Three men are wanted in connection with the killing of a 24-year-old New Jersey man outside a Chelsea bar, investigators said yesterday.

A short time after Thomas Whitney Jr. was found critically injured outside Spy Bar on 19th Street at Fifth Avenue on May 21, the men used his credit card at five locations around the city, including gas stations and clothing stores. They bought gas, sportswear, and baseball hats, the head of the Manhattan South Homicide Task Force, Lieutenant Stephen Camardese, said. They made their last purchase at about 1 p.m. the following day, just four hours before Whitney died from his wounds.

Whitney was found bleeding heavily from the head on the street in front of the bar at 4:05 a.m. He was rushed to the hospital, but died 13 hours later. The medical examiner’s office classified his death a homicide, the result of a blunt blow to the head.

A metal pipe was found near the scene with blood on it, but Lieutenant Camardese said it has not been declared the murder weapon.

Surveillance cameras captured images of the three men on their spending spree with the stolen card. Police would not specify yesterday how much of Whitney’s money the three men spent.

The Crime Victims Board and the New York Police Department have put up a $12,000 reward for information leading to the men’s whereabouts.

Last week, a bouncer allegedly shot four people outside another club in Chelsea, Opus 22. One of the men, Gustavo Cuadros, 25, died at the scene. The bouncer, Stephen Sakai, was indicted by a grand jury yesterday on assault and murder charges, as well as criminal possession of a weapon.

The Chelsea area has seen a surge in felony assaults alongside its rise to a mecca of nightlife in the city. Sixty felony assaults have been reported for the year to date, a 39.5% increase over the same time last year.