NEW YORK — Philip B. Banks III, New York City’s deputy mayor for public safety, has resigned, Mayor Eric Adams said Monday morning, making him the sixth senior administration official to leave City Hall in the past month.
His departure comes amid an exceptional amount of turmoil at the highest levels of city government, as four federal investigations envelop Adams and his inner circle. And it occurred less than two weeks after prosecutors unsealed a five-count corruption indictment against the mayor.
On Sept. 4, federal investigators seized Banks’ phones as part of a separate investigation into a possible bribery scheme.
In connection with that inquiry, investigators also seized the phones of Banks’ brother David C. Banks, the schools chancellor who will step down next week, and Sheena Wright, the first deputy mayor and the schools chancellor’s wife. Wright is expected to resign imminently.
The inquiry also involves another brother, Terence Banks, a retired train supervisor who formed a consulting firm and represented clients with business before agencies overseen by his brothers.
The way City Hall handled the resignation was in some measure an indication of the chaos that the welter of investigations has wrought on the administration. Three people with knowledge of the matter said that the city did not notify the heads of the six city agencies and offices who report directly to Banks of his departure. Instead, they learned of it from news reports.
Adams has faced significant internal and external pressure to restore faith in his administration, including from Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has the power to remove him from office.
Last month, Lisa Zornberg, the mayor’s former chief counsel, asked him to clean house. His initial reluctance to follow her advice prompted her resignation.
Adams said Monday that Philip Banks was leaving the administration by choice.
“He reached out to me and stated, ‘Eric, I’m looking to move on, and this is a good time to do so,’” Adams said during an interview on NY1.
A lawyer for Banks, Benjamin Brafman, said in a statement that the prosecutors overseeing the inquiry focused on the brothers “advised me that Mr. Banks was not a target of their investigation and nothing about his resignation changes that fact.”
News of Banks’ resignation was first reported by the New York Post.
Banks and Adams have known each other since the 1980s, when Adams was a transit police officer who looked up to Banks’ father, a trailblazing Black officer in the Police Department.
Banks began his career as a patrol officer at the 81st Precinct in Brooklyn and eventually rose to become deputy chief in 2010. He also belonged to the Grand Council of Guardians, a fraternal group of Black officers that Adams once led.
But he was an unusual choice for deputy mayor. In 2014, Banks retired abruptly as chief of department, the Police Department’s top uniformed official. Federal prosecutors later labeled him an unindicted co-conspirator in a corruption investigation during the administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio. Banks was not charged with a crime.
That wide-ranging investigation began with a Harlem restaurateur who was believed to be running an illegal liquor distribution business, and it expanded to examine de Blasio’s campaign fundraising. De Blasio was never charged.
But the investigation did lead to the convictions or guilty pleas of Banks’ friend Norman Seabrook, who led the city’s correction officers union; a senior police official who worked for Banks; and two businesspeople who sought to influence Banks and others in the Police Department.
Adams’ 2021 election offered Banks a second chance.
As Adams’ deputy mayor for public safety, Banks worked to limit drivers’ use of cars with altered plates to avoid tolls and tickets, and worked to crack down on the sale of unlicensed cannabis, Adams said.
In interviews Monday, Adams described Banks as a “good friend” and wished him well. He also argued that he would have no trouble finding replacements for the many officials who have left his administration in recent weeks.
“I think we underestimate how deep not only is the bench for government, but for the city,” Adams said during an interview with WPIX. “We have talented people in the city.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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