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It’s Wednesday. It looks like bread, but it’s made of rice. So, is it a sandwich? The mystery is alive in Jackson Heights, Eater reports.

Weather: Today will be a tad cooler, starting in the mid-50s, with a chance of sprinkles in the morning. The sun might come out later, with highs in the mid-60s.

Alternate-side parking: In effect until May 27 (Memorial Day).

The women were looking for self-fulfillment and joined a group called Nxivm, prosecutors said. Then they were branded with a man’s initials and forced to hand over nude photos of themselves. Some were coerced into having sex with him.

The man, Keith Raniere, was the leader of what prosecutors have called a “sex cult” based near Albany. They also say Nxivm was a criminal enterprise.

Mr. Raniere’s trial began yesterday in Brooklyn. Here’s what you need to know.

What was Nxivm?

Nxivm (pronounced Nex-e-um) was founded in the 1990s and billed itself as a self-help group. About 16,000 people took Nxivm courses, which cost thousands of dollars apiece.

The cultlike group attracted high-profile supporters including Clare Bronfman, the heiress to the Seagram liquor fortune, and Allison Mack, the actress known for her role in the television series “Smallville.”

Some women were invited to become part of a secret society within Nxivm, known as D.O.S.

What is Keith Raniere accused of?

He faces federal racketeering and sex-trafficking charges.

During the opening statements at his trial, prosecutors said that the women in the D.O.S. society were called “slaves,” and that Mr. Raniere and others pressured them into handing over deeds to their homes, bank account information and their “deepest, darkest secrets.”

With that leverage, prosecutors said, Mr. Raniere then coerced women into sex and enriched himself. One of his victims, they said, was a 15-year-old girl.

[“The defendant said he was a mentor, but he was a predator”: Read more from the “sex cult” trial.]

How were women lured into the secret society?

According to former members interviewed by The Times, Mr. Raniere told recruits that they had to overcome weaknesses common to women: an overemotional nature, a failure to keep promises and an embrace of the role of victim.

Submission and obedience were said to be the solution to achieve those goals, several women said.

[Why did people follow a guru who now stands accused of sex trafficking?]

Ms. Mack, who told a judge last month that she first joined Nxivm to “find purpose,” pleaded guilty to charges related to her role in recruiting women into the secretive D.O.S. group.

It was within this inner group that woman were branded.

What is Mr. Raniere’s defense?

Free will.

Mr. Raniere’s lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, said his client was trying to help the members of Nxivm reach their personal goals and had never forced them to do anything against their will.

Jurors may see a video of a woman being branded, Mr. Agnifilo said. But, he added, “See if the women seemed forced or if they are doing it because they want to do it.”

Breaking: Deadly fire in Harlem

Six people, including four children, died after a fire swept through a housing authority apartment in Harlem overnight, the authorities said.

The youngest victim was 3 years old, the police said.

The Times’s story will be updating all morning.

Photo of the day

A member of the Police Department’s honor guard presented a United States flag to Rhoda Brown, the wife of the Queens district attorney, Richard A. Brown, after yesterday’s memorial service for Mr. Brown at the Reform Temple of Forest Hills.

Mr. Brown died on Saturday in a hospice care facility. He was 86.

From The Times

President Trump’s taxes: New York lawmakers moved closer to allowing the release of his state returns.

A rare view of the Met Gala: For most of us, fashion’s party of the year ends with the red carpet. But our reporter got a look inside.

It seemed like a model green energy firm. But black workers painted a different picture.

An ex-laborer pleaded guilty in the 2015 murder of a Westchester socialite.

[Want more news from New York and around the region? Check out our full coverage.]

The Mini Crossword: Here is today’s puzzle.

What we’re reading

Six are dead, including four children, after an apartment fire in Harlem. [New York Post]

Alone in the H.O.V. lane: The police said one man on Long Island tried to get away with it by putting a fully dressed dummy in the passenger seat. [NBC New York]

A top health official at Mount Sinai was accused of age and sex discrimination. [Science]

Want to fill a seat on your nonprofit’s board? Take a lesson from matchmakers. [Wall Street Journal]

Can’t be an opera singer? How about an opera prompter? [NY1]

Coming up today

See the most iconic views in Manhattan’s Central Park on an insider’s tour led by a park conservancy guide. 10 a.m. [$15]

Young fans of comics and manga can gather at the Soundview Library in the Bronx to discuss their favorite graphic novels. 3:30 p.m. [Free]

In tribute to the Lithuanian-American filmmaker Jonas Mekas, the Film-Makers’ Cooperative hosts a screening of his documentary “Sleepless Nights Stories” at the Ludlow House in Manhattan. 7 p.m. [Free with R.S.V.P.]

— Ana Fota

Events are subject to change, so double-check before heading out. For more events, see the going-out guides from The Times’s culture pages.

And finally: A corner was renamed for Wu-Tang. Now, how about a youth center?

Back in 1992, a bunch of friends on Staten Island recorded a brash, catchy song with many lyrics that are unprintable in this newsletter.

Last weekend, several of those friends watched as the corner of Vanderbilt Avenue and Targee Street in the Park Hill section of the borough was renamed for the group, the Wu-Tang Clan. Ghostface Killah said he couldn’t believe it. GZA smiled and posed for photos. Raekwon appeared to smile.

The New York City public advocate, Jumaane Williams, took selfies. City Councilwoman Debi Rose wore a black T-shirt with the group’s logo.

It was “like the Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger going over to London and getting knighted,” said Oliver Grant, a founding member of the group who is known as Power. “This is a rock 'n' roll guy. Why are they knighting him?”

“Obviously, he’s had an effect on something, and he’s made a difference,” Mr. Grant added. “I like to look at it the same way.”

If you recall, the Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards wasn’t happy with Mr. Jagger’s acceptance of the honor. On Staten Island, there was no such friction. The street renaming was an honor, Mr. Grant said.

“If the people at home don’t recognize you, then who is your following?” he said. “Like, how is Jay-Z Jay-Z if Brooklyn don’t love Jay-Z? How is Biggie Smalls Biggie Smalls if Brooklyn don’t love Biggie Smalls?”

Mr. Grant is an executive producer on the Wu-Tang Clan albums. And as the group toured and sold more music, Mr. Grant saw more opportunities.

He starting selling clothing with the group’s logo and called the mail-order company Wu-Wear. Then, he opened a store on Victory Boulevard. “It was a moneymaker,” he recalled.

Then came an office in Manhattan’s garment district — “to sell wholesale,” he said.

Two and a half decades — and several Wu-Tang Clan tours and countless spinoff projects — later came the street renaming.

A documentary on the Wu-Tang Clan will air on Friday on Showtime, and a “Wu-Seum” will be open in SoHo from May 16 to 19. Wu-Tang artifacts are also being sent to the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, Mr. Grant said.

But for Mr. Grant, there’s more to do. Perhaps the Wu-Tang can help get a youth center in Park Hill.

“We need the keys to the city, and we need some people to team up with us to get a youth center for the kids over there,” he said. “That’s super-important for the neighborhood.”

It’s Wednesday — Wu-Tang is for the children.

Metropolitan Diary: Rush-hour routine

Dear Diary:

I have gotten used to seeing women put on makeup on the subway. It amazes me that they can do it so easily on a moving train with only the help of a small pocket mirror.

One morning during rush hour, I watched a young man sitting opposite me in a tweed jacket and jeans, with headphones in his ears, follow the same routine.

He took a black-and-gold makeup bag from his tote and applied eye shadow, eyeliner, mascara and even foundation without a smudge.

I didn’t want to stare, but I really wanted to watch and copy his technique. It had been years since I wore makeup and now that I really need to, I had forgotten how.

When the young man finished his face, he took out a book and started to read. And I realized he had given me the courage to try wearing makeup again.

— Judith Pierce

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