@Walter Hinteler,
Quote:Another list from Wikipedia: List of rampage killers
They don't know of 97 killed by a gasoline attack in NYC either ...
LOL footnote the figure I had seen before were 97 not 87 but what the hell 87 is still more then any firearm attack.............
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Land_fire
he Happy Land fire was an arson fire that killed 87 people trapped in an unlicensed social club called "Happy Land" (at 1959 Southern Boulevard) in the West Farms section of The Bronx, New York, on March 25, 1990. Most of the victims were young ethnic Hondurans celebrating Carnival.[1] Unemployed Cuban refugee Julio González, whose former girlfriend was employed at the club, was arrested shortly after and ultimately convicted of arson and murder.
Contents [hide]
1 Incident
2 Aftermath
3 References
4 External links
[edit]Incident
Before the blaze, Happy Land was ordered closed for building code violations in November 1988. Violations included no fire exits, alarms or sprinkler system. No follow-up by the fire department was documented.[2]
The evening of the fire, González had argued with his former girlfriend, Lydia Feliciano, a coat check girl at the club, urging her to quit. She claimed that she had had enough of him and wanted nothing to do with him anymore. González tried to fight back into the club but was ejected by the bouncer. He was heard to scream drunken threats in the process. González was enraged, not just because of losing Lydia, but also because he had recently lost his job at a lamp factory, was impoverished, and had virtually no companions.[citation needed] González returned to the establishment with a plastic container of gasoline which he found on the ground and had filled at a gas station. He spread the fuel on the only staircase into the club. Two matches were then used to ignite the gasoline.[citation needed]
The fire exits had been blocked to prevent people from entering without paying the cover charge. In the panic that ensued, a few people escaped by breaking a metal gate over one door.[citation needed]
González then returned home, took off his gasoline-soaked clothes and fell asleep. He was arrested the following afternoon after authorities interviewed Lydia Feliciano and learned of the previous night's argument. Once advised of his rights, he admitted to starting the blaze. A psychological examination found him to be not responsible due to mental illness or defect;[citation needed] but the jury, after deliberation, found him to be criminally responsible.
[edit]Aftermath
González was charged with 174 counts of murder—two for each victim—and was found guilty on 87 counts of arson and 87 counts of murder on August 19, 1991. For each count he received the sentence maximum of 25 years to life (a total of 4,350 years). It was the most substantial prison term ever imposed in the state of New York. He will be eligible for parole in March 2015 because New York law states that multiple murders occurring during one act will be served concurrently, rather than consecutively.[3]
The building that housed Happy Land club was managed in part by Jay Weiss, at the time the husband of actress Kathleen Turner.[4] The New Yorker quoted Turner saying that "the fire was unfortunate but could have happened at a McDonald's."[5] The building's owner, Alex DiLorenzo 3rd, and leaseholders Weiss and Morris Jaffe, were found not criminally responsible, since they had tried to close the club and evict the tenant.[6] 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.[4][7] An eviction trial against Mr. Colon had been scheduled to start on March 28.[4]
While found not criminally responsible, the city filed misdemeanor charges in February 1991 against the building owner, Mr. DiLorenzo and the landlord Mr. Weiss. These charges claimed that the owner and landlord were responsible for the building code violations caused by their tenant.[8] They both plead guilty in May 1992, agreeing to perform community service and paying $150,000 towards a community center for Hondurans in the Bronx.[9]
There was also a $5 billion dollar lawsuit filed by the victims and their families against the owner, landlord, city and some building material manufacturers. That suit was settled in July 1995 for $15.8 million or $163,000 per victim. The lower amount was due mostly to unrelated financial difficulties of the landlord, Mr. DiLorenzo.[10][11]
The street outside the former Happy Land social club (which was located on the northwest corner of Southern Boulevard and East Tremont Avenue in the Bronx) has been renamed "The Plaza of the Eighty-Seven" as a way of memorializing the victims. Five of the victims were students at nearby Theodore Roosevelt High School, which held a memorial service for the victims in April 1990. A memorial was erected directly across the street from the former establishment with the names of all 87 victims enscribed on it.
The arson was the subject of the Duran Duran song, "Sin of the City" (where the song lyrics say 89 people died, when in fact it was 87), a Joe Jackson song, "Happyland", and Tom Russell's song "A Dollar's Worth of Gasoline" from his Hurricane Season CD. It was also mentioned in the Jay-Z song, "You, Me, Him, and Her." A fictionalized version of the arson, where it was an arson intended to intimidate the Latino community, was featured on Law & Order.
[edit]References
