Multiple inmates stabbed in gang-related brawl at NYC federal jail housing Mangione and Maduro

Multiple inmates have been stabbed and slashed during a major brawl at the federal jail in New York City that is currently housing UnitedHealthcare CEO killer Luigi Mangione and disgraced former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Federal officials confirmed to The Independent that the massive fight took place on the morning of September 6 at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York. The New York Daily News first reported on the brawl, which their sources said was gang-related.

Members of the Trinitarios gang fought another gang on the seventh floor of the jail’s west building, the Daily News’ sources said, adding that a total of at least 20 people had joined in the brawl.

“Several incarcerated individuals were medically assessed and treated for minor injuries at the facility, while other incarcerated individuals sustained injuries requiring outside medical treatment,” Donald Murphy, a spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, told The Independent.

Murphy did not confirm the exact number of inmates involved in the fight and the number of those wounded remains unknown. The exact injuries that the wounded inmates sustained are also not clear.

Murphy told The Independent that jail employees were able to contain the incident without being injured themselves, adding, “At no time was the public in danger.” The incident is still under investigation.

MDC Brooklyn, as the jail is commonly referred to, is known for holding infamous inmates like Mangione and Maduro.

Mangione, 28, is currently awaiting sentencing in the jail after he admitted last month to fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson on the streets of Manhattan in 2024. Thompson’s murder shocked the nation as the New York City Police Department tracked down the Ivy League graduate, with some admiring the killer for what they saw as a stance against the health insurance industry.

“I shot Mr. Thompson and he died,” Mangione said in court on August 14. “I understood that my actions would place him in fear of death or bodily injury. I knew what I was doing was illegal.”

Maduro, 63, and his wife Cilia Flores, 69, are currently awaiting trial at the jail on drug trafficking charges, following a stealth mission by American forces to capture the couple from their Caracas home in early January. Their trial is set for next June.

Both have pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from an alleged conspiracy to transport thousands of tons of cocaine to the U.S.

Maduro “and his co-conspirators have, for decades, partnered with some of the most violent and prolific drug traffickers and narco-terrorists in the world, and relied on corrupt officials throughout the region, to distribute tons of cocaine to the United States,” their indictment reads.

MDC Brooklyn has a history of violence, including the reported February 2025 stabbing of Karl Jordan Jr., who was convicted and then acquitted of the 2002 murder of New York rap star Jam Master Jay. Jordan survived the attack.

In September 2024, the Justice Department announced charges against nine inmates in five separate cases involving violence at MDC Brooklyn, including the murder of Uriel Whyte on June 7, 2024, and the murder of Edwin Cordero on July 17, 2024.

“Violence will not be tolerated in our federal jails,” Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said at the time. “As the only federal pretrial facility in New York City, MDC-Brooklyn houses pretrial inmates accused of some of the most serious crimes in our region.”

“Let these charges serve as a warning to those who would engage in criminal conduct behind bars, and anyone else who facilitates those crimes: your conduct will be exposed, and you will be held accountable,’ Peace said.