Luigi Mangione, the 27‑year‑old American charged in the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, is reportedly corresponding by post with conservative podcaster Patrick Bet‑David from his jail cell in Brooklyn, according to public comments made by Bet‑David.
Mangione was arrested on 9 December 2024 in Altoona, Pennsylvania, five days after Thompson was shot and killed outside a Manhattan hotel. Prosecutors have charged him with murder, stalking, and weapons offences in connection with the attack, and he has pleaded not guilty.
Both his state and federal trials have been repeatedly postponed, with the state case now slated for September 2026 and the federal trial expected to start later in the year.
What Bet‑David Says Mangione Wrote
Patrick Bet‑David, host of the PBD Podcast and a known conservative commentator, revealed in an interview that he received the first letter from Mangione at his office address.
In describing that correspondence, Bet‑David said the writing was unexpectedly polished and nuanced for someone in prison. 'This was written as if a kid went to Harvard or Yale — good writer, sense of humour, sarcasm, witty, even a riddle in there,' he said, adding that the letter showed someone with 'deep meaning in the way he's writing his stuff.'
According to Bet-David, Mangione referenced the online backlash surrounding a list of '27 things' he had written about what he was grateful for after turning 27. One item on that list was Bet-David's book Your Next Five Moves, which, he said, drew an outsized reaction. Quoting from the letter, Bet-David said Mangione wrote: 'Out of all the 27 things I wrote that I was grateful for, the one that I got the most hate mail was number seven, your Next Five Moves.'
Bet-David used that detail as a springboard into a meditation on how people, especially younger men, can be shaped by the voices around them when they are vulnerable. He said the letter made him think less about internet spectacle and more about what happens when a person becomes mentally and emotionally isolated. 'When you're at the lowest in life,' he said, 'you better guard who you listen to and what you watch and what you read.'
That appears to have been one of the central insights he took from the exchange. Rather than dwell only on the criminal case, Bet-David framed Mangione as someone who, in his telling, had intellectual ability and a potentially very different life ahead of him.
In the video, he speculated at length about the forces that may have shaped him before his arrest, including chronic pain, personal dislocation, and the influence of outside ideas.
He also said the correspondence prompted him to write back in unusually personal terms. Recalling his time in the military, Bet-David said letters had once meant a great deal to him, and that memory influenced his decision to respond. He said he sent Mangione six books, though he did not name them publicly.
A Lesson for Viewers
At one point, Bet-David described the lesson he believed viewers should take from the exchange, shifting the focus from Mangione himself to the people who may be struggling quietly in ordinary life. 'This is someone's son. This is someone's cousin. This is someone's grandson,' he said, before urging viewers to reach out to people who may be in a dark place before they spiral further.
He also suggested that Mangione had indicated he was still watching or hearing about his content from prison, implying that the exchange was not a one-off curiosity but part of an ongoing correspondence.
