Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast
One of The Biggest Mass Murders in US History - The Happy Land Fire
Tue, 01 Apr 2025
The Happy Land fire case refers to a tragedy that occurred on March 25, 1990, at an illegal social club in the Bronx, New York, unaliving 87 people. The incident was set by Julio González, who had been thrown out of the club after an argument with his ex-girlfriend.Insane. 😳
What led to Julio González's life unraveling?
Did you know that one of America's biggest mass murders was done by accident? Well, sort of. So there's this guy, Julio, and Julio's 36. He's a Cuban immigrant living in New York City. And one day in 1990, his life starts falling apart because he's at his job at the local lamp factory where he packs boxes and suddenly, bam, he gets fired.
And if that's not bad enough, he's also having problems with his girlfriend, this woman. Lydia. And he and Lydia have been on and off for about seven years. And it's just not working anymore. Because like Julio's all controlling and he's always demanding that she quit her job for some reason. He's just kind of an asshole. And one day, Lydia has had enough of his nonsense.
And pow, she breaks up with him. Now this is a big problem for Julio, not just because she broke up with him, but because the apartment they're in seems to be hers. So she gets to keep it while he has to move out and find a new place to live. So he goes and he finds a new place and it's a real dump. It's a room in a boarding house and it's really small, like literally 10 square feet.
So now he's living in this little ass room with nothing. Like the room costs $70 a week, which he doesn't have because he got fired from the lamp factory. So he's not able to pay rent on his room and quickly he gets behind on the payments. Bro's whole life is just falling apart, but he doesn't go and commit mass murder just yet. That comes later.
And about six weeks go by, and he still isn't feeling any better. I mean, he's broke, he misses his ex-girlfriend, but then he gets an idea. What if Lydia were to agree to get back together with him? I mean, that would certainly make him feel at least a little better. I mean, maybe if she got back with him, then he could start to turn his life around. Here's the problem with that, though.
Lydia is done. Like, she doesn't exactly want to see him. But whatever, Julio doesn't care. He gets all drunk one night, and he decides that it'll be a great idea to surprise her by showing up to her work, because then she'll have to talk to him.
so then julio shows up to lydia's place of work ready to spit some serious game here's the thing about where lydia works though she works at a local nightclub called the happy land social club and this place is really small but it's also very popular and it's also super busy all the time But tonight is a little different. Tonight it's extra packed with people due to it being carnival.
So there's about a hundred people in this really small club. And Lydia is there working the coat check. And so around 2 a.m. Julio shows up and he's all sauced up, probably stumbling all over the place. And he goes to the coat check and he starts trying to talk to Lydia. Like, hey, how have you been? But unfortunately for him, she's not really feeling him.
So she rejects him like, I don't need you. You should go. So he leaves. He leaves the coat check area and he mingles around the club talking to people he knows. About 40 minutes later, he comes back to the coat check area and he starts trying to riz her up again. And he's like, I know you have a boyfriend now, but it doesn't matter. You and I till death.
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