Luigi Mangione’s cousin signs with Brooklyn FC as alleged UnitedHealthcare CEO assassin faces trial

Luigi Mangione’s cousin will continue his professional soccer career just miles from the jail where the alleged assassin of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson is being held.

Peter Mangione, a 24-year-old midfielder from Hunt Valley, Md., has signed a contract with Brooklyn FC of for its USL Championship roster, the team announced Wednesday.

A Penn State product, Mangione enjoyed a standout run with the Nittany Lions, notching 31 career goals and twice earning Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year honors (2021, ’23).

Former Penn State soccer coach Jeff Cook touted Mangione, who was named vice captain of the team in 2021, as having “made significant contributions to our Penn State men’s soccer program both on and off the field.”

He spent the previous two seasons with FC Cincinnati 2 of MLS Next, an amateur league operated by Major League Soccer.

Last season, Mangione logged two goals and five assists over 28 appearances.

“He brings a balanced midfield profile to Brooklyn, with the engine to cover ground and the end product to impact matches in the final third,” his new team said in its release.

Brooklyn FC will open its inaugural season competing for the USL Championship on March 8, facing Indy Eleven at Maimonides Park in Coney Island — approximately 6 miles from Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, where Peter’s cousin Luigi is currently housed.

Luigi Mangione, 27, is accused of assassinating Thompson outside the health insurance company’s investor conference in Midtown Manhattan on Dec. 4, 2024.

After a five-day manhunt, he was apprehended inside an Altoona, Pa., McDonald’s.

Judge Margaret Garnett this week backtracked on a prior ruling, electing to hold an evidentiary hearing to determine if Mangione’s backpack was lawfully seized and searched during the arrest.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has pushed for the death penalty in the Mangione case, which would mark the first Manhattan federal execution in more than 70 years.

Garnett set a tentative date of Sept. 8 to begin jury selection, as Mangione’s lawyers fight to avoid the death penalty.

Garnett said last week that if death penalty charges are dropped, the trial could begin as early as Oct. 12.

If the federal charges proceed, Mangione’s trial could begin in January 2027, she added.

Mangione’s legal counsel has fought against capital punishment, arguing that the case has been turned into a “Marvel-esque” production, which will negatively sway potential jurors.

“In a show of force befitting a captured cartel chief or comic book villain, Mr. Mangione, at the time a 26-year-old who had never been in trouble with the law, was ‘perp walked’ before scores of television cameras and press reporters, surrounded by armed law enforcement officials in tactical SWAT gear and raid jackets,” his lawyers said in a 114-page Manhattan Federal Court filing in September.

While a judge dropped terrorism charges against Mangione in September, he still faces a slew of charges in federal, New York and Pennsylvania courts, including murder, interstate stalking, illegal gun possession and forgery tied to the slaying.

Mangione has pleaded not guilty to all charges in both federal and New York state court, and also entered not guilty pleas in Pennsylvania to the weapons and related offenses.