Follow the money!
Luigi Mangione appeared to nervously bite his nails when a cop testified in Manhattan court Tuesday how the preppy suspected assassin had “a lot of money, as well as some foreign currency’’ on him when busted.
The officer was one of two cops in Altoona, Pa., who found the accused bushy-browed butcher at a table in a local McDonald’s In December 2024 — five days after he allegedly killed a health-care exec in Manhattan — and searched his clothes during their initial questioning, pulling out “a wallet-type case that held money” from his black jacket.
“I opened it up and took a brief look inside … [it] appeared to be a lot of money as well as some foreign currency,” Officer Joseph Detwiler said in Manhattan Supreme Court on the second day of a pivotal hearing into whether the contents of Mangione’s backpack seized during the confrontation can be admitted as evidence at trial.
Mangione, an Ivy League grad and scion of a wealthy Maryland family, had more than $7,000 on him in $100 bills — all stuffed inside his big, fabric, blue-and-white wallet with a tropical design and sea turtle on it.
The ex-prep-school student — wearing a dark blue suit in court Tuesday — looked on from the defense table, sitting hunched over and appearing to nibble on his thumbnail nervously.
During Detwiler’s testimony, the public was shown for the first time body camera footage of cops approaching the 27-year-old accused UnitedHealthcare CEO slayer inside the fast-food joint and eventually placing him in handcuffs — a moment which drew tears from one Mangione fan looking on from the courtroom gallery.
When Detwiler and the other officer first approached Mangione, the suspect lied to them, saying his name was “Mark Rosario,” and he gave them a fake New Jersey ID with the false name, the video showed.
The cops asked Mangione if he’d been to New York “recently,” causing Mangione to get jittery as he answered, “Um, yes, sir.”
Mangione is accused of fatally shooting healthcare honcho Brian Thompson on a Manhattan street Dec. 4, 2024, before going on the lam, sparking a national manhunt.
“Do me a favor, just stand up for me, just put your hands on top of your head for me?” Detwiler could be seen instructing Mangione in the video. “You seem a little bit nervous? Why are you nervous?”
Asked on the stand how he knew Mangione was nervous, Detwiler responded, “I saw his fingers shaking a little bit.”
Still, at other points during the protracted encounter with the cops — who seemed to be stalling for time until backup arrived — Luigi tried to play it cool by continuing to munch on his hash browns and steak and cheese Egg McMuffin.
Detwiler, an avid Fox News viewer, said he knew Mangione was the suspect in Thompson’s murder because he’d seen photos of him — and was able to make a bee-line for him in the restaurant because Mangione stuck out like a sore thumb by wearing a medical mask in the Keystone State city.
“Yeah, we don’t wear masks. We have antibodies,” Officer Joseph Detwiler told the court — a quip that drew laughs from the courtroom gallery.
After presumably running the fake ID that Mangione gave them, an officer came back inside and pressed Mangione about his identity.
“You’re under official police investigation,” a cop could be heard telling Mangione as he sat in a chair, staring at the floor. “If you give us false name again, you will be arrested for false identification.
“What’s your real name?” the officer asked him.
“Luigi … Mangione,” responded the suspect.
“Why’d you lie about your name?” the cop asked.
“Uh, I clearly shouldn’t had,” Mangione said, later saying he simply gave the name that matched the ID he had on him.
On Monday, throngs of Mangione fans had shown up to the lower Manhattan courthouse, lining up in the early morning to try to get a spot in the courtroom.
One man, John McIntosh, told The Post on Tuesday that he made $900 as a line-holder for two separate supporters who paid him $450 each to take his place in line. McIntosh said he wasn’t able to make any money Tuesday since a lot fewer people showed up.
A total of 24 Mangione admirers, including four men, showed up to court Tuesday packing the last three rows of the gallery.
One woman was seen with tears streaming down her face the moment the video showed Mangione getting arrested.
“It’s sad watching the video, seeing how they are treating him,” the woman wrote in a note to The Post.
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