Man charged with bringing pizza cutter, barbecue fork to Brooklyn jail to free Luigi Mangione

MANHATTAN (CN) — A 36-year-old Minnesota man was arrested Wednesday night for showing up to a Brooklyn jail and pretending to be an FBI agent to release a prisoner, prosecutors claim in a new criminal complaint in the Eastern District of New York.

According to a law enforcement source, the inmate he sought to free was Luigi Mangione — the 27-year-old accused of killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in 2024.

Prosecutors claim Mark Anderson of Mankato, Minnesota, came to the Metropolitan Detention Center just before 7 p.m., approached the jail’s intake area and claimed to Bureau of Prisons guards that he was an FBI agent with paperwork “signed by a judge” authorizing the release of an inmate.

“When asked to provide federal credentials, the defendant Mark Anderson displayed his Minnesota driver’s license to the BOP officers and then claimed to be in possession of weapons,” prosecutors claim.

Anderson also threw “numerous documents” at the officers, including papers “related to filing claims against the United States Department of Justice,” investigators claim.

The guards proceeded to arrest Anderson and searched his backpack, where they found the supposed weapons he spoke of: a large barbecue fork and a round steel blade resembling a pizza cutter.

A law enforcement source said Anderson had been working at a Bronx pizzeria after moving to New York City for a job opportunity that didn’t pan out.

Mangione was not explicitly named in the court filing; he was only referred to as a “specific inmate.” At Anderson’s initial appearance on Thursday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Dennehy didn’t name Mangione, either. But he confirmed to the magistrate judge that Anderson was looking to free someone at the Metropolitan Detention Center.

“He’s actually very well-known,” Dennehy said of the inmate.

Mangione is being held at the infamous prison in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood, where he’s awaiting trial on federal murder charges.

Anderson could be joining him after U.S. Magistrate Judge Taryn Merkl declined his bid for release, citing a lengthy criminal rap sheet that includes past convictions on robbery, burglary and narcotics charges, among others.

Dennehy said Anderson was previously arrested as recently as Dec. 26 for menacing with a firearm.

Anderson’s lawyer, public defender Michael Weil, urged the court to let his client seek mental health treatment instead. He claimed that Anderon is “very alone in this world,” wasn’t raised by his family and had been “in the system” since he was 13 years old.

“I think it’s apparent that Mr. Anderson has other problems,” Weil said, adding that this was “not a serious attempt” to break someone out of prison.

But Merkl was dubious.

“We need a more concrete plan,” the judge ruled, opening the door for Weil to come back to the court with more information.

For now, Anderson will be detained until his next court appearance on Feb. 12. He appeared animated at the defense table, loudly speaking with his attorney at times and even personally asking the judge to seal bodycam footage from his arrest “for my own political hardship.” Merkl said that issue wasn’t before her — that footage is not currently public.

Anderson is also a serial pro se litigant. According to court records, he’s filed several complaints in the Southern District of New York claiming to be disabled and referencing stints in homeless shelters.

He sued New York City last year, claiming to have “badly injured” his ankle on the steps of a shelter. He even filed a suit as recently as Wednesday — the day he was arrested — against the FBI.

The Metropolitan Detention Center has housed numerous other high-profile defendants as of late, including music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, crypto fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Mangione is facing the death penalty in his federal case, after U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi claimed in April that he engaged in “an act of political violence.” He’s indicted on two counts of stalking, a firearms offense and murder through use of a firearm — the charge making him eligible for capital punishment.

A federal judge could rule to drop the death penalty on Friday, when Mangione is due to appear back in the Southern District of New York.

Mangione is also facing a parallel state indictment in New York Supreme Court, where he was initially charged with terrorism counts, until they were dismissed by a judge in September. The top count in that case is now second-degree murder.

Some circles have hailed Mangione as a folk hero for his supposed disdain for the for-profit health care industry, which prosecutors are using as fodder to prove he sought to ignite an uprising against insurance executives.

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