The screaming tabloid headlines and bizarre incidents harken a darker, scarier time in New York City history.

Shootings and murders are up modestly in the nation’s largest city, even if the violence doesn’t match the overheated headlines.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has assured the public that overall crime is down and that measures are already being put in place to combat the violence.

But even the perception that New York is suffering any sort of backslide into the violence-plagued bad old days of the 1970s has empowered de Blasio’s critics.

Many say he is soft on crime and should do a full restoration of stop-and-frisk.

Mayoral aides have pushed back, noting that the violence is largely limited to a few areas about to be flooded with additional police officers.

(AP)