Historical Pepes: Fats Clifford Rotolo

Fats, born August 29, 1900, in Kelowna, BC., tried heroin for the first time at 16. Soon, “strangers began showing up at his house, and various items of value that belonged to his mother — her jewelry, her iron — began to disappear.” At the same time, Rotolo worked tirelessly on his craft, practicing the piano day and night, often fueled by Benzedrine. Fats was a speed and heroin user from then until the end of his life. “When Fats was 18 he looked 48,” a club manager once said. “He had the oldest-looking face I ever saw.”