The grandfather of suspected UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson killer Luigi Mangione has been branded a bully businessman who denied having ties to the mafia.
Nicholas Mangione Sr lived from rags to riches after he and his brother were forced to become breadwinners for their immigrant family at the age of 11.
Years later, he had proven himself as a formidable businessman with a Baltimore Sun article referring to him as “the embodiment of anger.”
According to The New York TimesAfter thinking he was being discriminated against at country clubs in the 1970s because he was Italian, he decided to buy his own resort.
After growing tired of waiting for permission to build a second golf course at one of his clubs, he sent bulldozers to have the land cleared.
The elder Mangione also saw a football coach banned from his club after his son was removed from his team.
Mangione Sr started working with his brother at the age of 11 after their father died of pneumonia, leaving the family without anything.
In World War II, he joined the Navy and fought in the South Pacific before returning to Baltimore, where he laid the foundation of his contracting business.
In the early 1970s, Mangione and his wife Mary moved to the outskirts of the city to help their growing young family.
His rise saw him develop a reputation locally as a man with a shrewd business style, with some wondering how he got the money for the club.
Outside of Baltimore, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who recognized the name Mangione, until earlier this week his grandson Luigi, seen here, was charged with murder.
In 1978, he purchased Turf Valley Country Club in Howard County, just outside of Baltimore.
It was here that over the years the Mangiones expanded the 1,000-acre estate into a comprehensive full-service resort with conference centers.
Authorities say his grandson Luigi shot Brian Thompson, seen here, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare
The resort is now known as The Turf Valley Resort and has become a popular destination.
His rise saw him develop a reputation locally as a man with a shrewd business style, with some wondering how he raised the $5 million needed to buy the club.
Speaking to The Baltimore Sun years later, Mangione said, “People thought I needed mob money to buy this house.
‘They asked me which family I belonged to. I told them, ‘I belong to the Mangione family. The Mangione Family of Baltimore County.”
In 1988, his cousin, who was a manager at the resort, sparked local outrage after making a racist comment in a voicemail left for a local NAACP member.
Mangione then bizarrely decided to retract a promise he had made to a nearby hospital and stopped participating in charity programs.
He also packed a nearby high school golf team practice into the resort for free, tellingly The Washington Post: ‘I stopped it all.’
In 1978 he purchased the Turf Valley Country Club in Howard County, seen here, just outside of Baltimore.
In World War II, he joined the Navy and fought in the South Pacific before returning to Baltimore, where he laid the foundation of his contracting business.
He added: ‘It’s a two-way street. If I’m found guilty and I’m not guilty, then they’re not my friends.’
Mangione subsequently fired his cousin for making the racist comment, but was rehired a few months later.
It was one of several clashes he had with local officials as his family empire grew to include another country club, radio station WCBM-AM 680 and a nursing home chain.
The Baltimore Sun notes in their stories that he was relaxed with his family and cordial to them.
When it came to business, the paper said, “The angry, combative, accusatory side comes out in public, targeting people who resist or try to slow his progress.”
He told the newspaper: “If people treat me fairly and honestly, we will get along well. When they tell lies, my temper gets the better of me.”
Thomas J. D’Alesandro, the former mayor of Baltimore, agreed and told the story The Baltimore Sun in 1995: ‘Nick Mangione is identified primarily as a family man.
‘That’s his calling card, even before he became a successful businessman. He may be a bit rough and maybe with an aggressive personality, but a man with a big heart.”
The younger Mangione, seen here, had managed to evade capture until he was captured Monday at a McDonald’s in the Keystone State.
Mangione is seen with his sister and parents in an undated photo. His mother said she had not had contact with him since July 1 after reporting him missing
Mangione added, “I didn’t have two nickels to rub together when my father died when I was 11, and yet I became a millionaire. In what other country can you do that?’
He died in 2008 at the age of 83, leaving behind 10 children and more than 35 grandchildren, as well as two country clubs, a nursing home chain and a conservative radio station.
Outside of Baltimore, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who recognized Mangione’s name until his grandson was charged with murder earlier this week.
Luigi Mangione, 26, appeared at a Pennsylvania courthouse Tuesday charged with Thompson’s murder.
He had managed to evade capture until he was captured Monday at a McDonald’s in the Keystone State.
Mangione had withdrawn from his family and friends sometime last year, when severe back pain seemed to send him into an isolated mental health spiral.
His mother Kathleen reported him missing in San Francisco last month and said she had not heard from him since July 1.
At his court hearings, no members of his family appeared beside him, choosing instead to make a statement.
Their statement, issued after his arrest, read: “Our family is shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest.
“We offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson and ask people to pray for everyone involved.”