Social media users are speculating that suspected assassin Luigi Mangione tried to send secret messages to the public as he was extradited to NYC from Pennsylvania.
Mangione landed in Manhattan on Thursday to be arraigned for the murder of UnitedHeathcare CEO Brian Thompson and throughout the day has repeatedly pushed his tongue against his check.
While it’s likely a nervous tick, the gesture has sparked claims online that Mangione was trying to send some sort of message to his supporters, as social media platforms continue to be flooded with bizarre praise for the alleged killer.
One X user wrote: ‘Luigi, pushing his tongue against his cheek means “contempt”! Which Means DISRESPECT! He sent a signal to ALL!’
Another person on the discussion website called datalounge agreed, claiming Mangione was ‘showing his tongue up into his upper cheek. Wisdom tooth pain or secret terrorist signal?’
According to Vocabulary.com, the phrase ‘tongue-in-cheek’ describes an ‘exaggerated facial feature meant to convey contempt or irony.’
The 26-year-old was taken directly to the airport to board a private plane that flew to New York. He was switched to a helicopter and flown to Manhattan to face murder charges after he waived extradition.
Mangione was received at a downtown NYC helipad by dozens of armed NYPD officers as well as mayor Eric Adams and police commissioner Jessica Tisch.
Social media users are speculating that Luigi Mangione pushed his tongue against his cheek to send a message of ‘contempt’
The NYPD put up a huge show of force as Mangione landed on a Manhattan helipad
Mangione was seen doing the tongue in cheek gesture repeatedly in both Pennsylvania and NYC on Thursday
He has been charged with the December 4 murder Thompson in midtown Manhattan. Around 700 people were tracking the flight path online.
Mangione was seen being escorted into the aircraft at an airport in Martinsburg by several NYPD officers shortly after leaving the Pennsylvania court.
Fans with placards flocked to see the alleged killer whose good looks have made him a pin-up for some internet users, outraging many others appalled by Mangione’s alleged crimes.
The alleged murderer waived a preliminary hearing on the Pennsylvania forgery and gun charges in exchange for the prosecutor giving him a 20-page investigative report from the Altoona Police Department. Mangione also agreed to be extradited to New York.
Earlier this week, he was indicted on charges of murder as an act of terrorism, under a NY state law that allows for stiffer sentences when a killing is aimed at terrifying civilians or influencing government.
NYPD officers were present in court for the extradition hearing, ready to take the suspect back to NYC. CNN has reported that Mangione will be flown to the city later on Thursday.
Mangione, who appeared to have also had a haircut since his last public appearance, left the Pennsylvania court in a black SUV with NY plates shortly after 10amEST.
Dozens of protesters showed up to court to support Mangione in a bizarre continuation of a public fixation with the alleged killer. They held signs with messages such as ‘Health insurance practices terrorize people!’ and ‘Death by denial is murder!’
Mangione was received at a downtown NYC helipad by dozens of armed NYPD officers as well as mayor Eric Adams and police commissioner Jessica Tisch
Mangione arrives at a heliport with members of the NYPD on December 19 before his arraignment
Luigi Mangione was escorted out of court by NYPD officers, who are expected to fly him to NYC
The 26-year-old was taken directly to the airport to board a private plane that will take him to New York City to face murder charges over the killing of UnitedHeathcare CEO Brian Thompson
At least two of them were dressed as Luigi from the Super Mario Bros video game.
Several TikTok users shared on the platform that they had driven as much as six hours to attend the court appearance.
Some reportedly flew in from as far as California to support the alleged assassin.
Mangione could appear in state court for arraignment Thursday afternoon or Friday.
In a court filing last week, Mangione defense attorney Tom Dickey argued prosecutors hadn’t shown there’s sufficient evidence to hold Mangione, that he was in New York when Thompson was killed or that he is a fugitive from justice.
Mangione, of Towson, Maryland, was arrested on December 9 when police were called to a McDonald’s restaurant on a commercial strip in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after he was reported to match the description of Thompson’s killer.
Thompson was gunned down on the street as he walked to the hotel where his Minnesota-based company was holding an investor conference.
The shooting was captured on security video, but the suspect eluded police before Mangione was captured about 277 miles (446 kilometers) west of New York.
Mangione’s good looks have seen him declared a hero by some internet users, sparking fury among those outraged by his alleged crime
Protesters showed up outside court to support Mangione on Thursday
Luigi Mangione supporters line-up outside the Blair County Courthouse complex in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania
Authorities say Mangione was carrying the gun used to kill Thompson, a passport, a fake ID and about $10,000 in U.S. and foreign currency.
His lawyer, Dickey, has questioned the evidence for the forgery charge and the legal basis for a gun charge. He had previously indicated Mangione would fight extradition to New York while being held in a Pennsylvania state prison.
Mangione, an Ivy League computer science graduate from a prominent family, was carrying a handwritten letter that called health insurance companies ‘parasitic’ and complained about corporate greed, according to a law enforcement bulletin obtained by The Associated Press last week.
Mangione had an outburst last week as he entered court, yelling at reporters for being ‘completely out of touch and an insult to the intelligence of the American people and their lived experience!’
Mangione is accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson at point-blank range on December 5
Surveillance camera footage showed the gunman, suspected to be Mangione, shooting UnitedHealthCare CEO Brian Thompson at point blank range outside of a Hilton hotel in midtown Manhattan on December 4
The outburst occurred after someone asked the Ivy League graduate if he ‘did it,’ referencing Brian Thompson’s murder, per the Wall Street Journal.
He also shouted out ‘this is completely unjust and an insult to the American people’ as he wrestled with police officers while shackled and in prison attire.
