Former Manhattan prosecutor to represent alleged murderer of UnitedHealthcare CEO

The suspect of assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO has added a prominent defense attorney to his legal team as Manhattan prosecutors work to extradite him from Pennsylvania to face a murder charge.

Luigi Mangione will be represented by Karen Friedman Agnifilo, who for years was a senior deputy in the Manhattan District Attorney’s office before entering private practice.

Friedman Agnifilo’s law firm, Agnifilo Intrater LLP, confirmed late Friday in a statement that the attorney was hired to represent Mangione. The firm indicated that she will not be commenting on the case at this time.

Mangione was arrested Monday after a customer at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, saw him eating breakfast and noticed a resemblance to the person police were looking for in the murder of Brian Thompson in Manhattan on December 4.

Police say Mangione was found with a gun, a mask and writings that link him to the ambush outside the Hilton Midtown hotel in New York, where Thompson was heading to participate in his company’s annual investor conference.

Mangione, 26, remained jailed without bail Saturday in Pennsylvania, where he was initially charged with weapons offenses and forgery. Altoona is about 370 kilometers (about 230 miles) west of New York City.

Mangione’s attorney, Thomas Dickey, said the case should not be prejudged and noted that his client would challenge his extradition to New York.

But Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said Friday that there were signs Mangione might give up that battle.

“We will continue to press parallel paths, and we will be ready whether he waives extradition or challenges it,” Bragg said at an unrelated news conference in Times Square.

On Monday, hours after Mangione’s arrest, Bragg’s office filed documents charging him with five counts, including intentional murder, criminal possession of a weapon and criminal possession of a forged document.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she is prepared to ask her Pennsylvania counterpart, Gov. Josh Shapiro, to intervene and issue an executive court order demanding Mangione’s extradition if he does not agree to be voluntarily transferred.

Mangione’s new attorney, Friedman Agnifilo, was Chief Deputy District Attorney from 2014 to 2021, and previously was head of the office’s trial division. She has made frequent television appearances, including as a legal analyst, co-host of a weekly podcast, and legal counsel for the television show “Law & Order.”

Her husband and law firm partner, Mark Agnifilo, represents Sean “Diddy” Combs in the hip-hop mogul’s federal sex trafficking case in Manhattan.

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