Luigi Mangione was once roughed up by a group of transgender women during a wild night out in Thailand in the months before he allegedly gunned down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, a new report claims.
The 27-year-old accused assassin allegedly bragged to friends over WhatsApp about his raucous nightlife backpacking through Asia before he returned to the US in July 2024 and allegedly shot Thompson that December, the New York Times reported Tuesday.
In one eyebrow-raising message, Mangione claimed he had been beaten up by seven “ladyboys” – a colloquial term for transgender women – in Bangkok and shared a photo of his battered and scratched arm, according to texts reviewed by the outlet.
The Ivy League-educated tech whiz set off on a solo trip abroad in early 2024, befriending soccer player Christian Sacchini and an unidentified companion along the way.
Sacchini, who met Mangione at a Bangkok pub in March, told the publication the accused killer initially talked about video games and Pokemon before veering into a rant about how “effed up” the US healthcare system is compared to Thailand.
The alleged killer, who hails from a wealthy Maryland family, eventually escaped to the lush Mount Omine mountains in Japan, seeking a slower pace and hoping to “meditate” and “do some writing” by a serene hot spring.
Fellow travelers, locals, and Mangione’s own notes suggest he went from craving human connection at the start of his trip to isolating himself, while obsessing over how to make a dramatic statement about injustice over insurance coverage, the Times reported.
“He didn’t use any digital devices,” said Juntaro Mihara, owner of a small guesthouse in Tenkawa, where the University of Pennsylvania grad stayed for six days.