NY marks 25th anniversary of social club fire that killed 87

Pablo Blanco, right, stands next to the memorial site for victims of the March 25, 1990, Happy Land social club fire, during an interview, Tuesday, March 24, 2015, in the Bronx borough of New York. Blanco, whose favorite uncle was among the 87 victims of an arsonist, will join a memorial Mass and vigil at the site to mark the 25th anniversary of what was then the biggest mass murder in modern U.S. history. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews) Pablo Blanco, right, stands next to the memorial site for victims of the March 25, 1990, Happy Land social club fire, during an interview, Tuesday, March 24, 2015, in the Bronx borough of New York. Blanco, whose favorite uncle was among the 87 victims of an arsonist, will join a memorial Mass and vigil at the site to mark the 25th anniversary of what was then the biggest mass murder in modern U.S. history. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

By Associated Press March 25, 2015 1 min read

NEW YORK (AP) – Twenty-five years ago, what was then the biggest mass murder in U.S. history turned a New York City dance club into a smoky, flame-filled inferno.

That night, Cuban refugee Julio Gonzalez went to the Happy Land social club in the Bronx to win back his ex-girlfriend. She spurned him.

In a rage, Gonzalez went out and got some gasoline, splashing it inside the club’s only exit and lighting two matches. Within minutes, 87 people were dead, smothered by black smoke or fatally burned.

A Roman Catholic Mass commemorating the tragedy will be held Wednesday evening, followed by a procession to a granite memorial near the club where a candlelight vigil will take place.

Last week in upstate New York, Gonzalez was denied parole.