CEO of UnitedHealth Murdered in NYC

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Shocking news broke a little over twenty four hours ago
in New York City when Brian Thompson, the CEO of
United Healthcare, was gunned down broad daylight assassination style in
midtown Manhattan, and Rory O'Neil, twenty four to seven News
correspondent joins us this morning on that and more. Rory,
what's the latest on the investigation?

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Well, Gary, good morning. Police are confirming that on some
of the live rounds of ammunition and the casings that
were found from the scene, engraved on some of those
casings with the words deny, defend, and depose. That could
be a reference to United Healthcare and other insurance companies
frequently denying insurance claims that are filed by people who

(00:43):
have policies with them. Again, part of the investigation is
also showing that Brian Thompson had been concerned about threats
to his safety and had been receiving threats, although his
wife could not specify whether or not they were coming
from a disgruntled employee or someone who had been denied
coverage or some other reason.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
They've got not all hands on deck, but they've got
a lot of the top investigators in and around New
York on this case. Have there been any indications from
the police chief of where the trail is leading, nothing specific.

Speaker 2 (01:23):
They did say that they believed that this was an
intended hit. This was not some random act of violence.
The surveillance video has been released from in front of
that Midtown Manhattan hotel where you can see Brian Thompson
walking along the sidewalk. The gunman steps out after he
passes by, fires one shot to the back, and then
fires several more times as Thompson falls to the ground,

(01:48):
and then apparently he hopped ran down an alley, hopped
on an e bike, and vanished into Central Park. They
also released some surveillance photos from a Starbucks nearby where
the government carently bought a cup of coffee, a bottle
of water, and maybe some power bars or something, and
they believe they recovered the empty cup and the water
bottle from the trash nearby, maybe even one of the

(02:11):
rappers there, so that's part of the evidence. And the
cell phone that was found in that alley was also recovered.
They believe it is from the gunman. The last word.
They were trying to get a warrant in order to
search the contents of that phone.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
Oh that's good. They'll find them then if it say is.
On another matter, the airline CEOs were hauled up there
before Congress yesterday to explain themselves on these junk fees.
Rory otta to go.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
Well, not great. Remember senators are frequent flyers, right, so
they have an agenda in this one. Actually, everyone in
Congress is pretty much a frequent flyer these days, and
it's pretty common to have some of these airlines CEOs
hauled up to Capitol Hill. This time they were trying
to defend some of these fees. Keep in mind on
seat fees alone, not the bag fees, just the seat sees.

(03:02):
The airlines made about twelve billion dollars between twenty eighteen
and twenty twenty three, so this is a huge source
of revenue. You might have seen the clip Senator Josh
Hawley getting into a bit of a shouting match I
guess with one airline executive because those airlines, or some
I think Frontier in this case, they actually give a

(03:23):
reward to their employees who spot a carry on bag
that someone isn't paying for. So it seems like you're
constantly you almost have a bounty on your head if
you go to fly on somebo these airlines.

Speaker 1 (03:36):
Wow, but they're defending it, right, these CEOs, Well.

Speaker 2 (03:41):
They say, hey, look we're charging you. If you want
a cheap light and that's your goal, then you can
find your seventy nine dollars ticket and sit in the
middle seat next to the bathroom in the back. That's
an option. But you know, most people want to fly
together with their spouse or you know, want some room
for their knee. I'm six foot. I always want some
poople my mees, which is never there, and you know,

(04:05):
try and what upgrades are worth it? Of course, you know,
we all click on that fifty nine dollars ticket and
then go to check out and it's two hundred and
twenty nine dollars and say what happened there? And that's
something that there may be more disclosure, but don't look
for the thieves to go away.

Speaker 1 (04:21):
Yeah, Holly says the quote here, Josh Holly said, your
airlines are paying millions of dollars to your employees to
harass people who have already paid. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:32):
Right, that's the reward system. Well, look, if you've got
hundreds of passengers going by you every day and you
work as a gate agent since you probably have thousands
of people passed by you during your regular shift. And wow,
if you can pick ten out and you get a
ten dollars reward for each one, that's a pretty good
financial motivator.

Speaker 3 (04:48):
Yeah. Well, how about this, Senator Holly, tell you what
fellas airlines. If this is such a good deal for you,
we are ending all of your subsidies right now, about
your fuel subsidies, all of your employer subsidies, all of
your tax advantages for depreciation on aircraft. Since there's so
much money out there flowing into you guys from bad

(05:09):
customer service, how about this do it on your own.

Speaker 1 (05:12):
Wow, they'll just run and.

Speaker 2 (05:13):
Talk about local local governments that look with enticements to
lure airlines for service at your local airport. You know
they'll they'll work deals with local chambers of commerce or
local tax dair groups in order to lure airlines to
provide service to cities that otherwise wouldn't get served.

Speaker 1 (05:29):
By the way, thanks for filling in for us on
Thanksgiving weekend, Rory, It was awesome.

Speaker 2 (05:34):
Oh do it?

Speaker 1 (05:36):
I enjoyed it, doctor and soon Rory On Neil twenty
four to seven News corresponding