He swept in as the mayor of “swagger.” He was an enthusiastic participant in New York’s nightlife, swanning around clubs into the wee hours, and then holding early-morning meetings in City Hall.

He was a self-proclaimed vegan who dabbled in fish, and he hardly slept. When he did, no one knew quite where. He had an apartment in Brooklyn, an official residence at Gracie Manor on the Upper East Side and a girlfriend in Fort Lee, N.J.

From the moment Eric Adams took office on New Year’s Eve 2021, he promised to be a mayor such as New Yorkers had never seen.

“I’m like broccoli. You’re going to hate me now, but you’re going to love me later,” he once said.

Mr. Adams has been both a constant public presence and an unknowable figure — quick with an incomprehensible quote, increasingly irritated with reporters, riding a wave of bravado and bluster in a city faced with multiple crises.

He upended some of the city’s political borders: a Democrat who embraced the Police Department and clashed with the more liberal City Council. A streetwise kid who grew tight with the business community and surrounded himself with loyalists.

It all came crashing down on Thursday as a federal investigation that had plagued the mayor for nearly a year culminated in an indictment.