Luigi Mangione’s raucous ladyboy bar brawl in Thailand unfolded after the accused assassin became the target of a $1,500 scam, according to a new book.
New details about the murder suspect’s bizarre encounter in Bangkok are laid bare in Last Known Contact, by an anonymous author who claims to have been traveling with Mangione during his backpacking trip around Asia last year.
According to the friend’s account, the wild night out to a local sex bar spiraled into slapstick violence after Mangione and his expat pals were presented with an inflated bill.
When they refused to pay, they were set upon by as many as seven ladyboys – a colloquial term for Bangkok’s famed transgender women – leaving Mangione covered in bloody scratches.
The 27-year-old survived the scrap and bragged about it to a friend he met while traveling abroad prior to the December 2024 slaying of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
‘He and a few guys he’d just met decided to check out one of the infamous sex bars,’ the friend reveals in his anonymous, self-published novel.
‘They all went in together, had about two beers each, and when the bill came it totaled a jaw-dropping 50,000 Thai Baht or around $1,500.
‘I was stunned and asked how well he knew these guys, suggesting that maybe one of them had ordered a little something on the side to inflate the tab.
Luigi Mangione’s friends recently lifted the lid on his alleged encounter with seven ‘ladyboys’ while he was traveling in Thailand last year
Mangione, 27, spent time backpacking around Asia months before he was accused of murdering a health insurance boss in December 2024
‘He [Mangione] explained that they were all just drinking and he believed someone had tried to scam them, assuming they were too drunk to notice.
‘That, as it turned out, was just the beginning. When they started questioning the bill, things escalated quickly, and the group found themselves surrounded and attacked by ladyboys from all sides.’
The friend, one of several drinking buddies Mangione linked up with during his 2024 trip to Thailand, explains he didn’t witness the fight because he had gone home early that night.
But he says Mangione couldn’t wait to recount the ‘f*****g nuts story’ when they messaged via WhatsApp and spoke on the phone the next day.
The author includes a photo of Mangione’s injuries and screengrabs of their exchange as proof the brawl was genuine.
‘Get beat up my [sic] a ladyboy?’ the friend asked him.
‘Lol not a ladyboy. More like 7 ladyboys.’ Mangione texted back.
The traveler-turned-accused murder also confessed to being so hungover that he needed to take a night off from partying.
The bizarre episode is detailed in, Last Known Contact: The Untold Story of Luigi Mangione, written by an anonymous author who shared text messages from the accused killer describing the violent encounter
The texts purportedly show Mangione describing the incident as a ‘f***king nuts story’ involving ‘7 ladyboys’
‘Dude I passed tf out. 3 nights in a row I need a break tn,’ he messaged.
The author was stunned that Mangione – who comes from a rich Maryland family – was so brazen about his visit to a seedy sex venue in the heart of Bangkok’s red-light district.
‘What struck me about the whole ordeal was how unabashedly he told the story,’ the 51-page book recalls.
‘Most people would have buried a moment like that, embarrassed or ashamed. But Luigi wore it like a badge of honor, scratches and all.’
Mangione spent much of 2024 as a restless backpacker drifting across Asia in search of ‘peace and stillness.’
He befriended multiple expat Americans on his travels, including professional soccer player Christian Sacchini, who told The New York Times how they chatted about everything from Pokémon and AI to the ‘effed up’ US healthcare system.
Mangione then headed off to Japan, telling friends he intended to ‘zen out’ and ‘do some Buddha’ in the serene Mount Omine region.
Juntaro Mhara, the owner of a modest guesthouse where the UPenn grad stayed for six days, said he shunned digital devices and preferred to meditate or read.
Two American travelers recently revealed in an interview with the New York Times that they met Mangione when they were in Bangkok. The city’s red light district is pictured
Mangione is accused of assassinating UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York last December
‘He was quiet and only had minimum necessary conversations with other guests or maybe didn’t talk with anyone,’ Mhara told The Times.
When Mangione returned to the US in July 2024, his journals, later seized by prosecutors, revealed a darker transformation – and plans to ‘fight injustice.’
‘The details are finally coming together. And I don’t feel any doubt about whether it’s right/justified,’ he wrote.
‘I’m glad — in a way — that I’ve procrastinated, bc it allowed me to learn more about UHC. The target is insurance. It checks every box.’
Mangione became so detached from his previous life and loved ones that his family reported him missing to the San Francisco Police on November 18.
By then he had allegedly narrowed his sights on father-of-two Thompson, 50, who was shot in the back and leg on a bustling Manhattan sidewalk one month later.
Cops found the words ‘delay’, ‘deny’ and ‘depose’ – referencing the tactics insurance companies supposedly deploy to avoid paying out – written on shell casings.
Mangione was arrested five days after the December 4 killing while eating at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
He was allegedly in possession of a 3D printed handgun and suppressor, a fake ID and a 262-word handwritten screed attacking the American healthcare system.
Mangione, who has emerged as an unsavory folk hero to warped leftist radicals, is charged with New York state and federal charges including stalking and murder.
He’s due back in federal court on December 5.
