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Happy Land fire
The Happy Land fire was an act of arson that killed 87 people on March 25, 1990, in the Bronx in New York City, United States. The 87 victims were trapped in the unlicensed Happy Land social club, located at 1959 Southern Boulevard in the West Farms section of the Bronx. Most victims were young Hondurans celebrating Carnival, many of them part of the Garifuna American community. Cuban refugee Julio González, whose former girlfriend was employed at the club, was arrested soon afterward and ultimately convicted of arson and murder.
The fire was the deadliest in New York City since the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, which coincidentally occurred on the same day in 1911, and the deadliest in American territory since the Dupont Plaza Hotel fire in Puerto Rico in 1986 and the Winecoff Hotel fire in 1946.
The building that housed Happy Land club was managed by Jay Weiss, the primary leaseholder, and Morris Jaffe. In 1987, Weiss and Jaffe's company, Little Peach Realty Inc., leased the building space for seven years to the club owner, Elias Colon, who died in the fire. An eviction trial against Colon had been scheduled to start on March 28, 1990, three days after the fire.
Before the blaze, Happy Land was ordered in November 1988 to close for building code violations including lack of fire exits, alarms or a sprinkler system. No follow-up by the fire department was documented.
Julio González served three years in prison in Cuba during the 1970s for desertion from the Cuban Army. In 1980, he faked a criminal record as a drug dealer to help gain passage in the Mariel boatlift. The boatlift landed in Florida; he then traveled to Wisconsin and Arkansas and eventually settled in New York, sponsored by the American Council for Nationalities in Manhattan.
Six weeks before the fire, he split up with his girlfriend, Lydia Feliciano. Before that, González had lost his job at a lamp factory in Queens. At the time of the fire, he was two weeks behind on the rent of his room, and the owner of the boarding house where he was staying said of him: "From what I know, he was down to his last hope."
The evening of the fire, González argued with his former girlfriend, Feliciano, who was a coat check worker at the club, urging her to quit. She said that she had had enough of him and did not want anything to do with him anymore. He was ejected by the bouncer around 3:00 a.m. He was heard to scream drunken threats to "shut this place down." He also reportedly shouted, "I'll be coming back." Feliciano tried to warn others, worried that González would do something.
González went to an Amoco gas station, then returned to the establishment with a plastic container with $1.00 worth of gasoline. He spread the fuel at the base of a staircase, the only access into the club, and then ignited the gasoline.
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Happy Land fire
The Happy Land fire was an act of arson that killed 87 people on March 25, 1990, in the Bronx in New York City, United States. The 87 victims were trapped in the unlicensed Happy Land social club, located at 1959 Southern Boulevard in the West Farms section of the Bronx. Most victims were young Hondurans celebrating Carnival, many of them part of the Garifuna American community. Cuban refugee Julio González, whose former girlfriend was employed at the club, was arrested soon afterward and ultimately convicted of arson and murder.
The fire was the deadliest in New York City since the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, which coincidentally occurred on the same day in 1911, and the deadliest in American territory since the Dupont Plaza Hotel fire in Puerto Rico in 1986 and the Winecoff Hotel fire in 1946.
The building that housed Happy Land club was managed by Jay Weiss, the primary leaseholder, and Morris Jaffe. In 1987, Weiss and Jaffe's company, Little Peach Realty Inc., leased the building space for seven years to the club owner, Elias Colon, who died in the fire. An eviction trial against Colon had been scheduled to start on March 28, 1990, three days after the fire.
Before the blaze, Happy Land was ordered in November 1988 to close for building code violations including lack of fire exits, alarms or a sprinkler system. No follow-up by the fire department was documented.
Julio González served three years in prison in Cuba during the 1970s for desertion from the Cuban Army. In 1980, he faked a criminal record as a drug dealer to help gain passage in the Mariel boatlift. The boatlift landed in Florida; he then traveled to Wisconsin and Arkansas and eventually settled in New York, sponsored by the American Council for Nationalities in Manhattan.
Six weeks before the fire, he split up with his girlfriend, Lydia Feliciano. Before that, González had lost his job at a lamp factory in Queens. At the time of the fire, he was two weeks behind on the rent of his room, and the owner of the boarding house where he was staying said of him: "From what I know, he was down to his last hope."
The evening of the fire, González argued with his former girlfriend, Feliciano, who was a coat check worker at the club, urging her to quit. She said that she had had enough of him and did not want anything to do with him anymore. He was ejected by the bouncer around 3:00 a.m. He was heard to scream drunken threats to "shut this place down." He also reportedly shouted, "I'll be coming back." Feliciano tried to warn others, worried that González would do something.
González went to an Amoco gas station, then returned to the establishment with a plastic container with $1.00 worth of gasoline. He spread the fuel at the base of a staircase, the only access into the club, and then ignited the gasoline.