We cannot help but notice that February 13, the date of Billy's projected death, is the same day as the Dresden firebombing. That is how Billy sees himself dying, and he has even seen the date: February 13, 1976. Lazzaro's threats seem to work, because Billy really does believe that he is going to succeed in shooting him out of the blue. The narrator compares Lazzaro to a rabid dog (6.9.3) Cold-Blooded Killer?
Revenge is the sweetest thing in life for Lazzaro, and he is always looking for an excuse to get some. Lazzaro is a guy with a permanent chip on his shoulder, a total psychopath who judges every encounter he has with a person based on how much respect they show him. Lazzaro's insane, murderous loyalty to Weary's memory doesn't really have anything to do with Weary. Of course, Lazzaro had not known Weary before meeting him on the train from Luxembourg to Germany, where Weary dies. (Lazzaro needs a crash course in "So it goes.") Lazzaro is a fellow American POW with a grudge against Billy because he believes it's his fault that Roland Weary dies of gangrene. Paul Lazzaro is the fake name of a real guy the narrator mentions in the first chapter, who "really did threaten to have his personal enemies killed by hired gunmen after the war" (1.1.1).
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