Act one, scene one of Eric Adams’ mayoralty was an effective piece of theater. The first minutes he spent as mayor just after midnight Jan. 1, 2022 were on a stage in the middle of Times Square, then a symbol of a pandemic-depressed New York, with a promise to usher in a safer, more prosperous city.

Huddled next to him were trusted advisers turned powerful administration officials including Ingrid Lewis-Martin, Tim Pearson and Winnie Greco. Each of them, like one of Chekov’s guns, would later fire one scandal or another into Adams’ one and only term.

As foreshadowing goes, the scene could not have been better directed by God himself, whom Adams believed to be the architect of his political success.

The legacy of the city’s second Black mayor, whose stubborn loyalty is widely s

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