A man accused of having an unsuccessful plan to spring Luigi Mangione from jail will himself be spending some time behind bars.
Mark Anderson, 36, is accused of showing up at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC), the New York City jail that houses Mangione on Wednesday night and telling personnel that he was an FBI agent who had paperwork okaying Mangione’s release.
Per a criminal complaint against Anderson, he then told the prison officials that he had weapons. He was detained and searched, and some unusual weapons were found: a pizza cutter and a barbecue fork.
Anderson, who per a law enforcement source is an employee of well-known Bronx slice spot Louie & Ernie’s Pizza, appeared in Brooklyn federal court in front of Judge Taryn Merkl on Thursday evening (Jan. 29) to be charged with impersonating a federal officer. Complex was on the scene.
Anderson showed up wearing a gray Polo quarter-zip and animatedly talked to his lawyer during breaks in the action.
Prosecutor Jack Dennehy laid out what Anderson was accused of, though he didn’t mention Mangione directly, saying only that the inmate Anderson allegedly tried to free was “very well known.”
A law enforcement source confirmed that the inmate in question was Mangione.
Anderson’s attorney, Michael D. Weil, said that his client had been on his own since he was 13 years old.
“He’s very alone in this world,” Weil continued.
The attorney asked for Anderson to be admitted to a hospital for evaluation and treatment in lieu of incarceration.
“Based on the charges here, Mr. Anderson obviously needs some sort of treatment,” Weil said. “This does not appear to be a serious attempt to spring a federal inmate… I don’t think there was any effort to hurt anyone.
“It would be best if Mr. Anderson was taken to a hospital,” he concluded.
Judge Merkl, citing a risk of flight and Anderson’s past criminal record, which includes three separate arrests over the past three months—one in which a realistic-looking fake gun was recovered—denied Weil’s request and ordered Anderson detained. The judge set another hearing for Feb. 12.
Anderson asked that body cam footage of the MDC incident “be sealed by law for my own political hardship or my own personal benefit,” another request denied by Merkl.
According to online Federal Bureau of Prison records, Anderson is detained at MDC, the same facility he allegedly tried to get Mangione out of and that houses high-profile inmates including 6ix9ine and Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro.
Mangione became a public cause célèbre after being accused of killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December 2024. He is scheduled to appear in federal court on Friday (Jan. 30) for a status hearing.
