump, we wouldn’t have his presidency now. In reality though, everyone and their mother had to talk about trump, it was trump before and after and now we have yet again to deal with this fuck face for a other 4 years. I know that news media aren’t the only ones to blame, theyight now even be the worst, but he’ll do they have a large share of the blame for all the shit that had been happening lately, and it’s all about the clicks, it’s all about the money

    • papertowels@mander.xyz
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      8 hours ago

      This is the disheartening part that highlights the class divide. Shootings of common folk barely make the news where I’m from. How much have taxpayers paid for this so far? Justice clearly isn’t being applied equally.

    • SuiXi3D@fedia.io
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      21 hours ago

      Maybe if it happens enough, we can normalize billionaire CEO murder as well.

    • Woht24@lemmy.world
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      24 hours ago

      The problem here is the frequency of the crimes. If CEOs were being shot on a weekly to bi weekly average in groups of 3 or more, this crime would become one of the many others the American media wash over.

      • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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        21 hours ago

        Indeed, the powerful would be left on their own like they left our children on their own. Only unlike our kids, they could do something about it…

        The billionaires would be totally “scrooged”, better share the wealth assholes. A poor man, isn’t a murdered man.

        cackle

        Well, I can dream…

  • ALQ@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Speaking to CBS, the BBC’s US partner, on Sunday, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said that the online rhetoric has been “extraordinarily alarming”.

    “It speaks of what is really bubbling here in this country,” he said. “And unfortunately we see that manifested in violence, the domestic violent extremism that exists.”

    Did he care about the domestic violent extremism before it started to affect the wealthy? What about the domestic terrorists who go after the queer community, POC communities, women, doctors providing reproductive healthcare…the list goes on.

    Violent extremism isn’t new here. It’s just that this one affects people with power.

    • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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      21 hours ago

      Did he care about the domestic violent extremism before it started to affect the wealthy?

      No, not at all. They’re only mad because for the first time, the elite feel mortal.

      You ever heard of the “less dead”, well, Brian Thompson is “more dead”

      And for those who haven’t “Less Dead” is a saying used to describe people who’s deaths the police don’t look into because they’re “not important enough”

      Many serial killers get away with their crimes simply because they’re smart enough to only kill those who would be deemed “less dead”

    • phoneymouse@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      You’ve got far right militias blowing up America’s electric grid infrastructure, threatening politicians, having standoffs on federal property, and patrolling hurricane impacted areas trying to capture federal employees that are there helping, and I’ve never heard those people referred to as terrorists.

        • SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          9 hours ago

          They’re not only making the poor unhappy, the chaos they sow disproportionally affects the working class, the majority of the population. The more fragmented the majority, the better for the leech ruling-class minority. Chaos provides opportunity for those with power to consolidate further power - financial, social, and political.

    • Zaktor@sopuli.xyz
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      1 day ago

      Yeah, the rules of society say they won and they think all the losers beneath them just have to accept it. The social order and status quo are great for them. That something would violate it is extremely disturbing to them and provokes an emotional response.

      I think that’s why they seem to be so clumsily overreacting to the murder. Maybe it’s working in segments of the population I don’t see, but everyone in my social network is either outright happy it happened or at least get why it happened. Some will have perfunctory “murder is wrong” statements, but the thrust is about what a corrupt and evil business health insurance is. That’s all the way up to the boomers and crosses political boundaries.

      Things like the perp walk, excessive charges, and corporate comedy pretending everyone just thinks Mangione is a bad guy just highlights the us vs. them of class war rather than trying to somehow quell or redirect the bubbling unrest. I think they’re doing this because their peers and masters are emotionally demanding a visible and recognizable show of power and obedience. If they knew what was good for them they’d be triple-timing it to make some token effort to reform the system, but even a token effort in response to the killing of a rich person would infuriate them, so clumsy performances it is.

      • samus12345@lemm.ee
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        1 day ago

        When my usually “civil” boomer dad said he gets why he did it and wasn’t outright condemning him, I knew the ruling class wasn’t in control of the narrative as per usual this time.

        • masterofn001@lemmy.ca
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          1 day ago

          My 75 year old Canadian aunt laughed when I showed her this

          Everyone hates these people except the people who want to be these people.

          • samus12345@lemm.ee
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            I’m actually rather impressed that so many people get what’s actually happening here. I don’t know if it’ll ultimately amount to anything, but it shows that it is actually possible to get through to people sometimes. It’s a shame that no avenue but violence has been left to us to do so.

            • naught101@lemmy.world
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              I think most people have known about the situation for years. Apathy isn’t a result of disinterest or lack of care, it’s a result of lack of agency and lack of hope. Now both of those are slightly more on the table.

            • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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              21 hours ago

              By making a big show of this arrest, they’ve ensured that what they don’t want to happen will happen.

              They will share out of fear.

      • Apytele@sh.itjust.works
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        1 day ago

        They’re worried if they give that we’ll go all the way and demand total equality and they’ll have to be plebs with real jobs. Boo fucking hoo assholes I’d make you do my job but you’re not good enough. Also you’ve hurt my patients enough already.

      • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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        21 hours ago

        I know two things.

        1. Luigi didn’t do it
        2. What happened was a Christmas miracle, the rich will only share if it’s profitable or if they’re scared.
    • MagicShel@lemmy.zip
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      13 hours ago

      If someone would say this shit on the news in real time, I might actually watch it. But it’s all so scripted and tame I can’t bring myself to care.

    • BmeBenji@lemm.ee
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      1 day ago

      What about the domestic terrorist corporations who assassinate whistleblowers? Or are there so many hands involved there that it’s not worth the trouble to dismantle those terrorist organizations?

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      What about them? They just got their picks elected as the next president and dipshit-in-chief.

    • mhague@lemmy.world
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      Mayorkas said white nationalists are the biggest threat to domestic security. He was impeached by Nazis. He doesn’t repeat bullshit about immigration. Not necessarily a standard asshole that fails upwards.

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    His lawyer made a great point about how law enforcement and the media threw “alleged” out the window and just insisted he did it…

    What’s disappointing is it’s apparently working because when I do see and “allegedly” thrown in, people are down voting it like it’s a conspiracy.

    People always want to act like propaganda can’t effect them, but the whole country immediately accepted that he was guilty because of a tiny change in reporting from the norm.

    But especially with the wrinkle that someone brought it up to the McD’s worker and then she snitched…

    I think the cop’s have a reason they’re sure, it’s just they got that reason illegally thru means we’re not supposed to know they have. Which explains a lot of shit.

    • Laurel Raven@lemmy.zip
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      4 hours ago

      I’m not so sure the cops are actually sure, there are enough questions around how all this shook out, none of it really adds up well, so either they’re hiding the evidence that links this shit together, or they’re railroading someone who looks like the guy who flashed a smile (who we don’t even know for sure is the shooter) so they can look good by closing the case fast and making an example of him.

    • ramble81@lemm.ee
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      1 day ago

      Frankly I still question if he’s a lookalike scapegoat so the police can save face and try to put it to bed. May also explain the odd “planted” evidence that is being mentioned.

      • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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        Eh, if he was a real random fall guy, they wouldn’t have picked a rich handsome guy in his mid 20s.

        Like, it’s almost most definitely him…

        But fuck the cops, fuck the wealthy, and fuck the healthcare industry. They need to prove it beyond reasonable doubt and all those groups are habitual liars.

        So if I was on the jury, they’d need a lot of evidence and need to be able to explain how they got it. They used some illegal spy tech shit because it’s a rich victim? Then all evidence gained after gets thrown out.

        • zalgotext@sh.itjust.works
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          10 hours ago

          they wouldn’t have picked a rich handsome guy in his mid 20s.

          Why not? Luigi Mangione is closer to pleb status than billionaire status. He’s not in the class that the police protect, why would they have any qualms about framing him?

        • catloaf@lemm.ee
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          Yeah, and NYPD wouldn’t have gone so far out of state so quickly. If I was trying to grab a fall guy as fast as possible, I would have picked up the nearest criminal I knew that looked vaguely like him and might have had motive.

          • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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            1 day ago

            wouldn’t have gone so far out of state so quickly

            Nah, that part I get, they knew shooter came in on a bus, so they grab someone on a bus.

            The gun, silencer, and manifesto could have been from the central park bag.

            It’d just be crazy they wrapped the one guy on a Greyhound bus with generational wealth.

            His best defense is pushing that angle, the “but how did you find me?”

            Like, this part has barely been mentioned:

            Authorities said a customer in the restaurant thought he matched the description of the suspect in Thompson’s killing and notified an employee, who called 911.

            https://www.newsweek.com/mcdonalds-worker-luigi-mangione-private-security-1999217

            To me it’s more likely that customer was a fed or law enforcement, they already knew he was there, they just needed a legal way to act on that. There’s been a big push to put all the blame on the fast food worker, but I have a feeling stuff like that would have kept happening and may not even have been the first person told.

            It’s no “jet fuel can’t melt steel beams”, but you could build a legal defense on this that results in all charges thrown out.

              • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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                They don’t need facial recognition, there’s gait recognition that’s just as good.

                However I don’t think that’s what it was because Luigi’s back issues would have introduced variations in gait that make it much harder.

                It’s 2024 bro…

                That’s all stuff we knew about 20 years ago, I think what they used is something we can’t even guess at. Once we find out it’ll sound like common sense like gait recognition and savvier criminals will account for it by doing things like wearing different sized shoes or even putting tacks in their shoes.

                But until people know what’s being used, they can’t beat it reliably, which is why they do these parallel investigations to hide how they really do it (only applicable when one of the elites are victims).

                • SynonymousStoat@lemmy.world
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                  1 day ago

                  I suspect the Ministry of Silly Walks will start receiving a lot of new grant requests soon if you’re correct about gait recognition being used in this case.

                • SGforce@lemmy.ca
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                  23 hours ago

                  There’s another case I have a strong suspicion about. Some “random guy at the bar” tipped off the FBI about a guy they’ve been watching for years. They claim they printed out the picture matching the name/description and the agent recognised him immediately as someone he had questioned once and snapped him up. Was one of those guys planning to blow shit up but I don’t get why they couldn’t get a fucking warrant for that.

      • Nyxicas@kbin.melroy.org
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        Wouldn’t shock me. Police always want things to be done in open and shut cases all of the time. Makes their job easier.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        This conspiracy theory doesn’t make any sense to me. All the “real killer” would have to do would be to kill someone else and the entire deception would fail.

          • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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            But the cops wouldn’t know that. Why would they take the gamble that their entire ruse could easily be undone? Again, it doesn’t make sense to me.

        • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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          20 hours ago

          “So Luigi has a copycat eh? This is why the people who idolize Mangione are the problem! Never forget Bob Thomas or whatever that fucker’s name was.”

        • samus12345@lemm.ee
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          Let’s hope there are a lot of “real killers” out there waiting for their chance.

    • moody@lemmings.world
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      I feel like people want it to be him because they want to know who did it, not because they’re angry but because they want someone to identify with.

      Without wanting to sound like a conspiracy nut, the evidence against him is too convenient. I mean sure he probably did it, but who plans the murder of a high-profile target, escapes the initial manhunt, and then walks around carrying the murder weapon, multiple fake IDs, and a manifesto basically confessing to it? And if you’re the type of person to write a manifesto and expect to be caught, why would you run away in the first place?

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        Yeah, the whole thing doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. He went through all that effort to not get caught in the first place, but then just kept the murder weapon, backpack, same outfit, and everything? Unless he wanted to get caught, but then why did he run at all?

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      Yeah the only reason I think he did it is I was already pretty sure they would catch him. When I first heard about it I knew there were probably already hundreds of FBI agents just looking for the one guy. The mcdonalds story is hinky as shit but I almost guarantee they got the right guy. They just don’t want to have to be honest about whatever weird backdoor they’ve got installed on all of our technology a) because they don’t want to give up their strategy but also b) its probably super illegal and not even remotely admissible in court.

      • Sc00ter@lemm.ee
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        Yea we got the guy! And he had the same kind of weapon on him so we know how he did it! And he had the same fake id! And a hand written manifesto! He just takes all that stuff to breakfast at mcdonalds. Totally normal thing to do

        • MagicShel@lemmy.zip
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          21 hours ago

          Is he even claiming they got the wrong guy? I feel like if he had a different story or an alibi, we’d have heard it by now. He did it.

          That said, if I’m on the jury (hypothetically. I can’t be.) I’m voting not guilty. I wouldn’t convict any of the soldiers who went after Osama. Same thing. You’ve got an enemy who has killed thousands of Americans and is conventionally untouchable. So someone took him out. That’s a hero, not a criminal.

          • Sc00ter@lemm.ee
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            Im not going to pretend to know legal strategy or that the media is conveying what hes saying. He has entered a “not guilty” plea, so you could say that hes saying it wasnt him. Other than that, ive heard no actual statement from him or his attorney on the matter

            Edit for clarity

      • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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        20 hours ago

        I’m thinking they either violated the 4th Amendment so hard that any conviction would be impossible, or this isn’t their guy.

    • Kairos@lemmy.today
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      I’ve been noticing this on NPR, but they’re weirdly cagey about it. Kind of like if a shitty editor went over the script and added “allegedly” to where it needs to, but only in places that are phrased in a specific way (not saying they’re doing that).

    • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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      They want to idolize him, it’s hard to idolize the falsely accused.

      Yet I’d say the fact that they’re just saying “He did it!” at the first guy who fit the description… Is even more proof that the system is fucked and highlights the very thing Brian was rightfully slain over.

    • Queen HawlSera@lemm.ee
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      21 hours ago

      The terrorism charge is absolutely the dumbest thing they did. Now it’s on them to prove it was more than just murder.

    • NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world
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      Luigi Mangione was with me December 3rd, 2024 through December 7th, 2024. He couldn’t possibly have been in New York since i don’t live there.

  • Orbituary@lemmy.world
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    I keep wondering why the shooter had a different color backpack than the one Mangione was caught with. The jacked and hoodie seemed like they were potentially different, but the nose and eyebrows matched.

    • ryven@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      The evidence against him appears to be that the guy who murdered the CEO might have similar eyebrows to Luigi Mangione, but it’s hard to tell from the security video. There’s nothing else that puts him at the scene. They can say it’s him all they want, but they’ll have to reveal some better evidence if they want us to believe it.

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        Didn’t he have the burner gun still on him? Honestly asking, I know a lot of disinformation tends to go out early, and I haven’t followed up on verified facts.

        • Steve@startrek.website
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          Thats what they said, which is extraordinarily suspicious. The weapon is to be disposed of, literally everyone knows this. And to carry it to another state for days?

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          They said he had a gun, but a) I’m not convinced of the accuracy of techniques like striation matching which are used to determine whether a bullet was fired by a specific gun, and b) it could have been planted by the police, even if it was the murder weapon (they might have found it in NYC, lied about not finding it, and then planted it on their preferred suspect to construct an evidentiary link where none existed).

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            The whole gun planting take seems like conspiratory nonsense to me. And I’ll trust the forensic science on the striations.

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                Rofl. OK. So forensics is fake science now, too? Because it could implicate someone you’d rather see go free?

                How is this kind of mental gymnastics any different than the covid deniers.

                • Baylahoo@lemmy.world
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                  It’s famously subjective. My highschool taught it and showed how you could push any narrative as long as the evidence was gray. It’s almost always gray in these situations.

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                  24 hours ago

                  a lot of forensics is legitimately junk science that’s been disproven by much better science

                • underisk@lemmy.ml
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                  24 hours ago

                  tacking the word “science” on to something doesn’t make it scientific. much of it is based off of wild assumptions and “common sense” that was never actually studied or confirmed through testing. its about as scientific as alchemy.

            • Machinist@lemmy.world
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              21 hours ago

              I don’t have a source, but I’ve been hearing for a while now that there is a lot of pseudo science in matching barrels to bullets.

              Polygraphs ended up being pretty much complete bullshit and roadside drug tests are real bad about false positives.

              IDK, it’s basically a tool mark. I’ve looked at those under microscopes. They vary a whole lot when things are running well. I would think you could only really match something if there was a distinctive abnormal feature.

            • Infynis@midwest.social
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              1 day ago

              It does seem weird to me that he would still have all the evidence on him in Middle-of-Nowhere PA, a couple days later, but I mostly just talk about that as a way to point out this is all still allegations

              • Wrench@lemmy.world
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                1 day ago

                Eh. He could have intended to use it again, or didn’t find an opportune time to ditch/destroy it. Or maybe he’s not the master People’s assassin that everyone wants him to be.

    • Nougat@fedia.io
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      1 day ago

      If you’re going to court for any criminal charge, you plead not guilty. The DA is going to have laid the strongest charges they believe they can get a conviction on, but there is always risk in going to trial. The prosecution generally cares a lot more about getting a conviction than what charge that conviction is on, or what penalty that conviction carries.

      So. You’re caught dead to rights, charged with a crime. If you plead guilty, you are also waiving your right to trial, and taking whatever conviction and (probably) penalty the prosecution advises the judge.

      On the other hand, if you plead not guilty, now you have the opportunity to accept a plea deal from the prosecution - changing your plea to guilty - which would include what charge and what penalty. Depending on what you’ve done, this can save you a lot of money, reduce or eliminate probation or incarceration time, or take the death penalty off the table.

      You can always change your plea from not guilty to guilty. You can’t do that the other way around. Whenever you see headlines about “So-and-so pleads not guilty,” that doesn’t (in most cases) mean they intend to beat the charge. It’s just what you do.

      • SwingingTheLamp@midwest.social
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        21 hours ago

        Another huge, important, but subtle distinction to make here is that the trial is not to decide whether you did the thing. It’s not always a mystery who perpetrated an alleged crime. Even if you pull out a gun and shoot somebody on the 50-yard-line at the Super Bowl, and 300 million people see it, they can’t just take you off to prison for murder. They have to give you a trial to determine whether you violated the law.

        There’s a thing called an affirmative defense, as in, “yes, I did the thing, but it wasn’t a crime, because…” If you can, say, convince a jury that you’re a time traveler, the ref was going to make a bad call in the 4th quarter that cost your team the Super Bowl win, and that justified shooting him, well, then it wasn’t a crime. That’s what a jury is ultimately charged with deciding.

        This is not to say that Magione’s attorney plans to present an affirmative defense, just that there are a number of good reasons to plead not guilty, even if it’s 100% certain you did the thing.

        (Edit: Typo.)

    • CascadianGiraffe@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      Guilty or not, always plead not guilty at the start. You’ll often have a chance to accept a better plea deal before trial if you want. Or you can go to trial.

      Unless you are looking forward to serving time (free food, warm bed, access to healthcare).

      • CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 day ago

        NYC residents:

        If you are picked for a jury, I know it can be annoying and take time out of your busy life. But honestly, it is the last purely democratic area of our life. The jury has the power to ensure the laws are fairly and equally applied.

        Remember that your job as jury is to not only find the facts of the case but also to make sure that the charges fit the crime.

        There is one more job you have: is the law correct in this specific crime?

        Judges won’t tell you this. Prosecutors will make you leave this choice outside the courthouse. But you have it.

        The responsibility of the jury is protected so that you cannot be held accountable or even questioned (in an official setting anyway) as to why you voted the way you did. You have the power to view the facts, know that the defendant is guilty, but vote to acquit because you believe the law is wrong in his case.

        Don’t let prosecutors or the judge trick you.

        All in Minecraft, of course.

    • dev_null@lemmy.ml
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      1 day ago

      Yeah, the absurd terrorism charges are probably possible to beat, so no reason to plead guilty to them. They are probably not questioning the murder charges, but that’s beside the point.

      • suburban_hillbilly@lemmy.ml
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        1 day ago

        I’m sure they’re contesting all of it. There isn’t a downside and a conviction depends on the state having all it’s ducks in a row, which they do fuck up sometimes.

        There is also even a real possibility that he’s innocent and they’re trying to pin it on him.

    • CmdrShepard42@lemm.ee
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      What’s the downside exactly? Pleading guilty doesn’t really come with any upside especially if they’re putting the death penalty on the table.