It may seem bizarre, but many women (including me) are captivated by the ‘hot assassin’, writes CLARA GASPAR

Handsome, Ivy-League educated, from a wealthy family – oh, and did I mention you have a six-pack?

On paper, Luigi Mangione is the kind of man any healthy young woman could dream of.

There’s a pretty big problem, though: the smoldering Italian American is now charged with the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO, 50-year-old Brian Thompson, in New York last Wednesday.

I admit I was fascinated as soon as the first CCTV footage of Mangione was released to the public just hours after the murder.

Several cameras captured him apparently carrying out his carefully planned operation: approaching Thompson outside a Manhattan hotel, carrying out the attack and disappearing on an electric bicycle.

It was like a scene from a Christopher Nolan thriller: cinematic, chilling – and darkly compelling.

But then came details that only increased the intrigue. The clearest photos of Mangione emerged from the hostel where he was believed to be staying, as he reportedly lowered his mask to flirt with a happy woman at the reception. As one user of

When Mangione was named as a ‘person of interest’ in the case on Monday evening, the internet erupted.

Amateur sleuths and admirers pored over his online presence and discovered tantalizing details: thought-provoking reviews of books on health, philosophy and psychedelics; witty tweets; and an Instagram gallery littered with topless photos showing off a physique straight out of a Calvin Klein campaign. Not to mention he’s the heir to a resort fortune – and the brother of a top doctor.

Those who searched Mangione’s Spotify profile discovered that he is a fan of Charli

The frenzy didn’t stop on social media. More than 100 different items with Mangione’s name or image are already for sale on the online marketplace Etsy.

A tote bag with images of the alleged shooter and the lyrics of a Britney Spears song: ‘Mama, I’m in love with a criminal’. T-shirts and hoodies with the slogan #FreeLuigi. A mock cover of Time Magazine featuring Mangione as Person of the Year with the tagline “Revolutionary in healthcare, leading the fight to transform global healthcare.”

But let’s not get carried away. Because no matter how chiselled that six-pack is or how intelligent he is, Luigi Mangione is a man accused of murder – and if he’s guilty, he deserves our conviction. His alleged victim was not only a CEO of a controversial insurance company, but also a husband and father of two young sons. His death is a devastating tragedy for them.

On these pages, I wrote in September about the worrying number of young women on TikTok who now say they would rather be confronted by a grizzly bear in a forest than by a man they don’t know – so deep-rooted is their fear of violent masculinity.

So it may seem a bizarre – and disturbing – contradiction that so many women (and a few men) my age have “fallen” for this alleged murderer.

But this isn’t the first time the internet has turned a potentially dangerous individual into a sex symbol. Many have pointed out the similarity between Mangione and Daniel Khalife, 23, the former British Army soldier who was found guilty of spying for Iran this year after sparking a nationwide manhunt when he escaped from HMP Wandsworth.

He too looked good as a movie star and became an unlikely heartthrob overnight when his mugshot was shared on social media. “Luigi Mangione is the sequel to Daniel Khalife,” one user wrote.

Then there’s the world’s “hottest criminal,” Jeremy Meeks, who became a viral sensation in 2014 when his mugshot was posted online. Despite his two-year conviction for firearms possession, the American’s sharp cheekbones and blue eyes won him a modeling contract while he was still behind bars and when he was released he dated Topshop heiress Chloe Green, with whom he had a has a child.

Some were similarly drawn to the Menendez brothers (who murdered their mother and father) – the subjects of a recent lavish Netflix drama.

But when it comes to murderers who look like Fred West, I’m afraid we’re not being so generous.

But perhaps the Internet’s obsession with Mangione’s appearance distracts from the fact that, even if you disregard his striking appearance, his worldview clearly resonates with many young people across the political spectrum.

Those on the left have hailed the University of Pennsylvania graduate as something of an anti-capitalist folk hero.

After all, the suspect appears to be motivated by hatred of the predatory U.S. health insurance industry, which routinely denies coverage to patients who have paid their premiums, leaving some families bankrupt as they have to finance treatment out of pocket.

Some of Mangione’s supporters revere him not despite his alleged crime, but because of it. As someone wrote on

However, as new details emerged yesterday about his digital footprint, it became clear that his political views are more complex than that – and he suddenly became a darling of X’s more right-wing enclaves as well.

The 26-year-old was skeptical of “woke” culture, followed several “libertarian” figures online and an alleged “manifesto” claimed to admire Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski, who attacked academics, businessmen and citizens with bombs from 1978 to 1995. His GoodReads profile (a website where users review books) reveals a fascination with psychedelic drugs and advice on treating back pain.

These interests appear to have taken root when Mangione, who lived for a time at a surf camp in Hawaii, distanced himself from friends and family after a surfing accident and reportedly took alternative measures to manage his pain.

An X-ray that Mangione shared on social media showed four pins in a spine. An American reporter speaking to those who knew him said: ‘What keeps popping up is a back operation that ‘changed everything’ for him and he went ‘absolutely crazy’.

A friend who lived with Mangione in Hawaii, RJ Martin, explained that he suffered from a condition called spondylolisthesis, in which a vertebra slips out of place. The injury was so severe and disabling that Mangione could not have sex, he said.

‘He knew that dating and being physically intimate was not possible with his back condition. I remember him telling me that, and it just breaks my heart.”

Rather than a folksy antihero or “hot killer,” it seems Mangione has been just another victim of sorts — of a health care system that has failed many other Americans.

One thing’s for sure: the internet’s fixation on Mangione—be it his politics, his pain, his jawline, or abs—reveals how “meme culture” now shapes our perception of even the darkest stories.