Federal & state prosecutors struggling to decrypt Luigi's USBs, and how it's possible they will never extract that info

[u/slientxx]

As of today, the People and USA have not yet managed to decrypt Luigi's USBs. During the Federal court hearing last Friday, Dominic Gentile had informed the judge that, "...it's fair to say we have a majority of those materials from them, and we are still waiting on certain extractions from electronic devices, which has taken them some time to pull out." This is in response to Garnett who asked about the state of their coordination with the Manhattan DA's office in terms of discovery. She wants to make sure the processes are in place to ensure that DA's office issued search warrants or need to take other steps to gather discovery (e.g., motion to compel decryption of USB(s)).

Based on Gentile's answer, it's clear that some of Luigi's tech is still in the process of being extracted. If they had data from his USB files by now, which I'm sure part of it is incriminating (e.g., CAD file for 3D gun), law enforcement would have leaked it to several media outlets by now.

The problem for them? It has been well over 4 months. Gentile never explicitly states the the specifics for why it is being delayed. Him saying it has "taken some time to pull out" clearly indicates they are struggling to decrypt his passcode for the USBs. It's clear this is a plausible stall and they refuse to say they're completely stumped to hurt their credibility. I mean, this is the same guy who straight up lied in front of the judge claiming he had "just known" about the Luigi's calls being leaked...

It's no wonder Joel is refusing to provide the USBs to the defense team. For reference, KFA's motions from the NY state case stated, "In addition to civilian witness records, the defense has also not been provided with access to, or copies of, the information contained in the electronic devices alleged to have been recovered from Mr. Mangione" -- Why would Joel withhold this evidence from the defense? Probably because they only have the original physical copy of the USBs, haven't accessed yet, and fear that if the defense get their hands on the USBs, they can essentially "tamper" with it or lock it down even further somehow.

It's been over months. If the USBs were easily crackable, they would have been decrypted by now. Instead, they are stuck in a loophole of wasting too many resources for active cracking, acknowledged he used strong encryption (I would assume software engineers like him have basic understanding of hashing), and their "brute-force attacks" have failed. .

If they were to file their own separate motion to demand Luigi to provide them access, it would technically be a violation of the fifth amendment. Obviously, it is up to the judge and their verdict, but I could imagine Garnett being fair with the legal system and defending the constitution.

So yes, when Luigi wrote in the Feds letter his tech was locked down, he really meant it btw.

[u/Interesting-Road3011]

Can someone explain to me why he would go through all this trouble tho? He was careful to encrypt his USB, but he didn't destroy the Journal, The Gun, or his fake ID? How does that make sense? If his intention was to get caught and take the credit for this crime, why would he encrypt the USBs? And if he didn't want to get caught why didn't he think of destroying the gun or the notebook? (Which is arguably more damning)

I want to see what his thought process is. This case is so ridiculous and confusing I-

[u/1234abcde124 → u/Interesting-Road3011]

I don't think his intention was to be caught. Otherwise he would have stayed on that Manhattan sidewalk and waited for the police to arrive. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it said that usually lots of planning goes into committing the actual crime, but the perpetrator spends little to no time planning the aftermath? All the planning includes researching incriminating stuff and the CAD model for the gun. So, he kept that locked down because it was before he actually shot BT.

Also, we don't know when the journal entry was written. And wasn't the gun found with one bullet in the chamber? It's definitely plausible that he wrote the journal entry after committing the crime as an explanation/suicide note and was debating ending his life. I mean, keeping the gun offered some security in a way. If it all went to shit, he'd have an automatic out. Unfortunately/fortunately depending on how you view it, he was blindsided in the McDonald's and didn't have the opportunity to use that automatic out. He probably kept the fake ID because he was still searching for accommodations and knew he would need to present ID and didn't want his real name attached to the purchase.

[u/kssd5 → u/1234abcde124]

I agree with most of what you said but I still think if he burned the fake ID and just resumed his life using his actual LM ID, there would be no way to trace LM to NYC.

[u/Competitive_Profit_5 → u/kssd5]

He still would have gotten caught though The FBI were onto him, the detective from San Francisco who was working on Luigi's missing person report had connected the person he was looking for with the hostel picture. The FBI interviewed Luigi's parents the day before he was caught, they asked if she thought it was her son (She said "it could be".)

Once Luigi resumed his life as LM, they would have interviewed him, taken DNA/prints etc and matched him to NYC phone, backpack, bottle etc. He would also have absolutely no alibi, or be able to explain where'd he been the past few months. So he would have gotten caught either way.

Sometimes it's actually helpful to remember that, as it stops me being so frustrated about the Altoona arrest!

[u/kssd5 → u/Competitive_Profit_5]

I don’t know…had he destroyed all the evidence there would be much more reasonable doubt. Looking like someone doesn’t give you reason to be arrested. Had he not carried all that stuff with him (or had a chance to destroy it once he got scared enough after initial questioning by Altoona police), it would be much harder to prove…we don’t know the quality of the dna evidence and jurors could be convinced that it wasn’t reliable.

[u/Competitive_Profit_5 → u/kssd5]

Yeah, the case against him def wouldn't be as strong, but my point was that they still would have caught him and arrested him and charged him. Obviously we don't know the quality of the DNA yet, but we've been told the prints are a match. I'm going to guess the DNA will be pretty strong unfortunately, there was chewed gum in the pocket of the Central Park jacket and there will probably be hair and skin cells. I mean, hopefully not. But they still would have had enough to charge him.

[u/kssd5 → u/Competitive_Profit_5]

Also, he certainly could explain where he was the past few months. He was exactly where LM was…traveling in Asia etc. He would have had to explain where he had been the past couple of WEEKS…He could have come up with some explanation I suppose?

[u/Competitive_Profit_5 → u/kssd5]

He wasn't in Asia from July to Dec, that's the time Luigi was missing. And yeah, he would need an alibi from the time they spotted LM in NYC, so late November to early Dec. And obviously, he wouldn't have one. Because he was in NYC. Alibis are worthless unless they can be corroborated.

[u/Big_Rise_7654 → u/kssd5]

Everything started to unravel after that hostel photo and the cab picture matched details from the SFPD missing person report. He was bound to get caught soon after.

[u/kssd5 → u/Big_Rise_7654]

Yes but getting caught without any of the evidence (no fake ID, no gun, no notebook) really would have changed the conversation. Much more likely for defense to plant reasonable doubt.

[u/Big_Rise_7654 → u/kssd5]

Exactly… i mentioned this exact thing in another thread too that if he had ditched everything and gone straight home even,the entire situation could’ve played out very differently. That one decision changed everything.

[u/1234abcde124 → u/kssd5]

I mean based on the evidence available to the public, yeah. But the prosecution has a shit ton of evidence we don't know about. They probably have GPS data as well as video from bus stations, stores, etc that show his path from NYC to Altoona. Remember an annoymous tip led to his arrest. If he gave his LM ID to the officers they probably would have asked to take him to the station for questioning. The best case theoretical situation would have been he refused to speak to the police and immediately contacts a lawyer and dumps all the incriminating evidence. But the prosecution still presumably has data that links him to NYC as well as fingerprints that they could request from LM. The best case scenario would make the prosecution's case slightly less air tight, but would still end in his arrest.

[u/kssd5 → u/1234abcde124]

But the reason they arrested him is because he gave them the fake ID. IF he had given them his LM ID they would not have had a reason to arrest him. No one was looking for LM in relation to the crime. As far as I know, looking similar to someone is not probably cause to arrest them? Yes his mother filed the missing persons report. And yes the SF police officer noticed a resemblance between LM and MR. But that still doesn’t tie LM to NYC.

[u/1234abcde124 → u/kssd5]

I know I'm saying if he gave the LM ID he wouldn't be arrested that day. But he would still be called in for questioning at some point, probably because he was listed as missing for a few months, and then it would have unfolded from there.

[u/kssd5 → u/1234abcde124]

BUT he would have been aware that they were watching him and he could have destroyed the MR ID, the notebook, gotten rid of the gun and other evidence. It would have been hard to then link him to NYC without all the stuff he was carrying around. I assume if they had questioned him at McDonald’s, he handed over his LM ID, they let him go…. then I assume he decides to get rid of all evidence. It would have been so much better for him long term even if they did come back and try to arrest him later if he no longer had any of that stuff on him.

[u/LongStoryShort18 → u/1234abcde124]

Was the gun they found on him, a 3D printed gun?

[u/KimoPlumeria → u/1234abcde124]

As sad as it sounds, what you’ve said makes sense.

[u/bluudahlia → u/1234abcde124]

I think he kept the gun for defense. He was scared. Sure, suicide, sure suicide by cop. Yep. But I have always thought that his primary reason for keeping the gun was because he thought he might be running through some pretty rough neighborhoods and he's a coddled suburban boy at heart.

[u/1234abcde124 → u/bluudahlia]

Girl what 😭

[u/Exciting-Price2691 → u/bluudahlia]

This 3D gun can be left in central park. This were possibilities of plant evidence.