‘It’s a shock for all of us’
TOWSON, Md. — Luigi Mangione’s family is “beloved’’ Baltimore royalty, fueled by a real-estate empire and history of contributing millions of dollars to healthcare — the very industry that allegedly drove him to murder.
Luigi’s late grandfather, family patriarch Nick Mangione Sr., liked to talk about being the product of a classic immigrant success story.
“I didn’t have two nickels to rub together when my father died when I was 11, yet I still became a millionaire,” Nick once told the Baltimore Sun of his Italian immigrant dad and his own hard-scrabble upbringing.
“What other country can you do that in? None that I can think of.”
The grandfather would go on to build a sprawling network of businesses that ranged from developing and owning local resorts and country clubs to nursing homes and even a radio station.
He and his wife Mary garnered local love by being renowned philanthropists, too, donating more than $1 million to the Greater Baltimore Medical Center, where all of their 37 grandkids were born — prompting the facility to name its obstetrics unit after the family, the outlet said.
The Mangione Family Foundation also has made hefty donations to such places as the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the St. Joseph Medical Center at the University of Maryland.
Even Loyola University’s pools are named after the Mangiones. Nick and Mary had 10 children, and six of them attended the local college.
The family’s personal dynasty reaches as far as Maryland’s statehouse, too, where grandkid Nino Mangione serves in its House of Delegates.
Relatives and friends said the family’s “amazing’’ reputation is what makes the news of Luigi’s arrest all the more shocking — particularly if he was driven by anger over the healthcare industry, which was near and dear to his grandparents’ hearts.
The brilliant 26-year-old University of Pennsylvania grad is accused of executing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in a sidewalk hit in Midtown last week.
He was allegedly seething over the country’s medical system and what he considered its “mafiosa’’ of greedy healthcare companies.
“It’s a shock for all of us,” Luigi’s uncle, Jerry O’Keefe, told The Post on Tuesday.
“I can’t say anymore. The statement summed it up for all of us. We don’t know anything more than what’s been reported in the media.”
On Monday, the family issued a statement saying, “We offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson and we ask people to pray for all involved. We are devastated by this news.”
Friends and others in the community poured out their hearts to the family on Facebook — where seemingly everyone knows a Mangione.
One friend called the kin “beloved.”
Another person posted, “The Mangione family has built up a tremendous amount of goodwill throughout this region. They need and deserve our prayers and support.”
Someone also wrote, “My son went to elementary and high school with a cousin as well as played soccer together. We got to know some of the family. The Mangione family is a loving, caring, kind and very generous group.”
