NEW ORLEANS — Shakespeare understood the tragedy of powerful figures brought low by their own fatal flaws. Mayor Cantrell’s indictment last Friday on federal conspiracy, perjury, fraud and obstruction of justice charges is genuinely Shakespearean.

According to the indictment, the mayor was warned — multiple times, by people she trusts — to end her alleged affair with bodyguard Jeffrey Vappie.

Instead, in a display of hubris worthy of The Bard himself telling it, the feds say Cantrell doubled down. Then, to make things worse legally, the indictment alleges that Cantrell and Vappie deleted thousands of personal messages, hoping to their infractions, and then lied about it under oath.

It’s a cautionary tale that too many powerful people fail to heed: The coverup is almost always worse than

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