A LIFE OF PAIN SNUFFED
Loss, paranoia before Don-trial shock
Loneliness, conspiracy theories and loss apparently drove the troubled man who set himself on fire across the street from the courthouse where former President Donald Trump is on trial.
The final, fatal act was a tragic denouement in the life of Max Azzarello, who friends described as intelligent and kind — but somewhat depressed, and still reeling from the 2022 death of his mother, who he followed when he moved to Florida a few years ago.
Azzarello, 37, grew up on Long Island’s North Shore, in the tiny village of Sea Cliff.
“He was the grandest man I ever met in my life and I adored him,” said Jamie Black, 63, of Sea Cliff, who was friends with Max’s late mother, Libby, and had known him since he was about 8. “He was brilliant and one of my closest friends. I am devastated.”
Sources who knew Az- zarello said he was prescribed antidepressants and Adderall in his earlier years, and fairly recently started taking amphetamines.
Azzarello was “almost too smart,” Black said.
“I even said once to him, ‘Are you schizophrenic?’ But he wasn’t,” Black said. “He was so caring and kind and hilarious and he was brought up in a great family. I don’t think he had any mental illness. I think he was just too smart.”
Azzarello’s lifelong friend, Daniel Carleton, who went to middle school and high school with him and roomed with him at UNCChapel Hill for four years, said his former dormmate always had some mental health issues.
“There may have been a chemical imbalance there that was made worse by substance abuse, but there was no specific diagnosis,” he said.
Azzarello was lonely, Carleton said, adding that he was straight, but never seemed to have a girlfriend.
He was very close, however, to his sister Katherine, 38, who lives in Brooklyn.
“He’s always been very smart, since middle school,” Carleton told The Post. “He was good guy and he was always political.”
Toll of loneliness
“He was alone for a long time and I think it was a major contributor to his decline,” he added. “His family is great. They knew he had issues and they had him checked into a mental health facility last year, but they couldn’t keep him past a three-day hold.”
Azzarello took a turn for the worse at the start of 2023, not long after his mother died, Carleton said. He quit what had been a series of wellpaying tech consultant jobs by the end of 2022.
When news broke in March 2023 that the Silicon Valley Bank had collapsed, Azzarello became obsessed. Billionaire Peter Thiel had urged startups to pull their cash or risk losing it entirely.
“He somehow connected Thiel to all that and went down this huge rabbit hole and started posting crazy conspiracies,” Carleton said. “The drugs were out of control in 2023.”
Azzarello was arrested three times in Florida last year, including for throwing wine at a framed autograph featuring Bill Clinton, according to police. He was jailed Aug. 21 and remained there until Oct. 3, when he was sentenced to 180 days’ probation and released.
“He was passionate that government and business elites screwed over the common person and he wanted to fight that,” Carleton said. “He wanted to start a revolution so much so that he was willing to light himself on fire to get his message out.”
Carleton said Azzarello had been sober since his jail stint.