The stickup at the “G Spot,” an illegal cards and dice club in Brownsville, turned into a bloodbath, with four people shot, including Rodney Maxwell, 58, a longtime Bellevue Hospital employee and father of three who was moonlighting there as a security guard.

Rodney Maxwell

Maxwell had survived a week-long bout with COVID in March 2020 — during the terrifying early days of the pandemic, when overwhelmed doctors were struggling to handle the deadly virus — only to die six months later from bullet wounds to the back and chest.

Brian Castro, Musah Coward and Charles Powell, all face federal murder and robbery charges, with jury selection in their case starting Monday in Brooklyn Federal Court.

Coward, an accused gun seller who police said had ties to Brownsville, picked the den as a target and drove Powell, Castro and a fourth man to the Hegeman Ave. gambling location on Oct. 7, 2020, according to prosecutors.

The fourth alleged robber’s name is redacted in court documents; one filing describes him as a cooperating witness for the government.

Maxwell was working security at the gambling den, which had a front room facing Hegeman, an inner room where cards, craps and dominoes were played, and a backyard patio.

As prosecutors tell it in their court filings, Coward parked a Honda Civic around the corner, and stayed in the car while the other men rounded the corner and walked inside, single-file.

They then stormed through the front and back rooms toward the patio — Powell in front, followed by Castro and unnamed accomplice.

But Maxwell, the bouncer that night, jumped into action, struggling with the unnamed robber in an attempt to disarm him, the feds allege.

Their fight spilled from the inner room to the front room, which was covered by a surveillance camera. Castro rushed in to help his partner in crime, shooting Maxwell in the back, according to the feds.

The shot didn’t take Maxwell out of the fight, though, and Powell started spraying bullets at people fleeing into the backyard, wounding three men, federal prosecutors allege.

Maxwell was still fighting the unnamed robber, so Powell ran into the front room shot him again in the chest, mortally wounding him, the feds allege.

More than a month later, Castro was smoking pot in a car with an acquaintance and told him about the robbery, which he called a “lick,” saying his crew got $20,000, and describing how he shot Maxwell before his gun jammed, according to court papers. It turned out the acquaintance was recording their chat, court filings reveal.

A Patterson, N.J., police detective working with a federal gang task force recognized Powell and Castro after seeing surveillance photos the following April, and that led to Powell’s arrest in October 2021 after he got into a car crash in Clifton, N.J.

Castro and Coward were named in an indictment and arrested in March 2023.

The trio’s defense attorneys have challenged that detective’s ID in a failed attempt to get cell phone evidence thrown out.

The defense lawyers have also questioned whether the killing was part of a robbery, and Powell’s attorney, Murray Singer, argued in a Dec. 29, 2024 letter that Castro’s recorded statements about the shooting were bluster meant to boost his “street cred.”

“Had the purpose of the plan — to commit a robbery — not been successful, and Castro, having been fought off by intended victims, gotten nothing but instead had killed someone, this could be viewed as humiliating,” Singer wrote. “It makes sense, then, that Castro would try to puff up the incident.”

The lawyers for all three suspects on Thursday declined to comment.

Badiul Jamal, 72, was arrested following an incident on Jan. 6 around 3:30 p.m. near 81st St. and 31st Ave. in East Elmhurst where he allegedly followed the youth numerous times and grabbed her hand. Jamal then took off northbound on 81st St.

The girl was not injured.

Jamal was charged with luring a child, stalking in the second degree and harassment in the first degree.

Vidya “Joanne” Dookran-Franco, 51, was on the sidewalk near Lefferts Blvd. and 115 Ave. in South Ozone Park when a yellow cab mounted the curb and pinned her to a fence about 3:10 a.m. Dec. 28, cops said.

“Words can’t describe this monumental woman who was my wife,” Giovanni Franco told the Daily News as he prepared for his wife’s Saturday funeral. “Joanne was a voice for people who didn’t know what questions to ask regarding their needs.”

Police determined the cab’s 23-year-old driver was heading east on 115th Ave. when he struck a 2017 Honda Accord. The impact sent the taxi, a 2024 RAV4, careening onto the sidewalk where it slammed into Dookran-Franco and two men.

Dookran-Franco had just picked up takeout for her family and was heading back to her car escorted by two restaurant workers when she was struck, according to the news website QNS.

Medics rushed Dookran-Franco to Jamaica Hospital but she could not be saved. The other injured pedestrians, ages 49 and 44, suffered minor injuries.

The drivers of both cars remained at the scene and were uninjured. There were no arrests.

Dookran-Franco worked as a counselor for Middle School 8 in South Jamaica and formerly served on the boards of both the Richmond Hill Block Association and the One Stop Richmond Hill Community Center before moving to Merrick, L.I.

Joan Bachert, program director at RIBA, recalled once seeing Dookran-Franco’s two daughters playing with their mom at the block association’s annual Santa Day program, one of numerous community events the victim helped organize through the civic group.

“Anything that we did, [Joanne] helped out with,” said Bachert. “I loved her girls. They’re awesome, such sweet kids.”

Dookran-Franco was best known for her work in education, according to State Sen. Leroy Comrie, who said she became heavily involved in efforts to replace former MS 8 Principal John Murphy after he reprimanded a teacher’s aide in a tongue lashing so severe that she fell ill and called paramedics.

“She was very involved in helping to rally and work with the faculty and students to protest the principal being at the school,” said Comrie.

Murphy, who was accused of harassing several teachers during his reign, resigned in 2009 after protests Franco helped organize.

“We worked together to help them express their desire and their aggravation to DOE and they were able to convince the department to change principals,” Comrie said.

Comrie remembers Dookran-Franco as a woman who found joy in helping others.

“She was always upbeat, bright, engaging. She was a fun person,” the state legislator said. “She was a pleasant advocate. She was someone that you wanted to talk with. She was someone that if you gave her something, an assignment or a volunteer role she embraced it and made sure to always excel at it.”

The victim’s husband said his wife took delight in small acts of kindness and recalled her bringing refreshments to day laborers outside Home Depot and packing lunches for Queens cops.

“[Joanne showed] support for the NYPD by bringing sealed sandwiches and water to them to let the officers know there were still people who backed the blue,” said the victim’s husband.

Dookran-Franco was known to travel throughout Queens to show her face at the NYPD’s various annual National Night Out Against Crime events, the chairwoman of Community Board 9 told the Daily News.

“She came out to a lot of events,” said Sherry Algredo. “She was out there for years. Everybody knew her. When someone you have known for so many years dies in this way it’s going to affect a lot of people. I’m having a terrible time.”

A native Trinidadian, the victim and her husband met as students at John Jay College.

“She was my wife of 25 years and a wonderful spouse and mother,” said the victim’s husband. “I miss her so much.”

A celebration of life will be held for Dookran-Franco at Fairfield Pavilion in South Richmond Hill at 6 p.m. Saturday.

Judy Rodriguez’s body was found Aug. 25, 1991, bound at the ankles under a large wooden board in a grassy area off two Queens parkways. Investigators quickly solved the mystery of who killed her but couldn’t answer the key question: Who was she?

And so she was buried on Hart Island in the Bronx, the city’s public cemetery where unclaimed bodies, including the unidentified and the indigent, are laid to rest in mass graves.

Now that genealogical DNA testing has finally put a name to her remains, Rodriguez’s family is hoping to hold a funeral and bury her next to her parents — but that sad final reunion will take time.

“It’s heartwarming to know that we have her back and that somebody paid a price,” Anna Salvadore, Rodriguez’s sister, told the Daily News.

The prospect of locating a Jane Doe buried more than three decades ago on the notorious island is daunting.

Bodies on Hart Island, which is only accessible by ferry from City Island and has served as the city’s public cemetery since 1869, are typically buried in trenches, with caskets stacked atop one another. A granite memorial or, more recently, a pole, is planted in the center of each trench and an online database shows which lot on the island individual bodies are buried in.

“It’s kind of a touchy situation because she’s been there for 33 years. Initially they told our funeral director that it couldn’t be done,” Salvadore said. “It’s a process but it probably won’t be until February or March that we will actually be able to do that.”

The city keeps comprehensive records dating back to the 1970s of who’s buried where on the sprawling cemetery island and exhumation takes two or three weeks, once a request is finalized. Harsh weather or frozen ground can delay the process, according to officials from the city Human Resources Administration. Last year, 88 sets of remains were exhumed.

Because bodies on Hart Island are buried in simple wood caskets without concrete outer containers to repel water it’s possible that little remains of Rodriguez’s body, which was already badly decomposed when it was discovered.

“The medical examiner, she put it this way, that she was confident that they would be able to recover a portion of the remains,” said Thomas DeMarco, funeral director at M. David Demarco Funeral Home in Monroe, N.J. “I would think there’d be at least bones left.”

Rodriguez was 30 when she disappeared. The last time her family saw her was at a party for Rodriguez’s baby daughter celebrating her first birthday in January 1991.

“My mom tried reporting [Rodriguez] missing and because of her drug issues that (Rodriguez) had an arrest warrant, they didn’t put out a police report on her,” Salvadore said.

Unbeknownst to her family, police found Rodriguez’s body eight months after the party in a grassy area at the intersection of the Cross Island and Southern State parkways in southeast Queens.

Her ankles were bound by a cord and a heavy wooden board was laid over her corpse when it was discovered on Aug. 25, 1991, according to the Queens DA’s office.

Her body was in an advanced state of decomposition and investigators believe she was killed six weeks prior to the discovery, placing her murder in early to mid-July, Salvadore said. Unable to identify Rodriguez’s body, police labeled her a Jane Doe.

Still, police managed to find her killers within weeks.

Officials in Queens DA Melinda Katz’s office laid out the details last week of what happened: Rodriguez was approached by four men, who drove her to the intersection. During the drive, two of the men tied her up.

I’s not clear how — or even if — Rodriguez knew the men before the deadly encounter. Investigators believed her history with drugs may have played into their meeting, a law enforcement source said.

“I don’t even know who these guys are that did this,” said Salvadore. “They weren’t friends [with her].”

Once they arrived at the intersection where she was dumped, the men pushed her out of the car and one of them bashed her in the head with a large metal flashlight, killing her, prosecutors said.

They drove away but came back two weeks later and covered up her body with a large wooden board to further conceal it.

Salvadore told The News one of the suspects was arrested after he was overheard discussing the killing at a Carvel ice cream shop.

Though court documents don’t specify which of the men delivered the fatal blow, only one of them pleaded guilty to manslaughter — Robert Miller, who was 20 at the time of the killing. He pleaded guilty in September 1992, was sentenced to up to 25 years behind bars and was released to parole in 2009. He finished his parole in 2016.

Domingo Rodriguez, who was 18 at the time of the killing and isn’t related to the victim, and Glenn Block, who was 19, pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment in October 1992, getting sentences of two-to-seven years behind bars.

A fourth man, Eric Nagy, who was 20, got the lightest sentence of the group, a maximum of four-and-a-half years, after pleading guilty to hindering prosecution.

All this played out as Rodriguez’s family desperately tried to find her while they cared for her three children.

Judy’s mother distributed hundreds of handwritten fliers featuring Polaroid pictures of her missing daughter. The victim’s son, a then 14-year-old Jamal Thomas, obsessively roamed the five boroughs, at first by subway and later by car, hoping to spot his mother.

“Even years later he would ride the subway from one end to the other looking for her,” Salvadore said. “When he got his driver’s license he would drive around different neighborhoods looking.”

Salvadore meanwhile turned to her friends in law enforcement, and later social media, to seek clues to her sister’s whereabouts.

“We were looking for years. It was something that was always there,” she said. “It was something my mom always agonized over.”

Her family’s imaginations ran wild with theories, wondering if she might be living a second life with another family or had been abducted into a life of sexual slavery, or even fallen prey to the Gilgo Beach serial killer.

“Over the years you hear stories. The killer at the beach in Long Island and the bodies found, the bones … I always wondered if she was part of that,” Salvadore said. “So many thoughts went through our heads. We just never knew what happened to her.”

But NYPD detectives made the crucial decision to keep a biological sample of her remains for possible future testing as technology advanced. And in November 2023, the Queens DA’s office reached out to DNA Labs International, a private forensic lab in Florida that used advanced DNA testing to put together a comprehensive genealogical profile completed last April.

An NYPD genealogist reached out to Salvadore in June after her daughter registered her DNA with 23andMe and told her that her family might be linked to an unidentified body. The victim’s youngest daughter, Stephanie Rodriguez, who hadn’t seen her mother since turning 1, submitted her own DNA for testing. On Nov. 1 the test results came back positive as a match for Judy.

Sadly, Judy’s mother never learned of these developments. She died 11 years to the day before her daughter was officially identified.

“Three decades ago, four men were convicted for a gruesome killing of an unidentified woman. Though justice was served, the family went 33 long years without any answers about their loved one,” Katz said in a statement last week. “Thanks to our partners at the NYPD and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, we have now provided those crucial details, which I hope brings a measure of solace.”

Salvadore said she hopes anyone searching for a missing relative will see her family’s story and submit their own DNA for testing.

“It’s incredible and I think that’s the most important thing I’m trying to get out to people,” she said.  “If they have someone missing, go out and get DNA tests.”

She has been flooded with bittersweet relief since learning her sister’s fate and learning her killers faced justice.

“Although it wasn’t a long prison sentence for committing a murder, four people did pay a price,” she said. “You have a Jane Doe and they took the time to convict people of her murder. I find that incredible.”

Two of the masked gunmen were caught on surveillance cameras with pistols in their hands, police said.

The masked quartet are wanted for opening fire outside the Amazura concert hall at 144th Pl. near Archer Ave. in Jamaica around 11:15 p.m. Wednesday, striking 10 young people waiting to attend a celebration honoring Tea’Arion Mungo.

Mungo was shot to death outside NYCHA’s Walt Whitman Houses in Brooklyn in October. His family scheduled the celebration on what would have been his 17th birthday, family and friends said.

The shooters fired around 30 shots from the corner — about 75 to 100 feet from the crowd, police said.

Three boys and seven girls between 16 and 19 years old were hit by gunfire. Most of the victims were shot in the legs as they scrambled for cover. One teen was shot in the arm and another suffered a graze wound to the back, cops said.

Police were trying to establish if the shooting was sparked by tensions between rival gangs.

“That’s one of the avenues we’re pursuing but it’s too early to determine right now,” NYPD Chief of Patrol Philip Rivera said at an early morning press conference outside the Queens club Thursday.

The four suspects ran off west on 91st St. and jumped into a gray Infiniti sedan with New Jersey plates, cops said.

No arrests have been made.

Mungo, an 11th grader who attended George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School, was an aspiring electrician who played varsity basketball for the school’s team, the Warriors, relatives said.

Investigators said the venue space was booked for more than it could hold, with people entering as others left.

According to sources, Mungo’s still-grieving mother wanted to invite 120 people, but the space only holds 90. Police said the limit left some people waiting outside as the gunfire erupted.

Among the victims of the Amazura shooting was an 18-year-old girl who was friends with Mungo from their Brooklyn neighborhood, according to her father. The girl was struck in the left shin and was undergoing a five-hour operation.

“She’s in a lot of pain,” the worried father said. “Only time will tell, and we’ll see what happens with recovery, and, you know, emotionally. I’ve been at the hospital from the time it happened, so I’m still trying to process all this stuff. It’s very heartbreaking, I have to sit here and watch my child screaming at the top of her lungs.”

The shooters were all wearing hooded sweatshirts and surgical masks. They also wore surgical gloves.

Anyone with information regarding their whereabouts is urged to contact NYPD Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.

Friday’s ruling removes what is likely the final obstacle to congestion tolling’s planned Sunday start, though New Jersey’s lawyer, Randy Mastro, said after the ruling he would seek an emergency appeal Friday night or Saturday morning at the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia.

“We will continue on behalf of the state of New Jersey to do everything we can to stop congestion pricing from going forward before this remand,” he said.

That possibility notwithstanding, beginning after midnight Jan. 5, drivers will be automatically tolled when the drive on Manhattan surface streets at 60th Street or below, paying a base toll of $9 to enter the congestion zone.

“We’ve been studying this issue for five years, but it only takes about five minutes if you’re in midtown Manhattan, to see that New York has a real traffic problem,” said MTA chariman Janno Lieber in praising the ruling.

Judge Leo Gordon made the ruling from the bench late Friday night, after attorneys for the Garden State sought to clarify his Monday ruling in New Jersey’s long-running suit seeking to stop the toll. The Murphy administration’s suit — the most serious challenge to New York’s plan to toll drivers entering Midtown and lower Manhattan — argues that changing traffic patterns from trucks and other vehicles seeking to avoid the toll will unfairly impact the air quality in New Jersey.

In his Monday ruling, Gordon had issued a “remand in part” of the Federal Highway Administration’s approval of congestion tolling. The judge ordered the feds to account for why New York’s congestion pricing plan detailed specific pollution mitigations for the Bronx, but failed to detail such plans for several New Jersey towns — even though both regions are expected to see an increase in motor vehicle traffic.

During Friday’s hearing in Newark, MTA attorney Elizabeth Knauer said there was $9.8 million in mitigation funds earmarked for New Jersey communities since the June evaluation by the highway administration that would be rolled out over five years.

“There was always a commitment to provide mitigation to communities in New Jersey that warranted it,” she said.

But Mastro, the well-known litigator representing New Jersey, said residents of the Garden State are going to suffer and told the judge: “You’re the last line of defense and you already recognized that they got it wrong.”

The judge’s ruling earlier this week sparked confusion as both sides declared victory.

Gov. Hochul and Lieber both said the tolling plan would continue, as the ruling included no language requiring them to stop while the feds answered Gordon’s concerns.

But the Garden State said the ruling should stop the toll in its tracks. Attorneys for New Jersey argued that even a partial remand meant the program was no longer authorized by federal regulators, and that a lack of clarity regarding pollution mitigation should in and of itself be enough to order a temporary pause on the program.

“The irreparable harm that New Jersey will suffer once the MTA flips the switch on congestion pricing is manifest,” the Garden State’s lawyers wrote earlier this week in seeking an injunction against a Sunday start. “Beginning on Day One, New Jersey will experience vehicle traffic increases and poorer air quality.”

After four hours of closed-door deliberation Friday evening, Gordon said that his ruling was never intended to block the tolling program, and that he was not tossing the federally approved environmental studies backing congestion pricing.

“The court will be be clear that the court did not vacate the [environmental assessment] or the [finding of no significant environmental impact,]” Gordon said.

Mastro, representing New Jersey, tried one last time to stop the toll after Gordon denied the injunction, asking for a temporary pause in order to appeal to the higher Third Circuit court.

“I respectfully request you give us five days to allow the third circuit to take up the issue,” Mastro said.

Gordon denied the request.

Outside the Newark courthouse, Mastro reiterated his intent to appeal to the Third Circuit in Philadelphia.

“If we can get there tonight, we will file our emergency appeal papers tonight — otherwise we’ll file them first thing tomorrow morning,” he said.

Lieber welcomed news of the court victory Friday at a press conference in the transit agency’s downtown headquarters.

“Earlier this week, Judge Gordon in New Jersey rejected that state’s claim that the environmental assessment — the 4000 page document reflecting five years of work that had been approved by the federal government — was deficient in some way,” he said. “Today, the judge confirmed that ruling and denied New Jersey’s effort to get an injunction to stop congestion pricing from starting tomorrow night.”

New York’s congestion tolling plan, mandated by law in 2019, is meant to reduce traffic in Midtown and lower Manhattan while raising funds for the MTA’s capital budget.

Revenue from the toll is intended to back $15 billion in bonds issued by the MTA, which will in turn fund a bevy of construction and repair projects around the city’s transit network.

The toll had been set to go into effect last summer, before Gov. Hochul paused the plan three weeks before it was to start, ultimately waiting until November to re-start it at a lower initial cost to drivers.

The path to this point has been long and confusing  — so drivers have many questions about the MTA’s plan to reduce congestion and raise funds for mass transit improvements.

Here’s what you need to know:.

When exactly does it start?

Congesting tolling is scheduled to start just after midnight the morning of Sunday, January 5th.

What is the “Congestion Relief Zone?”

Any motorist entering Manhattan at 60th Street or below on surface streets will be tolled.

How much will the toll be?

It depends on what you’re driving, as well as the time of day.

Those behind the wheel of ordinary passenger vehicles — cars, SUVs and pickup trucks — will be charged $9 for entering the zone between the hours of 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. on weekdays, or 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. on weekends.

Larger vehicles — trucks and non-commuter buses — will be charged more: $14.40 for buses and smaller box-trucks, $21.60 for big rigs.

Motorcycles will be charged the least, with a base toll of $4.50.

Will they go up?

Yes, the tolls are expected to increase over time. By law, the toll is required to raise $15 billion towards the MTA’s capital budget — a figure that the MTA plans to reach by selling bonds backed by tolling revenue.

In order to back those bonds, the base toll will go up to $12 in 2028, and will rise to $15 in 2031

Are there ever reduced tolls?

Overnight tolls will be significantly lower — $2.25 for those in regular passenger vehicles, less than the cost of a subway or bus ride.

How will I be billed?

The best rate — Gov. Hochul’s advertised rate of $9 once a day for ordinary cars — is only for drivers with an EZPass transponder. Drivers in the same type of vehicle, but without an EZPass, will be charged $13.50 — the base toll-by-mail rate.

MTA officials say the EZPass transponders issued by any state will work — except in the case of discounted rates, which will require a New York-issued EZPass.

And drivers should make sure their EZPass account is up to date with their current plate number before tolling starts on January 5. It’s important that a driver’s license plate match the EZPass attached to the car, MTA officials say.

Due to the traffic density on the roads leading into the congestion zone, the system will first look at a vehicle’s license plate, and then try to match it to an EZPass transponder signal. If a license plate is not tied to an EZPass, the driver will be charged the toll-by-mail rate, regardless of whether or not there’s a transponder in the car.

What if I leave the congestion zone and then go back, will I be charged twice?

Ordinary motorists — those who drive the everyday cars, SUVs or pickup trucks subject to the $9 toll — can only be charged once a day. There’s a big exception for larger vehicles, though. Trucks and buses will be charged each time they enter the zone.

For drivers subject to the once-a-day toll, the system will reset at midnight. That means drivers who enter the zone in the early morning hours — before 5 a.m. on a weekday — will be charged only the 75% discounted overnight rate that day.

Are there any roads that are exempt from tolling?

The West Side Highway, the FDR Drive, and the Battery Park Underpass — the tunnel under the Battery that links FDR Drive to the West Side Highway — are all deemed to be outside the congestion pricing zone. A driver who rounds the horn of Manhattan on the highways from the Upper West to the Upper East sides, for example, will not be charged a congestion toll.

Is the West Side Highway south of 57th Street considered a highway or a surface street?

An exempt highway.

What about coming off the bridges and the tunnels?

That depends on the bridge or tunnel.

If you enter Manhattan at the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel and drive directly up to the Upper East or Upper West sides north of 60th St. without leaving the highways, you will not be charged.

Likewise, a driver who goes between the Brooklyn Bridge and the FDR drive using the on-ramps between the two will stay off of surface streets and therefore not be charged. Similarly, the connection between the West Side Highway and the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel is not considered part of the congestion zone.

But not all the bridges and tunnels connect directly to the highways — so you’re going to pay.

Drivers coming down the West Side Highway to get to the Holland or Lincoln Tunnels — or headed down the FDR with an eye towards the Williamsburg, Manhattan, or Queensboro bridges or the Queens-Midtown Tunnel — will have to first jump on surface streets — and will therefore be charged.

Likewise, drivers coming into Manhattan off those bridges and tunnels into city streets will pay.

So if I take the Holland or Lincoln Tunnels and pay that toll coming in from New Jersey, I get tolled again when entering Manhattan?

Yes. But during daytime hours — from 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. on weekdays, or 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. on weekends — the MTA will discount part of the tunnel toll with what they’re calling a “crossing credit.”

For the Holland and Lincoln tunnels, the crossing credit will start at $3 for ordinary drivers and climb to $5 by the time the full toll phases in in 2031. For the Brooklyn-Battery and Queens-Midtown tunnels, the credit will start at $1.50, and rise to $2.50.

What about gridlock days?

The congestion pricing plan as approved allows the MTA discretion to tack a 25% surcharge onto the toll on days declared by the city’s Transportation Department to be “gridlock alert days.”

Those days, said to be the heaviest traffic days of the year, typically come with the winter holidays and the United Nations’ General Assembly. The city DOT declared 20 such days this year.

If invoked, that would raise the base toll to $11.25 on those days.

Gov. Hochul last month indicated that she would put the kibosh on gridlock-day hikes.

Will it cost more to take a taxi or an Uber into midtown?

Taxis, Ubers, Lyfts and other for-hire vehicles with Taxi and Limousine Commission plates will be assessed a surcharge on every trip into the zone and that charge will be added to a passenger’s fare.

Those surcharges will start at 75 cents for taxis and $1.50 for rideshare cars like Uber and Lyft. In 2028, that’ll increase to $1 for taxis and $2 for Ubers and Lyfts. In 2031, it will go up to $1.50 for taxis and $2.50 for Ubers and Lyfts.

So, what’s the best way to avoid the congestion tolls if I’m going to New Jersey?

No one will be tolled for leaving the congestion zone, only for entering.

If you drive from north of the congestion zone and cross the Hudson on the George Washington Bridge, you can avoid the toll — similarly, New Jersey drivers entering Manhattan via the G.W. but staying north of 60th will not be tolled.

What about getting to orfrom the other boroughs?

The Harlem River crossings — including the Triborough/RFK Bridge and the various bridges connecting Manhattan to the Bronx, such as the Macombs Dam Bridge near Yankee Stadium — are outside the congestion zone.

Most of the East River crossings  — specifically the Manhattan, Williamsburg and Queensboro bridges, as well as the Queens-Midtown tunnel — connect on the Manhattan side only to surface streets within the zone, so drivers will be tolled.

But since the Brooklyn Battery tunnel and the Brooklyn Bridge are accessible directly from the FDR Drive or the West Side Highway, motorists using the crossings from those roads won’t be charged.

The Brooklyn Bridge has several entrances that are on city streets, however, and any driver using those will be tolled.

Are there discounts available?

There are limited discounts available.

Drivers with a federal adjusted gross income of less than $50,000 last year can to get a 50% discount off the daytime rate for any trips made after the first 10 in each calendar month.

New Yorkers who live in Manhattan at 60th Street or below — in other words, within the zone — can apply for a tax credit matching the amount spent in tolls, but only if they make $60,000 or less per year.

Full exemptions are also available for vehicles that are used to transport people who have disabilities or health conditions that prevent them from using transit — whether those are driven by those people themselves, or by caregivers.

Applications for those exemptions or discounts can be found on the MTA’s website.

Those seeking the discounts will need to have an EZPass issued by New York state in their vehicle — which can be obtained even by drivers with out-of-state plates.

Could congestion pricing stop once it starts?

Some congestion pricing opponents have said they will continue to push for the program to end or to be significantly changed, and there are still several legal challenges making their way through the federal court system.

But a federal judge in Manhattan last month ruled in New York’s favor to continue the plan, and barring any last minute injunction in other jurisdictions, the tolling is set to start Sunday morning.

Four gunmen fired nearly 30 shots at a crowd of about 15 people waiting outside the the Amazura concert hall at 144th Pl. near Archer Ave. in Jamaica Wednesday hoping to get in about 11:15 p.m., police said. The 10 victims — six females and four males between 16 and 20 years old — were taken to various local hospitals.

Cops on Thursday were trying to establish if the shooting was sparked by tensions between rival gangs.

“That’s one of the avenues we’re pursuing but it’s too early to determine right now,” NYPD Chief of Patrol Philip Rivera said at an early morning press conference outside the Queens club.

Most of the victims were shot in the legs as they scrambled for cover. One victim was shot in the arm and another suffered a graze wound to the back, cops said.

Many of the victims were found bleeding at the scene, waiting for ambulances. At least three showed up at Jamaica Hospital on their own seeking medical care.

The shooters fired from the corner — about 75 to 100 feet from the crowd.

As the gun smoke cleared, four young men, at least three of whom opened fire, ran off west on 91st St. and jumped into a gray Infiniti sedan with New Jersey plates, cops said. No arrests have been made.

The celebration of life event was being held in honor of Tea’Arion Mungo, who was shot to death outside NYCHA’s Walt Whitman Houses in Brooklyn during a spate of October violence that claimed the lives of five teens in Brooklyn, Manhattan and the Bronx in as many days.

The 11th grader, who attended George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School, was an aspiring electrician who played varsity basketball for the school’s team, the Warriors, relatives said in October.

On Wednesday night, friends gathered at the venue to celebrate what would have been Tea’Arion’s 17th birthday.

Investigators said the venue space was booked for more than it could hold, with people entering as others left. According to sources, Tea’Arion’s still-grieving mother wanted to invite 120 people, but the space only holds 90. Police said the limit left some people waiting outside as the gunfire erupted.

“There’s zero tolerance for these senseless shootings, these horrible acts of violence on our streets,” Rivera said. “Those responsible for this crime will be apprehended and brought to justice.”

Among the victims of the Amazura shooting was an 18-year-old girl who was friends with Tea’Arion from their Brooklyn neighborhood, according to her father. The girl was struck in the left shin and was undergoing a five-hour operation.

“She’s in a lot of pain,” the worried father said. “Only time will tell, and we’ll see what happens with recovery, and, you know, emotionally. I’ve been at the hospital from the time it happened, so I’m still trying to process all this stuff. It’s very heartbreaking, I have to sit here and watch my child screaming at the top of her lungs and stuff like that.”

He said his daughter called him shortly after she had been shot.

“You get this phone call in the middle of the night and this is what happened,” he said. “And you panic because there’s no information given to you until you get there. She called me, actually. She said ‘Dad I got shot.’ She was in the ambulance. I was like, ‘What?’ The ambulance guy, he told me what hospital she was at, so I just went there.”

He said between being shot and her friend’s death, his daughter had been through a lot.

“Everybody grew up together,” he said. “It was heartbreaking to hear that, when that happened. They grew up from elementary school and everything.”

He said the New Year’s Day shooting only made it worse.

“It’s unfortunate because Jan. 1 is also her mother’s birthday,” the father said. “Her mom passed away six years ago, so that’s why I said she’s been through worse. It was just a celebration of Mommy’s birthday. They were celebrating the life of her friend … and this happened. Nobody wants to hear this. This is something that no parent wants to hear.”

Mayor Adams said the shooting isn’t linked to any terror attacks like the one which occurred on New Year’s Day in New Orleans which left 15 people dead after a truck rammed into a crowd of revelers.

“There is no room for this criminal behavior in our city and we are determined to bring these dangerous individuals to justice and get illegal guns off our streets,” he added.

Queens Borough President Donovan Richards also condemned the violence.

“Under no circumstance will we allow any example of gun violence in our borough to go unpunished,” Donovan said. “I’m confident that those who perpetrated this heinous act will be arrested and held accountable.”

A 19-year-old man from Pennsylvania visiting relatives near the club said his family thought what they heard was fireworks ringing in the new year.

“It was like really loud,” he said. “And then me and my cousin are thinking, ‘Wait, you think it could be what we’re thinking?’ And then maybe five minutes later we get a message on the Citizen app: Shooting. We heard the ambulances and the cops came really quickly. We all got really scared.”

The visitor said his relatives have heard gunfire before but he wasn’t used to it as an out-of-towner.

“They know this nightclub right here is always a lot of people there, like police presence every now and then,” he said. “So this is pretty much normal for them … It was pretty surprising for me.”

Another neighborhood visitor, Aspen Palmquist, 29, said he accidentally stepped in a pool of blood outside the club.

“We’re just enjoying our day when suddenly I just accidentally stepped in blood,” said Palmquist, who is visiting from Hawaii. “We’re actually on vacation here for New Year’s and just kind of checking out the city today,” he added. “Not what I expected to see though.”

The nightclub can hold up to 4,000 people and usually holds DJ dance parties and raves. DJs who have performed there in the past include Felix Bizarre, Black Daddy, and DJ X-Dream.

“We are deeply saddened by the recent and unfortunate isolated incident that occurred,” Amazura’s management wrote on Instagram. “Our hearts go out to all those affected by this senseless act. We are working closely with law enforcement to ensure a thorough investigation and to help bring those responsible to justice.”

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential.

Little Mike Nieto Parra was rushed to Elmhurst Hospital Center by relatives after he was found unconscious in the family’s 82nd St. apartment near Eliot Ave. in Middle Village about 12:30 p.m. on Aug. 23, 2023, cops said. The tot died that day at the hospital, officials said.

An extensive autopsy, which included tissue samples and lab tests, revealed the infant died of “acute drug intoxication” after ketamine was found in his system, a police source said.

The city medical examiner declared the child’s death a homicide on Tuesday. The child’s death will count as a 2024 homicide even though he died a year earlier, officials said.

No arrests have been made.

Yun Li was in the basement of a building on Haight St. near 41st Ave. in Flushing when a trio of crooks tried to rob the place about 9:20 p.m. on Dec. 19, cops said.

The robbers shot Li in the head and a 42-year-old man in the cheek before fleeing the gambling joint.

Medics rushed Li to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Queens in critical condition. He died four days later.

Li lived within walking distance of the building where he was shot.

The 42-year-old man shot in the cheek ran from the scene to the hospital, where he was treated and released.

Three men were seen running from the scene after the shooting, police said. The men jumped into a white SUV with front-end damage and sped off.

Flushing residents told the Daily News that illegal gambling halls were an open secret in the neighborhood, but violence at these places was a rarity.

“There are a few underground gambling … rooms around this block,” said a neighborhood cabinetmaker who didn’t want to give his name. “I think this happens a lot. It’s just only this time people were shot.”

No arrests have been made so far.