The Happy Land fire was an act of arson that killed 87 people on March 25, 1990, in the Bronx in New York City, United States.

The 87 victims were trapped in the unlicensed Happy Land social club, located at 1959 Southern Boulevard in the West Farms section of the Bronx.

Cuban refugee Julio González, whose former girlfriend was employed at the club, was arrested soon afterward and ultimately convicted of arson and murder.

[1][2] The building that housed Happy Land club was managed by Jay Weiss, the primary leaseholder, and Morris Jaffe.

In 1987, Weiss and Jaffe's company, Little Peach Realty Inc., had leased the building space for seven years to the club owner, Elias Colon, who died in the fire.

[6] The boatlift landed in Florida; he then traveled to Wisconsin and Arkansas and eventually settled in New York, sponsored by the American Council for Nationalities in Manhattan.

"[7] The evening of the fire, González had argued with his former girlfriend, Feliciano, who was a coat check worker at the club, urging her to quit.

[1] Most of the victims were young Hondurans celebrating Carnival,[1][2] largely drawn from members of the local Garifuna American community.

He was eligible for parole during March 2015 as New York law states that the sentences for multiple murders occurring during one act must be served concurrently, rather than consecutively.

[17] The Bronx District Attorney said that the building's owner, Alex DiLorenzo III, and leaseholders Weiss and Morris Jaffe, were not responsible criminally, since they had tried to close the club and evict the tenant.

[19] Although the Bronx District Attorney said they were not criminally responsible, the New York City Corporation Counsel filed misdemeanor charges in February 1991 against Alex DiLorenzo III, the building owner, and Jay Weiss, the primary leaseholder.

[29] In the Jay-Z song "You, Me, Him and Her" he raps "The fire I spit burnt down Happy Land/ Social club, we unapproachable thugs.