Anyone remember this? Only three known survivors of this atrocity. As horrible as this senseless act was, it may have been a blessing this scum bag used a rifle instead of a couple of bottles of gasoline, ya think?
Quote:
FIRE IN THE BRONX; 87 DIE IN BLAZE AT ILLEGAL CLUB; POLICE ARREST EJECTED PATRON; WORST NEW YORK FIRE SINCE 1911
By RALPH BLUMENTHAL
Published: March 26, 1990
Eighty-seven people, crammed into an illegal Bronx social club, were asphyxiated or burned to death within minutes in a flash fire early yesterday morning. The police later arrested a man who they said had set the blaze with gasoline after a quarrel there.
It was the worst loss of life in a fire in New York City since the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire of 1911, exactly 79 years ago to the day. It was the worst fire in the nation since 97 people were killed in a hotel fire in Puerto Rico on Dec. 31, 1986.
The club - the Happy Land Social Club, at 1959 Southern Boulevard, off East Tremont Avenue - had no state liquor license. It was ordered closed for fire hazards and building-code infractions 16 months ago, city officials said, but continued to operate. [Page B5.] Ejected After Argument Police Commissioner Lee P. Brown identified the arrested suspect as Julio Gonzalez, 36 years old, of 31 Buchanan Place in the Bronx. Lieut. Raymond O'Donnell, a police spokesman, said Mr. Gonzalez had argued with a former girlfriend who worked at the club and had been ejected by a bouncer, but then returned with gasoline and set the fire.
His girlfriend and at least three others survived. But the flames cut off the only open door and filled the club with smoke. Some victims suffocated so rapidly that they were found with drinks in their hands.
''Some looked like they were sleeping,'' said Firefighter Richard Harden of Ladder Company 58, one of those who put out the blaze. ''Some looked horrified. Some looked like they were in shock. There were some people holding hands. There were some people who looked like they were trying to commiserate and hug each other. Some people had torn their clothes off in their panic to get out.''
Watched the Firefighters
Detective Lieut. James Malvey of the 48th Precinct said last night that Mr. Gonzalez, in a videotaped statement for the District Attorney's office, told of picking up a plastic jug at the club after threatening, ''I'll be back.'' Mr. Gonzalez, the detective said, filled the jug with $1 worth of gasoline at a nearby service station and returned.
''He threw the gasoline on the floor,'' Detective Malvey said. ''He threw in a couple of matches. The fire just crawled in and he left.'' He said Mr. Gonzalez ''didn't know how bad it was when he left, but he came back and watched the firemen fight the fire.''
The detective said Mr. Gonzalez, who the police said had been drinking before the fire, offered no resistance when he was arrested at home. ''It was like he was being picked up for a traffic warrant,'' he said. ''It was nothing. He was sleeping.'' But later, the police said, Mr. Gonzalez was crying and ''remorseful.''
''Basically, he's saying he did it,'' Lieutenant O'Donnell said at the 48th Precinct station house.
Mr. Gonzalez was charged last night with arson and murder, the police said. The number of counts of murder he will be charged with will be determined by the District Attorney's office, officials said.
When the fire hit the two-story club favored by Hondurans and other Central American immigrants in the East Tremont section, many patrons just dropped to the floor where they stood or sat, some with their legs still entwined around bar stools, firefighters said.
The black smoke choked the darkened dance floor and suffocated people quickly. The dance floor itself, which in other times had been a place of flashing lights and undulating bodies, was transformed into a macabre pile of victims, wearing their Saturday night outfits, entangled in the grotesque stillness of their final moments.
Struggling to Reach Exit
Rescuers described a scene of carnage with bodies piled high as some patrons were felled struggling to reach the exit while others collapsed as they danced or talked.
Mayor David N. Dinkins and other city officials rushed to the scene.
''It was shocking,'' said First Deputy Mayor Norman Steisel. ''None of the bodies I saw showed signs of burns. They looked waxen.'' A block away, distraught residents who feared that missing relatives were among the dead gathered at Public School 67, where the Red Cross, Salvation Army and other workers guided them past Polaroid photographs of the victims. Many emerged weeping.
Building-Code Violations
The City Buildings Commissioner, Charles M. Smith Jr., said at a City Hall news conference last night that the club had been ordered closed for building-code violations in November 1988. He said that there had been some later enforcement actions but that the follow-up had been left to the Fire Department and it was not immediately clear what had happened.
Like some of his predecessors, Mayor Dinkins vowed a new crackdown against what he said were about 176 other illegal social clubs with ''vacate'' orders.
''Anybody who had an opportunity to view 87 bodies will know we will not tolerate it,'' Mr. Dinkins said.
The fire was set at around 3:30 A.M., Lieutenant O'Donnell said, and the alarm was turned in at 3:41 A.M. Fire equipment reached the scene within three minutes, said Albert Scardino, the Mayor's press secretary.
Sixty-eight of the dead were found upstairs, and 19 were found on the stairs or ground floor.
Twenty-six of the 87 victims were women, the Mayor said. Seventy-nine of the dead were identified as of last night. No names were immediately released.
Hole Broken in Wall
Emergency crews had so much difficulty removing bodies from the upstairs area that they broke a hole through the wall to the construction office next-door and took out bodies through it.
The police identified the operator of the club as Elia Colon, who some witnesses suggested may have been killed in the blaze and whose wife, Elena, was one of the three known survivors.
Carmen Ortiz, a friend of the Colons, said Mrs. Colon had not been able to identify any of the pictures as her husband. Ms. Ortiz said detectives believe that Mr. Colon may have escaped the fire.
Lieutenant O'Donnell said Mr. Gonzalez had quarreled with his former girlfriend, who worked at the club.
http://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/26/nyregi...t-new-york.html
Regards,
hm
