BY: PEDRO NORBERTO CASTRO ARAUJO/SPECIAL FOR EL PILÓN
In days gone by, I had the good will to write a note in honor of the memory of Mary Matilde Filizzola de Canales, when I searched in my library about the genetics of his last name, reading led me to find a curious story of a strong man named Nicholas Filizzola Fernandez who was born on October 19, 1897in Zaraza, a city located in Los Eastern plains, from Venezuela. Son of Italian immigrant Mr. Guillermo Filizzola Ferrari and Mrs. Angelina Fernandez Toro.
THE HEIR
When his father died in the 20’sNicolás, still did not reach the 30 years, he should have taken the reins of 8 sixes ranchers of singular territorial importance. Estates widely known to him, since being the eldest son of the marriage he had always worked them alongside his father.
Nicholas became famous not only for the enormous wealth inherited from his father; which increased every day, until he became the richest man in Venezuela. He had a soft spot for guns which led him to gain renown as a gunslinger, something he always boasted of when it came to intimidating someone.
CURIOUS PAYMENT
They say that sometimes he was seen saying on drunken nights that he killed people and then paid them with 100 recess the same color as the deceased. This character of a tough and fearsome man earned him multiple nicknames including ‘The tiger of the plains’.
He lived as a confirmed bachelor, traveling in his convertible gray Cadillac, whose trunk never lacked bottles of the finest liquor to entertain the lady on duty; alternating his stay between his properties on the plain and Caracas, where he permanently rented the Pen House of the most luxurious Hotel in Venezuela.
Among so many anecdotes they say that on one occasion he was almost killed in a fight in a luxurious bar when someone named Alfonso RebajasHe fired a few shots at it, but missed and had to flee through the broken windows. Filizzola yelled at him from his seat: “Get up, you bum, to teach you how to shoot.” Since then, Alfonso lived in fear of dying at Filizzola’s hands.
EIGHT TESTAMENTS
Throughout his life, Filizzola ordered his lawyers to draw up eight wills. He knew that the way he had lived at any moment he could end up dead. According to his lawyers it was always the same; After saying his name and his father’s name, he declared himself single and childless.
Sometimes he left his assets to his brother Victor’s children or to any other relative. After a while, reconciled with his wives and his children, he had it annulled and made a new one.
At the time of his death, what was the eighth and last will rested in the city registry and where he left all his assets to the only natural son he had recognized: Gregorio Filizzola Matute, who at that time had 12 years. The will had a special clause: If at the time of his death his heir was still a minor, his brother Gregorio Palacios would be in charge of managing the assets, paying taxes, taking inventory, and keeping the assets growing until the age of majority of the minor.
HIS WEALTH
Filizzola’s fortune, recorded by his brother Gregorio, exceeded 37.000 heads of cattle, 60 mil hectares, 5 million of dollars of the time to what today would be about 40 million of dollars.
He died May 25, 1963 in an exchange of fire with Jose Belisariothe foreman of one of his haciendas.