The Killionaire

Here's why the man who gunned down UnitedHealthcare's CEO became an instant folk hero

“Behind every great fortune is a great crime.” – A popular misquotation from an 1834 French novel by Honoré de Balzac

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I wrote a novel in the early 2000s about an assassin who was knocking off the nation’s billionaires because their unbridled greed was destroying the American Dream. My anti-hero’s name was the Killionaire.

Little-advertised fact about me: I am a failed novelist. I’ve written four book-length satires, but I could never beat them into something I’d be proud to publish. I also learned that I couldn’t invent characters and plot lines as incredible as news I was covering as a business writer.

Whoever gunned down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last week revived memories of my dark literary attempt. Like the suspect still at large six days after his exploit, the Killionaire became a folk hero, especially to those who’d lost their livelihoods, homes, health care, and ultimately their lives, to corporate looting.

In addition to murdering overpaid corporate overlords, the Killionaire demanded that his wealthy oppressors fly helicopters over large crowds and drop millions of dollars in $100 bills. The little people cheered. The big people hired private security. The FBI was all over the case. And I was never sure quite how to end the story.

Now there’s a better story unfolding in the real world, every major media outlet is chasing it, and people are not only cheering on the killer, they’re emulating him.

“The Killionaire,” was a sick man who fancied himself an economic enforcer, but at least he had a charming sense of humor. (Illustration credit: AI generated.)

A fashionable homicide

The jacket that many online observers think that the gunman wore is reportedly flying off the shelves.

On Saturday, about 30 men gathered for a suspect look-alike contest in Washington Square Park in Lower Manhattan, The New York Times reported. Organizers advertised the event with fliers and social media posts.