In 2024, Luigi Mangione of Pennsylvania made headlines after he allegedly shot Brian Thompson, the then-CEO of United Healthcare in New York City. After a five-day search, authorities found Mangione in Altoona and arrested him. He is now in jail in New York City and has made headlines for his looks just as much as he has for his alleged crime. Because of the nature of the shooting, a lot of people have taken an interest in his beliefs and interests.
And apparently he has an interest in a surprising person, podcaster and writer Patrick Bet-David. The podcaster, who is a fan of President Trump, recently revealed that he and Mangione have been in touch.
Bet-David praised Mangione for his intelligence.
On April 6, 2026, Bet-David shared in a video that Mangione had reached out to him. “To tell you how well it was written would be an understatement. This was written as if a kid went to Harvard or Yale, good writer, sense of humor, sarcasm, witty,” he said.
He added that he could tell the alleged shooter was “very intellectual” based on the content of the letter.
Mangione attended the University of Pennsylvania, which is an Ivy League college, OK! Magazine pointed out.
At first, he wasn’t sure if a reply was a good idea.
In his letter, Mangione allegedly said that he was a fan of Bet-David’s book Your Next Five Moves and had been recommending it to people in prison.
About 10 months ago, Mangione shared a letter from his prison cell of things he was grateful for at the time, and mentioned that he had read the book. Clearly it stuck with him.
Bet-David claimed that Mangione was sharing the book with others in prison as well, so he sent him six books.
“He said a lot of other things,” Bet-David said in the video. “I sat on it and I said, ‘What do I tell this guy? Do I write back?’ You know, what level of hope does a person have at 27 years old that is accused of killing a CEO of a company, UnitedHealthcare?”
Ultimately, he remembered how good it feels to send and receive mail, and that swayed his decision.
Reminiscing about his time in the military, Bet-David realized that a response could be a good thing.
“It took me back to when I was in the military, how valuable a response was. So I wrote a letter back to him, and I sent it yesterday,” the podcaster said in the video.
Acknowledging that Mangione had dealt with “back issues” and “certain health problems,” he lamented the fact that the younger man allegedly killed a CEO instead of contributing more positively to society.
“This is not a regular kid. He was a valedictorian, could have been a net positive to society, working, building a business, creating jobs, maybe getting involved in politics, doing something positive for the world. He had that brain to do it,” Bet-David shared.
