After nearly a year of deliberations and attempts at indicting Luigi Mangione, a recent hearing in the New York State Court saw Judge Tucker Johnson dismiss two charges, one including a charge of capital punishment, the judge citing that he could “never cross a brother like that.” 

What does he mean? In fact, Luigi Mangione and Judge Johnson are both alumni members of the same professional law frat, Phi Alpha Delta, at the University of Pennsylvania. Federal prosecutors have been working on an indictment for the greater part of the past year. However, the possibility of appealing the judge’s decision seems improbable, given that many sympathize with their fellow brother Mangione. 

A statement from Mangione reads: “I’m very relieved by the judge’s decision. I was worried how he was going to approach the conflict, whether he would recognize my brotherhood or if he may have forgotten the time we briefly met at an alumni mixer my junior year, where I first expressed my interest in pursuing law. We connected on LinkedIn and I even got to shotgun a beer with him. In the end, I’m just so psyched this connection has paid off.” 

The judge released a statement last week expressing a similar sentiment. 

“The past months, I’ve been racking my head over this trial. Although I don’t remember ever meeting the kid before the case, I keep thinking about a certain guidebook I had to memorize during my own initiation into the fraternity. One of the rules read: ‘As Gentleman of the University of Pennsylvania, we shall never seek legal action against one another, over any predicament whatsoever.’”

“I’ve asked myself many times, ‘How can I charge my own brother with capital punishment?’ I mean for God’s sake he may have even slept in the same bedroom at the frat-house!”

Phi Alpha Delta alumni and brothers across the country, including Co-founder and CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg and CFO of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated Wayne S. DeVeydt (a close associate and friend of Brian Thompson), have expressed their support and solidarity with Mangione. 

“Though I’m appalled and disgusted at the act of political violence against a well-intentioned, good-standing executive,” Zuckerberg said, “I too could not bear the conscience of condemning a brother to capital punishment. You just can’t do that.”

United States Attorny General Pam Bondi has strongly communicated her indignation with the judge’s decision against the charge of capital punishment. 

“I think it’s utterly impertinent and childish how Judge Johnson has justified his decision. I’ve got an entire administration up my ass trying to put this killer away, meanwhile I have to deal with a pair of sentimental and principled frat boys,” Bondi said.

Mangione remains hopeful about a positive outcome. Mangione’s father has also taken action into his own hands and invited the judge to visit the family’s country clubs in Maryland. 

“Nothing beats a couple brews and holes with some brothers. I’m thinking I can get the judge down to 20 years, maximum,” he said.

León Giusti lives by the tenant: “The boys above all.”