As perp walks go, few have been more cinematic: Luigi Mangione, handcuffed and wearing an orange jumpsuit, surrounded by a phalanx of armed law enforcement officers as they led him off a helipad.
And there, in the left of the scrum, Mayor Eric Adams walked behind, wearing a navy blue overcoat and a stern look on his face.
The appearance of Mr. Adams on Thursday was atypical. Most mayors do not personally oversee the handling of people in federal custody, but Mr. Adams made an exception for Mr. Mangione, who came to the city to face murder and terror charges in the shooting death of UnitedHealthcare’s chief executive.
Mr. Adams said in a television interview that aired on Friday that the shooting had traumatized people who work in the health care field and he wanted to show that he was “leading from the front.”
“I wanted to look him in the eye and say you carried out this terroristic act in my city — the city that the people of New York love, and I wanted to be there to show the symbolism of that,” Mr. Adams said in a television interview with WPIX news.
The high-profile perp walk also provided an opportunity for Mr. Adams, a former police captain, to project an image of toughness on public safety and to change the subject after a difficult week for the politically weakened mayor.
Mr. Adams posted images of the scene on social media with the caption: “Those who bring illegal guns to our city will face justice.”
But it also left the mayor open to second-guessing and criticism, especially since he faces his own federal criminal indictment.
And, in an odd coincidence, Mr. Mangione and the mayor each appeared before the same magistrate judge in Manhattan, Katharine H. Parker.
Mr. Adams appeared before Judge Parker in September, when he pleaded not guilty to bribery and fraud charges; Mr. Mangione spoke only briefly on Thursday, answering “yes” when the judge asked if he understood his rights and the charges, and if he had seen a copy of the complaint.
Some legal experts and elected officials said the choreographed scene and the mayor’s appearance at the perp walk was a blatant and unnecessary attempt at self-promotion. Others worried that the spectacle would boost Mr. Mangione’s image as a folk hero.
Jim Walden, a former prosecutor who is running for mayor against Mr. Adams, said that perp walks encourage police officers and mayors “to peacock” and he would ban the practice as mayor.
“It undermines due process,” he said on social media. “It serves no purpose except tainting potential jurors.”
Justin Brannan, a City Council member from Brooklyn who has fought the mayor’s budget cuts to libraries, said the entourage could account for enough overtime pay to fund an entire library for a year. Robert Holden, a Council member from Queens, said the large group of officers was “overkill” and felt like a scene from a comic book movie.
Mr. Adams, a Democrat, is expected to go on trial in April on federal corruption charges. He was denied more than $4 million in public matching funds for his re-election campaign on Monday, and his longtime adviser was charged in a bribery scheme on Thursday involving $100,000 for a Porsche for her son.
Mr. Mangione has been charged with first-degree murder in the killing of Brian Thompson, who was gunned down on a Manhattan sidewalk this month. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have separately filed charges that could lead to the death penalty. The New York Police Department circulated photos of Mr. Mangione that led to his capture at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania.
Kayla Mamelak, a spokeswoman for the mayor, said in a statement on Friday that Mr. Mangione had “infused terror on the streets of New York City for days” and that his “coldblooded assassination” had been “sickeningly glorified, shining a spotlight on the darkest corners of the internet.”
“Critics can tweet all they want, but showing up to support our law enforcement as they extradited a brutal killer and sending the message to New Yorkers that violence and vitriol have no place in our city is who Mayor Eric Adams is to his core,” she said.
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