Briana Boston, a 42-year-old Florida woman, was charged this week with threats to conduct an act of terrorism after she told her insurance provider on a call, “Delay, deny, depose. You people are next.”
Boston was inspired by Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old assassin who murdered UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on the streets of Manhattan last week, because, according to a manifesto police found on him, insurance companies are evil. The words “delay, deny, depose,” were reportedly found on bullet casings at the crime scene. Boston reportedly threatened a phone representative from Blue Cross Blue Shield after her medical claim was denied. When police confronted her about the concerning call, Boston doubled down and said that “evil” health care companies “deserve karma.”
Although Boston claimed that she was in no position to actually harm anyone, the police chief who arrested and charged Boston, said that she’s “been in this world long enough that she certainly should know better that you can’t make threats like that in the current environment that we live in and think that we’re not going to follow up and put you in jail.”
Mangione has attracted a cult following since he murdered a father of two in cold blood. Thompson’s murder has prompted a nationwide “discussion” on the state of the insurance industry — one laden with excuses and affirmations for disturbed individuals who believe sincerely that murdering high-powered executives is the only way to improve “the system.” Mangione has been described by a shockingly large amount of people as a handsome do-gooder, whose desire to expose the faults of the health care system makes him innocent. He was bound to have a copycat at some point, given that some social-media users have been justifying Mangione’s crime all week. Consider crazed ex-Washington Post journalist Taylor Lorenz, who said she derived joy from an innocent man’s murder.
Dominic’s post from last week, “Murdering CEOs Is Evil,” generated a terrifying amount of backlash, often from people like Lorenz who think Mangione is a hero for “starting the conversation” about corrupt insurance providers. Mangione might’ve started the conversation. Those who continue it by justifying his bloodlust encourage others to follow in his footsteps.