The troubled “conspiracy theorist” Max Azzarello, who died after setting himself on fire in a Manhattan park, once worked for Long Island Congressman Tom Suozzi.
“Max Azzarello worked on my campaign for Nassau County Executive in 2013 as part of the field staff,” Suozzi, whose district includes parts of Queens and Nassau County, told The Post Saturday. “Even though I haven’t seen or talked to Max since then I recall him being very kind, smart and hardworking. It is tragic that he has succumbed to his injuries and I am keeping Max and his family in my prayers.”
Azzarello listed himself as a “operations manager” for a few months of the Democrat’s campaign in 2013. He did not work for Suozzi at any other time.
The 37-year-old Long Island native, who had lived in Florida in recent years, succumbed to the severe burns he suffered following the sickening self-immolation inside Collect Pond Park — across the street from where former President Donald Trump is on trial.
He threw a stack of pamphlets in the air, including a link to his Substack newsletter, before pouring fuel on his body and igniting a lighter in front of horrified witnesses.
Before he set himself on fire, Azzarello’s most recent job had been as a well-paid consultant for Salesforce, a friend told The Post.
He quit the gig last year and seemed to spiral down into a rabbit hole of conspiracy theories.
The self-described “investigative researcher” traveled to New York City in recent days from Florida without his family knowing, and had been protesting in front of the courthouse where he bashed political leaders from both sides of the aisle.
“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,” Azzarello wrote in part of a rambling manifesto on the Substack page.
