With Luigi Mangione's guilty plea and the conclusion of his federal murder trial, it's time to put to rest another controversy: How did three pro-Mangione influencers, also known as the "Mangionistas," get their official New York City press passes?
In May, a New York Daily News reporter interviewed Abril Rios, Lena Weissbrot, and Ashley Rojas outside a Manhattan courthouse as they attended Mangione's trial for the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. In a video that went somewhat viral, the Mangionistas said inflammatory things like "Fuck Brian Thompson. I don't give a flying fuck he died," and that his kids are "better off without him"—all while wearing white and blue New York City press badges around their necks, which had local outlets up in arms and wondering how they got them. A spokesperson for the mayor said the incident prompted a review of the City's press pass system.
As Hell Gate wrote at the time, the whole discourse was a little silly, and gatekeeping who counts as real press in this Media Moment is genuinely pretty challenging. But out of curiosity, we went ahead and made a Freedom of Information Law request to the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment to have a look at the Mangionistas' press pass applications.