Biggest Perp Walk Ever For What?

Don't Miss NYPD Theater Starring Luigi Mangione

There was absolutely no need for a massive show of military force. There was no need for 40 or 50 men to transport Luigi from a helicopter to a building and then off to the Metropolitan Detention Center where Diddy is also incarcerated. This was, of course, about trying him in the court of public opinion. Did they think some guerilla force was going to leap out from the ocean and try to free him? No. Did they have that many men to transport El Chapo? No. For an hour or two anyone could have gotten away with anything in New York City because half of the NYPD was on the heliport participating in a bit of NYPD Theater. They put a million cops around him to send a message to the future jury. An obscene show of force designed to inflate his image and make him look as dangerous as Hannibal Lecter. Instead of erasing him, they wanted to blow him up but to some people, the whole thing made him look like a martyr. Or like the hero in a movie. I wrote that sentence before I heard Hasan Piker said, “It makes him look like a hero or martyr.” Apparently, a lot of people got that impression.

On Twitter someone likened it to Superman being arrested by 100 cops. It was so Hollywood—they brought him in via helicopter, making the most visual noise possible—and made sure the media knew where they would be. They gave the cameras great lines of sight as they paraded their prized possession, drowning in chains and shackles. They wanted professional-looking video of the biggest perp walk ever on every station. It was a planned media spectacle, the NYPD trying to recontextualize him in the public consciousness as a dangerous criminal. Part of their battle against the widespread hero worship.

A day ago TMZ reported that a friend of Luigi’s said the two of them had a lovely trip to Thailand back in April. They visited bars and beaches and weed shops. Luigi talked about having $6 million in the bank from his family. He’d also been making “lawyer money” in his job as a coder for TrueCar. It seems like so many things were going well for him. But shortly after that, he went into a funk and detached himself from friends and family. For about six months he was in contact with no one. Near the end of that period, in mid-November, his mother told police he was missing. Days after that, he went to New York City. What happened between Thailand and Manhattan to break the spirit of this young millionaire? Where did things go so wrong that Luigi decided that he should sacrifice his life?

Here’s video of NYPD parading him in front of cameras.