A punk-band founder who once attacked his former bandmates with a knife at Webster Hall is now suing them in Manhattan federal court, claiming they’ve illegally usurped the group.
Harley Flanagan says the punk band Cro-Mags was his idea and his alone when he formed it back in 1981.
But around 2002, other members — including singer John Joseph McGowen — took over the band and used the Cro-Mags name without his permission, Flanagan says in the suit.
At the time, “Flanagan’s first son was about to be born … and Flanagan had to stop touring to help with the baby,” the lawsuit claimed.
After that, the band went on without him and is now in the midst of a world tour that heads to the UK, Germany and France in June.
Flanagan is suing in part for copyright infringement, saying he trademarked the “Cro-Mag” name for recording in 2010 and for merchandise in 2009 and then again in 2017.
The lawsuit doesn’t make mention of a notorious 2012 incident at Webster Hall where he attacked two of the group’s members with a hunting knife, cancelling the show and sending victims William Berario and Michael Couls to Bellevue Hospital to be stitched up.
“They think they’re going to play my f–-king music that I helped write?” the bassist growled ahead of the backstage brawl, The Post reported at the time.