Bill de Blasio’s inner circle isn’t contained by the walls of City Hall.

The New York City mayor’s unofficial cabinet includes about a half-dozen outside political strategists, many of whom he has known for decades.

He frequently turns to them for advice when formulating his agenda or managing a crisis.

And he uses the outside voices more than previous mayors.

Those loyalists include political consultants John Del Cecato and Peter Ragone and the U.S. Ambassador to South Africa, Patrick Gaspard.

Senior City Hall staff still guides most of the mayor’s decisions. But de Blasio is known for taking the temperature of his advisers, sometimes double- and triple-checking opinions.

These relationships have been in the spotlight recently amid reports raising ethical questions about some of them.

(AP)