By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-12-11 15:41:54 | Updated at 2024-12-22 07:06:33
1 week ago
The grandfather of suspected UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson killer Luigi Mangione has been branded a bully businessman who did not deny having Mafia ties.
Nicholas Mangione Sr lived the rags to riches tale after he and his brother were forced to become breadwinners for their immigrant family at the age of 11.
Years later, he had solidified himself as being a formidable businessman with a Baltimore Sun article referring to him as 'the embodiment of anger'.
According to The New York Times, after he thought he was being discriminated against at country clubs in the 70s because he was Italian, he decided to buy his own resort.
After he get tired of waiting for permission to then build a second golf course at one of his clubs, he sent in bulldozers anyway to have the land cleared out.
The elder Mangione also saw that a soccer coach was barred from his club after his son was cut from his team.
Mangione Sr took up work at the age of 11 alongside his brother after their father died of pneumonia and left the family without anything.
In World War II he joined the the navy and fought in the South Pacific before he returned to Baltimore where he started the foundations of his contracting company.
As the early 70s came around, Mangione and his wife Mary moved to the suburbs of the city to help their growing young family.
His rise saw him develop a reputation locally as being a man with a shrewd business style, with some questioning how he came about the money for the club
Outside of Baltimore, you would be hard tasked to find anybody that recognized the Mangione name until earlier this week when his grandson Luigi, seen here, was charged with murder
In 1978 he went on to purchase the 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 property into an all encompassing full-service resort with conference centers.
Authorities say his grandson Luigi gunned down 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 being a man with a shrewd business style, with some questioning how he raised the $5 million needed to buy the club.
Speaking with The Baltimore Sun years later, Mangione said: 'People thought I needed money from the Mafia to buy this place.
'They asked me what family I belonged to. I told them: "I belong to the Mangione family. The Mangione family of Baltimore County".'
In 1988, his nephew, who was a manager at the resort, sparked local fury after using a racial remark in a voicemail left for a local NAACP member.
Mangione, in a bizarre move, then decided to rescind a pledge he had made to a nearby hospital, and stopped participating in charitable programs.
He also stopped a nearby high school golf team practice at the resort for free, telling The Washington Post: 'I stopped it all.'
In 1978 he went on to purchase the Turf Valley Country Club in Howard County, seen here, just outside of Baltimore
In World War II he joined the the navy and fought in the South Pacific before he returned to Baltimore where he started the foundations of his contracting company
He added: 'It's a two-way street. If I am judged guilty and I'm not guilty, then they're not friends of mine.'
Mangione went on to fire his nephew for making the racist remark, but was rehired a few months later.
It was one of many 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 note in their stories that to his family he was relaxed and warm towards them.
When it came down to business, the newspaper said: 'The angry, combative, accusing side comes out in public, aimed at people who oppose, or attempt to slow his progress.'
He told the newspaper: 'If people treat me in a fair and honest way, we get along fine. If they tell lies, my temper just gets the best of me.'
Thomas J. D'Alesandro, the former Baltimore mayor, agreed with this and told The Baltimore Sun in 1995: 'Nick Mangione is foremost identified as a family man.
'That’s his calling card even before he became a successful businessman. He is maybe a little rough around the edges and maybe with an aggressive personality, but a man with a big heart.'
The younger Mangione, seen here,had managed to evade captured until he was nabbed at a McDonald's in the Keystone State on Monday
Mangione is seen with his sister and parents in an undated photo. His mother said she had no contact with him since July 1 as she reported him missing
Mangione added: 'I didn’t have two nickels to rub together when my father died when I was 11, yet I still became a millionaire. What other country can you do that?'
He died in 2008 at the age of 83 he left behind 10 children and over 35 grandchildren, as well as two country clubs, a nursing home chain and a conservative radio station.
Outside of Baltimore, you would be hard tasked to find anybody that recognized the Mangione name until earlier this week when his grandson was charged with murder.
Luigi Mangione, 26, appeared in a Pennsylvania courthouse on Tuesday charged with the murder of Thompson.
He had managed to evade captured until he was nabbed at a McDonald's in the Keystone State on Monday.
Mangione had withdrawn from his family and friends sometime last year, when he appears to have gone into an isolated mental health spiral due to severe back pain.
His mother Kathleen reported him missing in San Francisco last month, saying she hadn't heard from him since July 1.
At his court appearances, no members of his family appeared alongside him, but instead opted to issue 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 we ask people to pray for all involved.'
