Happy Land Mass Murder

Published: Nov. 8, 2020, 7 p.m.

30 years ago in March of 1990 a fire broke out in the Happy Land Night Club in the Bronx. The fire was started by Julio Gonzalez a Cuban immigrant who had a fight with his girlfriend of eight years. During the argument a bouncer kicked out Gonzalez.

Gonzalez left and returned with a dollar of gasoline and set fire to the Night Club entrance. The fire trapped the patron in the club because it was blocking the only exit. When the FDNY and other first responders reached the club, they found 87 people dead inside. It was the largest mass murder in the US at the time. 

What the first responders walked into that night scarred their psyches for the rest of their lives.