Instagram (Max Azzarello)/Getty Max Azzarello.
Max Azzarello is a Florida man with New Jersey ties who set himself on fire outside the Trump trial in New York on April 19 after leaving behind a rambling manifesto and social media accounts in which he sang about starting a “revolution” and criticized both political parties, saying, “We are in a totalitarian doomsday cult.”
The New York Police Department identified Azzarello in a news conference and said he is from St. Augustine, Florida, and arrived in New York “sometime earlier in the week.” He used an “alcohol-based substance used for cleaning” as an accelerant, police said.
“Start a “f****** revolution,” he sang over and over again on Instagram in January. “You’ve got nothing to lose.” Another Instagram post showed him posing as an Uncle Sam-like figure, pointing at the camera. It read, “I want you to tear down a haunted carnival.”
Heavy has located the manifesto, on which he writes, “My name is Max Azzarello, and I am an investigative researcher who has set himself on fire outside of the Trump trial in Manhattan.” The New York Times confirmed through a law enforcement official that authorities believe the man who set himself on fire was named Max Azzarello, 37, of St. Augustine, Florida.
Azzarello is in critical condition, NYPD commanders said in a news conference. However, very disturbing photos on Getty Images show that he is in dire condition.
Heavy has also reviewed a LinkedIn page and Instagram page in which Azzarello makes similar claims. “We’re victims of a bi-partisan, totalitarian con that will soon collapse the economy,” he wrote on Instagram. His social media pages rail on the wealthy and are critical of politicians of both political parties, including Democrat Bill Clinton and, in one reference, Republican Donald Trump. Despite the fact that the self-immolation appeared outside Trump’s trial, the social media and manifesto did not appear to make many references to Trump.
“That Bill Clinton was secretly on (former CIA Director) George H.W. Bush’s side, and that the Democrat vs. Republican division has been entirely manufactured ever since: Clinton is with Bush; Gore is with Bush; Trump is with Hillary, and so on,” the manifesto reads, claiming, “As it turns out, we have a secret kleptocracy: Both parties are run by financial criminals whose only goals are to divide, deceive, and bleed us dry.”
On LinkedIn, Azzarello wrote that he had previously worked for California Democratic Congressman Ami Bera and Democratic New York Representative Tom Suozzi in 2013 and 2014, although his manifesto indicates he had come to be disenchanted with both political parties; he also railed about cryptocurrency and “Ponzi schemes.”
The New York Times reported that he threw flyers in the air that contained “anti-government conspiracy theories.” The NYPD said in the news conference that the pamphlets contained conspiracies and “propaganda.”
He posted a photo of himself on Instagram wearing a Bernie Sanders shirt in 2015, writing, “Hey guys I got to meet @berniesanders!” But the man with him in the photo is not Sanders and looks like Newt Gingrich. It appears to be from a 2015 Politicon event. He also criticized Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, universities, and the news media, and discussed “The Simpsons.” Azzarello also plastered the manifesto on his Facebook page.
According to The New York Post, the day before he set himself on fire, Azzarello was outside the courthouse with a sign that read, “Trump is with Biden and they’re about to fascist coup us,” before shouting, “Biggest scoop of your life or your money back!” at reporters.
“Trump’s in on it,” Azzarello told The New York Times on Thursday.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Max Azzarello Posted a ‘Manifesto’ That Says He Was Committing an ‘Extreme Act of Protest’ Because He Believed the American Public Is ‘Victims of a Totalitarian Con’
Instagram (Max Azzarello)Max Azzarello.
The lengthy manifesto says, “This extreme act of protest is to draw attention to an urgent and important discovery: We are victims of a totalitarian con, and our own government (along with many of their allies) is about to hit us with an apocalyptic fascist world coup.”
The NYPD confirmed that Azzarello had posted information relating to the fire on social media. NYPD said he was not on their radar before this incident but indicated police would scrub his social media.
It continues,
These claims sound like fantastical conspiracy theories, but they are not. They are proof of conspiracy. If you investigate this mountain of research, you will prove them too. If you learn a great deal about Ponzi schemes, you will discover that our life is a lie. If you follow this story and the links below, you will discover the rotten truth of ‘post-truth America’. You will learn the scariest and stupidest story in world history. And you will realize that we are all in a desperate state of emergency that requires your action.
He added: “To my friends and family, witnesses and first responders, I deeply apologize for inflicting this pain upon you. But I assure you it is a drop in the bucket compared to what our government intends to inflict. these words are true, this is an act of revolution.”
The manifesto makes accusations against Peter Thiel, a tech billionaire who was a supporter of Trump but grew disenchanted with the former president, according to The Hill.
The New York Post reported that left “a rambling, incoherent 2,648-word manifesto.”
The manifesto has strong words for former President Clinton. It reads,
To better understand our form of government, I will point you to one of the most astonishing pieces of stand-alone evidence I’ve found: Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton’s 1988 DNC speech where he nominated Mike Dukakis for president against George H.W. Bush. The speech is a vile, mean-spirited roast of Dukakis that makes no sense whatsoever: For Clinton to ruthlessly attack a member of his own party should have been political suicide, and he repeatedly mocks Dukakis’ noble and earnest qualities.
In March, Azzarello shared the cover of the manifesto on Instagram and wrote, “If you’re wondering what the future’s history books will say, it’s this! What a time to be alive.” He referred to it as an “occupy returns booklet” and said, “Our only goal: Abolish our criminal government and replace it with one that serves all.”
He also shared a photo of a COVID vaccine card with the words “super ponzi” written on it, and added, “Treat your criminal government with the complete lack of respect it deserves. (That red line is the world economy, and the dotted line is next).”
2. Videos & Photos Captured the Self-Immolation of the Man Who Identified Himself as Max Azzarello
🚨GRAPHIC VIDEO:
Man sets himself on fire outside the courthouse at the Trump Trial in NYC
Videos and photos showed the moment that Azzarello set himself on fire outside the Manhattan courthouse where former President Donald Trump is on trial.
The New York Police Department said Azzarello walked to the center of the park, started shuffling around his clothes, opened a book bag, took numerous pamphlets out, and threw them around the park.
Then he pulled out a canister and lit himself on fire. He fell onto a police barrier, commanders said in the news conference.
CNN confirmed with “two law enforcement sources” that the man “lit himself on fire outside of the courthouse” where the Trump trial is unfolding.
A witness told PIX11 that the man “made statements of a political nature” before setting himself on fire. It was not clear what they were.
According to CNN, the man “walked into the park across the street from the courthouse, throwing flyers into the air.”
The man then “pulled something out of a backpack,” CNN reported, and “lit himself on fire.”
According to CNN, some of the flyers contained the words “NYU is a mob front” and contained accusations against the university.
The New York Times reported that the flyers “also mentioned former President George W. Bush, former Vice President Al Gore, and the lawyer David Boies, who represented Mr. Gore in the 2000 presidential election recount. Another pamphlet contained anti-government conspiracy theories.”
3. Max Azzarello Filed a Federal Lawsuit Against the Clintons
Max Azzarello filed a federal lawsuit against Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton. “Azzarello v. Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation et al,” it is titled. The lawsuit gives his full name as Maxwell Crosby Azzarello.
“Here is a federal lawsuit I filed against dozens of perpetrators of the cryptocurrency Ponzi – not for litigation, but just to preserve the information and attach my name to it. I was terrified and hadn’t slept in days and it shows, but it served its purpose of keeping myself alive long enough to keep learning and telling this story,” he wrote, linking to the federal Pacer site.
The lawsuit also targeted a number of prominent people from Zuckerberg to Mark Cuban. It those being sued as:
Antanas Guoga, Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, Bullfrog Capital, CN2T Capitall LLC, Emerson Collective Investment, LLC, Jeremy Stoppleman Trustee UTD, Ribbit Capital, Stanford University, StartX, The R. Benioff Revocable Trust U/A/D, Binance, Changpeng Zhao, 2012 MRL Investments LLC, Marc Andreessen, Marc R. Benioff, Matias Van Thienen, Max Levchin, Mehran Sahami, Napoleon Ta, Olaf Carlson-Wee, Peter Thiel, Robert L. Joss, Sam Bankman-Fried, Olwyn Alexander, Tony G, Alexandre Dreyfus, Jhaleh C. Ghassemi, Scott R. Tobin, William Bradley, Andreas Lazar, Anthony Scarramucci, Cameron Winklevoss, Chandrika Tandon, Jeremy Phillips, John Sexton, Joshua Kushner, Peter Dilorio, Ranjan Tandon, Stanley F. Druckenmiller, Stanley S. Shuman, Tyler Winklevoss, Stacy H. Schusterman, Nicola Sturgeon, Tom Slater, Eduardo Saverin, H. Ross Perot, Jr., Mark Cuban, Richard Branson, Brian Kass and Mark Zuckerberg.
The court ordered him to show cause.
He wrote on Instagram that his mother, Libby Azzarello, of Sea Cliff, New Jersey, died in 2022.
In March 2020, he posted a picture of himself outside a grocery store with rubbing alcohol to his Instagram page and wrote, “Getting sick of being a shut-in? Here’s an easy and important thing you can to do flatten the curve. If you’ve got some extra rubbing alcohol (and you and those close to you are low-risk), throw on some gloves and a mask and head to your local supermarket. Offer people a quick spray of their hands or cart handles when they come in and out.”
4. Max Azzarello’s LinkedIn Page Contains a Profile Picture With Former President Bill Clinton & Says He Worked for 2 Democratic Congressmen
A LinkedIn page in the name Max Azzarello makes similar claims about Peter Thiel, shares a post about deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein, and contains a profile picture showing a man that appears to be Azzarello with President Bill Clinton.
The LinkedIn page says Azzarello is from the Philadelphia area and reads, “We’ve got a secret fascism problem.” The writer of the LinkedIn page rails on the wealthy, writing in one post, “Did anybody ever find out why Richard Branson tanked his own company in an elaborate scheme?”
The LinkedIn page says Azzarello is a self-employed research investigator in St. Augustine, Florida, who has worked as a solutions engineer, and as a senior consultant for a Philadelphia professional services firm.
LinkedIn (Max Azzarello)Max Azzarello LinkedIn entries.
He also worked as a “marketing operations manager” in Philadelphia, as a consultant, and as an assistant operations manager for a foundation in Los Angeles.
The LinkedIn page says he was “operations director” for “Bera for Congress in Sacramento, California, and “operations director” for “Friends of Tom Suozzi,” in Nassau County, New York. Both men are Democratic congressmen.
For the Bera campaign, he wrote that he “Performed donor research and outreach, report generation, customized fundraising campaigns, data mining and data cleaning using NGP and Excel.” For the Suozzi campaign, he wrote that he helped “Lead various projects such as preparing the candidate for debates, organizing commercial shoots, planning logistics for campaign rallies, and completing interest group questionnaires.”
The LinkedIn page says he also worked as general manager for an energy consulting firm, as a program associate for an arts build communities company, and as a research assistant for Eagleton Institute of Politics.
The page says he has a master’s degree in City and Regional Planning, Technology, and Urban and Community Development from Rutgers University and a bachelor’s degree in Arts, Anthropology, and Public Policy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
5. A Bystander Tried to Put the Fire Out With a Suit Jacket, Reports Say
Civilians, court officers, and police officers tried to extinguish the fire with their coats and fire extinguishers, according to the NYPD.
A video showed that moment as a man ran up with a suit jacket while the man lay twitching on the ground in the fire.
WARNING GRAPHIC: Fox News briefly took a live shot of a man setting himself on fire outside of the Trump NYC trail thinking it was just a run-of-the-mill fire before realizing there was a man inside the flames. You then hear the reporter calling for his crew to run and grab a…
A witness told PIX11 News “they were standing next to a man when he poured a flammable liquid on himself, told her to stand back, and then lit himself on fire.”
LinkedIn/XAaron Bushnell and a scene from the video.
The incident is reminiscent of the death of Aaron Bushnell, the San Antonio, Texas, U.S. Air Force airman who set himself on fire on February 25 outside the Israeli embassy in Washington D.C., and later died from his injuries. Bushnell shouted “Free Palestine” before setting himself on fire while on streaming video.
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