Ethel Cain has never been shy about speaking her mind, and now the singer is doubling down on saying we should “kill more CEOs” after Luigi Mangione‘s arrest, stating, “I genuinely mean what I say.”
On Friday, Cain spoke out about corrupt election officials in her Instagram stories with a quote from U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, describing how the NRA, Big Oil, and insurance companies influence Congress: “Money in politics is the root of our dysfunction.” She added the hashtag “#KillMoreCEOs.”
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Now, the singer is following up her controversial comments with even more ire. “I genuinely mean what I say,” she wrote in a new social media post. “Corporations giggle at protesting. Why would anyone ever willingly come down off their throne that they’ve spent years building off the suffering of their fellow man?”
“Nobody is getting visited by the ghost of Christmas future, no one is having a change of heart,” Cain added. “It’s simple, you make them fear for their lives and hit them in the only place they hurt or nothing will ever get done. I don’t even see how that’s an incredibly radical idea. It seems quite straightforward to me. ‘Violence is never the answer’ wrong. Sometimes it is.”
“The world is burning,” Cain concluded her post, “and it’s very clear who’s holding the matches.”
Ethel Cain Isn’t New to Expressing Her Views
Ethel Cain’s most recent comments are clearly motivated by the case of Luigi Mangione, who is charged with the assassination of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. They do not, however, represent her first taste of public commentary.
Following Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election, Cain took to Tumblr to express her frustration.
“The problem is that America has beaten down its people for decades and gotten them weak and desperate and now promises a way out, a way to transcend and rise above, through selling out their fellow man,” she wrote. “An embarrassingly large chunk of white men are just straight up nazis these days as a way to dissociate from the rest of the carnage around them, even if they’re broke and uneducated and from an impoverished background themselves.”
Ethel Cain, an outspoken advocate for social justice and equality, has made waves with her recent statement calling for the killing of more CEOs following the arrest of Luigi Mangione. Mangione, a prominent CEO, was arrested for embezzlement and fraud, further fueling Cain’s belief that corporate executives are often corrupt and harmful to society.
In a bold and controversial statement, Cain stated, “The arrest of Luigi Mangione is just the tip of the iceberg. We need to take drastic action against these wealthy and powerful individuals who exploit and oppress others for their own gain. Killing more CEOs may seem extreme, but it is necessary to bring about real change and hold these individuals accountable for their actions.”
While her call for violence may be shocking to some, Cain’s message resonates with many who feel that the wealthy elite often escape consequences for their harmful actions. As the wealth gap continues to widen and corporate greed runs rampant, Cain’s words serve as a powerful reminder of the need for systemic change and accountability in the business world.
It remains to be seen how society will respond to Cain’s provocative statement, but one thing is clear: the conversation around corporate accountability and the power dynamics within the business world is far from over.
Luigi Mangione became a household name overnight after he was charged in connection with the fatal shooting of Brian Thompson, the late CEO of UnitedHealthcare. Karen Friedman Agnifilo is representing Mangione as his defense lawyer. Now that Mangione has been extradited to New York City from Pennsylvania, the Ivy League graduate’s trial should take place soon. Shortly after he was brought to New York, the scene of his alleged crime, Friedman Agnifilo spoke up in court.
“I am very concerned about my client’s right to a fair trial in this case. He is being prejudiced by some statements being made by government officials,” Friedman Agnifilo told Judge Carro, according to The Independent. “There’s a wealth of case law guaranteeing his right to a fair trial. But none of the safeguards have been put in place yet here. In fact, that’s just the opposite of what’s been happening.”
Friedman Agnifilo further claimed that government officials “are literally treating [Mangione] like some sort of political fodder, like some sort of spectacle.” She then pointed out Mayor Eric Adams‘ behavior and subtly hinted at his indictment.
“He was on display for everyone to see in the biggest staged perp walk I’ve ever seen in my career. It was absolutely unnecessary,” Friedman Agnifilo continued. “And what was the New York City mayor doing at this press conference? That just made it utterly political. And frankly, your honor, the mayor should know more than anyone of the presumption of innocence that he, too, is afforded dealing with his own issues.”
Hollywood Life has compiled five facts about Friedman Agnifilo below.
(Photo by Curtis Means-Pool/Getty Images)
Karen Has 30 Years of Experience
According to Friedman Agnifilo’s website, she has three decades of experience in criminal justice.
Karen Worked at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office
She worked at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office from 2014 through 2021, where she spearheaded “prosecuting high-profile violent crime cases, including complex cases involving a mental health component, as well as cold case homicides,” according to her website. Furthermore, Friedman Agnifilo helped create the DA’s office’s Human Trafficking Unit, Hate Crimes Unit, Antiquities Trafficking Unit, Terrorism Unit and Cybercrimes and Identity Theft Bureau. She also worked on the construction of Manhattan’s first Mental Health Court.
Karen Has a Private Practice
After leaving her position at the Manhattan DA’s Office, Friedman Agnifilo opened her private practice. Per her website, the attorney focuses on representing clients in employment disputes as well as civil and criminal matters in state and federal courts.
Karen Went to UCLA
Friedman Agnifilo attended the University of California, Los Angeles, then the Georgetown University Law Center.
Karen Is a Legal Advisor for Law & Order
The attorney is a legal advisor for the crime series Law & Order.
Karen Has Her Own Podcast
Previously, Friedman Agnifilo served as a legal analyst for CNN. Now, she hosts her podcast and discusses trending legal issues and new litigation strategies each week.
Karen Friedman Agnifilo is a highly respected criminal defense attorney based in New York City.
She has represented a wide range of high-profile clients, including celebrities, politicians, and business executives.
Agnifilo is known for her strategic approach to defending clients, often utilizing innovative legal arguments to achieve successful outcomes.
She has been practicing law for over 20 years and is a partner at the prestigious law firm Brafman & Associates.
Agnifilo is currently representing Luigi Mangione, a prominent figure in the entertainment industry who is facing legal troubles. Her expertise and experience make her a formidable advocate for her clients.
Luigi Mangione’s NY judge is Gregory Carro, described as tough on crime and sympathetic to victims.
Lawyers call him no-nonsense, and some say he leans pro-prosecution.
Carro has allowed video and still photography in his courtroom during past high-profile proceedings.
His cases have earned tabloid nicknames, including the “rape cops,” a “killer nanny,” and a “blowtorch hubby.” In 2021, he presided over the moped hit-and-run death of Gone Girl actor Lisa Banes.
As early as Thursday afternoon, Carro will preside over his most high-profile media case yet, the prosecution of Luigi Mangione, who is accused of the ambush shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
With Carro on the bench in a likely-packed 13th-floor courtroom, Mangione, 26, will be officially informed of the first-degree murder indictment against him. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced Tuesday that the indictment alleges a top charge of murder as an act of terrorism.
After the charges are read, Mangione will have the chance to enter a plea of not guilty. Carro, who is expected to keep the case, will then set a next court date and order that Mangione be taken to a city jail to await that date.
A former Manhattan narcotics and homicide prosecutor, Carro was appointed to Manhattan’s criminal court bench in 1998 by then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Carro is the son of retired Associate Justice John Carro, who in 1979 was the first Puerto Rican appointed as an appellate judge in New York.
Luigi Mangione is charged with the first-degree murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Jeff Swensen/Getty Images
A ‘tough draw’
The younger Carro is known among defense lawyers at Manhattan Criminal Court as a “tough draw. “
If one lawyer tells another in a courthouse hallway, “I just learned my guy is going to be in front of Carro,” another might commiserate, “Wow, that’s a tough draw,” veteran attorneys in the city told BI.
Prosecutors might say the opposite of Carro: “Good draw.”
“Of course, in a case like this, there are no good judges,” said longtime Manhattan defense attorney Ron Kuby. “You’re not going to find any members of Antifa on the bench.”
Kuby called Carro “harsh but not crazy,” as Manhattan criminal judges go.
Five Manhattan defense lawyers interviewed by Business Insider said the judge leans pro-prosecution. None would say so on the record, because they may have cases before him in the future.
The most common descriptor among lawyers reached by BI? “No nonsense.”
“He’s a tough judge,” said a former fellow jurist, Charles Solomon, a state Supreme Court Justice in Manhattan who retired in 2017.
“Very firm, very fair, and well-respected by his colleagues,” Solomon said of Carro.
Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg announced Mangione’s indictment with NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch.
Derek French/BI
Judges are assigned at random
Solomon said that Carro would have been assigned as Mangione’s judge through a strictly random process.
What likely happened was that on December 4, the day of Thompson’s shooting, Mangione’s lead prosecutor, Joel Seidemann, happened to be on call to “catch” new homicides.
Seidemann’s team of prosecutors feeds all of its new cases into one of only two assigned courtrooms, and one of them was Carro’s.
“This is the typical way a case gets assigned,” agreed another retired state Supreme Court justice, Michael Obus, who served as a supervising judge in Manhattan Criminal Court from 2009 to 2017.
“He’s a solid guy,” Obus said. “He’s a very good trial judge. In general, lawyers could do a lot worse than Judge Carro.”
Laura Italiano / BI
Law, order, and victims
At sentencings, Carro is an emphatic advocate for law, order, and victims, his many news clippings show.
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“I can only imagine what memories are haunting the victim in this case and his significant other,” he said last year at a recent high-profile sentencing, for the random, attempted slashing murder of a French tourist.
In 2011, Carro presided over the trial of an NYPD officer accused of raping a young fashion executive — a woman he’d been dispatched to help when she was too intoxicated to get out of her taxi.
A jury cleared the officer of rape and convicted him of official misconduct for the three caught-on-video visits he made to the woman’s apartment during his shift that night.
Police misconduct offenses “rip at that fabric that holds us all together,” Carro told the former officer, Kenneth Moreno, before sentencing him to a year at Rikers Island jail.
“You, sir, ripped a gaping hole in that fabric in committing those crimes.”
It was Carro’s biggest media case until now.
Moreno’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, was one of the lawyers to call Carro “no nonsense.”
“Not easy on defendants or defense lawyers, for that matter,” Tacopina said.
“Honestly, it doesn’t matter what judge has this case,” the former criminal attorney for President-elect Donald Trump, added. “There is such overwhelming evidence of guilt here. It is not a ‘Who done it.’ It is a ‘Was he sane when he did it’ case.”
Yoselyn Ortega, a former nanny convicted of killing two young children in her care, standing before New York Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carro in a 2012 hearing.
Thomson Reuters
In his most high-profile murder — dubbed the “killer nanny” case by city tabloids — Carro allowed a jury to hear the insanity defense of Yoselyn Ortega, who in 2012 fatally stabbed two young children in her care.
Defense lawyers called two psychiatrists to the stand to testify that Ortega heard voices — including Satan’s — urging her to kill the children. Jurors also heard that when the mother returned home to witness the carnage in her Upper West Side bathroom, Ortega was nearby, slashing into her own throat with the murder weapon.
The jury rejected the defense.
Carro called Ortega “pure evil” at her 2018 sentencing.
Then he sentenced Ortega to life without parole for first-degree murder, the same maximum penalty Mangione faces for the same top charge in his indictment.
Last month, the New York Times reported Carro sentenced a Long Island, New York man who admitted planning to “shoot up a synagogue” to ten years prison on a plea to possessing a weapon as a crime of terrorism.
Luigi Mangione’s Judge: Who Holds His Fate in Their Hands?
Luigi Mangione, a prominent figure in the business world, has recently found himself at the center of a high-profile legal case. As the details of his alleged wrongdoings continue to unfold, many are left wondering: who is the judge presiding over his case?
Rumors have been swirling about the identity of the judge who will ultimately determine Mangione’s fate. Some speculate that it could be a seasoned veteran of the courtroom, known for their tough stance on white-collar crime. Others believe it may be a relative newcomer, eager to make a name for themselves by taking on such a high-profile case.
As the trial date approaches, all eyes are on the courtroom, waiting to see who will be the one to deliver the final verdict. Will justice be served, or will Mangione be able to evade punishment once again?
Stay tuned as we uncover the answer to the burning question: who is Luigi Mangione’s judge?
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Luigi Mangione, Judge, Italian justice system, legal proceedings, court case, judiciary, Italian law, criminal justice, judicial system, Luigi Mangione trial, Italian court, legal system, legal profession.
