NEW YORK — Manhattan triple-murder stabbing spree suspect Ramon Rivera chose his victims because they were preoccupied doing something else and he was able to sneak up on them, a police source told the Daily News.

Rivera revealed the chilling detail to cops before he was ordered held without bail when he appeared in Manhattan Criminal Court Tuesday afternoon, the source said.

A handcuffed Rivera appeared in court wearing a white Tyvek jumpsuit and was silent with his head bowed for most of the proceeding.

“The defendant embarked on a bloody and violent rampage that took the lives of three innocent New Yorkers who were doing nothing more than going about their day,” Assistant District Attorney Megan Joy said before describing Monday’s violent spree.

Family of Rivera’s first victim, construction worker Angel Lata Landi, were in the courtroom. They sat motionless in the gallery as Joy read out the complaint.

Joy requested Rivera be held without bail “due to the severity of these offenses” as well as Rivera’s 2024 burglary conviction and his out-of-state criminal history.

The judge agreed to the request.

“I hope he rots in hell and never gets out,” said Landi’s 16-year-old nephew, according to Fox 5. Lata Landi raised his nephew as his son after the boy’s mother died, the victim’s family told the TV station.

“I want justice for my brother,” said Berta, describing Landi as a hardworking single Dad to his nephew and his own son.

Rivera “slept like a baby” while in custody before being hauled into court, a law enforcement source said.

He rested in a holding cell at New York Central Booking — nicknamed the Tombs.

“He’s been sleeping like a baby without a care in the world,” the law enforcement source said.

Rivera attacked a correction officer back in May while being held in the prison ward at Bellevue Hospital. That officer, Carol Garcia, was charged with kicking Rivera in the head after Rivera was subdued.

Rivera was also arrested for petty larceny for an Oct. 4 incident, the judge said, adding that she wanted to clarify that prosecutors had asked for supervised release not bail in that case only because the charge was not bail eligible.

After serving nearly eight months in jail on a string of store break-ins, Rivera allegedly went on a killing spree Monday, knifing three people to death a month after his release.

Chilling surveillance video recorded Rivera, wearing a “King” T-shirt, changing into a sweatshirt, tan trench coat, and a beanie hat before storming up to construction worker Lata Landi around 8:20 a.m. on W. 19th St. near Tenth Ave. in Chelsea.

Medics rushed Lata Landi to Bellevue Hospital, where he died at 8:30 a.m., police said.

After allegedly attacking Lata Landi, Rivera ran off in search of his second victim.

Around 10:27 a.m., Rivera fatally stabbed a 68-year-old man fishing by the East River Promenade near the Water Club at E. 30th St. and FDR Drive in Kips Bay, prosecutors say. The victim’s name was not immediately released as cops track down family members. Both victims died at Bellevue Hospital.

Less than a half hour later, at 10:55 a.m. Rivera attacked 36-year-old Wilma Augustin at E. 42nd St. and First Ave. in Murray Hill, according to cops and prosecutors. Augustin died just before 6 p.m. at New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell.

A passing cab driver who saw the last assault mistook the stabbing for a robbery and flagged down a nearby cop. NYPD Officer Robert Garvey, who was posted near the United Nations, caught up with Rivera and took him into police custody.

Rivera has been in and out of jail for more than 20 years in Florida, Ohio, and New York, cops said.

While he’s only been in the city for about a year, he’s been arrested multiple times and has been hospitalized at least twice, officials said. He’s also been arrested twice in New Jersey.

_____

©2024 New York Daily News. Visit nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.