The tragedy of New York Mayor Eric Adams, who is facing a staggering number of investigations into himself and his inner circle, was predictable. In fact, it was even foreseen.

“We all know that everywhere you’ve gone, you’ve been investigated for corruption,” an opponent told the then-Brooklyn borough president during a 2021 mayoral debate. “You’ve achieved the rare triple win in corruption investigations.”

That didn’t deter Democratic voters, and Adams – an ex-cop and native son of the city who ran on his biography and a promise to restore public safety after crime rates and fears soared during the pandemic – won a narrow victory in the party’s closed primary, making him the city’s assured 110th mayor and only the second Black one.

Once this was official, Adams branded himself the “future” and “face of the new Democratic Party.” He also began partying all night in clubs, sometimes with criminal friends, when he wasn’t talking about how God had told him 30 years ago that he would be mayor in 2022 and sharing that good news with the world – something he had never mentioned publicly. before win the election.

The new mayor immediately brought on board a group of cronies with dubious pasts, including Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Phil Banks, who abruptly resigned from his post as department head in 2014.

Banks left that post about a year before it was revealed that he was an unindicted co-conspirator in a case involving two men who were in prison for bribing the former mayor. One of them testified that they treated the police chief to round-the-world plane rides and the services of a prostitute when they weren’t smoking cigars and keeping their diamonds in the chief’s office at One Police Plaza.

Banks, who denies any wrongdoing but says he regrets the connection, had his home broken into and his phones seized in the FBI’s synchronized early-morning raids last week. He again testified through a lawyer that he had done nothing wrong.

But these raids are a sign that the new investigation has progressed far enough to prompt prosecutors to go public with it — and to get a federal judge to confirm their concerns that the deputy mayor for public safety and the police chief might destroy evidence if given the opportunity.

Last week’s raids reportedly differed from earlier raids on Adams’ closest allies as part of two previously reported investigations conducted by two different federal prosecutors, both of whom required approval from Justice Department leaders in Washington, DC, to take action against the mayor of America’s largest city.

There is an ongoing investigation into Adams’ travel and ties to Turkey, as well as campaign funds that appear to be tied to the Turkish government. And there is an ongoing investigation into Adams’ travel and ties to China, as well as campaign funds that came from undisclosed donors. As part of that case, the mayor’s cell phone was confiscated by FBI agents last year.

And now there are two new investigations that appear to involve schemes of influence involving Adams appointees at the highest levels of his police department and administration who diverted public funds to family members.

In just three years, Adams has surpassed his old formula for corruption investigations: There are now four separate, but possibly overlapping, federal investigations underway against his inner circle and the mayor himself.

No one has been accused of wrongdoing in these investigations, and Adams says he always follows the law but asks the public to respect the process and withhold judgment.

New Yorkers may soon find out, as the government has already convened at least one grand jury. With the city holding a primary election next June, prosecutors will have to contend with longstanding Justice Department policies that prevent cases from interfering with elections.

But New Yorkers are already making their judgment in the court of public opinion. Adams reached the lowest approval rating ever recorded for a New York mayor late last year, while voters were choking on all the smoke that also included the corruption trial of his former building commissioner, the confessions of members of a group that includes another ex-cop and old friend of the mayor to their own sham donation scheme tied to his campaign, and the confession of a Chinese billionaire who also funneled money into his campaign and the campaigns of other American politicians.

Tim Pearson, another ex-cop and old friend of Adams who now heads a shady new mayoral oversight agency, also had his phones seized by the FBI last week. Pearson has been accused in several civil suits of ruining the career of a female cop who wouldn’t sleep with him and of supervisors who tried to protect her while they themselves sought “crumbs” from city contracts. Taxpayers are footing his legal bills at the behest of the mayor and over the objections of the city’s former top lawyer, who was then forced out of office.

Many of Adams’ problems seem to have to do with the gap between his mantra of “stay focused and keep at it” and his need to be cocky and test boundaries.

Polls show that New Yorkers still mostly like his agenda, but don’t like him or how he’s implementing it. He keeps repeating that crime is down, but doesn’t say when or how much the drop was. The data is mixed, and most New Yorkers don’t really believe him.

The fact that Adams’ police department has become increasingly crazy in its public communications hasn’t helped. A reporter for the pro-police New York Post was attacked this week as a “fucking scumbag,” and the NYPD’s official account even gave me the wannabe Trump nickname “Harry ‘Deceitful’ Siegel” earlier this year.

It’s no wonder that Democratic challengers are lining up to run against Adams next year – assuming he’s still in office. It would be the first contested primary against a Democratic incumbent since David Dinkins defeated Ed Koch in 1989.

Asked what he would do if he were charged, Adams said at a press conference on Tuesday that he intends to remain mayor and run for re-election, but he would not comment on hypothetical cases.

The tragedy of Eric Adams is that he did this to himself.