Man Armed With BBQ Fork And Pizza Cutter Posed As FBI Agent To Spring Luigi Mangione From Jail

A man posing as an FBI agent walked into the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn on Wednesday night in an attempt to spring suspected assassin Luigi Mangione from jail, according to a criminal complaint.

The suspect, 36-year-old Mark Anderson of Minnesota, was charged on Thursday with impersonating a federal agent. Anderson allegedly illegally approached the jail’s intake area and told authorities at the jail that he had an order “signed by a judge” to free an inmate. While the criminal complaint does not specify who Anderson was allegedly attempting to free, law enforcement sources told ABC News and the New York Post that it was Mangione.

Anderson told officials that he had weapons in his bag, and when officials searched the bag, they found a pizza cutter and a barbecue fork, according to the criminal complaint. When asked to provide his credentials, Anderson handed officials his Minnesota driver’s license, the complaint stated. Anderson reportedly moved to New York City recently and was working at a pizza parlor. The Minnesota man was scheduled to appear in court on Thursday afternoon.

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York

Mangione is being held in the Metropolitan Detention Center as his trial unfolds. The 27-year-old University of Pennsylvania graduate is charged with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, who was gunned down on a New York City street on December 4, 2024.

Mangione has been charged at the state and federal levels, with his federal murder charge opening up the door to the death penalty if he is convicted. Mangione has pleaded not guilty to the state and federal murder charges. The suspected assassin has attracted fans, who have called for him to be released. Some of Mangione’s supporters have used the murder of Thompson to condemn the U.S. health care system and to call for other health care executives to be killed.

The Mangione fans, some of them wearing costumes of Luigi from Super Mario, have flocked together outside of the courthouse in New York City when the suspected killer was due in court. Mangione is due back in court for his federal case on Friday as the judge considers whether the death penalty can remain on the table.

The accused killer’s attorney’s wants the judge to prevent the prosecution from using items found in Mangione’s backpack when he was arrested as evidence. The lawyers argue that Altoona, Pennsylvania, police illegally searched Mangione’s backpack when they arrested him. Among the items found in Mangione’s backpack were a gun, a loaded magazine, and a notebook that allegedly described Mangione’s plan to “whack” the health care CEO “at the annual parasitic bean-counter convention.”

U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett said last week that Mangione’s federal trial will start on September 8.