“Wanted” posters bearing the names and photos of slain UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and other high-profile health care executives began appearing around Manhattan sometime this week.
Video shared on social media A green box with a large red cross over Thompson's face appeared at the corner of Canal Street and Center Street in Lower Manhattan, a “wanted” sign posted on scaffolding showed.
Other posters bearing the faces of Optum CEO Heather Cianfrocco and UnitedHealth CEO Andrew Whitty can be seen atop green scaffolding on Wall Street, according to the video. It is said that
“Healthcare CEOs should not feel safe,” the posters warned, adding that they “reject… It contained three letters: “Defense…Sent off.”
The “hit list” is believed to be a fear-mongering social media stunt meant to stir up hysteria, sources told the Post, adding that there is no real person with the hit list.
The remains of the poster on Canal Street were removed by noon Wednesday.
Mangione's manifesto, recovered during his arrest in Pennsylvania on Monday, said he targeted CEOs over his disillusionment with U.S. health insurance companies.
What we know about the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson
- Brian Thompson, CEO of insurance giant UnitedHealthcare, was shot and killed in a “brazen, targeted attack” outside a luxury midtown hotel on Wednesday, police said.
- Mr. Thompson was appointed CEO of UnitedHealth in April 2021. He joined the company in 2004. He was one of several senior executives at the company targeted by the Justice Department.
- Thompson's wife, Paulette, said she had received threats before her husband was killed.
- The Thompson shooting sparked an online frenzy and even sparked a tasteless lookalike contest in New York.
- A dignitary was arrested by police inside a McDonald's store in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
- The suspect has been identified as Luigi Mangione, 26, of Towson, Maryland. He was an Ivy League graduate who hated the medical world.
Follow the Post's live updates on news about Brian Thompson's murder.
Social media reaction to the brazen assassination has been surprisingly sympathetic, with law enforcement concerned that extremists will consider Mangione a “martyr” and take up the cause, officials posted. told the paper.
Officials believe corporate executives across the country could face “additional threats” as a result, the people said.
Mr. Mangione's supporters have already raised tens of thousands of dollars for Mr. Mangione's defense in the shocking Manhattan murder case that left a father of two dead.
The murder led to a flurry of products sympathetic to the 26-year-old being sold by online retailers, and Amazon was forced to pull them from its website.
Gifts such as T-shirts, sweatshirts and other merchandise that say “Deny Defend Depose” are appearing on websites including Amazon, TikTok and Ebay. Other Mangione-themed items with the words “Free Luigi” are also on sale for fans of the killer.
