March 25, 1990: Happy Land, an unlicensed social club at 1959 Southern Boulevard, in the West Farms section of The Bronx, is torched, killing 87 people. Most of the victims were young immigrants from the Central American nation of Honduras.
An eviction notice was given to the owners of the club, saying they had until March 28 to vacate the premises. So, at first, the Police thought it was arson. But their investigation quickly proved otherwise. Julio González, a 35-year-old Cuban refugee who had served time in prison for desertion from the Cuban Army, and had come over in 1980 on the Mariel Boatlift, set the fire in order to kill his girlfriend, Lydia Feliciano, because he wanted her to quit her job there, and run away with him. And yet, she was one of the few people who survived the fire.
He was convicted on August 19, 1991 -- the date of another New York crime, the Crown Heights Riot. González was found guilty on 87 counts of arson and 87 counts of murder. For each count, he received the maximum sentence of 25 years to life -- a total of 4,350 years. It remains the most substantial prison term ever imposed in the state of New York. He died at Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, outside Plattsburgh, on September 13, 2016, at the age of 61.
It was 79 years to the day after one of New York City's most infamous fires, at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in Greenwich Village in 1911, which killed 146 people. Before the Oklahoma City bombing and the 9/11 attacks, the Happy Land Fire was the greatest mass murder in U.S. history, even if the killer had only intended to kill one person, and failed.
Retail was built on the site of the club. Nearby, in Crotona Park, there is a memorial to the victims. Five of them, as was my grandfather (decades earlier), were graduates of nearby Theodore Roosevelt High School. As of March 25, 2022, Lydia Feliciano is still alive.
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March 25, 1990 was a Sunday. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season.
In the NCAA basketball tournament, the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, the Number 1 team in the nation, ended the Cinderella run of Loyola Marymount University of Los Angeles, 131-101 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena. Bo Kimble, playing in part for his high school and college teammate, Hank Gathers, who had died of an in-game heart attack 3 weeks before, scored 42 points in defeat. Stacey Augmon scored 33 for UNLV.
In the other Regional Final that day, Georgia Tech beat Minnesota, 93-91 at the Superdome in New Orleans. Dennis Scott scored 40 for Tech, and Willie Burton 35 for Minnesota. In the Final Four's Semifinals, UNLV beat Georgia Tech, while Duke beat Arkansas. In the Final, UNLV clobbered Duke. The next season, UNLV reached the Final Four again, undefeated, and looking like one of the greatest teams of all time, but Duke shocked them in the Semifinal, before beating Michigan in the Final.
There were 4 games played in the NBA:
* The Miami Heat beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 105-102 at the Miami Arena.
* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Detroit Pistons, 98-96 in overtime at the Reunion Arena in Dallas, which was about to host the aforementioned Final Four.
* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Seattle Supersonics, 116-94 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.
* And the Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 110-105 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.
And there were 6 games in the NHL:
* The New York Rangers beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 7-3 at Madison Square Garden.
* The New Jersey Devils beat the Buffalo Sabres, 4-3 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.
* The Hartford Whalers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-2 at the Hartford Civic Center (now the PeoplesBank Arena).
* The Washington Capitals beat the Calgary Flames, 4-1 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.
* The Chicago Blackhawks beat their arch-rivals, the Detroit Red Wings, 3-2 at the Chicago Stadium.
* And the Winnipeg Jets and the Vancouver Canucks played to a tie, 3-3 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.
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