Jeffrey Epstein was name-dropped at Luigi Mangione’s hearing Monday when a jail guard testified that the accused killer was given so much security because officials didn’t want another suicide on their hands.
“I was told that SCI Huntington didn’t want an Epstein-style situation,” Pennsylvania Correction Officer Tomas Rivers said in Manhattan court, referring to the jail where Mangione was being held at the time and Epstein’s suicide behind bars in Manhattan in August 2019.
Luigi Mangione appears for a suppression of evidence hearing in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan Criminal Court on December 01, 2025 in New York City. Getty Images
Rivers, who was tasked with keeping a close eye on Mangione in December 2024, said Mangione was under “constant watch” while in detention — a situation typically reserved for someone who is a threat to themselves.
Epstein, a powerful financier-turned-convicted pedophile, offed himself while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges, authorities have said.
Jeffrey Epstein’s name came up during Mangione’s hearing on Monday. Getty Images
During an off-handed chat between the officer and Mangione at the Pennsylvania jail, Mangione also gabbed about a “gang fight between ‘Lady boys’ ” and “something with monkeys on public transport,’’ referring to his travels in Vietnam and Thailand, the guard said.
Mangione had allegedly been beaten by seven transgender women, commonly referred to in Thailand as “ladyboys,” during a bar dispute over money, a new book has said.
The incident occurred months before he allegedly fatally gunned down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on a Manhattan sidewalk.
The suspect — a prep-school and Ivy League graduate from a wealthy Maryland family — also discussed literature with the guard, the officer said.
“We discussed [George] Orwell, [Aldous] Huxley and [Henry David] Theroux,’’ Rivers said.
Mangione even gave him a book recommendation, he said: Huxley’s “The doors of Perception’’ about having a psychedelic experience on mescaline.
This week’s Manhattan hearing is to debate whether Mangione was illegally searched by cops when he was caught and whether potentially damning evidence were wrongly seized from him.